Thanks for starting this group Shawna!!
My name is Erika and I ahve several mini goals for next year My main goal is also to lose weight which lefd me to the folowing goals to meet:

1. Be at 100lbs loss by February
2. Ideal weight reached by my Birthday in July
3. Get pregnant hopefully after the Summer time

Good luck cupcakes!!

Hi, My name is Kenya. My goal is to lose all the weight that I have gained over the course of my marriage, from being comfortable, recurrent pregnancy losses, fertility medications and depression. I decided to fight for life back and be happy in my own skin!! With every pound I gained, I turned into an insecure, depressed person that hid in the house. I hated going to the grocery store in fear of being seen!! My goal is to get back to the weight I was the day I went out on my first date with my husband. I have 45 more lbs to go to get there!! I'm trying not to think about that number! It's overwhelming so I focus on 10 lbs at a time. I try to keep reminding myself that just 3 months ago, I had 77.8 lbs to go to get there!! I am proud of myself because I never thought that I would ever get the motivation to stop complaining about my weight and make a change!! Even though I still have a lot of weight to lose, I feel so much better about myself.

One year to acheive goals:

1. Lose 45 more lbs

2. to get toned

3.to motivate as many people as I can

Hi! My name is Cindy. My goals are to start my life! I am forty-one and I am almost done raising my kids. My youngest daughter in 17. I have four children and have dedicated everything to them. Don't get me wrong I loved it, but now that my daughter is getting ready to go off to College I am finding out that I don't have much of a social life and I started to compensate with food. You know what comes after that.......... I have gain about 50 pounds to much and now don't like the way I feel and have made excuses to myself about trying to lose weight. I really need to need to do this for myself so that I can like myself again and other people can like me too. Then eventually start dating again. But for now just liking myself again and going out and see the world is a good start! So I going to do this one step at a time one pound at a time. I already feel good about myself just putting myself out there like this. No more excuses.

Hello! I'm Nic. I'm 23 years old and have been overweight pretty much all my life. It was more manageable until I stopped competing in sports my junior year of high school. I met my boyfriend my junior year of high school, and seven years later we are still together. WE have both gained weight together, and we are planning on losing it together. I have started and restarted many times, never passing 17 pounds loss. I restarted for the last time ever on Oct 14. I'm taking things slow and for the past 55 days, I have been working on making recording my habit. But I'm ready to start being serious. This coming week, I will begin going back to the gym, making my worth out of my graduation gift of a prepaid two year gym membership. So, starting this Sunday, I will weigh myself for the first time since Oct 14 and begin my weekly weigh ins again along with monthly pictures and measurements. I have 119.7 pounds to lose.

My goals for the 2013:
- Lose half of my weight by the end of next year, which puts me right into onederland (199.7 lbs).
- To have completed the 30 DS and C25K.

My overall goals:
- To weigh 140 pounds. This is tentative. My healthy range is between 115-155 pounds. I think I would be happy anywhere between 130 and 150 lbs. If I reach 150 or 145 and feel happy at that weight, then i will stay on the higher health range.
- I try not to think too much into sizes. Currently 16 size pants (some are tight, some are loose), 3X shirt, 22/24 dress. I will be happy to be 12/14/16 (fitted comfortably) pants, L top (or XL in a normal size store), and a 14/16 dress.
- To be able to run around and be active with my niece, nephew, and little sister.
- To be able to be in my 20's and enjoy adventures with my boyfriend.

Hi, I'm cassie and I'm 17. I joined MFP around august and did really well for about a month before getting lazy again and quitting because life got in the way. I've come to realize if I really want to do this then I need to make time for it. My short term goal is to lose 10 pounds before prom and my long term is to lose 25 pounds and keep it off before going to college. I'm the kind of person who needs motivation and support so that is I decided to join the group. I struggled a lot with my weight when I was younger because of medical steroids, but since I have gotten off them years ago I have lost a lot weight. I was bullied a lot for it. Which makes me determined to lose weight now. Right now I weigh 165 and my goal is to get down to a normal healthy weight of 140 or 130. Because of how heavy I was before, 180-190, I was bullied and struggled with depression for a while. But I am much happier now and am ready to get serious about my health! Especially since health problems run in my family. Thanks, I hope that I can keep on the right track ans stick with it! Good luck to you all too by the way!

HI My name is Lanae. I am 47 and have been oiverweight all my life. This year I have managed to lose 45 pounds (not all on MFP). I still have tons to lose but I have a very hard time losing weight due to some of the meds I am on.

My goals for the next year:
1) Lose at least another 30 pounds - more is ok though :laugh:
2) Be able to do all of 30DS
3) Improve my diet - more fruits and veggies, less "whites"

Hello my name is Laura. I decided at the beginning of 2012 that I wanted to focus on being the best me I can be. With my youngest of three kids in college I decided to start focusing on getting fit and healthy. In the year I have lost 55 pounds so far. I started the year at 267 and am now at 212. I don't think I could have done it without MFP. Below are my goals for 2013.

1) Get to goal weight of 165/170 on or before my 50th birthday July 2nd (happy birthday to me!)
2) Maintain the weight loss and get a flat stomach again.
3) Run a 5K.
4) Continue to help motivate others to reach their goals.

Thank you for putting the group together.

Hello Everyone!

My name is Elizabeth & I am looking forward to getting to know everyone in this group.

I have been on MFP for about a week & so far I am enjoying all the site has to offer. I am hoping to meet some diet/fitness minded friends who can "keep me honest" as it were when it comes to my daily goal of 1200 calories, which has been hard for me to maintain on a daily basis. I am anxiously awaiting Christmas' arrival with all of the cookies, cakes, et cetera to see if I can behave myself over the holidays (but not on Christmas, I will be indulging a wee bit on Christmas, within reason of course).

Please feel free to friend me (I am still figuring that part out) & good luck everyone on meeting all of your goals!

Hi I'm Tina and I started on mfp @ 200 lbs. I've lost 13 lbs since joining in Sept this year. Having year long goals are great as I still have 60 lbs to lose. I want to get down to 125 lbs. I also want to be better toned. I am currently doing the 30 day shred and it is hard, hard, hard, but I am sticking with it because many have seen great results from it like weight loss and lost inches.

Hey guys! I'm victoria, but everyone calls me blue. I am fairly new to MFP, I found the site on accident and have really been enjoying it. I am a singe 20 y/o, who really needs to get in shape. I work as an office secretary and locksmith apprentice as well as going to school for my associates degree. I Look forward to working with you guys for the 1 year from now challenge! feel free to add me if you'd like

this is going to be a great group!
My name is Kimberly, I am a 43 year old mom of a great 11 year old boy. I have been married for 14 years and have slowly just let myself go. I really need to get healthy and start living life again. I find when I don't feel good about myself I really don't want to be out and around people. I use to love to go out with my girlfriend and now I find myself making excuses to stay home and then I end up eating more :-(
I really need a new mind set. I have always looked at diets that promised fast weight loss with little effort, I have dieted my way up 50 pound.
So this time I am really looking at this as a journey to health and fitness
Goals for 2013
Loss 40 to 50 pounds
Run 5k
Wear bathing suit
Gain control over my emotional eating
Looking forward to the year ahead

Hi, I'm Sarah, and I'm a high school freshman. I've gained a good 50 pounds from two years of depression and not caring about myself. I'm much better now, and I plan to take care of myself!
My plan is to finish the 30 Day Shred (I'm halfway through Level 2), then move onto the Insanity workout. Once that's done, I will do a mixture of kickboxing and horseback riding from March to the end of summer. Once I start my sophomore year, I will join the cross country team! Beyond that is TBD.
Nice to meet you all!

Hi my name is Brenda and my goal is to lose 70 pounds by next Thanksgiving! So far I have lost 6! I am on my way!!

My name is Dominque , also known as Sunshine. I have joined this group becuase it fits perfectly with my goals for next year.

Two of those goals are the following:
1) to satrt a blog called "52 Pounds in 52 Weeks" which tracks my progress in gettingto a healthy doctor approved weight, and
2) to actually lose those 52 pounds.

Part of that path is to acquire a network to keep myself accountable, and to sustain me during the rough spots. So I went looking for a group to join, since my blog will be here too. This one popped up and I think I've found kindred spirits here.The blog goes live on Friday December 14, 2012, to precede my birthday. I will write at least twice weekly on what I'm doing and feeling, and I weigh in once a week on Thursdays..More details will be available soon.

I will read all of the introductory posts so I can get to know a little about all of you.
May you exceed your own expectations! That way you will astonish the naysayers as well!

I

Hi, my name is Mary. I am 31 and have been in a common-law relationship for almost 8 years. When I joined MFP in 2011 I was at my highest of 221lbs. After ups and downs in 2011 I started 2012 6lbs lighter and a strong desire to get back on track. I have now lost a total of 35lbs since I started, most of it in the last 6 months and am at my lowest in 6 years. My goal over the next year is to get to my goal weight and maintain the changes that I have made in my life so that I can stay at my goal weight.

In order to get to my goal I have been and will be doing the following:
1. Took up running this year, I now make sure that I run at least a 3km (when I have trouble getting out of bed) or a 5km 4 out of 5 mornings. Aim for at least one long run over the weekend and a short run the other day.
2. Training for a Tough Mudder in May 2013 which will hopefully help me with my other goal of toning my body.
3. Maintaining the changes that I have made in regards to nutrition to keep me healthy.

Once I hit my goal weight I plan to keep up the running as I really enjoy my time out running with our pups. I have a fairly stressful job and the runs help me unwind.

Cheers to all reaching their goals :drinker: