My name is Lauren and I am 29 and living in the fabulous city of Chicago. I was born and raised in the suburbs and live and breathe Chicago sports I have a BF of 3 years and work in the healthcare industry.
I was an in shape athlete throughout my childhood and teen years, I could always eat what and when I wanted and was always the "skinny girl", and then in my 20's something happened....My metabolism started changing and I was less active. With that and certain stressors, I suffered from an ED for quite a few years throughout this decade of my life and the binging and recovery period completely changed my body, metabolism, weight and overall health. I am on MFP and in this group to finally get my body back on track, reset my metabolism and be fit and fabulous! I turn 30 8/3/2012 and I want to enter the next decade of my life feeling better than ever!
I am loving MFP and the support I have found within my friends and I'm so excited my fabulous friend, Crystal, decided to start this group! I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone and encourage and support each other through this journey!

I think a good idea would be to make some challenges each week (You're really good at them, Crystal!!), share our workouts, struggles, victories and anything we may feel like discussing!

Hi, my name is Dawn, I'm 46 and live outside of Pittsburgh. Joined MFP last year, and did fairly well with it and exercise, lost about 20 lbs., and then in late March had to have Thyroid surgery, and that derailed me for about a month or six weeks and I never got the same drive, and then work got the best of me and my husband was unemployed, then I was in the hospital with chest pains..... just a series of nonsense excuses that I keep saying are reasons.

I'm done making excuses, I have two children 19 and 20, and now it's time to focus a bit on me and my wants and needs. I want to be healthy, and happy, and thinner than I am now.

I'm excited to be a part of this group, and to use it to recharge my journey !

Thanks !

Dawn

Hi,

Im in!
I have 34-44pds to loose. Im 36, engaged and have this same 30pds to loose for the last 10years.
No real sob story, just gained 3pds a year since my 20's. Eating out and drinking are my problems, if I could only eat at home or make better choices and put the wine away Id get to my goal asap! I go out to eat 5 dinners a week and about 4 lunch's. My breaky is always perfectly healthy lol (its a start!).
Time to lock myself at home and ditch the booze.
I love the eating clean way of life inspired by Tosca Reno. I'll be following her guidelines from her books and magazines. http://www.toscareno.com/
To help keep me motivated I think Im re-joining the 8week Challenge to keep me on track January 21st they are starting up another Challenge. http://8weekchallenge.com/
I have a fitbit to monitor me daily and I enjoy watching my stats in groups on there.
I like to be competitive, friend me if you like

Nancy

Hi! I'm Kim. I'm from Chesterfield Va and I am 37 years old. Went through thyroid issues in my 20's and packed on the pounds and haven't been able to really get rid of them. I work out several times a week (weights, belly dancing, really need to get better with cardio). I'm currently 192 lbs and would like to get down to 160. Current body fat percentage is 38.6, goal is to lose 2% this month. I look forward to being on this journey with you.

Hi Everyone!

I'm Noelle. I live in Upstate NY with my wonderful husband. By day, I work an office job, which is either spent glued to my computer screen or running around trying to get things done... by evening, I work four-ish nights a week in a restaurant-At the end of this month, I'll have a few months off from job number 2.

I've always been relatively active and enjoy doing physical things, especially running. It's my therapy.

I started using MFP in November of last year after discovering that I had gained 15 lbs two or three months after getting married, but didn't REALLY start using it until March of 2012.

It's taken a really long time-January to December, but I've lost a total of 30 lbs (25 since really using mfp) and have gone from a size 14 to a size 8. According to BMI standards I need to lose another 25 lbs to be considered a "healthy" weight. And that will still put me on the very edge of that healthy BMI Standard. Luckily, I'm pretty healthy, minus the spare tire I've been carrying around.

I've lost most of the thirty pounds from the tiniest tweaks to my eating habits...but it's been mostly exercise. After a few years off, I finally started running again. This time of year has been challenging in that regard because of my work schedule, 8 am to 10 pm makes it difficult to a squeeze a run in and even harder to get up in the morning to do it.

Since Thanksgiving, I've lost 6 pounds, and that, I can tell you, is from diet as I haven't been very good about working out.

I want to do a balance of both for the last 25 lbs. That's my biggest problem, I'm still trying to toe that fine line of properly fueling my body (aka not starving and able to do a hardcore workout) and not overeating.

I really just want to tone up and get rid of this excess weight. I'm the smallest I've been since 9th or 10th grade, but I was solid muscle then.

I want to be able to run longer and further. I know that shedding these last pounds will help me avoid injury and run faster.

I have some big running goals for next year and I know that my MFP Buddies will help me stay on track!

Feel free to add me if you're looking for some extra support.

Hi! My name is Rebecca. I'm 31. I've struggled with weight most of my life. About 4 years ago, I had gotten really into shape and was at my goal weight when I suffered a labral tear in my hip. I had surgery and am still suffering pain and arthritis now in that hip, which makes exercise hard.

But, slowly and surely, my weight is going back down.

Hello!!

I'm Shonie! I am 24 (will turn 25 in a few days!) and I've lived in Texas my entire life! Originally from South Texas but now live in The Woodlands which is North of Houston. I hate the heat here!! So you will often see my complain about it :bigsmile: So I am a mom to an extremely active toddler (18 months old), wife to an exteremly supportive and amazing husband, furmom to 2 rescue lab mixes, full time student studying Finance and I work full time as a Operations Team Lead/Regional Trainer for a mortgage company. So I keep busy

I've re-started this weight loss/healthy life thing so many times over the last year and I am finally seeing results. Since I restarted again in September, I have lost 20 pounds and 20+ inches. I only have time to run so I started the C25K program about 8 weeks ago and I just ran my first 5K this past Saturday. It was an amazing experience and I cannot wait until I run my next one My ideal BMI weight is 150 but I'd be happy in the 150-160 range. Currently 180-183 so that puts me at 20-30 to lose. I hope to accomplish this by May 1, 2013 giving me exactly 20 weeks!

Good luck to everyone!! Feel free to add me as a friend! :flowerforyou:

-Shonie

Hello. I'm Jaime, turned 35 yesterday. Today I live in Arizona. I travel for work. I'm a Project Manager for an Electrical Engineering Firm. I manage projects like Solar Farms, Geothermal Plants, Wind Farms, Substations, blah blah. I've been in the utility industry for about 16 yrs. First the Phone Utility, then Gas Utility, now I work in Power. I'm planning to go back to school to get my MBA. In my free time I do online certifications with Vilanova for my Sigma Certification and PM Master Certifications.

I read. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. I'm a book hoarder and it's my luck that I have a Kindle because my bookcases are maxed out. I average about 300 books a year.

I have a home in AZ, San Diego and then HOME is in NorCal.

I have done the weight loss thing numerous times. I was a heavy kid, then at about 12 yrs all of the baby fat melted away and I spent the next 8 yrs too thin for my frame or height. I averaged 115 for 5'7, my build is curvy, wide hips, big boobs. 115, when I look back at pics, I never want to be that again.

I was married for 10 yrs, no kids, I gained about 130+ pounds. Filed for divorce and lost 100 pounds in 9 months. In the last 7 yrs I have gained and lost about 60 pounds.

Now, I'm on a mission to lose 60 pounds. I started at 219.6, today I'm 210.6. Not bad for 3 weeks. I workout 5 days a week, I try to do an hour but really I average between 40 and 75 minutes. I structure my day around my gym time.

When I'm not traveling for work I have my butt in a chair working in an office (this is about 3 months a yr).

I attempt to eat healthy, make healthy eating choices every day. When I can't make a healthy choice, I find the most healthy and portion control it. I won't DENY myself something because I will obsess about it and then eat 10, so I portion control so I can enjoy but keep within my calories and carb counts.

I have an active cat.

What else...I'm VERY excited for everyone to be in this group and to see their goals and accomplishments. I'm excited to have you all show off, I'm excited to show off.

This all makes me happy.

Thank you.

Hi everyone, I am Cathy and I live in Colorado. I am 42 years old. I was overweight (chunky) as a kid/teenager. I gained some weight with each kid, ( 3 of them, now 23, 21 and 16) and then I quit smoking in 2007 and put on 50 lbs. I got to my high of 240 lbs then.

I dropped 90 lbs starting ing 2008 to about mid 2010. Then I got lax with eating and put back on 30 lbs in the last year to year and a half. I am having a struggle of a time changing my eating habits again.

I am however an avid exerciser. I did almost every day, hard and most days, twice a day. I love turbo fire, insanity, turbo kickboxing, body combat, running, and some weights.... Its definitely true that its 70-80% diet... as I cannot lose it by all the exercise I do for sure!

I need some help getting my eating back in line! I am a carb/sweets aholic and have recently taken up wine...which is not my friend I think...

Hello everyone My name is Lori-ann, some people call me "LA". I am from Vermont. This is my first time joining a group and I look forward to getting to know everyone.

I am a family/child/individual mental health clinician for a non profit organization and I also have my own private practice. I am currently out of work due to back/leg issues, so I am just beginning to take short walks daily. I hope to begin yoga soon, so if anyone has any good suggestions on DVDs that would be awesome! I used to dance when I was young, but it's been difficult for me to attend classes because of my weight. A big goal of mine is to return to dancing as a hobby I enjoy photography, swimming, reading, and music and I hope to begin to learn how to cook healthier foods.

I would love to lose 40 lbs but 30 lbs is a great start! I am 5 7 and I weight 178 lbs. My eating habits are not very good but today I have begun a new diet plan to ensure I eat meals during the day. My weakness is sugar and eating at night. Oh, and feel free to ADD ME