From the city of beer and cheese - this might be hard!

Hello MFP community!

Yes I have been a member for over 2 years but as of this year I joined a program called Retrofit - and now I'm more motivated to chronicle my meals, exercise, goods and bads.

I live in Milwaukee, WI - Schlemeel, schlemazel, hasenfeffer incorporated ( hope you recognize that ! )

Actually - i live around the corner from a brewery and one of 3 urban cheese factories in the country that make good cheese, and they share a building with and ice creamery

Check out www.mkebrewing.com and clockshadowcreamery.com and www.purpledooricecream.com

I love supporting local, small businesses that use locally sourced ingredients and have highly "green" eco-friendly buildings

but GEEZ - beer and cheese - its a devilishly good combo!

AND - a good friend has a business across the street - a pizzeria and homemade gourmet chocolate shop !

I love supporting all these businesses in my neighborhood - but now I have to do so with my dieting strategies in hand.
Well, not exactly diet strategies - but better living and eating tips.

This is what drew me to my new program Retrofit. They give me a year to learn how to be a healthier person - with 4 helpers:
a program director, a nutriionist / reg dietitian, a physiatrist / exercise person, and a behavioral coach. All are real healthcare professionals ( all are nurses except for certified physiatrist. )

I chose the lose 10% of my weight program - they gave me a Fitbit One and a WiFi scale and with MFP as a good tool to monitor food - I have lost 10 pounds since starting 3 weeks ago! More than expected - due to all the calculations with calories and estimated activity burning calories - I should be losing about 1 lb a week.

If I hit 45 pound weigh loss by December 31st - its a celebration with beer and cheese tours!

Oh yeah - I also have a boyfriend of 18 years who will hopefully join me on this healthy journey

Our 20 year anniversary date is 12/13/14 - so maybe I can work on looking good in a white dress if you know what I mean!

Feel free to friend me - motivation helps us all!
I will continue to update my status with the Retrofit program and will answer questions if I can.

BTW - I like my Fitbit One and recommend it! Their free site to monitor your steps, and stairs, and sleep is nice ( you can upgrade to premium but since I have Retrofit - I just use the free site for now ) and I started using earndit.com to earn points and rewards just for wearing my Fitbit - awesomeness!

Thanks for reading - looking forward to working with y'all!

And...some of the goals I am working on now:
i'm one of those people that like to eat what's convenient - my oven is not working - and I'm not happy with my kitchen so I usually eat on the run or things in packages. One thing i am working on now is trying to incorporate real fruits and veggies into my meals.

I made guacamole for the first time with 4 avocadoes and a jar of Frontera guac sauce - mmm
And the hard thing right now is the amount of sodium in the foods I choose - would have never realized until i started using MFP.

again - thanks for reading !