hi! i'm joy, from los angeles.

married 2 years, i'm a teacher. I started my journey 3 years and 70 lbs ago. I have maintained my 70 lbs since then, but have a goal of losing 110. I got down to the 130s last year but stress and laziness have bumped me up 20 lbs since then. I'm back with a vengeance!

I practice intermittent fasting-- aka the 5:2 diet where you eat maintenance calories 5 days a week and have 2 non-consecutive days of "fasting" i.e. 500 calories. Thats why my food diary might seem a little weird at times. I've been doing this for a couple weeks and find that it works for me, i find it easier to stay on track knowing that there are days where I can eat like a normal person. I hope this doesn't offend anyone. I know there are different ways to lose, and this is what has been working for me.

I love to read the news and cook. I watch many shows including, revenge, greys, community, new girl, the mindy project, svu and criminal minds.

Hi! I'm Bri and I'm from a little town on Lake Erie in Pennsylvania. I've used MFP off and on for the past year or so. I'm not quite sure why I keep stopping, because every time I'm on I lose. During the day I am a special education teacher for 4th-6th grade students with learning disabilities and behavior disorders. To say my job is stressful is an understatement, but I still love it. However, I think the stress is a large part of my problem. I finished my Master's degree this past August, and decided to go back to get my principal's certificate. So, I'm back in school part-time.

I've been married for 5 years. I reached my highest weight ever shortly before I got engaged, and lost over 50 pounds before my wedding. (I must say, I looked awesome) Shortly after getting married we got pregnant. A somewhat difficult pregnancy that ended with bedrest led to a beautiful little girl (now 3 1/2) and 75 pounds of weight gain. I'm still working on getting the last 25 pounds off.

In the past year I have gotten into running and have run several 5ks. My friends talked me into signing up for a half marathon, that will take place this August. I have been slowly working up my endurance to get ready for some hard core training this summer. I was never big into the gym until recently. I joined the new gym and love being able to go after my daughter goes to bed and get a little bit of "mommy time."

In addition to school, family, and working out I also have a blog: http://brisadventuresinfitness.blogspot.com/ . It's where I've been writing about my journey. I also love to cook and bake. I love trying to make recipes even healthier, and I'm always experimenting with new ingredients. I also enjoy reading and music. There is rarely a moment I don't have some type of music on.

Some random facts about me:
-Favorite color - green
-Favorite food - bruschetta
-Favorite TV shows - Revenge, New Girl, Smash
-I was born with 6 toes on my left foot
-I'm the oldest of three children, and my husband is the youngest of three!

Hi everyone!! I am so excited to be part of a challenge! I really think it will help me stick to things and be more motivated.

I am 33 years old and currently weight 182lbs and am 5'6. I would like to be around the 150lb mark so looking to lose about 30 lbs.

I am from Ontario Canada and I run my own dog walking and pet sitting business. I spend atleast 6-8 hours a day outside with my dog and atleast 5 of this is fairly fast paced walking, My cardio is not horrible due to things and my legs are firm but due to overeating I have put on 37lbs in the last year and need it off! I am now a member of the gym and also starting insanity workouts.

I don't watch much TV...just documentaries and movies on netflix but I do like comedies like family guy and seinfeld reruns if I watch the tube.

I adore travelling and have lived in Australia as well as Scotland and travelled to various parts of Europe, New Zealand etc. I am now stuck back here in Ontario but I have an amazing family here, an amazing boyfriend and an amazing job so I think I will stay awhile!

I look forward to getting to know some of you and helping each other stick with our goals. P.S if anyone on here is doing Insanity workouts or thinking of starting I would love to hear from you!

Sarah !

Hi there, my name is Ana, I graduate from college and turn 23 in June. I need to lose weight for the 2 special events but it doesn't stop there so I decided to look for groups that would keep me motivated even after my birthday. I have already lost 10 pounds in the last 2.5 weeks but I am guessing the massive 7 pound loss in the first week was just due to water weight lost. I had a very normal 3 lb loss this week and hope to keep this going.

Beginning weight: 195lbs (2 weeks ago, 2/20/13)
Current weight: 184 lbs
Goal weight: 120-125 lb range
Overall weight loss goal: 75 lbs, (45 for this challenge)
Weight lost so far: 10 lbs
Height: 5'3

I was born and raised in the beautiful Fiji islands. I moved to America 5 years ago.My fave colors are Green, Blue, Red, Yellow, Orange, Purple, Black... umm I think I like all colors just the same. Fave seasons are Fall and Winter, love Christmas! I love fish and chips but I also love anything with fish in the mix. Hey I grew up on an island, so I have an unnatural love for seafood.
Fave television series: there are so many but I am currently in love with Downton Abbey and Raising Hope.
Books: I love the Harry Potter series, don't really read much but I grew up with Harry Ron and Hermione. I also like the Dan Brown novels. Hobbies: watching random videos on YouTube, watching TV and movies. I also love spending time with my family, in person or via skype.
If there was any place I could visit, I would go to France. I read about it in Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code when I was 14 and have wanted to go ever since.

What are your favorite workout routines? Walking!!! I love walking because all I need to do for this is get my heinie out the door to the pavement. No special equipment, skill or fitness level required.

What diet do I follow? None! I eat anything and everything just as long as it is within my calorie limit. Some days life happens and I can't exercise, it is on days like that that I absolutely eat within my calorie limit. But when I exercise, I make sure to eat enough so my body doesn't go into starvation mode. That's it!

Feel free to add me.

Hello everyone. My name is Jamie, I live in Central Florida, I'm 32,married and a mom of 2 prettty amazing young "men". I started out on my weight loss and get healthy journey 3 years ago. I weighed in at 214.8 pounds. Today through a lot of strugggles I weigh 139.2 pounds. I am working on becoming more focused as I continue to lose and become healthier and stronger. I want to lose another 19 pounds this year. I know I can do it, I just have to stay focused. Best of luck to each of you and if you want you can always add me to your friends list.

Hi Everyone, my name is Mary. I live in a small town in Ontario Canada with my boyfriend and our 2 Sheppard-Lab cross dogs. I work full time at a desk job. Since I started on MFP last year I have lost 39 lbs and have approx. 40-50 more to go depending on the results and how I feel as I get closer to my goal. I had back surgery just over 7 years ago and the years that it took to fully recover resulted in significant weight gain. Last summer I slowly took up running and have been able to get into a routine that kept me running at least 4 days a week outside through the snow and cold that is Canadian winter, this has made me realise that I can do this and stick to it :drinker:.

SW: 221
CW: 182
Goal Weight for this challenge: 160
UGW: 135-145

I will not be focused so much on the scale the next 9 weeks though as I have to step up my Tough Mudder Training, but hopefully an added bonus of that training will be dropping lbs.

My favorite cardio is running outside with the dogs first thing in the morning, very refreshing and they are so excited to be out there that they motivate me. For strength I focus on body resistant exercises that I can do in the evening while the man and I watch TV (we PVR WAY too many shows).

Looking forward to doing this challenge with all of you!!!

Hello everyone! My name is Alana, I have been on MFP since Aug. 2012 and have not seen much weight loss since. I however lost inches because I feel it in my clothes. I did not let the numbers on the scale discourage me, I kept strong and continued to get my workouts in 3-4 times a week. I enjoy going to my Zumba, Spinning, and Kickboxing classes, which is a whole lot more than I was doing before Aug. 2012. I try to stay within my calorie range according to MFP, but was told by my nutritionist I need to eat more calories :noway:

Any weight loss amount by the end of this challenge would be awesome!:bigsmile:

Good luck to all!

Hey all, I’m Gynelle, I'm 35yrs and I’m from the beautiful twin island nation of Trinidad and Tobago but currently live in Australia (so in my mind I've renamed this challenge 'Fall into Winter' :laugh: ). I’m married to a darling guy (6th anniversary coming up and we've known each other for 14 years) who is also on a weightloss and lifestyle change journey.

For most of my childhood, teen years I was thin like anything but the moment I left school and began slumming during the day (going to afternoon classes) and eating anything I can find in the fridge or cupboards (think jello puddings, chips and homebaked scones every day - huh ) I started piling on the weight bit by bit. It wasn’t until I hit my 30s and moved to Australia that I started developing a pouch along with a double chin so I started thinking that I really need to lose the weight. In 2011 I went from being 79kgs to about 65kgs but over 2012 I’ve gone up to 70kg where I seem to be most consistent. I have a bad habit where I exercise like crazy but then end up eating so much junk that I end up counteracting the good . My goal for 2013 was to get to 65kgs and after joining the New Year New You challenge I actually met and surpassed that goal!!! So for this challenge I'm going to try to get to my ultimate goal weight of 60kgs!

On to my favourite things:
Colours: blue and purple
Favourite place: Pigeon Point, Tobago
Place I'd love to visit: Paris
Food: lasagna or my daddy’s stewed oxtail
Tv: Big bang theory, Downton Abbey, 30 Rock, Modern Family, Revenge, now getting into Scandal and loving it!!
Book: Harry Potter, romance novels, chick lit (Meg Cabot, Sophie Kinsella, Jane Costello etc)
Game: Hard core Sims fan!!
Exercise: zumba, spin class and I've just joined the Uni run squad and absolute love it!
Hobby: reading, writing my own novels (I just self published my first book and my husband and I are currently collaborating on a 2nd)

Always happy to make new friends so please feel free to add me!!

My name is Lisa and I live in Central Florida. My father was in the US army when I grew up, so I’ve lived in many different places. However, I’ve lived here since 1989, so I hope by now I’m an honorary native. I’ve lost and gained at least an elephant during my lifetime but, at 50, I just really want to be done with it. I have wasted way too much of my time, money, and self-esteem dieting and regaining the weight.

As far as the questions go, here it is:

Favorite color: usually green, sometimes blue, sometimes red

Favorite season: Spring, when the azaleas and wisteria are blooming. Beautiful. I love it hot, though, so I do like summer.

Favorite food: salad with everything (i.e. the fattening kind)

Favorite television series: Holmes on Homes, NCIC, historical documentaries

Favorite books: I loved “The Faith Club” and “Dance of the Dissident Daughter” and, of course, the Harry Potter series. ”Jane Austen in Boca” made me laugh out loud. “The Guernsey Potato Peel Pie and Literary Society” made me laugh and cry.

Hobbies: Well, I have a husband, four dogs, three cats, and two guinea pigs, and I work full time so I don’t really have time for many hobbies. I do like working out and motorcycle riding.

Where would I visit? Venice. Italy. Greece. Australia. Can I just do a world tour?

Favorite workout routine: I do mostly exercise dvds so that I can do my workout first thing in the morning. Currently I’m using Chris Freytag’s HIIT workouts and a few from Jillian Michaels. I also walk on Saturday morning, do yoga, and (come summer) will be swimming again.

How much would I like to lose? Eventually I’d like to lose about 60 pounds. For the challenge, I’d like to lose 24.

My name is Christi, I am from central Minnesota. For this challenge, my goal is to lose 30lbs. I realize I am going to be pushing myself hard to accomplish this within the time frame but I know I can do it if i stick with it.

I admittedly start and stop this fitness feat all the time and I hate that I do it. I used to love going to the gym and had a very nice figure as a result. I know if I adopt those healthy habits again I can have the fit physique I once had a few years ago.

I currently do not have a workout routine of any kind but I do love taking my dog for walks/runs. I have a gym membership that I must use. There is plenty of cardio equipment there that I do like to use as well as lifting weights. As long as I have music while I work out, I am content.

I have three awesome kids, a dog and a husband who keep me very busy. I like to paint and listen to all kinds of music. My favorite season is summer although at this point with our recent snow storm, I will take spring all day long in lieu of shoveling the driveway.

I am really excited to start this challenge and begin to become a healthier me!

Hello Everyone! My name is Jamie, I am from the DC area, but currently live in London. It's a wonderful change, but I do miss family and friends. I am very happy to participate in this challenge, I've been really focusing on working out at least 5x week and trying to eat as clean as possible fore the last month. I lost about 50 pounds back in 2007 when I was on WW, I kept off all but 10 lbs, but never reached my goal weight. I really want to get there this year! I have about 30 lbs more to go.

My husband and I are enjoying the travel opportunities while we are living in London. Our next holiday is to Santorini--beautiful crystal blue waters await us in July--hope to feel comfortable in my bathing suit by then!

I've recently started a 10K training program and started trying to swim laps. I also enjoy weight training. I would appreciate some tips on how to incorporate more healthy protein into my diet--whenever I do my 'pie chart' it seems like I'm eating way too many carbs. I'd like to get to more of a 40/40/20 (Protein, Carbs, Fats) split if I could.

I'm just figuring out MFP, seems like a wonderful community, feel free to add me as a friend

Jamie

Looking forward to starting this challenge. I live in Cairo, Egypt. I am 48 years old and I have two daughters ages 24 and 18. I have already lost 11 pounds since January, 1. I am challenging myself to sticking to losing weight for one year. These mini challenges are added motivation. Thanks for adding me.

The name's Landry. I am a financial journalist in NYC. I don't have a favorite season...I like them all equally considering each offers something different for me to enjoy! Same goes for favorite book--I've read and enjoyed too many to pick just one. My favorite color is pale green. I'm a big fan of red wine, craft beers and cheese (seeing a problem here?)! I'm a cat person and have a wonderful black boy cat. I also am in a going on three year relationship (and have totally entered the relationship "comfort zone" when it comes to food and weight).

I am 5'6" and 165lbs (most I've ever weighed). I'm looking to drop somewhere around 30lbs so that I'm back down into the mid-130s. The last time I weighed 132lbs was in February of 2011 (two years ago) and I've slowly been gaining since then. Growing up I was always super involved in sports (six varsity letters in high school--four in swimming and two in lacrosse) and active upwards of three hours a day. In total I was a competitive swimmer for 10 years, including part of college. However, now at age 26 I am saddled at a desk eight+ hours a day writing about investment strategies. On the plus side, I do get a fair amount of walking done because of my commute (between walking from my apartment to the train and from the train to my office and back again I walk on average three miles a day during the work week). Aside from that I aim to work up to a four+ day a week/45+ minute workout routine (presently on hold because I am sick).

As for my diet, I'm aiming for 1200 calories a day give or take, with an aim on eating more fruits and veggies.Additionally, I want to cut back on meat in favor of seafood. My biggest issues are my former disordered eating habits (for a number of years I would binge and purge/binge and starve/eat regular sized meals and purge/binge and overexercise) which can be easy to fall back into. I'm really trying to focus on eating well and eating until I am satisfied but not past it. Also, I need to learn to not feel guilt when it comes to food and eating!

So, as I said before my long term goal is in the 30lb range, but for this 15 week challenge I'm aiming for between 15-20lbs. I think it's manageable! My motivation includes feeling better about myself as well as this super cute bikini I saw on the J.Crew website.

Good luck, everyone!

HI my name is kodi andd im from wiggins colorado and i want to lose 50 pounds by the end of summer i know thats a little much but thats my goal. If i make it i will be so excited since i struggle really hard day to day. i suffer from binge eating its a pain in the *kitten*. Any way my hobbys are animals lol my favorite color is lime green. I want to be a barrel racer and being big thats really difficult i can ride well but not enough to go fast enough. I want to visit kentucky i know souds lame but theres something about that place that draws me there . I am a stay at home wife i manage the farm and bills etc while my husband works. Theres 3 of us me my husband and my dad and i couldnt ask for any one better to live with. My life has been rough my mom doesnt like me cause im big and mostly the whole family on both sides dont like me cuase im big. I care but then again i dont but it does suck cause i never go to family stuff. Im the biggest out of all relatives and i dont like being talked about. I dont have many friends cause they either get jealous that im losing wieght and sabatage me or they just dont think im worth their time cause i dont have kids and i dont drink and party so thats fine with me. I wish to be someone that can walk into a room and get stared at for not being huge i want my beautiful face to have a healthy and fit body to go with it. Its really hard the most ive lost was 12 lbs and i think half of it was water wieght i dont know. Ive been recently diagnosed with a kidney issue and the doctor said its cause im fat literally and my liver is fatty. So i either need to lose wieght or im going to DIE so i guess i better buckle down then and get this wiehgt off. My goals are to wear clothes comfortably, able to run and move around without getting winded or really sweaty, ride my mare better and save her back. Oh favorite tv show is nashville!!! feel free to add me

Hi Everyone

My name is Beth. I am 28 years old and I have just had a baby 5 months ago and my main reason for joining my fitness pal was to loose my baby weight. I was 189lbs after having my baby I am now down to 139lbs. I want to get down to 120lbs and get more toned and shredded. So basically I've 19lbs to get off. So I am going to use these 15lbs to get this 19lbs off (or as much as I can) and not only to loose weight but to tone up and get more shredded. So bring it on!! I will post photos once I work out how to! xxx