I'm Karen, living in CT. I'm 151 as of today and want to be at least 135 by end of challenge. I've been plateaued (maintained, not on purpose) since early 2012, so this will definitely be a challenge. I need to be strict with myself, because I tend to bend the rules too often. I've been wanting to get over this slump, and needed some extra motivation. I'll be traveling in the summer and I want to be in great shape for the trip, so hopefully this will be the motivation I need.

I posted the before, hopefully in the after pic all those mushy bits will be gone.

I'm trying to get iron back in my diet lately as my energy levels have plummeted due to low iron. So right now I'm trying to keep my diet high on proteins, leafy greens, legumes, and some fortified grains. My biggest weakness is sweets, which takes over my cals with no nutrition, so I'm planning on limiting those. I need my energy from vits/minerals not sugar.

Exercise has always been a pain in my *kitten*, but I'm going to try to get into a routine.

My name's Becca, I just moved to Virginia Beach with my son, dog, and my mother. I'm 23yrs old. I go to school full-time online, and just got a full-time job.

Currently I do a mix routine with Insanity as the base for my exercises. I work in some Nike Training Club routines (mostly the targeted 15 minute exercises) and occassionally try to work in a light job/run into my workout. I'm looking forward to eventually working on the couch 2 5k program to help build up my running.

I'm working hard to eat a paleo diet, but it's a constant battle. I'm finding it easier everyday, but I still miss grilled cheese.

The only tv show I religiously watch is Once Upon a Time.
My Favorite color is green.
My favorite meal is probably some sort of italian pasta dish. BUT my favorite Paleo meal is a tie between my homemade "breaded" chicken and my homemade apple crisp -- SO yum!

Good Luck everyone! Feel free to add me

Hi everyone! I am Jamie, I'm 29 and I live in Mount Horeb, WI.

Favorite Colour: Blue
Favorite Season: Early Summer (right before it gets rediculously hot)
Favorite Food: Italian
Favorite Television: Duck Dynasty, Big Bang Theory, Green Bay Packer/Pittsburgh Steeler football, Psych
Favorite Book: The Hunger Games trilogy
Favorite Hobby: Knitting, Digital Photography, Classic Movies, Traveling, Hanging out with my 1 year old niece, reading, going to the gym.
Favorite Destinations: At this point I just want a stamp in my Passport.
Favorite Workout Routines: My personal training sessions, Running, Kettlebells

Please feel free to add me if you are looking for accountablilty friends. Just leave me a message that you're from this challenge

Hello All... I'm Sharita. I'm the mother of two children, ages 3 & 6. I used to be at what I thought was my perfect weight, until I had my son. I used to eat extremely healty. I was going to the gym just about every morning. After I had him, I thought I would just bounce right back but I didn't. At that point I was at my heaviest weight ever & for some reason I just couldn't get it together. Then last year I lost my mother & damn near went crazy. My mind was all over the place. During that period I just didn't care about anything & completely let myself go. NOW im really at my heaviest. Before I had my son my weight was 168 & I loved it, now I weigh 281. My life has gotten so much harder & I can't seem to get it back on track. I have a full time job that requires me to work overtime & I have another full time job when I get home. It's so hard for me to find time to exercise, because I'm always so tired. I rarely have time for myself.

Hi all, my name is Daryll and I am from New Zealand...yep that means that this is more of a spring into Winter challenge for me!!

I am married and have 2 kids and I work full time. I used MFP to lose about 16 pounds about this time last year and then hurt my knee training for my first half marathon - i managed to finish the race, but then did nothing for over 6 months and have put most of the weight back on!! Now is my time to get back on track and get to my goal weight before the winter kicks in and all I want to do is hibernate!

Favorite Colour: Changes all the time...is green at the moment
Favorite Season: Autumn (Fall)
Favorite Food: Italian
Favorite Television: At the moment its The Following...love that show!
Favorite Hobby: Reading and spending time with my kids
Dream Vacation: On a golden beach, somewhere sunny, with my book and a drink with an umbrella in it :-)
Favorite Workout Routines: Running

Hi group! My name is Bri. I'm from North Carolina. I'm an artsy kinda gal with varying tastes in music, art, literature, etc... I'm also a a total geek who loves comics and video games. I'm married, no kids yet but I definitely have baby fever. I really want to reach a healthy weight first though.

Favorite Color: Alternates between Red and Yellow
Favorite Season: Summer because of the fun it's all cookouts and beaches. Fall because of the scenery and wardrobe. NC is really pretty in the Fall and I love wearing cute jackets, scarves, boots, and hats.
Favorite Food: Sushi...I have to fight myself to keep from gorging on it
Favorite Television: Here's a few... Supernatural, Being Human UK & US, Touch, The Following, Community, Project Runway.
Favorite Books: I love reading, it's hard to choose. Their Eyes Were Watching God, Little Bee, 32 Candles, Anita Blake Series
Favorite Hobby: Anything craftsy or DIY. I like hands on stuff.
Dream Destination: Greece for the beauty and culture. I once saw a cruise that went to Greece, Turkey, and Egypt...perfect!
Favorite Workout Routines: I really like circuit training and Zumba

Feel free to friend!

Hi guys, I'm Pear. I'm a young'un, eighteen years old and a college student.

I don't really have a weight goal, but appearance-wise I'd like to look really stinking good in a swimsuit, and performance-wise I'd like to be able to run a 5K in 30 minutes or less and a mile in 8 20-second sprints with 10-second rests. And be able to do 30 burpees in a row. And a cartwheel. But yeah, mostly I want to look good. Very shallow.

SHE SAYS WHILE EATING A COOKIE.

UM. Clearly, I love food (otherwise eating fewer cookies wouldn't be so much of a problem) and am quite lazy (otherwise getting more exercise wouldn't be so much of a problem. But other than that, I'm okay, I promise!

Hi group! This is the part of my diet that will be the hardest for me. I'm looking at the last 23 pounds. And, I don't want to fall off track before summer. I have goals to meet with biking. Of course, weather here in Chicago has been bad for biking. And sidewalks aren't being shoveled enough to use them.

I look forward to the support, as well as making my goals by summer!

Hi Everyone!

My name is Stephanie. Looking to shed about 30 lbs. Looking forward to this challenge. Feel free to add me! love the Motivation & support from everyone.

Best of luck to everyone, we are all in this together!

xox

I'm Kelly and I live in Wisconsin in a little itty-bitty unincorporated miss it if you blink area in the country. Not too far from town.

I like to read, sew, be on the net, and I crochet occasionally.
I have brown eyes and red hair.
I'm 5' and have a small frame.
I love the color blue.
I have one cat and would be a cat lady if I could. Maybe some day.
I have two grown sons and five grandchildren.
Favorite book is Anthem by Ayn Rand.
Favorite movie is Freeway with Reese Witherspoon.

I decided I had to do something about my weight three and a half years ago when I had to have my husband put my shoes and socks on. It made me very embarrassed every time. I've since lost 140 pounds.

I work as a desk clerk at a motel and the job is interesting to say the least. You never know what people are going to do or say and I've dealt with some real winners.

That's about it. Anyone can friend me if they like.

How much would you like to lose by the end of the Spring into Summer 2013 challenge??

Lets get to know each other -- Where are you from? What is your favorite color, season, food, television series, books, and hobby? Where would you visit if you could visit any place in the world!!?? -- and why? What are your favorite workout routines? RAMBLE ON MY FRIENDS!! lol Feel free to add your own questions to the mix! Feel free to add me as a friend!

Hi everyone! The name is Shelley and I call the great state of Alabama home!! That's right, I'm a Bama girl through and through!! I'll start with the things mentioned in the intro then add a few of my own. My favorite color is green, it's bright and happy and always reminds me of spring and summer. My favorite season is Spring because in Alabama, Spring is the prettiest to me My favorite food is my husband's grilled chicken breast! I have several favorite television series but a few of those in order are: "True Blood", "The Walking Dead", "Dallas", "Smallville", "Supernatural", and "Double Divas" (my son watches all but "True Blood" with me). My favorite books are anything that can catch my attention in the description on the back. I love to read! My hobby is anything that lets me spend time with my family, We will play soccer, tennis, walk the bike trail, play the PS3 or XBox together.

Now to my own additions....lol. Like I said, my name is Shelley, and have been with my husband for 17 years. We are the type of couple who does everything fast. We met one day, moved in together two days later, married a month later, had our first boy a year later, and our second boy three years later. He had 3 children (boy, girl, and boy) from previous relationships that completed our family. So now we have a 14 yr old, 16 yr old, 19 yr old, 20 yr old, and 21 yr old. Has it always been easy? Heck no!! Have there been times where I thought prison would probably have been easier? Definitely But would I have it any other way? No. Every struggle, every obstacle, every mistake has made us appreciate each other more.

We had to have a horrific tragedy occur in the family to open our eyes and realize that all the hours at work will never replace what we are missing out on. And even though I have always been a stay-at-home mom, he worked 70-80 hours a week so I was basically mom and dad to 4 of the 5 kids. We opened our eyes and decided to change things. Now we go to the beach every year no matter what is going on, we never miss a soccer game, we go to the movies at least once a month, and we have all the kids in the house at the same time at least once a year. That's hard because the oldest lives 4 states away! But it happens and the kids understand why it's so important.

My health journey began January 13th because I am tired of looking in the mirror and being disgusted with what I see. I'm tired of being winded everytime I climbed the stairs in the house. I want to be healthy and I want to enjoy watching my children live life and one day enjoy my grandchildren.

Feel free to add me and look forward to all of us meeting our goals together!!

RRROOOLLLLLL TTTIIIDDDEEE RRROOOLLLLLL!!!!!!

Hi guys,

I'm Angela, 23 years old and from The Netherlands . I'm working during the week (desk job) and play badminton and games in my free time. Also doing some work outs in the weekend.

I lost about 5 lbs (2.3 kg) now and want to lose about 25 lbs in total.

I'm very curious how all the results of everyone will be in 16 weeks'!!

Hi! I have a vacation in July, lots of beaches and shorts and tank tops since it's in Orlando... so I started weight training yesterday! I want to lose pounds, but I'm mainly focused on inches. I want to be able to comfortably wear shorts and tank tops this summer. My starting weight is 209.8, I'd love to be 179 but I made my goal 185 to be more realistic. I wear a size 16 and my goal is size 12.

My current routine is stronglifts 5x5 3x a week, plus a little cardio and walking here and there. I currently follow the keto diet and may switch to CKD or paleo for my lifting.

Location: Illinois
Fav. color: Purple
Season: Spring
Food: unhealthy - pizza healthy - spinach and eggs
TV: Rupaul's drag race :P
Books: naughty books?
Hobby: writing/rping, cooking, reading
Favorite workouts: Zumba and Kickboxing



I'm pretty excited about this challenge, good luck everyone!

hey, Im Hira...I have about 35 lbs to go but if i get to 150 it will be like a dream come true. I was 150 bfr my kids, it has been impossible for me to stay on track. Just sick of this really want to get rid of my weight. Current :188 (183 as of today) , oh also I am jucing but i do take like a mango or something when that chocolate fever strikes

Hi all!

I have quite a bit of weight to lose, about 85 lbs. I don't know what its like to be at a healthy weight, so I'm trying to get there. I haven't lost as much weight as I would like to (yet), but I have gotten rid of a lot of my bad habits that caused me to struggle with my weight. With this challenge I hope to see some real progress.

Good luck everyone