Since I started this thing, I should at least make an intro so here goes
sorry for the novel lol

I lived and worked in one of the most fast paced and energetic cities in the world, NYC. I was a Banker by day, and a hula dancer during off hours and weekends.

I was constantly active and my lifestyle had me all over the city working, dancing at different venues and events, meeting friends for dinner, boozing and drinking 4 nights a week and brunching every weekend. It was a whirlwind of bars, clubs, restaurants, happy hours, brunches, events, birthdays, and so forth.

My Facebook was full of pictures of me in different bars with loads and loads of alcohol, food porn, and generally of me living the high life. I was thin and beautiful, my fabulous wardrobe changed every season, and I felt on top of the world. I also found less and less time for the gym.

The lifestyle I was living led me down a path of self destruction. Partying eventually took it's toll on my body. The weight slowly crept up. Then in 2011, unhappy with myself and my current state, I decided I wanted to leave my job and travel the world - go anywhere but where I was. It felt like I was going through a midlife crisis. Soon I quit my job of 15 years in what was a stupid and rash decision. Six months later I was unemployed, and living with my sister in Pennsylvania. To top it all off, I put on even more weight from non activity and low self esteem.

By late 2011 i finally got my act together and took a trip to visit family in New Zealand and Samoa for a 2 month vacation. The change of scene was just what I needed. Reconnecting with family was the ignition that sparked my move to Australia 6 months later.

And so here I am, in a whole new life and environment, trying to counteract the unhealthy lifestyle I lived for so long.

With that said, I hope to to be inspired, encouraged, and motivated by others. Most importantly, I want to inspire, encourage and motivate others each and every day.

Paying it forward gives me the greatest rewards.

That's awesome. I was also just doing this to journal my food but it's turned into something more. Thanks for sharing

Hi Carol, and welcome!!

I've been to Oahu several times and have many close friends there. I agree, it's one of the most beautiful and serene places in the world. It's definitely a good place to start in Polynesia

Thank you for posting in and introducing yourself. We're all here for the same thing and encouragement and motivation is one of the key factors of support during this healthy journey. Please feel free to share some success stories, or recommend ideas that has worked for you. If anyone has great advice, please don't hold it to yourself. Sharing is caring

I wish MFP had group notifications, I don't even get notified if a new member joined or posted but I do regularly stop by the group page to check

Have a great week guys!!!

HELLO EVERYONE!

My name is Lei. I am a half Samoan, French, & Asian mixed chick. I was born and raised in Hawaii, but moved to Oregon about 3 years ago. Growing up in the islands, I was a chubby kid, but as an adult I was mostly in shape. I was always doing something outdoors, dancing hula & tahitian every week, fishing, hiking, swimming etc. Then when I moved to Oregon with my boyrfriend, we were cold all the time, so we stayed inside the apartment, under the blankets, and ate fast food about 5 times a week. >__< The only places we would go is to work and home. Then BOOM! After 2 years, we went back home to Hawaii for a vacation and I realized when I put my tank top and shorts on, that Ive gained AT LEAST 30lbs!!! Needless to say my Samoan grandmother was not pleased to see me get chunky. lol. I am trying to live a more active and healthier lifestyle here now. Ive lost some weight so far, but I have a reunion coming up soon and I want to so DESPERATELY lose the fat still clinging to my body. So Im currently juicing, eating clean and trying to burn 500 cals per day.

Aloha Lei,

Thank you for sharing this. I know how crazy it is to have life slip by and one day you're looking at yourself and realize you put on weight. It's going to be a great journey for you especially that you're juicing, eating clean AND exercising. That's a recipe for success. Best of well wishes on your journey, and so glad that we're all here to do it together. Take care and see you around

Mahalo nui loa,
Liz

Hi everyone

Ailsa here from Scotland. Home now is Bay of Plenty, New Zealand.

Had a few healthy scares that made me think it was time to do something about my weight and my health overall.
So started on the exercise bike at home. Lost a bit of weight doing that. Then decided to join the local Snap fitness Gym.
Really enjoying that.

Hi Ailsa!

Wow! 26 kgs lost, that's an amazing feat. Thanks for joining and for sharing your story. Hope this group can get together and help each other to share knowledge, inspire and motivate each other. Hope to see you more on here

Cheers,
Liz

Hi Rhonda, and welcome!

Hope you are able to get some helpful and interesting information from this site. It's good to have a new member and I would love to know how you lost 40 lbs!!

If you need anything, just let me know.

Feel free to add me

Cheers,
Liz

Hi,

My name is David I am Samoan just joined the group a couple of days ago. I'm glad to find a group like this for islanders.

Hi David,
Welcome! Thank you for being part of our group. We are all here for support and motivation. Have a read around, I've comprised many things I've taken from many folks on MFP and put it together to share with everyone. Hope they can help you

Talofa from Samoa.

I've been struggling with my weight since I was young. Always the biggest in pictures. Ugh. I met my husband and weighed over 200lbs. I got involved in some horrible things and dropped down to 165 in less that 2 months. I cleaned up my act and slowly dropped down to 145 the healthy way. I had never felt more fatter before. I started eating more and more especially late at night and I now find myself 20lbs heavier. I checked out some pictures taken about a year ago and was shocked to see that I was beautiful. For once I was happy with what I looked like and right away got confused as to why I felt fat. Now I'm determined to get back to that weight. I have little motivation from my husband so its all on me.

Hope this goes well...

thanks for that story, we all have self esteem issues that stems with body consciousness. For a long time I was in denial that I was gaining weight. It happened almost overnight and I was shocked when I looked at my pics 6 months later. Hope we can enocurage each other every day!

What a great idea for a group, :-)

I'm Tanya, I'm 32, I'm Maori originally from Wellington now in Australia.

I have two kids (6 and 2), and really packed on the weight after my second child. My 'this has to change' moment came when I realized I couldn't fit into my 'fat' pants which were already a size 18! I was seriously disgusted, I cried and cried then googled weightloss and found my way here in February of this year. Best thing I have ever done! In the three months ive been here I have lost 13kgs (28pounds :-) pounds sounds so much better!! Lol) and I've happily gone from needing size 20 pants to now wearing loose size 16 pants! Still a while to go yet but I'm confident I can do it (without going hungry!!!).

I have also discovered a love of exercise, I bike,walk or do c25k 5/6 days a week. Never thought I would like running but it turns out I'm enjoying it! I've also met some of the most supportive people here and I'm really enjoying my weight loss journey!

I'm very interactive here, log daily, and look forward to getting to know more people :-)

Hi Tanya! Good thing we're friends on here it's great to see everyone's personal journey thanks for sharing!

Hi everybody! My name is Noma & I live in Washington state. I'm Tongan, white, and east Indian. I have 2 children & am twice divorced. I never lost the weight with my youngest child (who is now 9 years old) and I thought it was time I did so. But it's not all about the weight for me. I want to get dressed in the morning & not feel the need to wear spanx. I want to walk up a flight of stairs & not be out of breath & not having my legs touch when I move would be lovely. lol Plus working out makes me less depressed & gives me more energy. I want to be an example to my children so they grow up & don't have the struggles with weight that myself & my family do.
I've not gotten very far with this though. I work long hours & being a single mother takes a lot of my time as well. I joined to see if I could find people like me. I mean, I can't be the only person trying to find the time to do a 100 things at once. lol
Well, I'm not sure what else to say but I hope you all have a great day!

Hi Noma,
Good to have you on here. I'm happy to see more of our people on MFP and getting healthier. It's a great site to support each other and share in our journey. Welcome