Hi all, I am new to the site, new to counting calories too. Menopause seems to have thrown a monkey wrench into my whole body. I turned 53 in April, and over the last several years the weight has been bouncing around but mostly going up. I am also dealing with gallbladder and gallstone issues off and on the last year, and no health insurance too. I am also asthmatic. My doctor thinks I can get it all under control with diet change and exercise, and so far it is working, except for when ever I back slid before. So Mother's Day weekend, 5-12-2013, I decided I had to get serious about this, and I joined this site and also "SparkPeople" and started counting calories for the first time. What an eye opener! I decided that I was going to keep using both sites as they both have something different to offer. But got to tell you that this sites food counter and exercise counter seems to "Rock" more to me than the other site. It seems more and more I am going in here first to log stuff in and then trying to copy the info into the other site, because it seems to be lacking so much info in those areas. I needed to lose about 140 Lbs, and I have already lost 5 Lbs right at the start of joining these two sites, so I am on my way, but I still have a long way to go. But I am not going to beat myself up about it or worry too much about when I get there. I am just going to try my best to make better choices, and try to get at least 10 mins of exercise in every day, but would love to get 30 mins to an hr or so every day. But I know there will be days when I just don't want to move too much, like when we get into the hot Santa Anna days, or the rainy days. And there will be days that the family has other plans that will through a monkey wrench into my schedule too! But I think that if I at least try to do 10-30 mins in front of a fan on the really hot days of walking in place, or sit ups, or push ups, or something like that, and do similar on rainy days, and just do more the day after the family days, then I will be okay. Same with eating out, if I do it in moderation, or just cut back and exercise more the next day, I think it is going to be okay. I also have a 6 year old dog that I like to take on walks around my neighborhood for at least 30 mins to an hour a lot, and on days when I know it's going to be really hot, I just try to get out really earlier before it gets too bad. She doesn't like to go out when it's wet out side even to go to the bathroom, so on those days I don't try to take her, I just find something to do inside. House work and gardening are great too. I live in Escondido, Ca right now, but I grew up in San Diego, CA and I have spent all my life some where in Southern Ca, except for about 2 years in Va around 1988-1990. This is my second group that I joined in this site, the first group I joined was one for California Members. I any one wants to add me as a friend, please send me a friend invite, the more the merrier I think!

Hullo from Jacksonville Florida. I hate to say this but so far I believe I am the most senior member. This just makes my day! dieting sux...can i have an amen?

I have never heard about Callanetics, I had to "google" it, it sounds very interesting, I might just have to check that out too.