Hi all!

I'm Sarah. I have been on MFP for about a 9 months now on and off. I started to lose weight last year when I stepped on the scale at the DR office and saw the number of 352. It wasnt the best weight to try to get pregers. So I knew I had to cut down on how much I was eating per meal. My portions were was out of control. Before I found MFP I had lost 15 then I lost interest during the holidays but the good news is I held my weight all winter. And since I started back up using MFP in the last 2 wks I lost 4 lbs and been pretty darn active. I have been making things from scratch in the kitchen which helps keep my active rolling out bread and such. Its a good work out. Plus been bowling with my son. I gotta catch up with my hubby who has lost almost 100 lbs while truck driving. I am proud of him and myself for the progress we have made.

Hi! My name is Andrea. I am 54, and have to lose about half of me! LOL! I have been a member for about 2-3 weeks. I haven't logged as anything lost yet, long story - different scales in different places showed my weight differently. I had to chose one scale, and I did that two weeks ago. Last week no loss, so am looking forward, sort of, to weighing myself this week.

But I HAVE lost about 4 pounds since the beginning of February. I was referred by my doctor to a program for people with chronic conditions (I am type 2 diabetic and have bad arthritis in my right knee). This class was at a gym, and they taught warm ups, cardio and strength excercises both with and without machines, and cool down/stretching. It is amazing how much only 8 weeks has helped. I went from only being able to do 12 minutes of cardio (treadmill/bike/row machines) to the full 30 minutes by the end. My knee is even a bit improved. So, I jumped in and got a year's membership because they have maintenance classes! I hope some of the people I met at the class will be there, but as all the other people in the class will be grads of the same program at least we'll have that in common & I am sure I will make new friends who understand what I am going through. Thankfully most of the people at the gym have been friendly, no one has made any rude comments or anything like that! But they may just be aware of the class too - hope it's no different if I wind up going in the afternoons (it's apparently not very busy in the early afternoon.)

Best wishes to everyone on your particular weight loss journey!

Hello, I'm Jen. I'm 30 years old (5'8" and 315 to start), living in NorCal with my boyfriend of over two years.

I've been overweight my entire life, despite being active in my early & teenage years. I've attempted many diets over the years but nothing really stuck. That's the problem with "diets", I guess. A lot of things have been wearing on me lately.. the fact that I'm going to be 31 this year, that I don't have kids and quite honestly I'm not sure if I could have any at my weight, that I want to enjoy so many things in life that I can't at this weight.. and the proof I received that my weight is actually effecting my health. While a voice in the back of mind knows that being overweight isn't healthy, I never had problems with my knees, back, diabetes, breathing, sleeping. Blood work, however, showed that despite eating a diet not high in cholesterol, my bad cholesterol was a little high and my good cholesterol was a little low. I was prescribed medicine to help with it.

Wow. A prescription. For something that can only be attributed to my obesity. I'm barely out of my 20s! It's time for a serious change.

So here I am! A friend of mine lost over 100 lbs following the Slow Carb Diet (The 4-Hour Body) lifestyle. I am going to be doing the same and am here for the support and motivation that the MFP community offers. Nice to meet you all!

You got a friend in me :glasses:

Hi, my name is Mel, I have been here b4, lost nearly 2 stone, I have been thru a lot, still got a lot to go, I am a single mum of 6, my eldest son is anorexia, my eldest daughter suffers from mild schitzophrenia, my children are 16, 15, 13, 10, 5 and 3, and believe me, it is a full time job.
I currently weigh in at 334 lb, I have no goal in mind, just wanna steadily lose it, I would like to get back to my wedding day weight, can't rememeber the lb figures, but I was a UK size 16.
I wanna get fit and healthy to be the best mum I can to my kids, and have a great future with the ones I love.

Hi There,
My Name is Shannon, I'm a 26 year old from Brampton, Ontario in Canada.... I have been big all my life have tried almost every diet out there, my doctor eventually referred me for gastric bypass...but I decided that wasn't the way to go that I wanted to do this on my own I wanted to get healthy. So I searched for all the information and started today using weight watchers and tracking my progress with my fitness pal. I'm scared because all I want is to be at a healthy weight but alot of the time it seems impossible that its going to take forever and once I lose it that it wont be good enough... My biggest reason for losing weight is because I have been trying to get pregnant for the past year and haft and nothing....It scares me that because I am so big that it causes alot of issues with me getting pregnant.. I pray that I can do this... I'm hoping through this site I can surround myself with positive and uplifting people that hopefully we can help each other on our journeys.. please go ahead and add me I look forward to getting to know everyone and starting this journey...my starting weight is 341lba

Hi Everyone,

My name is Melody and I am 47 and currently weigh 308 lbs. I am tired of living in this shell and want to let out the vibrant woman that hides in the shadows. I have been diagnosed with a heart problem a year ago, in addition to Type II Diabetes. I live in San Diego, so I have no excuse for weather and live near the ocean.

Over the years I have lost weight only to gain it back and much more. I feel like for the last 30 years I have been a yo-yo.

I do work from home full time and am a writer - so my backside seems to be glued to a chair way too much - but working from home also affords me an opportunity to take breaks and exercise for 15 - 30 minutes at a time.

Hi my name is Pat, I live in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I'm 42 and my starting weight was 396 after my weigh in today I weigh 379 my goal weight is 200. I work as a parts inspector in a factory and sit for 8 hrs a day. I have knee and back problems and walk with a cane so I'm having a hard time exercising. I am looking for new friends so if you want add me.

Hi I am Jessica I'm starting out at 390 and started last night, its going to be a hard road for me but hope to find encouragement on this site. I want to finally be a healthy person and find the little me inside me

Feel free to add me!!

Hi! My name is Teresa and although I joined MFP awhile back I haven't really done anything until today Definitely looking for kindreds for support and inspiration. I'm at 320 lbs and really feeling the effects. My second time at the rodeo. Several years ago I lost about 70 lbs and pretty much kept it off for awhile. In the last few years it has really packed back on. I'm searching for that will power I used to accomplish that weight loss before but cannot seem to tap into it again. Any words of wisdom or encouragement?

Hello Everyone!!
My name is Courtney and I'm 30 years old. I joined the site a while ago but only began actively using all the features today. I have a lot of weight to lose and am hoping you guys can help keep me motivated!

Hello, I am joined MFP 85 days ago. Even though I am not seeing results I want I am determined to stick with it!! Great people on here that give great support! Feel free to add me as a friend if you need extra support:flowerforyou:

Hello, my name is Brandie. I am 27 as of March 3th 2013 and I started this year in January at 420 pounds.

I decided I had my whole future ahead of me. I was tired of this and tired of just dreaming but all the things I wanted to do and never doing them. I am engaged to be married on 10/31/2014 and I want to look and feel my best. I want to be healthy and not take shortcuts because I want to stay healthy.

I want to have kids and be able to run around and play with them.
I want to go backpacking across Europe and I want to run a marathon for a good cause.

I am currently in school for radiology and when I graduate I want to be able to get a job because I am so full of energy. I do not currently live off the state other than them paying for my school, but I don't ever want to live off the state. I want to work for a living, I want to get my own place and I want to be able to go out with my friends and I want to go camping and I want to go swimming and not be so shy or the recluse I have slowly become.

I want to live and experience and raise a healthy family, and then when my love and I retire, I want us to still be healthy and be able to go and travel more. To travel across the united states and to go on cruises and to just be free. I have so many thoughts and dreams and plans for our future..... but it just can;t happen at the weight either of us are at.

I am tired of being afraid of dying of a heart attack, or dying young so that I don't get to do my dreams. I am tired of the stares and looks and the whispers and always wondering who is making fun of me behind my back. I am tired of just sitting here and waiting for life to come to me. I am ready to get up and charge at life head on.

I am not currently Diabetic, I have normal blood pressure, I am actually very healthy other than my weight which has always been a bit of an amazement to doctors, but my grandparents (who are also very overweight) are diabetic, my dad who is a little over weight is diabetic and my mom had the gastric bypass when I was a teen is pre-diabetic.

Before I joined MFP I had lost some weight, now I am at 394, according to MFP I have lost 16 pounds but I have actually lost 26 pounds.

I had been working on this on and off since the beginning of the year. A little over a week ago someone I loved very much and who I was trying to encourage and help because she was very sick, very diabetic, and about 490 pounds, and who most importantly like my second mother, passed away from a heart attack. It has pushed me even more into doing this. She was so proud of the 20+ pounds I had lost, and I want to continue to make her proud and to smile down at me from where ever she is.

My new motto is one step, one day at a time.

I am happy to have joined this group and I need all the encouragement I can get. I just want to be healthy. My goal for my height is 150. I have a long way to go, and I don't want to give up. Ever.


Also.... sorry this is so long.

Hello to everyone. I am new to MFP.

I am 34 years old. I have been married to my wonderful husband for 13 years and we have 4 great kids. 3 girls and 1 boy, 12,11,8,and 6. I am a stay at home Mom but I also work with my husband who has a Irrigation business. The best of both worlds, home with my kids and work when I'm needed.

I joined at the end of May on my Dr. advice. I went in for a check up (the first since my 6 year old was born) and weighed in at 358lbs. I had not stepped on a scale in a very long time and was shocked by what I saw. On the upside of that appointment I found that overall I'm healthy for my size. I explained to the doctor that we eat healthy. I make all our meals and we eat lots of fruits and vegetables with good lean proteins. I don't fry anything and use good oils (coconut, olive oil) while cooking. I bake our bread (whole grain no added oil or sugar). We do not keep snacks or sugary things in the house. No soda or Juice. In fact I could easily give up sweets altogether and not miss them much. My children are very lean and healthy.

To my long lament he simply answered that you can get fat even on good food. At first I was grumpy and indignant. I thought of all the people we know who eat out all the time. They drink soda like water and scarf Pizzas the way we do salad. Then I gave myself a mental slap. I could be angry but the truth was that I was way over weight so I was doing something wrong. I decided to do things his way for one month. 1,200 calories a day and very little fat. I did not weigh myself again until my next appointment.

On June 21st I had my next appointment. When I stepped on the scale I saw 332.4.(26 lbs !!!!!!) Wow shocked again. I had not changed the type of food we eat just the portion size and no added oils. If I had not seen it with my own eyes I would not have believed it. I was amazed and motivated!!

I am now working on month number 2 and have 25 days until my next appointment and weigh in. I still have not bought a scale and don't plan to anytime soon. I know that this time it will not be as dramatic as the first time and I don't expect those results on a regular basis but it did show me what is possible. I am in for the long haul. My goal is 180 so I have a long road ahead of me but I am taking it one day at a time.