Hi. I am married have 2 grown children and 2 grandchildren.
I was overweight as a child and have also fought my weight most of my adult life.
I quit smoking 3 years ago and have a heck of a time losing the weight I put on from that.
I have always loved to exercise so that is not a problem for me the problem comes in with the eating.

Hi all! I live in rural Hunterdon County, New Jersey, I'm 57, married for 35 years. I have 3 grown children (1 son, 2 daughters) and 11 grandchildren (3 girls, 8 boys) with another (and the last one) due at the end of January. I'm also a retired teacher. I retired early to help my kids with childcare. I miss teaching, but I'm kept very busy watching the younger grandchildren and I'm also a Girl Scout leader for all 3 of my granddaughters' troops. This September my troops will be in 4th grade, 8th grade and 10th grade.

Weight wise....never a problem until menopause at 46 1/2. I remember I had my yearly physical when I was 46, and my doctor told me I was years away from menopause. 6 months later I was done. lol The doctor got that wrong! However, I'm not complaining. Except for the weight gain (as in like 50 pounds over a few years) I never had any menopausal troubles that other women have (no hot flashes, night sweats, etc). So....the weight that I put on....I've managed to lose it several times over the past 10 years. But....I always got lazy and started eating like I was a kid again...and the weight always found its way back on. Boo! So, I started back on mfp in early May of this year, and I'm down 37 pounds so far. Yay! But I need a challenge like this one to keep me motivated so I can still lose some more weight.
Good luck to all!
Lin

My name is Nikki. I live in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. I am 35 (today actually) with 3 kids aged 16, 13 and 11. I am not exactly a single mother. I have a boyfriend that I have been with for 9 years but my children don't see their father.

I guess I have always felt fat. In high school I was probably a size 8 but all my friends were way smaller than me. So I felt fat. At 18 I started having kids and sadly my body never went back. When I joined MFP I was 209 but my highest weight was 217. I don't want to be the fat one anymore. MFP worked great for me the first 9 months or so. Now I have lost all motivation. I have been fighting with the same 5 pounds for months. I am hoping this group will help me get my motivation back. I look forward to working with all of you to become a better me.

I'm also from the Twin Cities - western subs so that makes three of us so far I'm 48 1/2 and about 15 lbs over weight. About two months ago I had a disk rupture in my back and have been out of commission. Just finally get back at in, but exercise will not be near what I used to do. For now I have my rehab exercises and I got permission to start going to the gym to get on the exercise bike. With this injury I was lucky and only gained about 5 lbs but my clothes are just too uncomfortable now and I need to stop feeling sorry for myself :happy: so here I am!!!

My name is Heather, I am a 31 year old mother of 1. I have been skinny most of my life, some would say too skinny at times, but I never tried...I just was. My mother always told me eating like i did was going to catch up with me some day (Thanks mom!) I started gaining some weight around 2006-2007 but that was due to living in a party city (Lake Havasu) and doing nothing but drinking beer all day everyday for the most part but even then. i still was 150lbs and very comfortable wearing my bikini I moved to Florida and met my fiance in 2008 and i was still gaining weight but not too much...then in 2009 I got pregnant !!! I weighed about 215lbs the day I had my son. The weight never really came off and Ive tried working out and dieting but never stuck to it....i bounced back and forth between 175-190 lbs off and on for awhile. I work at a place that has an industrial floor scale and after month of being frustrated about my clothes no longer fitting and being embarrassed to be out in public, I decided to sneak on the scale while no one was looking and what i saw HORRIFIED me!! I weighed 209lbs!! Almost as much as i did when I was 9 months pregnant! I cried a little but that's the kick in the butt i needed to get me going to finally lose this fat forever and GET MY BODY BACK!! I have figured out the places I went wrong before, like trying to change everything all at once. SO i decided to start slowly with small goals every week or two. The day I stepped on the scale was 7-22-2013 it is now 8-13-13 and I have lost 7 lbs just by following my first few goals:
1. NO MORE SODA!!
2. No more eating huge dinners when I get home from class at 9;30 pm
3. Portion Control
4. More Veggies!!!

Some things I still need to work on:
5. Stop my morning addiction (24oz 7-11 Mocha Iced Coffee)
6. Drink more water
7. Start working out and stick with it!!

Hello all, Christina here. I am also currently serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique. I lost quite a bit of weight a few years ago, gained some of it back before coming to Mozambique, and have now gained all of that weight back. I'm finishing my contract here about when this challenge ends so I'm hoping this will help me to go home at least the same weight as when I left. Good luck to everyone!

I am Karen, married, Mom of two, and Grandmother of two. I'm 45 and have been working out again for almost a year and have lost 48lbs. I still have about 10lbs to go. 10 lbs that are mocking me and clinging to me with all they've got. Last year I found myself at a huge weight, equal to the weight I was when I had my last child over 20 years ago. I had a photo taken at a party that blew my mind. I had no idea how unhealthy I looked. I'm working on never looking and feeling like that again! I have become a Beachbody coach in the process. I'm just getting started & still need motivation myself. I love a challenge. I love being accountable. I look forward to being smokin' hot for the holidays.