Hi! I'm Donna. I joined MFP in Sept of 2012 and made some progress and lost 15 lbs. I have since gained that back and more. I am now at my highest weight that I have ever been in my life. I have struggled with my weight since I quit smoking almost four years ago. I just turned 48 and really need to make some changes in my life. I am trying to eat better, exercise more and get my self confidence back. I have a hard time sticking to things and staying motivated. I am hoping this group will keep me motivated this time. I have started the C25K and hope to run in a 5K later this year. I am looking forward to being a part of this group.

Welcome to all the new guys and gals, jump in some of the challenges or goals stuff going on. This is really a great group and super supportive.

My name is Nicole and I loove food! I an 25 years old, engaged and have three soon to be step children. Me and my fiance have been together for six years. I have a admin job so I pretty much sit eight hours a day. I have tried MFP before and did it for a month or so then quite, which is what always happens when I diet. I also tried WW but really felt that it would not work for me. I would use all of my points on something unhealthy and I just didnt like it. Now I have joined MFP because I am the heaviest I have ever been and I am getting married soon and would like to lose 41 more pounds so I can look like I did when I first met my fiance. Above all else though I want to be healthy. I do not really mind being thick, I personally think heavier woman are more sexy and that women need curves. My mom is very skinny 123 pounds and she has diabetes and my dad is a normal weight and has diabetes as well, so it runs in my family and I do not want to get it!

The only goals I have are to stay at my given calories of 1550 and start to excercise regulary ( I have just gotten the Jillian Michaels shred video and would like to do it 4-5x a week) After I get down to my goal weight I want to start changing what I eat more and focus more on a diet that would help prevent diabetes. I also want to start toning up once I lose more weight. I think that changing my diet completely right now would be too much. So for now I am eating less and trying to stay at my given calories. I was eating 1200 calories a day for the first week of MFP or so but I felt like I was dieing. I had constant headaches and dizzy spells, so I changed my goal weight loss from 2 pounds to 1 pound per week.

I need to be held accountable because I will always find some excuse to stop and my lovely fiance always says I am beautiful just the way I am and don't need to lose a pound ( so he is not the best at holding me accountable), but I love him so much!

Nice to meet you all group.

Welcome!! :flowerforyou:

Nicole - sounds like you've put a lot of thought into things and have figured out a way that will work for you to get where you want to be. Sounds like your bigger challenge will be exercise! That's mine too. I always feel better after I do it but, sometimes I just don't WANT to. Being accountable here helps and motivates me A LOT! Quite a few of us are friends and when I see this or that person's exercise in my feed it motivates me to get moving bc I can be a little competitive ... :laugh:

Claudia - I understand financial situations changing!! And it can be expensive to be healthy but it can also be expensive to not be healthy. I can't tell you how many times I've signed up for gym memberships that didn't get used and yes, being stuck paying for something that I didn't use. Over the years I've come to the conclusion that going to the gym just isn't for me! I have a treadmill and my husband has a home gym, we also have a wii and wii fitness balance board and youtube has recently become my friend along with fitness blender. In other words, I get plenty of exercise without leaving my house. I found my treadmill on a Facebook page for selling exercise equipment, it was $75!! The home gym was my hubby and I's anniversary present to ourselves 2 years ago. You can Zumba in your living room, check out the Zumba videos on youtube... they're FREE! I really haven't found it anymore expensive to eat healthier. I do buy fresh produce but only if it's part of my meal planning for the week bc I've thrown away so much produce over the years bc I bought it without a plan and it didn't get used. I've been buying a lot of frozen veggies, less sodium than canned and if they don't get eaten THIS week they're not going to waste. Just a few ideas to toss around!

Read the forum, check out the challenges and jump in! This is a great group of supportive people!! :flowerforyou:

Hello everyone! My name is Sunshine I am 34 happily married with 4 beautiful children! I have been overweight my whole life. In 2005 I decided enough was enough after hitting 330pds on the scale. I lost 138pds and kept it off for almost 5 years. In 2010 I became pregnant with my 4 child and gained alot of weight back. So finally after being lazy for 3 years I decided to take the weight back off and to hit my goal. So I am down 115pds with 52pds to go! Good luck everyone, You got this!

My name is Jess and like most on this board I struggle it's consistency. My goal is to not only become more consistent in my weight loss journey but to become strong and build muscle. With those changes I hope to become more adventurous and stop allowing my weight to restrict me from doing certain activities. What I have done to take those steps is recommitting to MFP, holding myself accountable, and setting small goals instead of astronomical ones that won't keep me motivated. As far as being adventurous I hate gyms they are a bit intimidating but I saw a fee people becoming interested in TITLE boxing club, my initial thought was once I get down a few pounds I'm going to join but instead of waiting I just joined and start my first session on Monday.

Please feel free to add me as the current ppl that have friended me don't say much to me at all, guess I was just a number to up their friends list. I wish you all the best on your journeys.

Thanks Lynn! That article was great & definitely helpful.

Nic.. welcome doll.. rhonda is right sounds like you have worked out a plan.. you have some amazing whys to do this..i will work with you on exercise,,were both doing the shred you go this!

welcome claudia!! i started at 370 pounds so i have been where you are.. i too understand financial issues.. im not working right now and im eating on a very tight budget, but when somethings important you find a way to make it work.. no gym membership here i workout in my room.. shred, i run,, i do a mix of things.. you will love the support here. you gave me a idea for another thread. look for it.. it may help you.

welcome sunshine.. love the name.. im starting a heath coaching business called sunshine wellness. my dads nick was sunshine.. we used to live in the sticks with no car and the only time my dad could get to work on his own was when the weather was good so his job started calling him sunshine and it stuck.. so im naming my business to honor his memory..wow you released 138 pounds. 52 pounds! you got this!!

hey foxy.. welcome.. first time mum.. best reason to be healthy congrats.. were here for you.

lets do this!!!

Thank you!:)

Thanks for the welcome. I have a strange question, how can I find this thread, is there an easier way to find it?? It just took me about 10 min to find it again. So I was just wondering.. Do you keep posting on the same one or do you start a new one each day? I am new at posting on here. Use to post a lot on Weight Watchers.. So this is totally different.. Thanks for the help.

Karen

When you click on Community at the top of the page, you can then click on My Topics, little easier to find it that way. Or you can click on Home and towards the bottom will be the link for the group page.

Welcome to all the new people who joined!! :flowerforyou:

HI all! I'm a homeschool mom of 2 (11 &17) boys, wife and work from home mom. I have struggled with weight constantly since I've been in my 20's (I'm 47 now). I rollercoaster down to 150 (which I haven't seen in FOREVER) up to 250ish.Currently stuck at 226. I think I've probably tried every "diet" out there. Atkins, South Beach, Nutrisystem....u name it. Thing I've learned from them? They work great..... as long as you do them for life!! The minute u put something in your mouth that isn't on their plan or that u bought from them, u gain. No more!! If I'm going to do something for life, I want to be able to eat what I want to eat, stuff I can buy from the store or grow myself. I will say I'm getting the hang of it. Usually what happens is I lose 25#s during the summer months and then gain back 25++++ in the winter months (I set up at a lot of craft shows and have a tendancy to not eat well when I am sitting at them all day, These start in early Sept and run thru Dec). This year I've gained a little back and then relost it in late Dec/early Jan. So, small victory, but a victory nonetheless. I don't like to exercise, I know I should, and I do..but I still don't like it. I have bad knees and bad lower back, so have to find things very low impact. Walking is the easiest/least painful thing I do right now. I also have RA, which I refuse to take meds for. So I have found keeping away from processed foods (which we all know we shouldn't eat anyways, right?) and drinking LOTS of water, I shoot for a gallon a day (I switched to distilled water only in Nov and it has made a world of difference also) seems to greatly improve the RA symptoms. Okay, enough rambling.....
Nice to meet you all!
Roberta

Thank you, I just may do that!

PS - I live in the Midwest.... I know I said I wanted snow up to my butt, but I only meant one time, not all winter! Blah!! :laugh: