Guess I'll get in on the introductions. My name is Dee. I'm 49 and have been on a "diet" since I was about 12 when my mom told me I needed to lose weight. So began my poor body image compounded by the fact that I was abused by my uncle. I have been on every diet under the sun. As part of the application process for my gastric bypass (back in 2006) I had to list all the diets I had been on. At the age of 41, I had "dieted" a total of 137 diets in the approximate 30 years!!! At my highest weight I was well over 500 pounds and being told that I wouldn't see my son's 10th birthday, he was 8 at the time, if I didn't change something. Two years after surgery, I was down to 250 and feeling great. But, since I had never dealt with the abuse, since men starting paying attention to me I found myself back in the clutches of my old friend.....food. I managed to get all the way back up to 370 before I put a stop to it. Losing the weight is much harder this time but if I pay attention to it, my pouch (new stomach) still works. I've also learned that life isn't about "diets" it's about living with a diet of foods that fuel your body and that you have to move on a consistent basis. Right now I'm working very hard on focusing on the living a healthier life and losing weight as a consequence instead of focusing solely on the numbers.

I hold a B.S.E. in Early Childhood Special Education which basically means I work with children who are between the ages of birth to 5 who are developmentally disabled. Or, at least I did. Shortly after Cody was born, I ended up needing to go on disability. I'm beginning to look into the possibility of doing some volunteer work at a local transitional hospital for kids with disabilities but haven't begun yet.

Thanks to Karen for the invite. I started at 331 in March and have managed to lost about 18 lbs so far. My first goal is to get under 300 so 299 and hope to reach that by my birthday in November.

My name is Melissa. I'm a single mom to a pre-teen girl. I want to model and teach her better eating habits so she doesn't know all the weight struggles I have. Plus I want to get my health back and avoid these prescription pills. I have a blood pressure pill been of and on them(more on) since I was pregnant with my daughter when my BP spiked. My NP had put me on Metformin because my A1C was increased some and then in March when I weighed in at her office at 331 she had me increase my Metformin to twice a day(500mg each time) because blood work showed my A1C didn't go down in 3-4 months of taking it and actually went up a bit. Not sure if the increased dose helps more or my actual work and effort with tracking food and working at getting more active again. But its coming off slowly which is great.

Hello Ladies! Nice to meet you. Thanks to Karen for the invite. I will try to give a quick version of me and my journey. I am 42, married for 11 years to a great guy...and we have been blessed (with much effort) with two beautiful children that are 4 and 6. My highest weight was somewhere over 400 pounds. I could not get pregnant after we got married and found out I have Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome with insulin resistance. I am also type two diabetic (since I was 30). This just means that my body has too many male hormones, and it doesn't regulate my blood sugars correctly. It seriously takes me so much effort to lose a pound because I gain 1 to lose 2. Very frustrating. I had Gastric Bypass years ago to increase my chances at fertility. I weighed 360 at surgery (jumping through all the hoops was probably an 18 month process.) I had the proximal surgery which bypasses less intestines because my best friend had the distal surgery bypassing the most intestines and has major issues now. I mainly did it to put my diabetes in remission and my pcos at bay so that I could be healthy enough to have kids, without the complications of dumping syndrome and malabsorbtion issues. If you guys following this path have questions, feel free to ask. Went from 360 to 267, lowest post op weight. Started fertility drugs and was 293 when I got pregnant with my first. After both kids and a few yo yo attempts to get back down, my weight stabilized at 330. I have been doing MFP for about 7 weeks and have lost about 17 pounds. The straw that broke the camels back was a super high A1C, like 9.6. It completely freaked me out. Also, my daughter who is a tall 6, but 85 pounds found out she had high triglycerides. OMG. So, I decided this is it. I have an addiction to food. I started stealing money from my dad's change jar to buy a second breakfast at school when I was in the first grade. I was also abused and ate to not deal with stuff. When I was growing up I swam competitively and it was pretty easy to cover up boxes of twinkies or two meals at the drive through. My senior year I hurt my knee pretty bad and had to stop swimming and the weight just piled on. I know from experience how much I fought the hoops I had to jump through for WLS, but man if you don't get your head in check, you will not succeed. If you don't make exercise a priority now, you will not after surgery. It is a tool, and yeah, mine still works to some extent...but I knew I could eat 2 cookies every half an hour without getting sick...and I did just that. This time I am in it for the health and the addiction. I am currently on 2 meds for my diabetes and have consulted a dietitian for a plan because of all of the conflicting stories about what my condition should be eating. I am currently on 1500 calories, (lower gluten, but not giving them up) and have committed to some sort of exercise 30 minutes a day 5 days a week. I sometimes eat a few over the 1500 if I have exercised that day. I went cold turkey from sweets for 6 weeks to help the addiction and I am doing okay with it now. I occasionally have a sugar free ice cream, fudgecycle or pudding. The cravings get really bad around my cycle. I also have about 8 pounds of water weight gain and that was a real hard time to get through last month. I couldn't have gotten even 7 weeks without cheating if it wasn't for MFP and the few good friends I have made. So, that being said, I am really looking forward to a few more daily posters that will reciprocate my encouragement.

I am really interested in the challenges, but will be on vacation for the next week. I haven't figured out how to see the groups from my phone, but only my newsfeed and that of my friends. When I get back from vacation though I will join in here. For now if any daily posters want to be friends, just send the request with a note.

A little about me briefly. I quit my job of 26 years last year, working as a manager position in a grocery store. I finally finished school and the teaching jobs are looking up here in California...so I am going for that second career. I start my student teaching in about a month and I couldn't be more excited and ambitious, but nervous too. I am self conscious about my weight and last year I was an inclusion aide for special education and the kids can be harsh, and I get looks from the staff. My first big goal is to be under 300 and I was hoping to do that by the time school starts. Along with that goal is retesting my A1C in October and having that in check. My dream goal is to lose 100 pounds (from the 330 I started MFP at) and get a tummy tuck because my panni hangs half way to my knees. I will most likely end up paying out of pocket so I will need a job after my internship. My aim is for summer of 14 or 15.

Anyway, my short story turned long. I look forward to getting to know you all...and like I said, after my vacation I will be more active on the board here. (does anyone know a way to access the board from my phone?) It was nice to read all your intros and see that we have so much in common. Keep up the good work ladies!!

Just a quick welcome Shari ! Glad to have you on board!

Nancy