Excellent AbbyJane!!

I am 40 and live in Springfield, MO with my 2 fur covered children (Canine - Duchess and Brooklyn). I have been struggling with my weight for as long as I can remember but seriously (obese) overweight since 22 years of age. The lowest I have hit since then was 202lbs (2002) and that is why my first major goal is 199.9lbs then I will re-evaluate.

I am a cross between emotional/bored/stressed eater so if I don't plan or allow myself to get hungry then I know my choices will not be optimal and overeating occurs. I have intentions to work out and very good at finding excuses... so I started bellydancing and love it!

I like to bellydance, quilt, scrapbook, walk on nature trails, any activity on water, movie/game nights, furbaby/family time, Cardinal games and overall really enjoy most sports in person.

Things I am un-intentionally good at: Run on sentences and forgeting to turn on my personal filter (i.e. too honest).

I find I succeed when I plan my food/meals, eat ever 2-3 hours to prevent hunger binging and make "dates" with girlfriends to workout (because it forces me to go).

I am looking forward to getting to know everyone and working together!

Welcome Staci!! Glad to have you part of the group! I too have to have a movie/tv show going to remain on the treadmill.... it is a yawn-fest otherwise :-)

Welcome Steph! I have to admit I am a GOT fan and still recovering from the "Red Wedding"... Size 10/160lbs sounds about right (5'5 or taller) ...
When I was in the 170's I was a size 12 and I am 5'6.

Welcome Natalie!!

Hi, Everyone. I am Steph and hail from Maine. Currently I am 240# and I am 5"7". I started September 1st at my highest weight of 255#. My ultimate goal weight is 145# (based on height/weight chart but I am pretty muscular so probably not possible.) I am almost 43 and have a teenage son, husband, and a small dog.

My weight started coming on when I was in 3rd grade after my parents divorced, and I moved in with my grandparents. That move left me with very few friends so my activity level dropped and I gained weight. I was only slightly overweight in high school and college, but becoming an adult with a very busy life at work and home has killed my exercising.

I am hoping this sticks. I have done WW and MFP in the past, always successful, but then something happens, and I STOP. I am hoping that getting involved with a dedicated group will get me over those things that "happen." I really love to walk, run, hike, swim, ski, ride roller coasters, but rarely do these things because right now, it hurts or I can't breathe.

My ultimate goal: to have a professional family photo taken before my sign graduates and to not be embarrassed about how I look in it!

Ello ladies! I'm Carol-Le, currently residing in Saint Joseph, Missouri. I'm 25 and right now I'm weighing 247.6lbs. I decided to start losing weight for real (I half attempted it several times previous) when I stepped on the scale on July 15th of last year and I weighed a whopping 281lbs. Somehow I had ignored my body up to that point. When I realized that I was less than 20lbs from 300lbs I knew I had to change something. From July-October I did amazing I was totally dedicated and lost almost 30lbs, then mid-October I became extremely ill, turns out that I am deathly allergic to black mold. It took us two weeks to discover this and to realize that the basement of the house that my fiancé and I lived in at the time was full of it. We moved immediately and it took me over a month to recover fully because there were thousands of spores still in my system. From mid-October to January I took time off from working out but I still watched what I ate, I just didn’t log it. Luckily I did not gain at all over the holidays and on January 2nd I hopped right back to MFP and don’t plan on leaving this time! I’m easing myself into running (I’d love to complete a 5K this year) and focusing a lot on cardio at the gym.
My first big goal is Onederland! I really want to be less than 200lbs again! After that I’m not really super strict with a number; I’d like to be at 180lbs, which was what I weighed when I graduated high school. If I have to put a number on my overall goal it would be to be somewhere between 150-175, but who knows I may be completely content at 180. I just want to be healthy, my fiancé and I own a karate school together and I am a 3rd Degree Brown Belt. I want to test for my 2nd Brown this year, and I want to be a better/healthier role model for our students.
Personally I’m a huge book nerd, I’m always reading something. My library is my favorite room in my home. I also love comic books, and almost anything in the science fiction and fantasy genre. I’m child free by choice but I do love children, just not the idea of raising one myself. I’m completely content with my menagerie of 1 dog, 2 cats, 1 hedgehog, 1 bearded dragon, and 1 yellow belly slider turtle.
I’m really excited about this group!

Heck yes! Road tripppppppp!!

Hi!

My name is Stephanie, I live with my SO, and our fur brat, Jasper, a Bengal we rescued. My daughter is in college, and also working on losing weight. I am 5'10", and 230 today. I have been larger, smaller, believe me, my closet has about six sizes of clothes!

My favorite shows are "My 600 Pound Life", and "My Big Fat Fabulous Life". I seriously watch these shows and yell at the TV, confronting the justifications for skipping exercise...and over eating, because I have done them all myself! It is very emotional for me, because I really feel the pain these people are going through. The struggle. It is not easy to change.

I work through a lot of depression, everyone says exercise makes you feel better, that is hard to get to, when you feel too overwhelmed to get off the sofa. However, I am doing well so far, I never miss Spin class at the gym, and am doing more walking.

Hello!

My name is Betsy, and I live in south central PA. I currently weigh about 260 lbs (my highest weight ever). I turned 40 last year, and didn't get anywhere close to my goal weight of 155 lbs. Unfortanetly, I gained a lot of weight this past year. I have lots of excuses why, but just too much eating out.

There are several reasons I want to lose weight: being able to tie my shoes, walk up the stairs without embarrassing myself, shopping, and of course, so I don't die early. My husband has Type 2 diabetes and he has no control over it, and the doctor just told me I'm pre-diabetic, so I'd to prevent that. I'm on a medical weight loss plan of 1000 cal a day. High protein, low carb and I am only allowed to make one meal a day. I just started on 1/24/15.

We have two daughters. My oldest is at Dusquese in Pittsburgh studying nursing. My baby is almost 17 and will be graduating next year. My goal is to reach my target weight by her graduation. Since my husband and I will be empty nesters, I want to have the energy to do stuff.

I enjoy working out, but haven't gotten motivated to start again. I love Zumba, Just Dance, yoga, Pilates, swimming, hiking, and weight training. I don't mind the treadmill (it does get boring though) and love the elliptical... But it has been over a year since I've worked out and need to get past the mental barrier and just start something.

Like a lot, of you, I am a TV/movie fan. Love GOT too, though Walking Dead is my favorite. Reading everyone's intros makes me excited for this group. I' looking forward to our journey to lose weight, forming friendships, and supporting each other.

Hi Ladies,
Thanks so much for the invite to join his group! I'm Carole. I am a 53 yr old married mom of two college students (freshman & senior). I started on MFP in April 2013 at my heaviest: 272. I started tracking my food and walking daily. In less than 5 months I dropped 58 pounds. Then I stagnated for a month - no motivation to walk (and a little depressed) when my daughter returned to school. I was still watching my calories, but not totally focused on weight loss. Then I got sick for a couple of weeks... that was the end of everything I had been doing. I am an emotional eater (and I eat to procrastinate, and at night when bored, etc) and I was so up-set with myself and then depressed that I couldn't pull it together that I spiraled totally out if control. I gained back 50 pounds in about 8 months. I just gave up on myself. I guess I should be glad I didn't gain all of it back.

While I was losing weight my mother-in-law was kind enough to take in all of my pants (thru the waist, hips) so that I didn't need to buy new clothing. I finally got to the point that I could only fit into a couple pairs of pants... Yes, even with a 50 pound gain (way too tight - thought I might bust a few seams). I REFUSE TO BUY NEW CLOTHING AT THIS WEIGHT! Okay, so new year and I am back on MFP and am losing those pounds again. I am just starting to walk again in the evenings with my husband and dog. I bought a GPS/activity tracker yesterday so I can more accurately track my time/distance/calories burned. I know I can do this!

I am looking forward to being a part if this group, and gaining/giving support on this journey. Thanks again for the invitation to get to know you all.

I posted somewhere else in the group message board and then saw this thread and figured I should backtrack and say hi first.

So...hi *waves a little awkwardly*

I've had an account on MFP for at least a couple of years and have toyed around entering a food diary or two now and again, but this is the first time I've used it seriously (I actually gained another 20 pounds in those couple of years). It's also the first time I've added friends or participated in the community here at all. i'm finding that it makes a difference for me, and thanks to socialone74 for the invite to this awesome new group!

A couple of months ago, the doctor's scale said I weighed 297, and the shock of seeing myself 3 lbs from 300 has motivated me to finally do something about it. I cut back on portions and eating out, and when I weighed myself the other day for the first time in two months, saw that I had lost 6 lbs from just those couple of casual changes alone. That motivated me even more, so here I am, joining y'all and logging my food and exercise daily.

I became overweight as a child after my parents divorced and I became a latchkey kid. I remember eating whole boxes of cereal, one bowl after another, when I was alone after school. I thinned out a good bit in junior high and high school but always struggled with chubbiness. After I had my son at 18, I ballooned up into the 200s, but remained in the low 200s until the last 12 years or so when I was in a pretty emotionally chaotic LTR for 11 of those years. Needless to say, I think I might be an emotional eater? Where's my understatement award?

I have some low back pain on occasion and very low activity tolerance (improving already, yay), as well as some other minor medical issues that are caused by or exacerbated by the extra weight. I'm an inactive RN, and diabetes type 2 is something that has always been in the back of my mind. I did not want to wait until I was diagnosed with something like that to do something about my weight and my health, and I have no doubt that diabetes and more are waiting around the corner if I don't do something now. Frankly, I'm lucky I haven't already rounded that particular corner because I put it off plenty long enough despite knowing those risks better than a lot of people who don't work in the medical field do.

My approach right now is simply to stay at or under my MFP calorie goal every day. I've tried very restrictive diets many times and inevitably gave up quickly. Yes, I've seen and know the benefits some of them provide, but they are not doable for me at this time, and they can hardly provide any benefit if I can't stick to them for more than five days. So, I'm still the same largely veggie-hating, southern-comfort-food-cookin', meat-and-potatoes girl and will keep eating what I want for now. The only difference is that now I'm learning balance, thanks to wanting to stay under my calorie limit. e.g. if I want chocolate cake tonight, I might should eat a salad for lunch or do more exercise this afternoon.

I'm forcing myself to stay off the scales except once per week, and my weigh-in day is Saturday for now. I had a 'whoosh' yesterday...most certainly water weight, but I'm still looking forward to seeing what the scales say in two days

Other random tidbits about me: I'm a single mom to a teenaged son who I homeschool. We live in the piedmont of NC. I'm kind of a geek and an introvert. I love reading and writing fiction and... and...

Well, huh. Turns out that a lot of the things I love to do (like hiking) are things I haven't done since I've been this heavy. I think my fat has made me boring. I'm working on it, though.

Thank you for inviting me in this special, very comfortable group! Its nice to be around people who are struggling with the same battles as I. The advice, motivation and encouragement is overwhelming.
I'm 44 live in Portage Lakes Ohio, married with three step daughters and three granddaughters. I married into an instant family. No stretch marks from kids but definitely from being over weight. I've been over weight since a child. My brother and sister toothpicks of course, could eat anything. Bags of doritos pizza etc. I remember when I was in my teens, my brother had me eat everything that he did for two weeks and we exercised. He lost a pound, I gained two! Yep, that's life!
So I dealt with the fact that I'm different! I have tried tons of diets in the past. This ap by far is the best. I had started last Jan. and had hurt my foot and gave up. Gained back the ten pounds I lost. This year I started Jan 6 and that was the start of my new lifestyle. I'm enjoying logging my food and seeing the changes I'm going through. I love the community boards. I was not aware of them before.( not tech saavy)
I did not think I could post as much as I have! A little long winded I am. Sorry, but it feels good to be able to share and not be judged! Thanks again for the support, motivation and kindness everyone has given!!

Hiii friends-- my name is Lia. Wanting to get healthier because it's scary to be sick and wonderful to have confidence with a hott body to back it up (>.0) Been obese most of my adult life, except in college but dieted all the wrong ways. This time I'm ready to do it the right way and hopefully incorporate it enough where it becomes a lifestyle for my fiance and me. Good luck to all of us and I know we will all succeed!!! xoxo