Hi! I am Diane. I had the gastric sleeve surgery 9 months ago. I am down 115 lbs. and only 13 lbs. from goal. MFP had become my best friend during this journey. Accountability is probably one of the best tools I/we could have. I look forward to this challenge.

Hey Everyone!!! My name is Jasmine and I am a person who has always been overweight. I work in the medical field and feel so hypocritical for being at an unhealthy weight. I have wanted to lose weight for years, but found myself motivated for a couple weeks, then ditching the weight loss plan. I really had no motivation until last week when my friend asked me to be a bridesmaid in her wedding next year in June. Definitely enough time to shed the pounds and great motivation. Unfortunately, I don't do well with long term goals unless I break them down. That is why I love these short term challenges!! I currently weigh 238lbs, down from 254lbs. My goal right now is to get out of the 200s!!!!

Hi I’m Archana,

My husband and I are from India but live in UAE now. I started MFP at 120 kg on Jan 1 2014. Currently at 75.7 kg, with 15.7 kg to target weight.

I love these groups, the motivation and the spreadsheet

My challenge is finding time to cook healthy and exercise. A typical day starts at 4:30 am and winds up at 11 pm.

The weekly accountability will help me keep my eye on the prize!

Hi my name is Paula from South Florida. I'm 59 and joined MFP with a start weight of 285 on 2-5-2014. I played around and managed to lose 20 lbs by Aug 4 of last year. I finally decided to stop playing around and commit 100%. I have lost 105lbs since then. I love these challenges and enjoyed the last one although I got a bit derailed by 2 back to back vacations. My main form of exercise is weight training and while I'm 158.75 currently due to the muscle mass my UGW will probably only be another 10lbs, but I'll reevaluate it then. I really enjoyed the last challenge but for my birthday in Aug we are going away for 2 weeks to Mexico. Because of that I was hesitant to join, but I KNOW I need to do this.

Hello, I am Sveltewisher from Brooklyn, NY, and Wellfleet, MA. First, I would like to thank kayjosh2422 and Josh for administering this program. Thank you!! Similar to Brett & Jessica, I have been on the MFP weight loss roller coaster for a while. However, I have a new doctor who has diagnosed me with "Metabolic Syndrome X" which is a fancy term for prediabetes. I promised to take a medication called metformin with each meal for the next 3 months. This group's goal fits in with my plans nicely. I will look up mapmyfitness as suggested by Jessica and PiYo as suggested by runningsahm. Thank you to my new virtual health community! Create a great day!

Hi Everyone,
I live in Nova Scotia, Canada. I moved here 2 years ago when I retired. I am married and we have 2 adult children and 3 perfect granddaughters.

I got serious about losing weight, getting fit and improving my health almost a year ago - in August of 2014. In total, I've lost 55 lbs. I have another 30-40 lbs to lose - I think. I'll wait until I get closer to my target to decide. I want to be slim and healthy but I don't want to devote my entire life to maintaining some arbitrary number.

I don't follow any specific program. I try to make good choices everyday and portion control is big for me - a constant challenge. I do log my food and exercise everyday. This goes a long way to helping me stay on track.

This is the 4th consecutive group I've joined and I find the support is invaluable - lots of great ideas, it helps me stay focused and the stories are so inspiring.

So, let's get going and lose 15 lbs. I'm weighing in at 183 lbs. Interestingly, I recently bought a new scale which shows my weight 8 lbs higher than my old scale. Sadly, other scales confirm the accuracy of the new scale. This was fairly devastating news for me, as you can imagine. Oh well!!! On Labour Day, I hope to weigh 168 lbs. This is magical territory for me - I haven't weighed this little in over 20 years. Best of luck to everyone!!

Hi everyone! My name is Sharon. I have 3 wonderful children. 2 boys ages 11 and 2, and a daughter age 9. I'm 33 years old and married. Im from Massachusetts USA. I started eating healthier a couple weeks ago. My starting weight was 235 pounds. I'm currently at 223 pounds. 235 is the most I've ever weighed. I have absolutely no self confidence and I'm so out of shape. I'm also trying to quit smoking. I've always been chubby since my teens; then once I started having children, the pounds have been piling on.
I've been doing yoga in the mornings. I have almost no flexability... so that's why I've been doing that. I do about 20-30 mins a day. I can't do it like the skinny girls but I do my best and do what my body allows without getting hurt! In the afternoon or sometimes late morning, I do 30 Mins of Insanity. Once again, doing it at my own pace to avoid injuries. Then in the evenings I walk 30-40 mins.
I'm hoping to at least lose 2 pounds a week. Which should be very feasible taking the fact that I'm just starting off. Going from eating junk all the time and not getting any real exercise. I'm looking forward to being with everyone here! It's going to be a wonderful journey, with bad days as well I'm sure.
My ultimate goal this round is to lose 23 pounds, which will drop me to 200lbs

Hi, y'all. My name is Darin, and I'm a 36 year-old 5'7" woman of Thai descent living in Holly Springs, North Carolina, US. I've been with my high school sweetheart for 20 years since February, and we're engaged to be married - date unset but aiming for early 2016.

I joined MFP several years ago. Hey, did you know you can only change your User ID twice? Quick Tip: Do not put a target year in your User ID. The first year after, you feel a little uncomfortable and embarrassed. Multiple years afterward? You start to feel old.

Anyhow, I've done this before - years ago I previously lost a lot of weight with logging calories and exercising - around 30 pounds - so I know I have the capability and drive. I am succeeding. I'm part of another awesome group on MFP and loving it, so that's why I came over here

Please feel free to friend me. I'm a data nerd - I've also been using MapMyFitness for the past many years, and I get irate when my GPS on my phone doesn't record my terrifyingly slow shambling around my neighborhood. I just started using the Zombies, Run! app (which is fun, but it doesn't cooperate with my music app, so I'm mostly doing the aforementioned shambling in silence, which is kind of a bummer). To be fair, I have an aging Droid Galaxy, so perhaps the Zombies, Run! just needs something a bit more modern? I don't know.

Anyhow, thanks for having me, and good luck, everyone!

Hi ALL!

I forgot the introduction! I'm Kelly, 33 years old. Currently undergoing medical disability for the past tooo many months (16 I think). Was a normal active person, and then bam...woke up at 1030 one morning dizzy and couldn't see right. Now with some hearing issues, balance problems, neuropathy, and the the ever present dizziness and vision issues. So, my mobility is fairly limited. I can walk for short short bits, I can sit in a chair for about an hour, but then I get so dizzy I need to lie flat. My current diagnosis is vestibular migraine with persistent aura, a rare form of chronic migraine. No head pain except with my menstrual migraines. I am very thankful for that, although this dizziness is far more disabling than any migraine I have ever had. But, better not to have both the way I see it

TONS of bedrest during this time, something like 25 or 27 medications later, too many tests to count, subsequent anxiety and major depression related to chronic illness and what they called "adjustment disorder", and I went from a whopping 133.1 pounds the morning before I got sick to a high of 192 pounds in the course of almost a year. I started in January and am working the calorie counting. My activity is less than sedentary, and I am in the house most days in bed or on the couch. I don't say this to be depressing, but rather to say that it IS possible to lose with calorie counting. My doctors said my weight was a "Secondary Issue", but it is one of the things I CAN be successful at, on my own, with small choices and mindful eating.

I tend to lose in spurts, then hold my weight for 3-4 weeks, then lose again. These past few weeks I am back to losing steadily, and am not sure if it is just time again or because of some medication changes, but I am not complaining!

So far I am a little over halfway to my goal of 133 pounds! It has taken a little over 7 months. I want to be at my pre-illness weight, however my drs are not sure it is possible and feel anything 150 or less would be healthy! We will see what happens, but again I am in this for the long haul so it is a bit of an experiment.

In addition to the weight loss, my cholesterol has so rapidly improved in this time. I cut my total cholesterol 71 points, my triglycerides by 58 points, and my ldl by 37 points. I am not quite to the 150 pound weight my dr wants, but she can not believe my now perfect labs! Such a great motivator for weight loss! PERFECT cholesterol from risky in 7 months.

I love supporting others and a healthy lifestyle, as well as understand the many limitations and extra challenges chronic illness poses. Feel free to add me if you are looking for support. I keep the diary closed as I calorie count and don't import, but keep it at 1200 ish. It gets to be too much to put it all in with what little energy I do have, but it still is working for me!

I wish everyone success and can't wait to see our progress