Well here i am.... my names Joe from Pennsylvania, originally form boston. My family and I own an operate a small stables(50 ) horses... i'm a relocated city boy ,redneck in training... ask my wife and she'll say "i have a masters degree in redneckology" Anyways... i quit smoking 15 years ago (3 packs a day) cold turkey... and have slowly packed on the pounds...really no excuse... i love food...i love cooking good food..i love eating good food...i am a foodie...and i'm fat.

Believe it or not i really did not consider my self overweight until this past Christmas... my lovely wife took a photo of me with my 2 year old great nephew sitting on my lap... she showed me the photo and said i looked nice in my new shirt... i didn't recognize the fat guy in the photo...i honestly didn't... that is not the same person i see in the mirror every day...SIGH.. it is and i am that person..SOOOOO here i am....I made a life change... not on a diet... the road i was on will only lead to my early demise and i want to stick around for awhile...oh BTW i'm 55.... figure i need to drop about 100 lbs... so far 2 weeks into it i have dropped 10 lbs... got myself a fitbit...I LOVE THIS THING!!! i walk every morning after work... i cut out all added sugar,salt and most carbs.. no bread or pasta.. and i drink water...SOOOO MUCH water!!! funny thing the side benefit has been my knees have pretty much stopped hurting and i have been off tumms and zantac for about week now.( bad reflux)... i'm feeling pretty good... anyways thought i'd stop in and introduce myself... just found this group and like there is a place for an old fart like me... pleasure meeting everyone...if anyone needs a hand,,not that i know much... give me a shout.. i log in everyday...10 down 90 to go.

Hi all, I am Stella. I will be 66 on the 28th January and married 20 years in May. I have 1 son and 4 step children, all adults now with kids of their own. I have an underactive thyroid which makes it easier to put on weight than take it off but it's the evening binges that are really to blame. I spent last year losing the same half stone ( 7lbs ) over and over again but this year I intend to gat my act together and lose 52 lbs.

Joe and Stella - Welcome!

@bubbajoe1066 Looking at old pictures still surprises me. Happy to hear that you are pleased with how you feel after the first two weeks.

@Slim2fitit Good luck this year! I totally understand about the evenings. I do best if I focus on getting to bed early but that does not always work out right.

Welcome Joe, Stella and Peg! This is a great place to be. Everyone is very nice and supportive. Lots of great information and insight.

Hi, Peg! Congrats on your weight loss.
I love getting rid of old clothes that no longer fit so that I can free up space in my life for new ways of thinking and doing.

Hello! Figured a polite introduction was in order. Have enjoyed reading everyone's posts.

On April Fools Day 2015, I the Fool, didn't get my prescription for anti-depressants refilled... an insurance SNAFU. Without those meds I spiral slowly into an apathetic state of inertia. Finally by November's Thanksgiving Monday I was able to summon something within and took a walk to the Doctor's office. Although only 1K it felt like a thousand. In seven months I had gained a little over 30# and lost a significant amount of strength and stability/balance.

Slowly but surely I've gone back to Nordic Walking, doing a floor-based Pilates routine, and yoga. Also added some "Functional Lifts" with the guidance of a Physical Therapist. And! Discovered how much I like working with weights. Kettlebells especially. The 6kg bell is a struggle LoL; it was only a few short weeks ago the 2kg bell and I were on unfriendly terms, though.

Oh. Food. Hmmm, well, that, too has a bearing on health and well being I like food. Food's my favourite. Food and I are BFFs. Sometimes Food and I exclude Exercise from our BFF Circle. That's not nice to do, not at all. We're working together again; Food, Exercise, and me. We had a great time from 1980-to-2015 maintaining a 100#+ deficit.

We're not at all exclusive HaHa. Talking with other like minded people is always fun and enlightening. Glad to know there are other "people of a certain age" using MFP. As a Vintage '57 I was wondering if my fins were a bit too obvious...

@JMarcella57 TeeHee

Welcome!

EatSleepRideRun wrote: »

I don't have any friends on here its a pity because id like nothing more than to have a few support messages after runs and I wouldn't feel so alone. I'm not sure if I'm in the wrong generation or if people feel intimidated I have no idea. I certainly enjoy supporting other people if I can, hence joining people in my own age group, who must find it as difficult as me to keep trim, gone of the days we could eat anything drink anything stay the same shape, and so, here I am.

A little about myself I'm 53, Married with two grown up kids one grandchild. I live and work in Nottingham UK. I like to have a goal for most years something to keep me motivated, and therefore Healthy. Although I'm 53 I still think I'm 21 and sometimes think maybe I should slow down. In saying that my Goal for this year (I must be Crazy) but I'm attempting 12 Half Marathons this year, I am no athlete, so I will be plodding around then in 2 hours ish.

So Far i'm booked in for:

(list of races snipped)

I would be a lot more comfortable if I could lose some weight so I'm working on that. I walk to work and back 30 minutes each way and I use Garmin devices and MFP in sync and most of the time I log my food, if I do a 10 mile run I don't usually bother though. I like hiking too but I'll need to concentrate on long runs on a Sunday this year not a hike in the hills.

That's a little about me and I'm looking forward meeting people and adding some friends fingers crossed.

Lee

First, welcome! As a fellow active person, I think I understand where you're coming from. (Friend me if you like. I'm in my rowing off-season now, so a bit less active than in summer, but I'm happy to support a fellow active person.)

But, that said: Dang it, man, you've hit one of my hot-buttons (bolded above)! Why, oh, why are people so quick to go to "I'm not an athlete"? You're planning 12 half marathons! You may be a slow athlete (the two-hour thing), you may be an overweight athlete (not sure what "find it difficult to keep trim" means), you may be an older athlete at 53 (we call them "masters" athletes, right?), but it sure sounds like you're an athlete.

One of my rowing coaches had us do an exercise once, one I recommend to other newly active (or persistently self-deprecating) people. She had each of us take a piece of paper, and write down 3-5 things that would have to be true in order for us to "believe we were an athlete".

A couple of years later, when I found that piece of paper, I had to admit it: I was an athlete. An obese (then, not now), slow, masters athlete.

Claim it.