Introduce yourself

kerrimiller2018
kerrimiller2018 Posts: 31 Member
edited March 2018 in Social Groups
Welcome to the Green Thumbs! Tell us a little bit about yourself.
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Replies

  • kerrimiller2018
    kerrimiller2018 Posts: 31 Member
    I’m in my mid 30’s and have about 50 lbs to lose. I started vegetable gardening last year and absolutely loved doing it. It’s very cathartic tending to a garden and fresh garden veggies are so much better than what you buy from a grocery store.

    I’m looking forward to the beginning of gardening season and trying new recipes and ways to incorporate fresh veggies into healthy low-cal dishes!
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    I am a fiftysomething grandma, post bariatric patient who needs to remember the old habits of calorie counting. Growing things is therapy and I like cooking from scratch.
  • ErikaKBee
    ErikaKBee Posts: 26 Member
    I’m late 30s and started my vegetarian journey a year ago thru meal delivery kits. That can get pretty pricey as well as buying organic at the store so I started a container garden in my apt’s back area. Gardening is my low impact exercise and quite the stress reliever! I’ve started seeds so far and I’m a few weeks from final frost!
    jntievckfh8k.jpeg
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    I figured It out, Kerri!
  • Blondie2661
    Blondie2661 Posts: 1 Member
    Hello fellow gardeners. I am a mid-something who is on a journey to losing 100 pounds. The weight has crept up on my over the past ten years and rather than deal with it as it happened I decided to just weight until I was really out of shape and frightened for my health to do something about it - ugh. I was very excited to find you within the weight loss journey community (not typically two areas that you see together). I no longer grow vegetables because I spent a good portion of my summer battling the squirrels, chipmunks and ground hogs for my tomatoes, etc. I live in an area of NJ that is surrounded by farmers markets and great options for fresh produce so no worries there. I DO love the rest of my gardens which are a mix of ornamentals, pollinator gardens, and containers. Gardening is a great stress reliever and keeps me connected to mother earth. Looking forward to chatting with everyone.
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    Good Morning ladies. This, MFP, is my first attempt at any sort of social networking so I apologize in advance for being awkward. I much prefer a face to face conversation but these days that's a bit old fashion, not to mention impossible in some cases.
    I, too am a grandmother jgnatca. Only two grandkids though, but I've been "daycare" for their working parents since they were 3 months old so maybe two is enough. lol! Up until a year ago I also cared for my mom, who I lost to cancer. Cruel disease, my heart is broken.
    My husband is handicapped, in that he can only walk short distances. I have spent most of my life as caregiver, still do. It is who I am, but at some point, as I got older I suspect, I forgot to care for me. After I lost Mom I went to hell, quite frankly. I've always been healthy, active - I was raised to be that way - but stages in life and generally ignoring my own health put me in a bad way. Medications for this or that... "you're getting older and..." was the phrase.
    So, early in February I decided to do something - enter South Beach - I lost 10 pounds BAM! in a matter of two weeks....!! Then nothing, no weight loss for days, weeks - not an ounce. I was ready to scream, then I stumbled onto MFP. I've been here 6 days, I think...
    I realize the initial 10 pounds on South Beach was fluid...ok. And that you can't eat a pound of bacon to avoid a cupcake. By logging my food, every bite, I realized my calorie intake and portion sizes where that of a lumberjack, not a 60 year old woman, and I'm only 5'1" tall. I'm learning that I can have a wide range foods with this "life style" as long as I'm smart and eat small portions. I weighed myself this morning and I've dropped five pounds since I began MFP. I find that amazing, but moreover I feel good. I'm eating healthy. Don't get me wrong - I could eat a mountain of cheese cake right now. Left alone, in the right mindset, on a gloomy day - yeah boy ya betcha!! But I can't do that to me now.
    Going to the green house! Hope to get seeds in dirt!
  • makinemjellis
    makinemjellis Posts: 91 Member
    I'm in my mid-20s, hoping to drop a few pound and just generally get in shape.

    I'm hoping to get a small container garden started this year. I have grand plans of eventually having a nice vegetable garden and small greenhouse, but that won't be until I have a house of my own. For starters, I'm going to work on growing tomatoes, peppers (bell and some hotter ones), zucchini, cucumbers, potatoes, and lettuce. Hopefully some herbs as well.

    I live in rural South Dakota so it's going to be nice to have fresh produce available to me all summer!
  • kerrimiller2018
    kerrimiller2018 Posts: 31 Member
    OBXbrit wrote: »
    Good Morning ladies. This, MFP, is my first attempt at any sort of social networking so I apologize in advance for being awkward. I much prefer a face to face conversation but these days that's a bit old fashion, not to mention impossible in some cases.
    I, too am a grandmother jgnatca. Only two grandkids though, but I've been "daycare" for their working parents since they were 3 months old so maybe two is enough. lol! Up until a year ago I also cared for my mom, who I lost to cancer. Cruel disease, my heart is broken.
    My husband is handicapped, in that he can only walk short distances. I have spent most of my life as caregiver, still do. It is who I am, but at some point, as I got older I suspect, I forgot to care for me. After I lost Mom I went to hell, quite frankly. I've always been healthy, active - I was raised to be that way - but stages in life and generally ignoring my own health put me in a bad way. Medications for this or that... "you're getting older and..." was the phrase.
    So, early in February I decided to do something - enter South Beach - I lost 10 pounds BAM! in a matter of two weeks....!! Then nothing, no weight loss for days, weeks - not an ounce. I was ready to scream, then I stumbled onto MFP. I've been here 6 days, I think...
    I realize the initial 10 pounds on South Beach was fluid...ok. And that you can't eat a pound of bacon to avoid a cupcake. By logging my food, every bite, I realized my calorie intake and portion sizes where that of a lumberjack, not a 60 year old woman, and I'm only 5'1" tall. I'm learning that I can have a wide range foods with this "life style" as long as I'm smart and eat small portions. I weighed myself this morning and I've dropped five pounds since I began MFP. I find that amazing, but moreover I feel good. I'm eating healthy. Don't get me wrong - I could eat a mountain of cheese cake right now. Left alone, in the right mindset, on a gloomy day - yeah boy ya betcha!! But I can't do that to me now.
    Going to the green house! Hope to get seeds in dirt!

    I can totally relate to eating the same amount of food as a lumberjack. There’s been many times where I’ve started to feel full and just kept eating anyway. Just by logging my food for the past week I am already getting better about judging portion sizes. Now I just need to limit myself to one portion... Great job on losing 5 lbs since starting mfp!
  • kerrimiller2018
    kerrimiller2018 Posts: 31 Member
    jellis432 wrote: »
    I'm in my mid-20s, hoping to drop a few pound and just generally get in shape.

    I'm hoping to get a small container garden started this year. I have grand plans of eventually having a nice vegetable garden and small greenhouse, but that won't be until I have a house of my own. For starters, I'm going to work on growing tomatoes, peppers (bell and some hotter ones), zucchini, cucumbers, potatoes, and lettuce. Hopefully some herbs as well.

    I live in rural South Dakota so it's going to be nice to have fresh produce available to me all summer!

    Welcome jellis! It sounds like you are going to be having a nice container garden this year!
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    Kerri, when I think of the portions I was eating a few months back it blows my mind. Now I get hungry between meals, big time, but I'm learning to use healthy snacks to help get from one to the other. So far it's working.
    Jellis, a lot of veggies grow great in pots. I have several large and some not so large raised beds and yet I'll always plant a favorite cherry tomato or cayenne pepper in a pot on the patio. In case space is an issue and you haven't already thought of it- use a sturdy trellis for the cucumber - most varieties climb well with a little coaxing.
  • makinemjellis
    makinemjellis Posts: 91 Member
    I was originally planning on raised beds, but I think I’m going to be moving after this summer so I don’t want to build the beds just to turn around and leave. I’ll save them for whenever I’m a little more settled :)
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,246 Member
    edited March 2018
    Hello fellow gardeners! I'm Rae from the beautiful state of Oregon, USA. I've been an avid gardener for the past 25+ years and I've had my share of successes and failures. I tell people I have a "light-green thumb" because not everything always turns out, but I enjoy it so I have kept on trying. I'm also a very frugal person. I absolutely hate waste and I HATE paying big money for produce when I can grow my own. I have canned, frozen and dehydrated a lot of my bounty over the years so I have quite a lot of experience.

    All the above aside, this is the first year I am not planning a large vegetable garden. Ugh! I'm already feeling the twinges and longingly glancing at seeds as I pass through the hardware store. I just couldn't resist joining this group hoping it will satisfy a bit of my garden cravings vicariously. I won't ever stop with the flowers and a few veggies, but my days of a big garden might be over . . . . or at least back-burnered for a wee bit :wink: .

    Here's a bit of my garden history:

    Nearly 28 years ago my husband and I (along with 2 young sons) moved to the country to an old farmhouse with 2.5 acres. I told him I wanted a garden. He knew a guy down the road with a tractor. One day I went to town for groceries and when I came home I had a tilled up garden plot. Nearly 1/2 an acre of a garden plot! Yikes! I planted up the whole thing and then all I did was weed and water, weed and water for the entire summer. My little boys had zero interest, but they loved playing in the yard while Mommy was gardening. We had a lovely crop of everything you can imagine and I spent weeks (months?) putting it all up.

    Every year thereafter the garden plot got a bit smaller and smaller because my boys got bigger and bigger. They were very active in sports and I just didn't have the time to dedicate to it while we were traveling around watching their sporting events.

    About 10 years ago I switched from a regular in-the-ground garden plot to raised beds. Hallelujah! What a concept! The planting and weeding became easier, but it was still a bit of work. Mostly, it was my therapy and also good exercise so I continued for a long time. My husband works for a manufacturing company and he would bring home all these odd-sized wooden boxes and packing crates to use for garden boxes. It looked a bit odd but I didn't mind. We just kept adding them in a grid pattern until we had about a dozen or so. We also have a second fruit garden with strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, marionberries and rhubarb. We just put that one in last year.

    One day this winter I was staring out my kitchen window, contemplating my ramshackle packing box veggie garden, when my husband came up behind me. We both stared out the window for a bit and then he asked if I was thinking of not doing it this summer. Gosh! We've been married a long time because he was reading my mind. :love: We've got a lot of remodeling projects going on, we've got grandkids now that we love to spend time with and we have some traveling plans coming up. Maybe it's time for a little break? SO, we are taking a break this year and see how it goes. I'm still going to plant some tomatoes in pots, work more on the berry garden and who knows? A stray zucchini or lemon cucumber might randomly pop up in my flower bed! :wink:
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    RaeBeeBaby - your post sounds familiar to me, very familiar, but I'm comfortable with my raised beds - and I hope to garden until I drop. We'll have to share tips on food preservation! Sounds like we could share tips on other things as well - like the trails an errors of living in an old farm house!
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    trials and errors... forgive me, it's early and I watched basketball last night....
  • onwardsdownwards
    onwardsdownwards Posts: 8 Member
    Hello! I'm Hazel from Wales in the UK, I'm 46 and I like to think I'm fairly green-fingered (we say green fingers, not thumbs over here :smiley: ). I'm quite new to MFP but I've lost 40lbs already by calorie counting.

    I've rented an Allotment from my city council for the past 4 years, but I moved to a newer, bigger plot recently. The winter's been harsher than usual here this year so we're all about a month behind on our planting! Anyway, this is a photo of my allotment (as it looked last summer) - there are empty plots either side of mine which doesn't make it look so neat and tidy!

    6jspbkzx4wfc.jpg

    I grow all kinds of veggies on the allotment, also some fruit (raspberries, blackcurrants, plums, goosberries), and I have dozens of big pots of herbs growing in my back garden at home. What a lovely group to find - I hope to get to know some new like-minded people!

  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    Hazel, I love the look of your "allotment" and the fact that you travel out of your way to do some of your gardening is admirable! I've been in my raised beds all morning, tilling, raking and weeding the lettuce, onions and greens...can't wait for warmer weather to get full into it.
    40 pounds lost - excellent!! I'm sure by losing the weight counting calories you've learned the value of growing fresh veggies and fruits.
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,246 Member
    The allotment is a grand idea! Around here we also have what they call "community gardens" where you can get a small plot like that. Since I've had a lot of my own space to garden I've never looked into it, so not sure of the cost. It might not cost anything! (Now of course I have to check.)

    One of the reasons I'm taking out my raised bed garden is because it never had a proper fence around it. We'd put up temporary deer fencing (plastic mesh with posts) in the spring and then take it down in the fall so it would last for a few years. It became an extra chore twice a year. Plus, I have a cherry tree nearby that has gotten bigger. We pick a lot of them, but there are always still a bunch. That tree got so big it is now dropping cherries into half of my beds and that makes a big mess.

    Ultimately, when my husband retires, he is going to build me a greenhouse so I can garden year around. I want one with sides that you can open or close easily for ventilation and to keep the critters out. We have also battled ground squirrels and gophers along with the lovely deer. I DO love them, but they love my garden too much!
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    Somehow missed your post, Blondie. Too bad the varmints brought your veggie gardening to a halt. I have several raised beds for my veggies and they're near the house, and I have about half an acre around the house fenced. Fenced to keep the deer out and the dogs in, when they're outside. Anything I hope to keep has to be within the fence. I don't mind really, I love the deer - they are beautiful animals. They graze every evening in the orchard I see from my patio. Last evening there were 15 - sometimes more.
    I love my flower gardens, too. I especially love working in my rose garden -I've a few antique roses that I cherish.
    Are you sufficiently frightened enough to try to lose the weight now? Sometimes that's what it takes but please be determined - not frightened. We'll help. :)
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,246 Member
    @onwardsdownwards - I have always wanted to visit Wales! My husband's family originally came from there. He was born in Oxford, EN, so we have plans to travel to the UK within the next couple years.

    As you all get your gardens planted, please post pictures! Love them!
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,246 Member
    OBXbrit wrote: »
    trials and errors... forgive me, it's early and I watched basketball last night....

    I watched basketball last night, too! NCAA Women's games. My Oregon girls are moving on to the third round!

    What were you watching?
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    Finepanamama - good for you! Even a small windowsill garden of herbs and a few larger containers of your favorite veggies can make a big difference in the cost and availabilty of GOOD food. I've just started seeds in the green house - a variety of peppers and tomatoes - can't wait!
  • no6016
    no6016 Posts: 44 Member
    Hi Kids! I found my group! Hooray! I have a crazy suburban yard where I have 15 fruit trees and 12 veggie bins, all currently empty. Waiting for next weekend. I am a master gardener in California, which means I learn from my mistakes and know where to get good information. I use Mfp as part of my new training plan with a trainer and nutritionist who has recently given me ideal macro counts for my journey. Looking forward to planting soon, but I am proud to say my recent COSTCO card looked greener than it ever has. There should be an award at the checkout. I am 51, Navy wife, parent of a college son, and high school daughter. I have 3 cats, a pug, and fish in the fountain. And a truck named Duke who hauls my garden goodies!
  • no6016
    no6016 Posts: 44 Member
    Hello fellow gardeners. I am a mid-something who is on a journey to losing 100 pounds. The weight has crept up on my over the past ten years and rather than deal with it as it happened I decided to just weight until I was really out of shape and frightened for my health to do something about it - ugh. I was very excited to find you within the weight loss journey community (not typically two areas that you see together). I no longer grow vegetables because I spent a good portion of my summer battling the squirrels, chipmunks and ground hogs for my tomatoes, etc. I live in an area of NJ that is surrounded by farmers markets and great options for fresh produce so no worries there. I DO love the rest of my gardens which are a mix of ornamentals, pollinator gardens, and containers. Gardening is a great stress reliever and keeps me connected to mother earth. Looking forward to chatting with everyone.

    Hey, I am a former jersey girl. You do have the best produce around, the most flavorful of my childhood! I have pollinators as well, by planning and ooo I like that color.

    I dabbled in MFP, and now paired it with a training plan and a nutritionist. I will say that I was ready for training after taking a month of walking and Zumba and some kickboxing. For me the recent piece of the fact that my training program (lose weight, gain shape) came with a nutritionist was um horribly terrifying, and now has settled my head (like weeding does). Glad you are here!
    Hello! I'm Hazel from Wales in the UK, I'm 46 and I like to think I'm fairly green-fingered (we say green fingers, not thumbs over here :smiley: ). I'm quite new to MFP but I've lost 40lbs already by calorie counting.

    I've rented an Allotment from my city council for the past 4 years, but I moved to a newer, bigger plot recently. The winter's been harsher than usual here this year so we're all about a month behind on our planting! Anyway, this is a photo of my allotment (as it looked last summer) - there are empty plots either side of mine which doesn't make it look so neat and tidy!

    6jspbkzx4wfc.jpg

    I grow all kinds of veggies on the allotment, also some fruit (raspberries, blackcurrants, plums, goosberries), and I have dozens of big pots of herbs growing in my back garden at home. What a lovely group to find - I hope to get to know some new like-minded people!
    Hello! I'm Hazel from Wales in the UK, I'm 46 and I like to think I'm fairly green-fingered (we say green fingers, not thumbs over here :smiley: ). I'm quite new to MFP but I've lost 40lbs already by calorie counting.

    I've rented an Allotment from my city council for the past 4 years, but I moved to a newer, bigger plot recently. The winter's been harsher than usual here this year so we're all about a month behind on our planting! Anyway, this is a photo of my allotment (as it looked last summer) - there are empty plots either side of mine which doesn't make it look so neat and tidy!

    6jspbkzx4wfc.jpg

    I grow all kinds of veggies on the allotment, also some fruit (raspberries, blackcurrants, plums, goosberries), and I have dozens of big pots of herbs growing in my back garden at home. What a lovely group to find - I hope to get to know some new like-minded people!

    I am stealing the words allotment and green fingers!
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,246 Member
    edited March 2018
    Hey kids! Since I see a lot of newbies on this thread (which is AWESOME), thought I'd share a couple tips for posting in a group or forum. Just in case you didn't know these things, because I didn't when I first started . . . .

    If you click on the little star at the top of the thread, then you will get a notification every time someone posts on the thread.

    The notifications are found up at the top on the right hand side of any of the community pages on the MFP site. Just click on the little bell and you'll see your notifications. The drop down menu will take you directly to the page.

    Also, if you put an @ in front of someone's user name, then they will also get a notification when you comment on something they've said. For example, I wanted to say thank you to @kerrimiller2018 for starting this group! This will be a lot of fun! And welcome @no6016! Now, they will both get a notification that I mentioned them in a post. You also get notified if someone clicks on "quote" (below) and then replies to your post.

    Happy posting!

  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    NO6016 - Mach 3 with your hair on fire! I like you already!
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    Thank you, @RaeBeeBaby! I am new to this, the group thing, the social networking all together...So, much appreciated!
    Question to put to you all -
    Yesterday I loaded firewood into the Ranger at the barn, unloaded it at the garden shed, split two wheel barrow loads and wheeled them to the patio.... surely this should count as exercise. I'm running into this problem nearly everyday. I don't have a gym membership, I don't have exercise equipment at home - I do practice yoga, stretches every morning, and sometimes at other times of day - when there's time and I can get away from the chaos. So you see, a lot of what is listed doesn't apply, as for substituting I'm simply guessing...can't be accurate. ?
    Gardening - it's there, but what about shoveling and hauling a truckload of manure. That's just not the same as planting and weeding.
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    @RaeBeeBaby - WVU and Marshall - men's college basketball...
    My green house is small and other than the door there is a vent/ window in the top that I open - but it get blistering hot so other than starting all of my garden plants and wintering some hardy pottedherbs it is obsolete in the heat of summer - i like your idea!
  • kerrimiller2018
    kerrimiller2018 Posts: 31 Member
    OBXbrit wrote: »
    Thank you, @RaeBeeBaby! I am new to this, the group thing, the social networking all together...So, much appreciated!
    Question to put to you all -
    Yesterday I loaded firewood into the Ranger at the barn, unloaded it at the garden shed, split two wheel barrow loads and wheeled them to the patio.... surely this should count as exercise. I'm running into this problem nearly everyday. I don't have a gym membership, I don't have exercise equipment at home - I do practice yoga, stretches every morning, and sometimes at other times of day - when there's time and I can get away from the chaos. So you see, a lot of what is listed doesn't apply, as for substituting I'm simply guessing...can't be accurate. ?
    Gardening - it's there, but what about shoveling and hauling a truckload of manure. That's just not the same as planting and weeding.

    I was wondering that myself. I’ve just been logging my activity as gardening but it also included a lot of yard work like raking and landscaping etc so I figure it’s better to underestimate than overestimate.
  • OBXbrit
    OBXbrit Posts: 48 Member
    @kerrimiller2018, I'm finding that a lot of what I do - that I know is bloody physically taxing - is not listed. Lol!! So, like you I've come to the conclusion it's better to underestimate.
    No gardening today. Pouring the snow! :(
  • RaeBeeBaby
    RaeBeeBaby Posts: 4,246 Member
    I've done plenty of wood loading and hauling and it IS hard exercise! I've also hauled rocks around my yard for various planting bed projects and little rock walls. The MFP database doesn't have wood hauling/splitting or rock wall building in their database. LOL

    You CAN create a custom exercise if it's something you think you'll be doing frequently. I've made a few of them myself. It's a little trial and error to get it right, but it works. You have to find an exercise in their database that seems equivalent in effort and then you can go by the calorie burn for that.

    For example - I created an exercise for Disc Golf. It's something my husband and I do quite frequently. Sometimes the disc golf courses are pretty rugged and I carry my own bag which weighs between 10-15 pounds. So, I used "hiking with 10 pound pack" as my comparison exercise. Plugged in 60 minutes to see what the calorie burn was for an hour of hiking and then used that to build my custom exercise. Now when I log Disc Golf in my exercise diary it calculates it for me.

    I was thinking for heavy gardening or wood hauling/splitting you could just use strength training, but it looks like general gardening is about the same calorie burn anyway.

    It's kind of a guessing game with the exercise, as I'm sure MFP's calorie burns are not that accurate. It's still fun to keep track of it, though. Especially when you look back over a week and see how active you've been!