Hi again everyone! I’m Lisa and live in Toronto, Canada with my husband and our two active, hockey playing boys, ages 13.5 & 9.5 (those half ages are important to them!). I am a lawyer and after many years in the corporate world, I started my own part-time practice from home last year, which I love as it gives me more time to focus on all of the things that truly matter. My weight came on in my mid-thirties with a busy career, and then pregnancies. I have fluctuated since. I am able to lose but I am working on my thought patterns and habits to stop the fluctuating. I joined our team around this time last year. It was a bumpy ride in 2019 because of my sciatica injury, but I lost around 18lbs. I have 15 lbs to go for my goal weigh, and 2020 is the year! I am a distance runner, but have not been able to run for about a year due to my injury. I do walk/hike, cycle, yoga, and weights. I got a trainer a few months back, and she really helped me to not give up on myself. My injury is slowly healing and I see a great PT. I still miss running, but I am in a much better place about it now.

My 2020 goals are:
Get to goal weight
Revise & update my wardrobe with new sizes/styles
After goal, live in a maintenance plan that is realistic and that I can do for the rest of my life
Follow a ramped up post-injury fitness plan
Dress nicely each day (I work from home, so unless I have client meetings, this may just mean casual, but nice casual)
Travel for fun more
Find more creative outlets
Create a plan for the next phase of my life (this is a longer term outlook)

My word for 2020 is: LIMITLESS

This is a great team and I learn something new almost every week, if not everyday. Thanks to @hope002’s posts I started doing IF this fall and I found that it helps me tremendously. Welcome new and returning members!! Let’s make January “green”!!

Thanks team Weight No More for having me as a new member. What a wonderful time to join with all this possibility in the air as we head into the new decade before us.

My goals for 2020 are:
Lose the last 10 pounds
Tone up and move around
Launch new business
Work three days a week
Balance family time the rest of the week
Learn to live with Meniere's

I've been active on MFP for two years straight, starting off at 177.4 and now at 152 lbs. My goal is 142.

I live in Toronto, Canada and have a 30-year-old daughter who lives near me and a 28-year-old son who lives in a lovely town called Uxbridge outside of the city, where they bought an old home. It is the trail capital of Canada, so we get a lot of walks and hikes in when we're there. It's a really pretty place, about an hour or so away depending on traffic. (For context, Toronto rivals LA in terms of traffic jams.)

I have two grandchildren. My granddaughter, Pippa, is two and a half, and my grandson Gilbert is 8 months old. My daughter-in-law started back to work this week and my son started his paternity leave from now until May. So I get to spend one day a week with my granddaughter, which I love so much. My daughter-in-law brings her into the city to me. Pippa loves coming here and I enjoy our adventures so much.

I work for myself now, after having had a career as an advertising and publishing executive. A good friend and I are launching a start-up, which has to do with the genealogy trend that's going on now. I'll tell you more about that when it launches. I'm also a family historian myself.

I love cooking from scratch, mainly soups, pastas (which soup is a good substitute for when losing weight - almost any pasta craving can translate into a healthy soup), fish, lots of international cuisines (I find Vietnamese foods, for example, are delicious and low calorie/high flavor), and not so much baking aside from banana bread, which I usually give away.

I had a setback for a large part of last year when I didn't track or lose weight. Just a warning, this next part is going to cover some sad/negative things, but don't worry good things will follow.

For most of last year, my mother has been in palliative care. My sister lives five hours away and I live an hour or more away depending on traffic. Also, my daughter had a cancer diagnosis, which is in remission now, and I was diagnosed with Meniere's Disease, which is disabling but I'm determined to take a positive attitude.

My sister and I, along with two aunts, did shifts at the hospital for months with my mother, packed up her own home, and moved her into a retirement home where she will stay until she goes to hospice. The home is very nice, the people are wonderful, and she is creating a good quality of life and routines. She requires constant care as she is blind, mostly deaf, and an amputee, but is much happier. This means that my sister and I can now get back to our own routines to a degree and she feels settled.

I used to run marathons, cycle outdoors, go to Spinning, do reformer Pilates, work with a personal trainer, etc. until (as my daughter says) one day, just like Forrest Gump, I stopped. Now I focus on walking the dog and eating well. Depending on how well things go with the Meniere's, which affects my hearing and balance significantly (to the point where I can't lie on my back or turn my head to the right among other motions, like looking at the top shelf at home or the supermarket, or I have vertigo), I will work my way up to a new fitness regime. I can no longer drive because of it too.

One serendipitous thing I should mention here is that my daughter-in-law is a deaf interpreter. Because of this, my granddaughter learned sign language from a very young age and I learned right along with her. This is extremely fortuitous with the Meniere's because I lost quite a bit of hearing suddenly in May and in flare-ups lose a little more. But, I'm not afraid because of our exposure to the deaf community and ways around this.

At this point, I want to emphasize that I am a person with a positive disposition. There was just a flurry of real-life situations on our doorstep this year to share with you so you have a full picture of who I am.

I know @sleepymom5 from another group that I'm in called Sole Mates. In that group, we track our steps each day with very little commentary. She let us know about this group, which came at just the right time for me. Right away I was delighted to meet @Cafelelia, who serendipitously lives just a few short kilometres away, right here in Toronto.

I'm very excited to meet you all and read through the December chat so that I could get to know some of you. I posted some comments to each of you over there.

Howdy everyone. Thanks for having me as a new member. I look forward to getting to know everyone. I am a 56 year old middle school science teacher living out in the country in south central Texas. I have been married for 29 years. I have two wonderful sons (ages 28 and 24) and a beautiful daughter in law (married to the oldest son. I also have 3 fur babies. 14 yr old black lab Artemis, 13 yr old chocolate lab Cinnamon, and 3 yr old maltipoo Dobby.

I have had trouble maintaining my weight for almost my entire adult life. Once I started having kids, it was very easy to forget to exercise and eat right all the time. I got up to a weight of 242 pounds. I was borderline diabetic, on high blood pressure meds...in other words, I was literally eating myself to death.

I started working on losing weight at the beginning of August 2010. By the end of February 2012, due to exercising 2 hours a day and counting every calorie that went into my mouth, I got down to 145 pounds and a size 8. In my wildest dreams I never thought I would ever get down to single digit sizes again. I reached my maintenance weight of 130 in February of 2016. It took a long time to get that last 15 pounds off.

During this journey, I have become an athlete. I never ever considered myself one before, not even when I was in the Navy. I am an endurance cyclist. I also kayak, fish, hike and run. If you haven't guessed the theme we are very outdoorsy people.

In September of 2017, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In October of 2017, I had a bilateral mastectomy, and started chemotherapy the beginning of December 2017. I put on a little over 20 pounds while on chemo because of giving in to my chocolate cravings. In April, I will be 2 years post chemo and I am currently 13 pounds from my maintenance weight. I have been working on it the last year. I only lost 5 pounds the last year and I am determined to get back to maintenance this year.

Before you look at my goals and go oh wow 3000 miles. My initial cycling goal was 2020 mi for the year. Then yesterday, I looked at my cycling mileage for 2019 and it was 2500 miles, so I had to up my initial goal, thus the 3000 miles.

2020 Goals
My vision words for this year are FOCUS and COMMITTED
1. Closer relationship with God
2. More family time
3. Read more
4. Continue working on getting debt free
5. Get back to maintenance weight
6. Increase workout intensity
7. More bicycle tours
8. 3000 miles on bicycle
9. Run once per week

I am very excited to start this challenge. I know @sleepymom5 and @sleepymom5 from the group Sole Mates. I am looking forward to getting to know everyone. Let's have a great year.

Hi Everyone,
I am excited to join your team.

I live in Southern California, I am married, and have one son (19) in college on the East Coast. I had been the typical stay at home mom, president of the school booster club, president of Little League and all around parent volunteer. When my son left for college in the fall of 2018 it was suppose to be my time to reinvent myself and find a new career. Well as you all know life always seems to throw you a curve ball when you are not looking.
(my son is a baseball player).

My mother was my fathers caregiver (he has dementia) and she all of a sudden developed severe dementia overnight. She ran away from home and did not recognize any of us. After 8 weeks in the hospital, she was diagnosed with Lewy Body Dementia. We put her in an assistant living situation and then 2 days later she was rushed back to the hospital and needed emergency surgery for scar tissue (from surgery years ago) that had wrapped around her intestine and closed it off. 2 days after the surgery, 80% of the dementia symptoms went away. She had been suffering from delirium. My mom still has dementia but now it is slowly progressing. So we moved her back home with my Dad. They have been married for over 50 years and did not want to be separated.

Needless to say, I now manage my parents healthcare, caregivers, finances, and household needs. They still live in their home. It is a full time job. The stress and depression from it all lead to poor eating, sleeping and little exercise. My doctors have told me I'm no good to my parents if I don't take care of myself. So 2020 is the year to take back my life.

Goals for 2020:
1. reduce my stress
2. accept I can't control everything
3. eat healthier
4. loose 25 pounds
5. work on getting more sleep

My weigh in day will be Mondays.

I look forward to meeting all of you.
JillyBT

Welcome all you new members! I'm Casey, and I've been part of this group for a year. With their help I lost 20lbs last year!

I'm a wife, mom, and English teacher in North Carolina. My 18 year old son is in the Army National Guard and just started working for a glass company doing measurements and installs. My 12 year old is gearing up for baseball try outs and football workouts.

Last year started well for me, but I stalled out around summer. Rather than go into Lots of detail, I'll just say we're working through serious marriage issues and hope we can stay together. Anyway, stress from that and missing my oldest while he was in basic were factors in not losing more weight.

This year, my main goals might seem a little selfish, but I'm going to work on staying grounded and to make time for my own self care instead of putting it off until other responsibilities are done.

January goals:
1. Grounding exercises and strategies
2. Measure snacks
3. Lose 3 lbs
4. Read for pleasure
5. Complete ab workout trainer

Welcome all new and returning members!! Happy New Year!

I'm Nancy, 50, originally from sunny California. My husband and I relocated to Montana about 7 1/2 years ago with our two dogs. My favorite form of exercise is hiking in the mountains with our dogs.

The weight started creeping on due to a desk job and long commute. I thought between quitting my job and moving to Montana, the weight would just fall off. But like @JillyBT wrote, life can throw you a curve ball when you least expect it. My mother, a lifelong nonsmoker, was battling lung cancer and passed away while visiting here in Montana. Guilt, depression, loneliness etc.... all settled in. My husband works on long term construction projects that take him away from home for extended periods of time. My family and friends were back in California and my husband was working in Oklahoma at the time. I gained 40 pounds over a 4 year period where I just sort of existed but was definitely not thriving.

But life has a way of settling down. My dad now has a wonderful gal pal that enjoys his hobbies and my husband got a nice promotion at work. I'm a big time worry-wort but finally life seemed to be looking up. Suddenly a light went off and I felt like I could worry less and spend some time on me! Initially, I made big, swooping changes to my diet and exercise; cutting out processed foods and taking up strength training. With the help of MFP and F2F, I've lost 55 pounds over 2 years. I was 5 pounds from goal and determined to reach it by Thanksgiving along with the fabulous @Mrsbell8well but that didn't happen. Over the last 3 months of 2019 I gained and lost the same 2 - 3 pounds. I guess looking on the bright-side, I've got maintenance nailed LOL.

I actually enjoy exercising and do some form pretty much every day. Our dogs are very persistent personal trainers. I use a Fitbit to track my steps, take yoga classes, have a Bowflex MaxTrainer, love JessicaSmithTV strength training YouTube videos and, if I can't get outside, walk to Leslie Sansone walking videos. I have learned so much from other team members throughout my wellness journey.

We were encouraged in December to come up with a word for 2020. Mine is EMBRACE. I plan to worry less, enjoy more and embrace all life has to offer. Biggest goal of the year is to finally reach my goal weight range of 155-160. At the start of my journey I didn't know if I could actually lose weight and I never had a number in my mind, I just wanted to be healthier and stronger. But when I did lose my weight I wanted to be at a weight that was maintainable. My body likes being at 165 but I want to lose another 10 and see if I can maintain it as easily. OK, this got much longer than I intended so I'll just end here. I still need to formulate my January goals.

Here's to a successful January and 2020.

Hello everyone! I also can't believe it's 2020!!!!! It was November 2018 that I gave up sweets and that means its been over a year! Seriously time flies so fast! Sweets are something I can’t do in moderation so I eliminated it.

My name is Sheryl, I'm a CPA, I'm 64 years young, I love to dance (mainly clogging and line dancing) and I foster Rescue Dogs. I have 2 adult sons aged 27 and 30. One son lives in Chicago and one lives about 45 minutes from me. I live in Romeo Michigan which is a small town about an hour north of Detroit. I work full time during tax season and part time the rest of the year.

I joined this challenge about when it began back in 2016 while I was recovering from hip replacement surgery on both of my hips. I'm glad to say that both hips work great! In fact, most of the time I forget that they are metal - so that is a good thing. I love the support from the members of this group and I find that you guys help to keep me strong and stop beating myself up when I have a bad day.

I find that I can be very honest with you guys without judgement - and I really appreciate that. I end up getting suggestions and all kinds of great advice from other people who are just like me. Lets all have a great month!

thanks for welcoming me back to the group @sleepymom5 and @Cafelelia

It is great to see of the different nationalities in the group. My name is Anne-Marie I am a Brit. I work in a museum organising school trips and projects. I am also a wife and mum of a 5 year old. I do triathlon and run half marathons. (I am not very happy calling myself an althlete, as some who has spent most of my life hating physical exercise I don't feel it)

I was a member of the group for most of 2019. It kept me in check. In the autumn (fall) I decided to go all in and get my project management course done. I enrolled to do it 2 years ago and everything else that I could think of took priority. So my husband said you just need to focus on one thing at a time. So put all my focus into completing the course. I passed the final exam on new years eve so now I am done. I have used it as a bit of an excuse to give up on training and eat junk so have gained about 20lbs. I have lost it once I know I can lose it again. my physically fitness has gone seriously backwards.

As everyone is nominating a word for 2020 mine is strength. I have set myself the fitness challenge for April. I have entered the world coal carrying championships. I have to carry 20kg (44lbs) 1km (0.67 miles) up a yorkshire hill. i have also signed up to do Warsaw half marathon in the end of May. A while back I came up with a scheme of doing half marathons in every town where I have lived. This year I plan to do Warsaw and the town where I grew up Kettering (this race is done in the countryside by serious runners) so my aim is to get stronger and faster.

My plans started off well. This morning I was due to do a group training session with a new personal trainer but of woke up tired achey headachey with a hacking cough. I was feeling a bit off yesterday so I skipped training. I feel rotten today so I have decided to rest up but I am nervous about missing training. It is good to be back in the group.

I have already written this once but it didn't save so I am crossing my fingers as I hit the post button.