Intro thread...
saltysparkle
Posts: 145 Member
Hey! If you're not too shy, please introduce yourself!
My name is Mari. I live in the US, with my partner, one of our kids (the other one is old enough to have flown the coop), and our 12 y.o. beagle -- whom I coax out for a walk every morning. Really we take turns dragging each other. But lately she's been slowing down just as I'm hoping to ramp up!
Last year I was diagnosed with fatty liver disease, and this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer, so I have health reasons to want to get back down to a healthier size. But also, I love ballet and gymnastics and cannot safely do either in my current shape.
My name is Mari. I live in the US, with my partner, one of our kids (the other one is old enough to have flown the coop), and our 12 y.o. beagle -- whom I coax out for a walk every morning. Really we take turns dragging each other. But lately she's been slowing down just as I'm hoping to ramp up!
Last year I was diagnosed with fatty liver disease, and this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer, so I have health reasons to want to get back down to a healthier size. But also, I love ballet and gymnastics and cannot safely do either in my current shape.
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Hi Mari! I just found your group from your post in the public forums - I am also looking to lose more slowly than most as I want to make SUSTAINABLE changes! Too many times I have rushed in, had some success, but then lost my way when that initial rate of loss dropped off - I now realise that's because I hadn't been doing things that I could keep doing forever, I was looking to lose weight and have that as an end goal, rather than looking for a healthier way to live my life! I'm glad I know better now!
So my name is Christie, I live in Australia with my hubby of almost 13 years, and our 2.5 year old son who definitely keeps us on our toes! We also have a Siberian Husky who rules the yard, he's about 8 years old now but still thinks he's a puppy.
I have PCOS which comes with insulin resistance and a fatty liver (yay). I had an endometrial cancer scare a couple of years ago which lead us to IVF to conceive our son. I know that if I can reduce my weight to a healthier level, the symptoms of my PCOS will also be reduced, and I'll be setting a good, healthy example for my son.
So far, I have lost around 30 lbs from making relatively small changes in my diet and increasing my exercise. I hope to continue losing about 2kg a month (4-5 lbs) but really I am ok with any amount of loss!1 -
Hi Mari, my name is Christine and I have a 12 year old beagle too!!! Our walks are down hill on the way out (yahoo let's go!!) and uphill on the way back (mama, really?!!)...we have a 8 year old beagle husky mix (cute, super floofy beagle)who is still going strong and has a lot of the husky LET"S GO! in her....so the walk uphill has my arms outstretched in opposite directions with the two different speeds LOL.
I found this group because I loved the name "Turtle Track" and the concept.
I am looking to lose weight more slowly because I want to be able to sustain the loss, and I do not want to hurt myself in the process of getting healthier. I have a tendency to 'maintain' a weight easily and not see the scale budge for long periods, but I'd like to get that sustain at a lower number. Currently about 40-50 pounds above my healthy happy zone.
Breast cancer can be scary. You can do this! All you can do is what you can do during this period. If you are doing chemo I recommend going gluten free at some point. I am 8 years out from my bout with it (I had Stage 2b Metaplastic TNBC)...I had terrible bloating during chemo, about 6mos after chemo I went gluten free because of skin problems and I wish I had done it sooner, the bloating stopped. It makes sense, because your gut is all out of whack so things that don't normally bother it, well they bother it for a bit. I'm back to eating gluten now, but gave it up for 2 years and only eat it in moderation now. The steroids they give you also make you puff out...don't let that distress you, that much is beyond your control. I tried to walk a little every day, some days it wasn't in the cards...play it by ear day by day....the walking when you can, even when you kind of don't want to helps with digestion, keep your blood moving, they'll probably be a bit slower, your beagle will love it
Thank you for creating this group! I am really trying to make myself accountable to myself by keeping actual track (not just in my head) of the activity and nutrition throughout the day.2 -
Hello, I'm Skyler. I live in the Dallas area. Married 27 years with no kids and two cats. I'm a hairstylist and I work 4 days a week. I love to play slots and most of my vacations are to Las Vegas. I go about 4 times a year. Because our cats have some health problems, we can't leave them. My husband and I have to take separate vacations. I have a group of friends that also love Vegas. We met online, but have been real life friends for several years. We all live in different places, but meet in Vegas for our trips. Eating is a big part of those trips. So, every 3 months I have 5 or 6 days that I'm going way over and not logging. I'm ok with that, but it does mean two steps forward and one step back. I used to have a terrible time starting to log and work out again after vacation, but lately I've been better about that.
In September of last year, I quit smoking after 30 years. That has really hindered my weight loss efforts. It's amazing how much energy it gives you. Also suppresses appetite. It's well documented that your body uses an extra 50 to 100 calories per day when you're a smoker. That's not insignificant!
I was an overweight kid, teenager, and young adult. When I was in my mid 20s, I lost 65 pounds by using metabolife 356. I thought it was the greatest thing ever and I only had to take one pill a day to curb my appetite. When it went off the market, I struggled. I've been struggling ever since. I never gained all the weight back, but I've lost and gained the same 15 or 20 many times. I'm 5'5" and I started this time at 159. I'm hovering around 154. I'd be happy at 140, but I'm going to try to get into my 130s if I can. It will take a while.
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Hello! Please call me Zephy or Goal, lmao. I changed my username years ago and apparently you can only do that once, wouldn't have changed it if I had known that...
I turned 30 this year, on 06-08-2021, as it happens - I have no idea what "goal" I actually had in mind for my 30th birthday but I probably didn't meet it. I've been using MFP on and off for about 12 years (this is my second account), so I have about a decade's worth of data that show I lose when I count calories and I gain when I don't. I've been fat literally my whole life - I was a normal sized baby, but there are pictures of me in kindergarten, maybe even preschool, where I am noticeably larger than all of the other kids. I've never been below 169 as an adult, and that lasted for about five minutes in...2012, I think?
Officially, this is my last attempt at weight loss. I started 11/13/2020 at 252.8 lbs. As of last Saturday (I weigh weekly), I'm down 32 lbs and change - I weighed in at 220.2 lbs. 32lbs in 7 months isn't lightning-fast. My ultimate goal is 147 and go from there; I'm 5'2", so all of the calculators and such out on the interwebs want me to be some 110-lb waif. But, I have no memory of ever weighing anywhere close to 110lbs, and I come from a long line of short, broad people. So, I'm going to lean into my dwarven-shieldmaiden nature and aim to build muscle when I get closer to where I want to be. I want to be ripped as hell* and I'm so glad I have a loving and supportive husband who's into that. I'm aiming to reach that goal by the end of 2022, ideally, but I'll get there when I get there. I don't want to lose 100lbs *again.*
(*I recognize that getting "ripped as hell" would probably require PEDs of some kind. I'm shooting for the moon and being hyperbolic, mostly. Mostly.)2 -
Hello I'm Kim. 50 years old. I live with my husband of 27 years, and our three girls, 21, 17 and 11. I've been on MFP forever off and on, and have recently decided to be more on, as I realized I am 10 pounds away from a "healthy" weight for my height. I've lost 25 pounds spread out over the past five years, so a very very slow steady loss. I want to speed up those last 10 pounds, and then maybe try to drop a few extra to give me some cushion. At my heaviest I was about 235# or about 80# above my current weight. I had RNY gastric bypass 12 years ago, and dropped about 100, but had some regain, but a steady loss over the past few years. I'd love to get to a healthy weight range by the end of summer if I can. I do Kuk Sool Won, a Korean martial art 2-3 times per week, and I'm trying to add daily walking as well. Recently had basal joint arthroplasty in my right wrist, where they removed an arthritic bone from my wrist/thumb, so am also working to strengthen and loosen up my wrist. I also enjoy hiking and backpacking when it's not too hot out.1
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I'm so excited to meet you all! A couple things I forgot to say are that I'm closing in on 45 y.o. and my pronouns are she/her.
Many thanks to @TwistedSassette for putting a link to this group in the thread on Motivation and Support!
@hessiondesign4 , I am super-excited to have another person who's been through BC on here -- and another beagle owner! Mine is my first, and she wasn't who I thought I was looking for when I went to the shelter, but I'm ever so glad I didn't leave her there; she's been such a gift to our whole family!
@Skyler103 , I think quitting smoking is an amazing feat and I'll admit to curiosity about Vegas. I've never had a chance to see it, but I was just listening to an Atlas Obscura podcast that takes place there. Have you seen "Akhob"? If I ever go and it's still there, I'd like to see it.
@Zephy, I hear you! I stand 5'1.25" and I am a solid mesomorph, with stocky peasant calves and thighs and linebacker shoulders. Even when I was in my late 20s and dancing for 8-12 hours a day, my BMI was solidly "normal" rather than underweight. I don't think I could healthily get back to that weight. My current "healthy" goal is 130. I love your plan to get ripped as hell!
@KimShea01 I had never heard of Kook Sul Won, so yay for learning new things! I think working your way up the belt levels sounds like fun, and I hope your healing process goes smoothly with the wrist!
Welcome to anyone else reading this, as well! I hope you'll introduce yourself someday!
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Mari, I haven't seen Akhob. I do know of it because in the Las Vegas forums ppl write trip reports and a few years ago I read about it. The person that wrote about it really enjoyed the experience!1
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Hi all - sorry for the belated intro...I joined and then must have got sidetracked, and just spotted Turtle Track in my groups 😆
I am 43 (she/her), in New Zealand with my DH, 2 kids (11&14yr) and our 5yr old beagle! Seems to be a popular choice of dog in here LOL. She's a great walking buddy.
Like Christie mentioned above, I am all about making this sustainable in the long term. At the start of the year I somehow turned a corner and decided I needed to make myself a priority. Since then I have increased my exercise (found a routine and workouts I actually enjoy & look forward to...this has NEVER been my feeling towards exercise before!).
And I have been slowly making small adjustments in my diet to be more nutritious, and suitable portions. I haven't lost a lot of weight in that time, but feel so much better, and have gone down a clothing size. I'd still like to lose 10-15lbs, but my focus right now is the habits, with the assumption that the results will happen in time.1 -
Nice intro! I try to think of how happy I'll be with my body this time next year!0
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Welcome jo_nz!0
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Hi, my name is Karine - 51, and I live in Belgium (the land of chocolate, beer and waffles !) with hubby and 2 cats as sadly one passed away last year. I've been a yoyo-dieter all my life. I started dieting at age 14 when I started to have some curves and I wanted to stay boy-ish. My highest weight was in my mid 20's when I was around 92 kg or 200 pounds. From there I went down after trying whatever fad diet was in womans' magazines, and then back up when that ended and then added some more. All in all, during my lifetime, I probably lost and gained 200 kg or 440 lbs.
I started to be more focused on health after becoming a MFP member. I realized that my family and my inlaws all had very unhealthy habits and hubby and I started to be more active. That is when we slowly discovered long distance walking, running and scuba diving. The latter became a way of life and a passion and brought us new friends with very healthy lifestyles.
After a broken ankle in 2006, I had to stop running but I invested even more time in scuba. That is now my main form of exercise: getting all the gear in the car (imagine several steel bottles of 40-50 pounds), a lot of lead and other stuff; drive to have the tanks filled (in and out of the car again); go to the divespot, gearing up all that weight, dive in sometimes very strong currents, gearing down again, have all the gear back in the car; once at home rinse all the salt water off; hang to dry. I really don't need a gym after that !
At the moment I'm around 73 kg - or 160 pound, and I really would like to get that down to 71 to be able to fit better in my scuba gear. So almost nothing to lose, yet it's already taken me months to go down slowly. The goal is to get there at turtle's pace in order to stay there for once and for all ! At almost 52, I'm tired of having to go down, I just want to to maintain.
The plan is to get there slowly, but also to stay in a range (69-71), rather than focusing on a set weight.1 -
Welcome Karine! Thank you so much for introducing yourself! My husband is convinced I should take a page from your book at try scuba diving, since I love the ocean so much. I think you are very brave and must have seen a lot of really cool creatures!1
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Thanks @saltysparkle. I've indeed seen it all, the good (all the critters great and small - from humpbacks to nudibranchs), the bad (the effects of pollution and global warming) and the very ugly (dynamite fishing, trailer fishing, the Fukushima tsunami). All in all I've already spent more than 2.000 hours under water.
Beware though, it is addictive, once you start you don't know where you'll end up.
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