Hi there! I wanted to jump on board and say a quick hello. Similar to yourself, my ultimate goal is to lose 80 pounds. I have been struggling with weight gain since the birth of my third child a little over twelve years ago. I currently have four children ages 16, 15, 12, and 8. I work full time as a social worker for mentally ill adults and I am on my feet all day. I am also a busy mom and my nights are filled with running kids to sports, dance classes, etc..... We, like many other busy families today, have grown into the tragic pattern of grabbing dinner on the go. I would estimate that we ordered pizza or ate out on more days then we ate in. I admit that I am honestly not a "big eater". I do not drink soda, I do not drink coffee, and my sweets are limited. My biggest challenge is that I am a meal skipper. I was known to skip breakfast (they say this is the most important meal of the day), grab a quick lunch which usually consisted of a deli meat sandwich, chips or soup, and a fruit, and then grab dinner on the go with my family. My metabolism is awful and the weight has just packed on. I started the 17 Day Diet a week ago today and I am off to a fairly good start. I have been following to a T and I have currently lost 4 pounds. My biggest challenge has been drinking 8 glasses of water. I have not been able to work up to that as of yet. I have been able to fight off the temptation three times this past week. I made chocolate chip cookies for the kids, my boss made chocolate chip cookies at work, and my son's birthday was yesterday. Anyhow, I just wanted to say a quick hello and jump on board. Here's to our weight loss! We can do it!

Just reread what you have written above and noted that you had asked about what I am eating daily. As I mentioned, I recently started the 17 Day Diet. I am not sure if you are familiar with what this is or not but you can read the information about this diet online. It is called the 17 Day Diet by Dr. Moreno. Don't let the name fool you.....this diet is not just 17 days!

Anyhow,

breakfast: a protein (usually 2 hard boiled egg whites) a probiotic (Dannon Activia Fat free yogurt like blueberry or strawberry) a fruit (usually red grapes or an apple), and a cup of hot green tea with one truvia to sweeten.

lunch: unlimited protein (I usually eat two lean deli turkey slices or tuna), unlimited cleansing vegtables (broccoli, carrots, green beans, peppers, etc....), a second fruit, and diet green tea with citrus. Occasionally, I will substitute the fruit for a second serving of probiotic like fat free cottage cheese.

dinner: varies sometimes I will have a garden salad with grilled chicken breast and some lite balsamic vinigarette dressing. Or perhaps a grilled chicken or turkey breast with a side of a vegtable.

snack: a second probiotic or second fruit.

You also are given a friendly fat such as cooking oil. And condiments are okay in moderation.

Note: Do not eat fruit after 2 p.m. because the sugar is not easily digested and sits as fat.

Also drink 8 fluid ounces of water per day. (This is something I am working on!)

This is considered cycle one of the 17 day diet. Cycle one jumpstarts your weight loss, jumpstarts and boosts your metabolism, and cleans out the toxins in your body. You generally lose about ten pounds in the first 17 days although the more you have to lose, the more you tend to lose. On cycle two, more foods will be added back into the diet. After 17 more days, you move on to cycle three where more foods are added to your diet. If after cycle three, you have met your goal, then you move on to the final stage which is cycle 4 where you learn to maintain your weight. If you have more weight to lose (like myself), then you decide which cycle you would like to go back to and start again. I was lucky enough to find a support group for this diet and I have heard many great things. I am really hopeful to see results! I have the support of my doctor and family and I already have the kids trained to keep me on track! LOL

Hello everyone. I have been riding the roller coaster for years and I am ready to get off. I went to a Nutritionist last Wednesday which led me to counting calories again and adding more fiber into my diet to reduce my cholesterol levels.

I am so happy I found this website. I have tried to count calories before but it was so complicated with the books and looking up info online. This database has so much already in it and it is very easy to add to it.

Anyway, the gym I go to is doing a Biggest Loser Contest during the month of February. I am going to do it and I am very excited about it keeping me focused.

I have 80 lbs to lose.

jdragonfly: go to your settings above and click on it. It will ask you if you would like to have your ticker added to all of your posts. Just click on YES. It is that easy!!!

Oh, I meant to identify myself in the picture. I am the one on the far left in the picture.

Hello everyone! I want to start by introducing myself. I'm a 41 year old wife, mother of 5 and a yo yo dieter. I have been recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes which I knew ran in my family. When I was diagnosed in June of 2011, I did not take it seriously at all. I thought the medication I was on was the magic bullet. Well it was a bullet alright. But it was not magical. After 4 months on medication it caused my liver to become damaged. I had to get off the meds. My doctor told me If I continued down the same path I would not see my 50th birthday. So with much soul searching in October I decided to get in control of my life and not let food tell me what to do. I started excerising and watched what I ate and I have currently lost 45 pounds. I have reached a Plato so I decided to join a group. I found this app on my iPad yesterday. I am hoping to be able to find new ideas so I can start to see. Change once again. I have. Around 50 more pounds to lose. I did however get great newsat my last doctor visit last week that my lIver had fixed itself with the help of my new lifestyle. The little advice I would share to everyone is to eat anything you want. Just do it in moderation and learn portion control. There is no such thing as a " bad" food. I think of my program as a new lifestyle. A
Ifestyle that will, with. Gods help, keep me here for a long long time. To get variety in my diet I say I eat the rainbow. I eat all the colors of the rainbow daily. It ensures that I get the nutrition I need and I do not get bored. I excerise 6 days a week. And yes, I work. Go to school full time. Run a family and do countless trips to karate , school events, and soccer games. But I always make time for me. I tell myself daily that I'm important and that I need to be selfish sometimes so I can work on me. It makes me a better mom, wife, friend, and person. I look forward in meeting each and everyone of you and share in our journey together. Take it one day at a time. And tell yourself daily that your worth it. Good luck

Oh you asked what we eat. Well. I said I eat the rainbow but I follow the food pyramid. I have done countless diets in my life and sure I have had some success but this time it's a lifestyle choice. I eat. 6 times a day.. Yes 6 times... I eat 6 ounces of protein, 3 servings of dairy, 3 fruits, 5 servings of whole grains, and 4 servings of vegetables. I drink lots of water and green tea. You can drink green tea and count it as a serving of water! Genius I know. I also will swear by safflower oil. You can find it at any grocery store in the cooking oil isle. It is high in antitoxants and it aids in burning your brown fat and reviving up your metabolism. It has no taste and I use it for everything. Cooking baking and salad dressing. Google it to see all the benefits of the oil. You will not be disappointed. I also eat 3 ounces of dark chocolate dAily. but it needs to be at least 60 percent coco. To get the right benefits from it. It's also important to get some of your protein from fish, lentils, and beans. I eat fish usually tuna 3 times a week. I eat lentils in my daily vegetable soup and beans 5 times a week. Add healthy fats such as nuts safflower oil or olive oil.

Hello all, I'm glad that there are groups to join, I really want things to go well for me this time. I am 31 years old and I work in restaurants and have been for the past 17 years. I have steadily watched my weight rise until I hit the absolute top at 267lbs in May of 2011. It is hard for me to keep up when it's super busy at work now and I am only getting by because of the experience I have.

I found this site as a free app on my phone and now I find myself becoming a little obsessive about it. My goal is to lose 100lbs and to lose 2lbs a week I am eating 1700 calories a day. Last Wednesday I weighed in at 255lbs to start and on Sunday morning I weighed 249.5lbs. I was happy

Today is my day off from work, as is tomorrow and I find myself craving the crap food that I usually ate on my days off. I have done well today, and hopefully tomorrow is a good repeat of today.

Right now I am eating a lot of prepackaged frozen dinners, Smart Ones etc....I know I need to make my own, but I was in a rush to get things in my house that were at least decent for me instead of high fat things. Tomorrow I am going to go grocery shopping with this site and some of the recipes I saw on here in mind.

Hopefully this time I will get it right and get down to where I want to be, and hopefully, with all of you, we will make this year a year to remember

Hello all. I am a yo-yo dieter and have been over weight since age five. I don't remember a time that I was not trying to lose weight. I am married to a wonderful husband and I have two children. As I have read in other posts I also work full time and have lots of baseball, karate and kickboxing classes to attend. I have been going to fitness kickboxing since September of last year. The classes are very hard, pushups, jumping jacks, weight training (3 days a week), squat thrust and many other difficult exercises. You would think since September I would have lost at least 20 pounds but instead I have gained 15 pounds over the holidays. While I enjoy the exercise and I feel like I have increased my fitness level, I still can't run a mile because my weight is so high that my poor feet and ankles can't take the pressure. I am currently at 255 and my goal for 2012 is to loose 50 pounds. I would love to do more but I feel like with my busy lifestyle, family and other responsibilities it is a good goal for me. This averages to be four pounds a month. My main problem is food. I am a food addict. It is very hard for me to stop once I have started to eat something. I get mad and very irritable if I am denied something. I don't know how to stay positive and stick with the diet portion. I exercise four to six days a week so I have that part down but the food is still an issue. My fitness kickboxing class is starting a Biggest Loser on 1/28/12 and it will last eight weeks. The winner will not only be based on the highest percentage lost but body fat and a fitness test that you must complete at the beginning and then again at the end. I am hoping this will give me the motivation to stick with the program and be accountable. This group will also help as I don't fee alone. I am starting today to log all my food and exercise in mfp. You can friend me to view my food diary.