[carissal]

Screen: carissal

Age/Age Range:24

Family Life:I have an amazingly supportive boyfriend who just wants me to be happy with myself

Occupation: Student

Hobbies and Interests: swimming, reading

Favorite Music: alternative, punk

Favorite Color(s): purple

Favorite Exercise/Workouts:cardio, swimming

What are your fitness/health goals? I would love to be able to do a triathlon, but i'll take being able to run 5 k again

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I hit my heaviest weight at 186, i have always felt like ive been on a diet my whole life, and i realize that ive just been fooling myself. I started to have a hard time finding clothes that look good and fit in the "normal stores"

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? LAZINESS!! because i am a student, i am always out and dont have an oven or stove to cook food, this means i tend to pick up easy unhealthy things

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? better choices, more exercise

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : me when i was 22, (144 lb)

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? a bikini

[JoJo130]

Screen Name: JoJo130

Age/Age Range: early 40s

Family Life: Married, with 5 children, to the man that continues every day to put smile on my face and more joy in my heart. His line that totally won my heart.."I want the fairytale like our parents have" (His parents have been married for 45 yrs, mine for 44)

Occupation: Office Manager

Hobbies and Interests: reading, supporting my youngest 3 kids in the various sports they are involved in, encouraging my oldest 2 children who are in the military

Favorite Music: I listen to just about anything with teenagers in the house.

Favorite Color(s): Reds/Oranges/yellows..fall colors

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: walking and just starting strength training

What are your fitness/health goals? To tone up my body and then continue to maintain a healthy life style for myself and my health.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Just getting to the point of not feeling good about myself anymore, always seemed to find a "new" ache in the joints

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? with getting up at 4:45 a.m. to go to the gym, and still having the energy to cook healthy meals after working all day. But, I know if I didn't go to the gym in the morning, it would be too easy to find an excuse after work.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Change my eating habits and sticking to healthy cooking. MAKING the time!

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : The woman I now see in the mirror at the beginning of my journey.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? A cute flowy shirt with leggings and boots, I'm 5'1 and don't feel comfortable at this weight. And a cute pair of jeans.

[atmos]

Screen Name: atmos

Age/Age Range: Late 20's

Family Life: Single...extended family lives about 1200 miles away

Occupation: scientist

Hobbies and Interests: weather, hiking, beer tasting, genealogy, travel, sports (some to watch, some to play), crochet, socializing, music

Favorite Music: Gaelic punk, hard/alt/metal/90s rock

Favorite Color(s): green, but also blue and purple

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: hiking, kickboxing

What are your fitness/health goals? Quit binging, exercise regularly

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? No specific incident...but usually hitting 140 lbs reawakens my desire to try again.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Binge eating and general malaise/laziness due to emotional distress (feeling sad/depressed) and lack of motivation to do exercise other than hikes.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Stop binging, more disciplined on regularly exercising, and more consistently choosing healthy foods over convenience snacks

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : The girl in my male-dominated work group who is oh so good at sucking up...

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Single-digit size dress pants. I rarely wear professional clothes where I work, so I haven't invested in them. I'm planning a beautiful new conference wardrobe when I'm finally at a final goal.

[domesticbliss]

Screen Name: domesticbliss

Age/Age Range: late 20's

Family Life: married w/ 2 dogs

Occupation: SAHW

Hobbies and Interests: sewing, volunteering, cooking

Favorite Music: I listen to just about everything

Favorite Color(s): purple!

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: water aerobics, elliptical (on a good day)

What are your fitness/health goals? I want to be athletic and have defined muscles with great cardiovascular fitness

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? My self esteem was at an all time low, mostly dealing with my weight, and I wanted my body to be in it's best shape before I start having kids, plus I started showing signs of being insulin resistant

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? portion control when it comes to snacks or sweets, I'm to the point where if it's in the house I will eat it all

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? I need to get cardio in regularly, I need to learn to be content with 1 serving of something, I need to fuel my body with clean foods instead of junk

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : Me when I was 24

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? colorful skinny jeans

[LizzieM]

Screen Name: LizzieM

Age/Age Range:18

Family life: Live with parents abd a younger sis

Occupation: Student

Hobbies and Interests: dancing, singing, reading, talking(chit-chatting)

Favorite music: Any

Favorite Color(s): blue; purple; pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Dance& Zumba.

What are your fitness/health goals? becoming fit 130lbs again!!

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? This is not the first time... Mirror and people calling ne aunty

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Depression, low self esteem and low self confidence!! >

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Better choices, smaller portions, more movement (same as the thread creator lol)

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : My bf's attraction-> a girl who looks too sexy and is my friend too... Wait. Actually, EVERYONE!!

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? My old jeans
and new mini skirts, mini pants and one peices and sleeveless and bikini in front of mirror and my love lololol




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[LAX826]

Screen Name: LAX826

Age/Age Range:20

Family life: Awesome parents/stepparents, 3 stepsiblings, 2 sisters...we are all very close

Occupation: College student

Hobbies and Interests: Friends, reading, music, classical piano, dogs, shopping

Favorite music: Any

Favorite Color(s): Light blue/Light green/Light pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Jillian Michaels weights workouts

What are your fitness/health goals? Eating more fruits & vegetables, maintaining a ~35 lb weight loss, working on gaining more leg and arm muscle

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Last year, right before winter break, I was going to go on a beach vacation in a few weeks and decided I had had enough of being overweight and self-conscious.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Resisting the urge to snack constantly. Also, limiting the amount of alcohol I drink in a college environment can be tough!

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? More fruits & veggies, MORE WATER, more consistent exercise.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than?: I enjoy when I am one of the smaller people in the room.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? I am already at goal, but want to seriously work on my butt & thigh areas so I can feel more confident in lingerie and bikinis.

[sarahj2182]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Screen Name: Sarahj2182

Age/Age Range:30

Family life: Married with 1 child (4yo)

Occupation: Juvenile Justice, Administration
Also, 2nd year graduate student, mental health counseling

Hobbies and Interests: dancing, working out, walking, anything adventurous, beach, Red Sox!


Favorite Color(s): black, brown, pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Zumba

What are your fitness/health goals? Weigh 150, run a 5k

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I've been on and off diets my entire life. Weighing 115 in highschool, to 185 in college, and back down to 150 by graduation. My heaviest weight was 226 and just want to be "healthy"

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health?
Finding the time (and money) to exrecise and eat right.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Better choices, smaller portions, more movement (juest like the others!)

Who do you want to look better than? : No one! Just myself!

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Strapless size 12 dress I wore to my college graduation

[bethFromDayton]

Screen Name: bethFromDayton

Age/Age Range: 50

Family Life: Married, with one high school senior at home and two at college

Occupation: Business Analyst

Hobbies and Interests: Reading, web surfing, games, sewing, home decorating (not good at it, but I'm interested!)

Favorite Music: Country, 70s and 80s stuff, filk

Favorite Color(s): Purple, definitely purple

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: I don't know if I have a favorite. Right now I'm walking to get back in the habit of exercising at all.

What are your fitness/health goals? Getting my blood sugar and cholesterol into healthy ranges (which they're not) and being able to be active all day while traveling.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Realizing that I was not making a doctor's appointment because I didn't want to hear what my lab test results were

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Exercise is hard for me, and hard to find time. I can't seem to get myself moving in the morning to exercise before work.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? My food the last week and a half have been perfect--I need to continue that (which is a major improvement, since I have a sweet tooth). For exercise, it's getting going in the morning so I can kick start my metabolism with morning exercise.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? No one, really. This is more about me. I often think "I wish I had her figure" but I never want to look better than anyone.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? I pretty much wear what I want now. I am excited at the idea of being able to shop for clothes more easily.

Additional note: I'm reading the Beck Diet Solution book and finding it very helpful in changing my eating and exercise habits. I use myFitnessPal to track calories in and exercised.

[PamC]

Screen Name: PamC

Age/Age Range: mid 40s

Family Life: Single, owned by a very cute Maine Coon cat named Kelley who is in my lap as I write this.

Occupation: Recruiter/staffing

Hobbies and Interests: reading, writing, cooking, going out to dinner, visiting w/friends and family, especially my sister and twin nieces who live nearby.

Favorite Music: Norah Jones, and Adele.

Favorite Color(s): Blues and pinks.

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: elliptical and px90 weight video

What are your fitness/health goals? Eat better, tone up and stay that way.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Hit my highest adult weight, entering the low 160's...wasn't feeling good about choices I was making, eating poorly...I am drawn towards rich, salty, fatty foods and had stopped working out.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Getting into a consistent exercise routine, saying no to going out to dinner. Am allowing myself one or two nights out instead of 3-5. I used to go out to eat way too often!

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Eat less, exercise more, eat more veggies, fruits and lean proteins.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : The woman I now see in the mirror at the beginning of my journey. ---someone else wrote that, but it fits me perfectly.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? My skinny jeans that don't fit at the moment.

[ImmaZombie]

Screen: ImmaZombie

Age/Age Range: 34

Family Life: I've been calorie counting on My Fitness Pal since Dec. 17, 2012 (lost 12 lbs as of Jan 20, 2013) and recently got my brother started this last weekend (Jan 19 and 20, 2013). He's my support.

Occupation: Self-employed

Hobbies and Interests: web design, karaoke, dancing

Favorite Music: r&b, dance, country, 80's (huge 80's baby), 70's and more

Favorite Color(s): black/pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: biking, Just Dance 4

What are your fitness/health goals? to be a healthy mommy for my kiddo and to look good in clothing and out lol

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I'll be 35 in 6 months.. it was an awakening.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? fatigue

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? more exercise, eating better, more exercise lol

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : my mom lol

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? tiny bling bling jeans

[OwlsOnConcrete]

Screen: Owl

Age/Age Range: 26

Family Life: Been with my fiance since March of '09. We have two beautiful children, our son age 2 and our daughter age 11 months. A spastic and awesome dog.

Occupation: SAHM/WAHM and online student (graduating with BA in June 2014)

Hobbies and Interests: My children, crafting, my home

Favorite Music: alternative, pop, techno

Favorite Color(s): White/Brown

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Playing with my kids and dog!

What are your fitness/health goals? To have a healthy BMI

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? realizing that I dont want my kids to see my lose my breath going upstairs or playing with them.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? balance (i have a tendancy to go overboard with things)

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? more exercise, less coffee, more balanced diet

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : No one in particular, but I wan't to turn heads...lol

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? skinny jeans, knee boots and a sweater that wont make me look like the michellin man.

[bubblybarrister]

Just realized I never did this!

Screen: bubblybarrister

Age/Age Range: 27

Family Life: engaged to a wonderful man who is also struggling with his weight...

Occupation: lawyer

Hobbies and Interests: archaeology, history, reading, baking

Favorite Music: probably oldies, mixed in with some stuff like Florence and the Machine/Mumford and Sons

Favorite Color(s): pink, navy blue, turquoise

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: elliptical (old ACL injury prevents running!)

What are your fitness/health goals? getting arms like Michelle Obama's! also, just generally feeling toned and happy in my skin

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Getting married in June. Want to be toned and feel amazing in all my pictures!

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? I am so busy (often work 12 hour days, 2 hours away) that I find it hard to make it to the gym, also struggling a little with depression.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? better food choices, finding time to work out, getting out of the mindset that it doesn't matter what I eat as long as I'm within my calorie limit

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : me when I was a rower

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? a bikini, my sorority pref night cocktail dress (fave dress ever!)

[the shiv]

Screen: Shiv

Age/Age Range: 31

Family Life: My wonderful boyfriend and I are a family of 2

Occupation: Casual bartending, casual freelance jobs... Starting computing degree in October

Hobbies and Interests: Gaming, photography, films, music, gigs, style (not fashion!)

Favorite Music: Rock / Industrial / Electronic / Bit of pop / Bit of everything

Favorite Colour(s): Black, grey, white, pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Taking the iPod For A Walk, speed skating, swimming, strength training, yoga, and I'd love to try snowboarding & martial arts!

What are your fitness/health goals? Small & strong!

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I had a delayed reaction and decided to start losing weight at random. But the biggest shock was being refused contraception on the grounds of my weight. I'm desperate to not be pregnant, so it's very important I sort this out! Though, in all honesty, I just want to be happy in my own body, for it to match what I still see in my head! Going for counselling for other reasons also helped me get my head in the right place. I guess it was a gradual buildup of so many things that my weight was getting in the way of.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Impatience. I just hit my first "stall" right before onederland. I'd been losing steadily with Intuitive Eating, then my weight started bouncing between 196 - 204. It may be stress/depression, the black dog is a big part of my life. Now I know how to eat better, I'm adding in calorie/carb counting to make sure I think more about what I decide to eat, to steer myself away from stress eating and back towards the accidentally low-cal, low-carb, paleo-ish way of eating I was growing to love.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
- Food thing: Planning! I am "between accommodation" at the moment, so knowing when & where & how I can get at tasty, healthy food is a major part of it! And it's great practice for when I have somewhere to live permanently, so I know what I can keep on hand to cook with
- Exercise thing: Laziness! I can all too easily get into a routine and not change things about when I get bored or it stops working. I've been focussing so much on the eating part, and now I want to get more variety into my exercise options too!
- Mental thing: Impatience. I know this is a learning curve that will set me up to be small & strong for life, but when the days are full of stress and dragging by, and I still see the same overweight person in the mirror & on the scale, it's hard not to get discouraged! I want it all NOW, but just because I can't have it now, doesn't mean I'm going to stop trying. When I get frustrated I think about the health benefits I'm experiencing, but I do wish I could chill out about it more.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : An ex-friend who trashed my house and left me in debt!

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Skinny jeans! Skirts! Dresses! High heels! Shorts! Tights! Cosplay! Beautiful underwear! Swimsuits! Tight things! Bodycon dresses! A superhero costume! MINIskirts!! A proud smile on my face! A ponytail! Short necklaces! ANYTHING BUT BLACK COMBATS & A BLACK TSHIRT!!! Well, I probably WILL wear that most of the time, but I'd like some options. And I am SICK of having to pick tops based on whether they have enough overlap with my trousers. I'm sick of constantly having to "adjust" myself because I'm uncomfortable in everything. /rant

[justaloser]

Hi, my name is Pam and over the last four years I'd lost 78 pounds on a lowcarb way of eating.

Well..here I am, about 38 pounds from goal...and lowcarb just stopped working well (unless I totally starve...and stay with about 10 gms. carbs..I AM human...).

I am currently enrolled in a certified nutritionist's program accredited...and am 58 years old. Never too late to change careers, lol. I am also disabled...four autoimmune diseases and lung and bone diseases. I also am Celiac, so no wheat/gluten for me...I also do not eat sugar (by choice) but have recently added back fruit (mostly berries and lower carb fruit).

I started calorie counting about a week ago..and there went five pounds fast! Oh yeah! I try and walk, I also use bands for resistance training..I can't get my heart rate up too much as that impacts my lungs...resulting in having to be on nebulizer more often and that's no fun.

Eating fruit is a 'new thing' again to me, so I'm quite satisfied with about 1350 cals as my 'usual' day...I am now up to 100 or so carbs, and feel like this is a big ol' eating holiday after having been on lowcarb for so long.

This board and community looks friendly and positive..throughout...so I thought I'd just stop in and say howdy.

[beecurrency]

Hope this is the right place to do this. =)

Screen: beecurrency

Age/Age Range: 29

Family Life: Married for nearly 9 years with three children, ages 5, 6 and 7.

Occupation: I stay home with my kiddos!

Hobbies and Interests: baking/cooking, reading when I have time, trying to garden, homeschooling the kids, hanging out with friends, hiking, camping

Favorite Music: Hmm...country, christian, rock, pop

Favorite Colour(s): I don't even know right now.

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Walking and hiking

What are your fitness/health goals? Tone my upper body, lose the unnecessary pounds.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I can't fit into any of my clothes anymore, and it was either time to buy bigger clothes or lose the weight. Haha!

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Probably commitment. I start feeling good about myself and stop working as hard.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
1. Focusing on weight training and toning! I tend to think "when I lose a little more weight, I focus on that" but I know its SO beneficial throughout the entire journey.
2. Intentional relaxation -I don't focus on relaxing enough. Baths, yoga, stretching...things that will relax my mind and muscles would be such a benefit.
3. Staying excited about it. I'm really good with guidelines, but I'm even better when I'm excited about them. =)

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size?
Cute summer shorts, bathing suit in public (not even a bikini...just a bathing suit!)