Stopping by :)
 

I haven't stopped by here in a while but this is the site that got me hooked on calorie counting :carrot:
Update on me:
January 12, 2011: 223 pounds
July 9, 2011: 170 pounds and maintained through the summer :D
I'm back on track to get the last 10-15 pounds off :carrot:

How is everyone else doing?
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...anPS/020-1.jpg

You look great. Congrats on the loss and good luck with the last 10 pounds.

Thank you so much! It's been a struggle to stay on track with my 4 kids home from school on summer but at least I maintained. Today I decided to get motivated and back on track :D

Wow! That 50+lb weight loss in 6 months is very inspiring. I have a lot to lose and it often seems like it'd take forever. But your loss does average to about 2 lbs a week which seems very doable to me. And to think i could maybe be 50lb lighter in just six month is encouraging.

How do you track your calories (a particular website? application?)? Have you been able to work in exercise with 4 kids? (I have 2 little ones.)

Wow!!! Congrats!

AMAZING, Dawn!!! If that isn't motivating, I don't know what is :). Hope you will visit more often and remind us, those in transition, that we can achieve similar success. CONGRATULATIONS!

Thank you all so much... I was calorie counting...lost 20 pounds, fell off the wagon, got back on the wagon..it was a bad cycle. I felt like I had to cook 2 different meals for myself and then my kids/husband meals so it was draining.

This Past New Years my husband decided he was going to jump on the calorie counting band wagon with me and we would not be cooking 2 meals, I would be cooking 1 healthy meal for the family. My husband has lost 60 pounds (he was 230 pounds) I lost 56 pounds(as of this morning) and my 12 year old went from 123 pounds to 106 pounds just by changing our eating habits.

I use sparkpeople.com for tracking my calories and love it. The exercise I get is what I can do with my kids. We bought an XBOX kinect and it was a lifesaver when it was cold but honestly I walk my kids to school (.7 mile) and we walk the dog, play volleyball as a family, bike rides..the normal mom stuff and that's about it. I do lift 14 pound weights, 60 times a day and do 60 jumping jacks for now...which is really nothing but I just started trying to tone up ;)

I would love to be here to support y'all. I have a great support system of 5 girls online that do this with me and we kick each others butts. I needed the every day accountability to check in with them and tell the when I eat 2 or 3 pieces of pizza instead of 1 piece and a huge side of veggies etc.

Y'all can do this... IF I CAN DO IT..YOU CAN DO IT!!!

You look FABULOUS!! Really gorgeous! Congratulations!!

Dawn, I love the "natural" way in which you are active, as a family. It seems that it is not only motivating for you but also for the kids. What a great role model you must have been for your husband, in order for him to join you in your effort. Great, how everyone benefited from your attempt to get healthier. In addition, your kids will have a childhood in which they will be accustomed to living an active, healthy life, full of fun and time with their parents. Way to go!

Thanks :)

Boomerang- I think I jumped on my husband's band wagon because he was determined and I kept falling off but we did it ;) I'm still working on it and WILL BE 155 hopefully by Thanksgiving. Sparkpeople says it's doable so I'm getting there! Yes, just the every day natural exercise is what we do... it didn't exist before so just getting of the couch was a change lol
Here is another motivation picture..I don't even look like the same person!
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h2...nPS/1112-1.jpg

Dawn, you look beautiful in both but much more fit in the current one :). I've always admired families who manage to include physical activity into their schedule. When we go to Europe and see kids, from the time they can walk, climbing mountains, skiing, just generally being outside, there is a certain level of understanding that sinks in...
When I worked in the schools I recall kids from preK to H.S. who could LITERALLY not do a sit up. What also, really, really made me furious was that schools would set up the "snack cart", immediately following LUNCH!!! I could not believe that kids were finishing lunch, A COMPLETE LUNCH and would line up to purchase chips, ice cream sandwiches, pretzels, candy and the like. What a habit to instill in children...I remember asking about this atrocity and I was told that this is how the schools made a considerable amount of money.
There were 8 and 9 year olds who had cholesterol levels in the mid 200s! These were not kids who had medical issues that led to these conditions; they were simply the result of our culture and its obsession with food and lack of just about any physical activity. All I can say is wow, just wow!

Sorry...off the subject and onto my soap box. Good for your kids and your entire family!

Oh I agree 100%. Our kids got a note home from school already asking parent sto please stop sending SODA in the kids lunches. My kids get soda at birthday parties but never in a million years would I let them have soda on a daily basis. In fact my kids 4, 7, 11, and 12 think flavored water is "soda" ;) It all starts in the home and while I don't blame my mom for anything I choose to do as an adult I wish she would have taught me better eating habits. Junk food was our main source off food intake. My mom had 7 kids, was single and worked... it was fend for yourself and we lived on microwave meals and JUNK! It was a learning process for me to figure it all out as an adult, my kids learned with me and now know how to read a label and choose healthy over junk!!!

Dawn, your mom did the best she could and it seems that since you are in a different position, you do things differently :hug: