I was reading the thread about measurements and thinking how many of the featherweights are married , have kids , singles, teen exc

Will be nice introduce our self and now each other a little more.
Come and join me.

My name : Jessica
Age : 30
Kids : 3 ( 10 years DD,4 years DS, and my 1.6 years baby girl)
Status: Married for 12 years
Job: stay at home mom
Some thing more about me : well as you can see , English is not my first languages , I speak Spanish , I am from Costa Rica , living in Toronto since 9 yeas ago.
About weight loss:have been in this weight loss journey since Nov 2009, I really want to have a Waist of 26 inch .... that all .And i do not want to be a skinny fat.

Name Laura
Age 24
Kids No and probably never
Status In a long-term somewhat long-distance relationship
Job English teacher abroad, not for long though!
More about me I was born in Korea, moved to America to be adopted by American parents as a baby. I play the violin and I love traveling; soon I'll need new pages for my passport!
About weight loss While I've never been obese, I've never really been thin or fit either...working on that now!

Great idea!! That thread was getting confusing and unwieldy.

Name: Elise
Age: 21
Kids: None for now. I love kids, though, so maybe in a few years.
Status: Single, celibate, and actually happy about it.
Job: Graduating college in a few weeks (!); will soon be a management consultant. I don't know what that means, either, except excessive hours, constant travel, and the endless temptations of business dinners.
About me: I'm a lactose-intolerant former lacto-ovo-vegetarian who now eats grilled chicken and feels guilty about it. I love to cook almost as much as I love to eat, often travel to far-off places on a whim, and find few things more relaxing than rearranging typefaces on a page layout in Adobe InDesign. Like many Chinese-Americans, I was raised on soy and piano lessons. I self-identify as a writer.
About weight loss: I gained a lot of weight during college -- about 25 or 30 pounds, I wasn't keeping track -- but even as a skinny teen, I'd never really been "in shape". I'm trying to lose a fair amount of the college weight and develop healthy eating and fitness habits before I start my new post-grad life in July.

Name Claire
Age 25
Kids None yet, but we have plant babies!
Status live in the love shack with my boyfriend and aforementioned plant babies
Job ESL/Primary school teacher. I need to finish my training before I can get the class I so desperately want! My ideal job would be a class teacher in a bilingual (German-English) 'Mehrstufenklasse'.
About Me I was born just outside of London, grew up and went to university in London and then randomly moved to Austria, where I've been for 4 years. I'm living the life I always wanted to: teaching; studying and living out my lefty cyclist activist dreams. I don't own a TV or a car and I never want to ever again. I watch films and series on my laptop sometimes though. I'm moving back to London next year to finish teacher training so I can get on the career path and grow up a bit ;-) My heart will always be in Vienna though, and I want to move back here to have children. I also hate my feet!
About weight loss I've never been technically overweight (I think I hit 25.1 BMI once though) but I've always been the pudgy side of normal. I find I lose weight when I don't think about dieting and just do a lot of sport. I have known this for a while, but it hasn't stopped me trying fruit fasts, Atkins and South Beach to lose the last 10lbs. I'm just trying to eat intuitively now and focus on being happy with my (pretty cool looking) body. We'll see how well this works!

Hello!
Name Lauren
Age 27
kids not yet :0)
Status In a relationship with my high school sweetheart ( when I'm not driving him crazy ) lol)
By day Marketing Manager in South Florida
About weight loss Ive weighed as much as 165lbs and as little as 129lbs in the past decade. Dieting and exercise have been apart of my life for as long as I can remember. I can recall looking at my reflection in a pair of shorts at 12 or 13 and thinking " Hmmmm... your thighs could be slimmer and more toned. Do something about that. " As an adult I realize there is a certain amount of self acceptance that just has to take place when it comes to weight and appearance. Life is too short to be pre-occupied with it every waking hour of the day... Still Im determined to improve everything that I have the power to.
Something more about me I truly think my calling in life is either tied to fitness and/or writing in the form of business ownership. Right now Im exploring the possibilities . I truly love to try out new recipes especially when it involves making healthier versions of the foods I love to eat.

Name:
Age: 31
Kids: No kids yet, but we plan to have just one, hopefully in the next few years.
Status: Engaged; living with fiancee. We are getting married in 6 months.
Job: I work as a consultant in the financial services industry where I focus on project management for bank acquisitions. I am also in business school part time for my MBA, which I will complete in a year. YAY!
About me I've been a vegetarian for 16 years. I love iyengar yoga, reading, documentary films, cooking, baking and throwing parties. I'm a bit of a hippie at heart and have constant fantasies of quiting my job to become a yoga instructor/naturapath/organic farmer, but the structure and financial stability of corporate life puts my anxious mind at ease.
About weight loss: I've never really been obese, but tend to go up and down in weight and have my whole life. I was about my current weight in HS, in college and for years after I was around 110-120. I gained about 15-20 lbs when I started graduate school a year ago, which I have just about lost...still want to get down lower though before my wedding though.

My name : pinkflower
Age : 31
Kids :2: ages 4&6
Status: Married for 8 yrs
Job: stay at home mom- I have a master's degree and will return to work as a therapist in a few years if I feel like it
Some thing more about me: I love weight lifting, have almost completed the NRWL program and adore it. I also love yoga and swimming, movies, reading, being outside, gardening, camping, & hiking
About weight loss: 203 was my high weight, but that was the at the end of my pregnancies, so I"m not sure if that counts or not. I gained 50
+ lbs with each pregnancy, but lost it pretty quickly with #1. When baby #2 was about 3 & I was still 170 lbs, I realized the weight wasn't going to just melt off by itself & that I was just fat (grad school with 2 young ones did not help my weight)!! I had always just been thin before. I lost 10 lbs, maintained for a year, and finally lost the last bulk of it starting last summer

My name: Kat
Age: 35
Kids: Just a grumpy old cat whom I love dearly
Status: Married for 4 years and 10 months!
Job: English teacher and writer, as well as school administrator
Some thing more about me: I'm very high strung, so workouts that wring me out and relax me are very, very pivotal to my emotional well-being. I seem calm on the surface, but I'm actually a giant ball of energy/anxiety! That's why I love running and yoga; both work great at getting me tuckered out and calmed down. Non-fitness related, I am a huge reading and TV nerd. I never met something science fiction that I didn't love.
About weight loss: I've weighed as much as 160 and as little as 97. Neither extreme is good. I'm aiming for a happy medium, and these days I care way more about taking good care of my body and making it last as long as possible (although yes, fitting into cute jeans is good, too!).

And oh, gosh, am I the oldest? Gross. I don't feel a day over 27!

Name Candace
Age 22
Kids I have a 100+lbs pit bull mix, planning on getting a Welsh Corgi puppy around Christmas... no plans for real children at all.
Status In a serious relationship.
Job Assistant manager at private investigation firm dealing with insurance fraud
More about me I play piano and electric guitar, I play video games and I'm obsessed with Star Wars. I collect comic books as well -- basically, I'm a total geek.
About weight loss I was tiny until high school, then ballooned up to 160lbs. I stayed there until I was cheated on and dumped by my high school sweetheart. At that point, stress got me down to about 113lbs. Now that I've been in a wonderful relationship for about a year, we've been wining and dining so much that I gained weight again! Hoping to get to a place where my weight isn't dependent on my happiness/lack thereof.


I love seeing more pictures of people as avatars so I can tell what everyone looks like! Good lord, all of you are knockouts!

Name : Sara
Age: 30
Kids: None. Maybe one day, but wouldn't be for at least another 4 years or so.
Status: Happily married since September 2009
Job : I'm a housewife, but in former lives I was a legal secretary, assistant manager for a newspaper, and a pipefitter/welder. I've done a bit of freelance translation and would probably choose that if I re-entered the workforce.
More about me: I play 3 instruments (violin, piano, and guitar), speak two languages (German and English), and live on the western side of Austria in the Alps (not too far away from Germany or Italy). I think turtles are really cute.
About weight loss:: My weight has been all over the place, from 90something pounds to 200 pounds and everything in between. I've never had a problem with losing weight once I focused on it -- but I have tended to struggle with maintenance. So I'm hoping to get that in order this time around. Right now I'm struggling with deciding if I should aim for losing more weight, to have a buffer zone to gain, or if I should just try to maintain here.

Name: chinaKat
Age: 40
Kids: 2 girls, 3&6
Status: Married almost 9 years
Job: Film/media producer
More about me: I used to be a SAHM, went back to work about a year ago. I love being outdoors (camping, hiking, gardening). I'm also a big old geek.
About weight loss:I've been gaining and losing the same 15 pounds for years (ranging from 160-145). 160 is absolutely awful on me. My body seems to settle around 150 if I don't do much in the way of maintenance, but it creeps up from there if I don't pay attention. I look best at 140 or under but it's hard for me to get under 145 and stay there. I'm trying to rethink my way of eating and I've been following the Beck Diet Solution.

My name: Laura
Age: 24
Kids: Nope
Status: Serious relationship
Job: CPA
About weight loss: I've weighed as much as 172 and as little as 118. I discovered last year that I am at a high risk for diabetes, so I've cut down on sugar and processed carbs and I've never felt better!!

Name: Mary
Age:50
Kids:One "furkid", our much loved greyhound Sweetie.
Status: Married for 22 years.
Job: For the past eight years I've been a custodian at a marine biology lab. I hate the job but it pays the bills and gives me a lot of built in exercise. Prior to that I worked at a kennel. For twelve years I ran high speed production machines in several different factories. I also spent several years as a CNA. I've never had a job where I got to sit down at work.
More about me:I learned to read when I was four and have been a passionate and prolific reader ever since. By the time I was nine I had read nearly all of the books in the children's section of my local library and eagerly started on the adult section. I still read about ten books a week. I love dogs, especially greyhounds. I enjoy walking in the woods. Even though I live near the ocean I never go to the beach. I'm a roller coaster fanatic.
About weight loss: I began struggling with my weight when I was in my early teens. I was barely overweight but I felt fat because it seemed like all the other girls were stick thin and I wanted to be like them. I didn't know how to diet properly so I would cut my food intake to the bare minimum, lose some weight, give up, gain it back and then some. Repeat with some minor variations ( low carb, low fat, one meal a day etc) for many years. When I was in my early forties I finally wised up and realized I didn't have to starve myself in order to lose weight (though that has changed as I've gotten closer to goal). In my adult life I have weighed as much as 160 pounds and as little as 99 pounds. Because I've always had very active jobs I've tended to weigh more when I'm out of work. My current weight is my lowest since I was 23 years old.

Hi! I'm new to the featherweights group.

Name: Lindsey
Age: 24
Kids: No human ones...yet. DH and I have two rescued furbabies, Bri & Brandy.
Status: Married for 3 years
Occupation: Full-time Student
More about me: I love art, cooking, decorating & traveling. I hope to someday travel to Greece. At the moment I'm a full-time student working on my BA in Health Care Administration...one year to go!
About my weight loss: I was always a slim kid, even in high school. Around age 19-20 I started having joint problems and started to put on the pounds. Over the years I got up to my highest of 175! After having further problems with my joints, borderline high BP, and being told I was high risk for diabetes I knew I had to get my act together. I'm approaching goal and feeling great!

My name : Ellie
Age : 22
Kids : Not ready
Status: In a committed relationship
Job: Actually, I just moved to California from Nebraska a couple of months ago and haven't managed to find a job yet. ^o^
Some thing more about me : I love video games and they are my vice. I don't care much for TV so if video games didn't exist I'd have much more motivation to do productive things. :P I am also dating a man in the Air Force. I moved out to CA to be with him. We've been good friends for 8 years, and dating for almost a year. It's nice in CA, but sometimes I miss the people in Nebraska.
About weight loss: I used to be insanely athletic, but when I started college I gave into the temptation of dorm food. I love animals and hope to get a small dog sometime in the near future to give me more incentive to go out on walks and play. Heart disease runs in my dad's side of the family and depression runs in my mom's side, so I think it's important that I get ahead of it now. At my heaviest I was 165. I don't own a scale so I don't know how much I weigh right now (probably not much less), and I hope to be at least 130 someday.