Hi. I'm new, joined this week. I just read some research recently that said that tracking your progress helps meet fitness goals but is especially effective when combined with social networking with like-minded individuals. So, here I am. I browsed the forum my first few days here reading the "goals forum" primarily and was inspired by many. So, I decided to stay.
I'm a 33 year old female. I'm currently over 40 lbs overweight for my height and healthy BMI. I'm shooting for a goal weight of 140 lbs by January 2013. I don't want to lose the weight too fast, just to regain it. I never really tracked my calorie input until now and it is a real eye opener. Currently I use MyFitnessPal on my iPad to track calories, nutrition and exercise. I like this application and I think I will stick with it this time. As you might guess, I tried to track before and I dropped it after a month or so.
Fortunately, my husband (of 6 years) is behind me this time. He actually weighed out some of my meals recently and I was really excited to know that I wasn't "annoying" him but rather making a positive impact on his perspective on food as well.
I've always been chubby, since like age 5, so I really can really relate to the people on this forum. I know that I will have to make a lifestyle change and maintain this lifestyle in order to be as fit as I want to be. This mindset is new... I used to think... "oh, I'll lose the weight whenever and it's not really important." Now, I'm in my 30's and I feel like it is my health and my life that is slipping away from me if I don't make this lifestyle change now.
I love the outdoors for working out and being in PA I get depressed
in the winters. I just want to go outside and bike, hike and kayak and i have to wait for months until warmer weather. I definitely deal with SADD yearly and I am hoping that this forum will be a support in that as well. My thought for this winter is to take up cross-country skiing as a way to get out and get fit even with the cold weather. I am crossing my fingers that I like this sport since it could be the answer I'm looking for. Alternatively, I always have my treadmill at home along with my hand weights.
I also have dealt with workout burnout if anyone on the list can talk to me about this... I'm looking for help here. I used to run and completed a 1/2 marathon in May 2010 then I dropped running 100%... even though I was happy to succeed in reaching a fitness goal... I burned out and instead of being motivated, I quit. Why!!??!! Ugh.
I also would like to learn what people with desk jobs do. I'm in the healthcare profession and work with patients all day. I am primarily at my desk typing notes or testing patients. Since my work is sedentary and high stress I'm looking for suggestions to cope. Since I run my own practice I sometimes get all caught up in business and forget to eat!
So, you can see I need a few online friends. Thanks for reading my post.
PS: how in the world to I attach those awesome tickers to my posts?
Never used social networking for this reason in the past... gonna try it.
I don't have answers to most of your questions, but you might find the 
