Screen Name: Elsbit

Age/Age Range: 25

Family Life: Engaged, two cats, a dog, and a bird

Occupation: Probation Officer

Hobbies and Interests: Going to concerts, movie, literature, art

Favorite Music: Dave Matthews Band, Jack Johnson, U2, Ani DiFranco, Tom Petty, Paul Simon, Damien Rice, Beatles.... I could go on and on

Favorite Color(s): Green

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Taking our puppy to the park and hiking. But I will be honest, I am still in that stage when I groan at the idea of excercise. In fact, I am procrastinating right now by playing on the computer rather than sweating on my treadmill

What are your fitness/health goals? To be healthy and in shape and weigh in around 140 lbs.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Well, I have known for a long time I need to lose weight. I became obese in college after being about 140 -160 lbs for most of my life. It has been a very hard adjustment. But what kicked my *** into gear is my October wedding. Gotta lose the chub for my day!

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Not binging at night and excercising regularly.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? More protein, more excercise, even more veggies!

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : No one. I just want to look and feel the way I used to

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Wedding dress (though I do not plan to be at my 'ultimate' goal by then.. partially there!)

I am in my fifties and ready to start over again with my weight loss. It is never too late to start, I say. I am a wife, mother and my life is filled with my children and my hobbies. I am a retired foster mom. I had to retire cause of health issues. If I can get my weight down and get my health back, I may go at it again.

Screen Name: ashleysdiet

Age/Age Range: 19 years old.

Family Life: I live with my boyfriend.

Occupation: Student.

Hobbies and Interests: Music, shopping, the Internet.

Favorite Music: Pretty much everything except jazz, classical..

Favorite Color(s): Navy blue & red

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: I love the elliptical machine! And I love weight lifting as well.

What are your fitness/health goals? I am currently 5'7" and 166 lbs. I would like to be 135 by the end of this summer.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I reached the highest weight I felt comfortable with (190 lbs) and knew it was time for me to do something about it.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Exercising. I'm too lazy, and I don't do it as often as I should.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Eating less junk (mind you it's "healthy junk" but it still makes me feel bad), exercise more, wake up earlier so I can get breakfast in each day.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : Sandra Bullock! People tell me I look like her - maybe my face, but not my body!

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? "Wow, you are hot!"
__________________

Screen Name:
KTna
Age/Age Range:
27
Family Life:
Married, no kids yet.
Occupation:
Marketing
Hobbies and Interests:
Music, cars, real estate, art...
Favorite Music:
depends on the day, alternative-rap-classical...everything!
Favorite Color(s):
they all work for me
Favorite Exercise/Workouts:
Yourself!Fitness, Dance Dance Revolution, walking
What are your fitness/health goals?
I would like to get to 150, and see where I will go from there
What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit?
Lost when I got married (but not enough) gained after that, lost for a cruise, maintained after that, now losing for my friends wedding that I am in (in June) and after that I am continuing losing for my birthday
What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health?
body image, I can't see the loss, and I feel that I haven't come as far as I have, I struggle with accepting the loose skin
What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
I need to exercise more in general. I try to get up in the morning, but it's so hard!
(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? :
Myself, but I would like to look like one of the female wrestlers on WWE
What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size?
Bridesmaid dress in June, and look great in it!

Screen Name: anthemfamily

Age/Age Range: 35

Family Life: Live with my DH, 13 yo daughter, 10 yo son, and 3yo daughter and adorable golden retriever Toby

Occupation: WAHM, medical biller/coder

Hobbies and Interests: cooking, sewing, camping and vacations

Favorite Music: almost anything, work out to Hip-Hop, madly in love with Sammy Hagar and Toby Keith (notice dog's name)

Favorite Color(s): pink and green

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: definately running, but also like biking and swimming

What are your fitness/health goals? I want to live a long healthy life and be around to see my great-grandchildren I would like to feel good and no longer be the "fat friend"

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Lots of things, but mostly, my oldest daughter wanted to run the rock n roll marathon next year.... of course now I am running, and she wont get out of bed most mornings

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Eating breakfast, and not overeating at dinner

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? eating more in am, up the excercise, stop weighing so much

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : hands down, my sister!!

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Funny, I actually "fantasize" about this when excercizing gets rough... men's Levi 501's like high school, with a t-shirt... simple but i think my husband would REALLY notice...

Screen Name: HollyBerries

Age/Age Range: 36 for another 2 mos.

Family Life: Married for 1 1/2 yrs to my best friend. No kids, but have our dog Buddy (Jack Russell), Murphy, our senile cat, and Dusty, a very sassy cockatiel.

Occupation: Corporate Relations

Hobbies and Interests: Music (playing and listening), riding with my husband on our motorcycle, karaoke, gardening, camping, fishing.

Favorite Music: I listen to so much...Jazz, blues, rock, country....right now I am on a Sheryl Crow kick, and waiting for Lisa Marie's new album.

Favorite Color(s): green, brown, black

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: ugh...If I have to pick one, I would have to say crunches and squats, only because I tend to see results quickly.

What are your fitness/health goals? I need to get in the groove of working out every day. I feel better when I do it. Stop smoking...I have Crohn's disease and smoking is horrible for me. Long range is to lose the weight safely and keep myself in remission.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? When the scale hit 200. I knew I had gained a considerable amount of weight, but after having 4 surgeries in 1 yr for my Crohn's disease, I needed to gain some weight. I was just soooooo happy to eat more than a tablespoon of food every 3 hrs, I went a bit overboard. Ooops!

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? SMOKING!!!! I can cut back on the food because I have not had a great relationship with food for yrs. I don't miss eating. Smoking, on the other hand, has kept me sane through many years of horrific pain from my disease. My deepest fear is if I don't have a cigarette near by, and the pain kicks in, I won't be able to handle it. I'm getting better with this though!!!!

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
1. Portion control---since having so many intestinal surgeries, I can't tell when I am full. Now I have to make a conscious effort to eat normal portions.
2. Exercise even when I am dog-tired.
3. Not going overboard on my cheat days.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : For 25 yrs I was always the fat one in the family and around friends. When the Crohn's disease kicked in full blast, I went from 265 to 140 in a very short amt of time. People said that I was too skinny. Now that I am 200, people say I look so much better. I want to look sooooo much better at a healthy 150!!!
AND....I want to be the "little" hottie that my husband's friends talked about!!!

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? My entire closet of size 10 clothes. THEY ARE SOOO CUTE!!!!

Screen Name:

Jman1

Age/Age Range:

Late 20s

Family Life:

Cohabitatin'.

Occupation:

Sitting in front of a computer.

Hobbies and Interests:

Basketball, games, movies, books.

Favorite Music:

Varies

Favorite Color(s):

Brown.

Favorite Exercise/Workouts:

Basketball & running.

What are your fitness/health goals?

Weigh less than 170, ideally 160. Be able to run a 5K in about 20 minutes. Dunking a basketball would let me die a happy man.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit?

Been struggling for a while. Lately, I've gotten the rest of my life more under control and feel I am now more able to tackle the weight loss.

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

Overeating. Consistency.

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

1) Range of foods. I tend to eat the same things every day.
2) Consistency, especially on weekends.
3) Flexibility. I have none. I need some.

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

The younger guys.

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

Tight athletic tee-shirts.


Feel free to PM me.

Screen Name: ksduffster

Age/Age Range: 22

Family Life: single and looking (hard!); right now it's just me and my puppy though

Occupation: receptionist/copy operator at a law firm and usher for the Columbus Crew (the first one pays the bills, the second one satisfies my soul! lol )

Hobbies and Interests: knitting, reading, soccer junkie

Favorite Music: anything but contemporary Christian

Favorite Color(s): blue, blue, and especially Earthquakes blue!

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: I love swimming, but I don't have access to a pool right now, so mostly I just walk during my lunch and when I take the dog out. I also LOVE soccer, but until I get into better shape, that is out of the question.

What are your fitness/health goals? I want to be back where I was when I graduated from high school, 45 pounds ago. I also need to lower my cholesterol (around 300!!!) using diet and exercise (although it has never really helped in the past) and just generally get in shape. I want to be able to play 90 again without huffing and puffing 10 minutes in.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I have 3 incidents that accumulated and made me decide it was time. The first one was, when I went to renew my driver's license in August 2003, for the first time since high school, the clerk asked me if all the information was correct. I was just thinking address, so after I changed that and told her that was all, she looked me up and down and said "You really think you weigh 130?" And I'd like to thank that wonderful clerk for pretty much ruining my 21st birthday. The second was when I went home a couple months ago and my mom and I were talking about how we both think that we should lose weight, I found out that I am almost 20 pounds heavier than her. Neither of us looks very heavy, it was just a bit of a shock to find out that the woman who had been larger than me my whole life (and is still an inch or two taller than me) is now the smaller of us. The last one was when my company told me that I am in line for a transfer to California (!) and I thought I need to look better if I am going to be starting a new life with tons of new people and if I am more confident in myself it will be easier to get to know these people and really learn to be comfortable out there.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Portion control!!! I have been counting my calories now, so it is getting easier, but I still don't always know what a serving of beef or chicken or whatever looks like. And the such and such looks like a deck of cards or 2 Tbsp. is the size of a ping pong ball visualizations don't really work for me.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? 1. Portion control!!! (See above) 2. Making time to workout. Most of the time when I get home from work all I want to do is let the dog out and flop down on the sofa with a giant bowl of pasta or something and veg until morning. But, since the time change it has been easier and I have been making myself get out and take the dog on longer walks. 3. Getting a better variety of produce in my diet. Neither of my parents are big produce eaters; my mom can't stand asparagus and my dad hates just about everything else vegetable-wise, so I grew up with corn and peas as the main vegetables in my diet. Since I have moved out on my own, I have been getting better (I found out that I LOVE asparagus, radishes and squash- 3 things that never would be allowed over the threshold of my parent's house) but I'm still not where I want to be since I don't really know how to prepare these things well. Also, a lot of fruit is too sweet for my tastes, especially bananas and pineapples, and I have a problem with textures, so anything overloaded with seeds or that is really soft I won't eat. Most of my fruit, outside of apples, pears and grapes, comes from Gerber, which is better than nothing, but I know I'm losing a lot of nutrients eating it this way. So if anyone has anyway I can sneak whole fruits into my diet I would be extremely grateful. I have tried smoothies, but the issue with the seeds or with it being too sweet comes back.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : Every other girl at the bar

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Do I have to pick one? I think my backless tops and short shorts. Oh and NOTHING!!! I can't wait to be comfortable enough in my own body again that the thought of sitting around naked won't cause me to be squeamish!

Screen Name: BingleBug

Age/Age Range: 27

Family Life: I live with my fiance, and 4 cats

Occupation: Network Administrator

Hobbies and Interests: I love to read, shoot pool, watch baseball (Go Cubbies!), play board & card games, cook, camp . . .

Favorite Music: I'll listen to pretty much anything, but don't care for rap, most R&B, or very hard rock. Most of the time, I listen to country.

Favorite Color(s): Yellow, blue, green

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Have to say, I don't really enjoy exercise. I do like to ride my bike outdoors, but the weather seldom cooperates

What are your fitness/health goals? Oh, I have so many. I would like to be healthy and active. I don't want to be the "fat" twin anymore. I want to be happy with the way I look and feel. I want more self-confidence. I don't want my weight to cause me health problems in the future.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? After the first of this year, I weighed in at the doctor's office and found myself at 204 pounds. For some reason, that seemed so much worse to me than the 197 I had been. It just clicked: I needed to do something about this NOW!

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Not becoming discouraged, believing in myself, forcing myself to do things I really don't enjoy, pushing on even when I don't feel well, being too hard on myself when I slip up a bit.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
(1) Drinking enough water!!!!
(2) Eating when I'm not hungry.
(3) Remembering that celebrations don't have to include food.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? Me, at my best and at my worst. I want to look better than I ever have.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? The possibilities are endless. I'd like to be able to go shopping and find cute things to wear. I think I'll develop quite the shopping habit

Screen Name:MInuetInC

Age/Age Range:35

Family Life:3 kids (not counting husband) 2 dogs and a sister down the road

Occupation: housewife (for 2 more months then I get to work again)

Hobbies and Interests: reading, knitting, horses, internet, massage, anatomy, science, research, church, ASA (american stroke association), costuming, yoga, anime, computers, general geekdom "blah blah blah insert geeky phrase/fact here blah blah blah" Fasinating

Favorite Music: I listen to everything... I mean EVERYTHING, lately i'm listening to country and pop and electric celtic

Favorite Color(s): green and purple and white especially white shirts when they're not stained, oh wait I have three kids... nope no white

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Yoga journal, balance ball and Bellydance

What are your fitness/health goals? I want to walk a marathon for Train To End Stroke... and be able to bench 200 again... and those extra twisty yoga poses, getting my ankles to my nose again would be awesome.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Three friends, two strokes one heart attack and catching a BAD angle of myself in a mirror and thinking HOLY S! I"m gonna keel over if I don't lose this weight! the ages of the people who had the strokes were 40 and 35.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? daily excercise and giving up those high calorie snack foods. I don't like fruit much either(yuck ewww). The worst is managing my portion sizes, why can't I eat a normal portion size, or just ONE normal portion size?

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Portion size. Daily excercise, not just a couple times a week, balancing my diet is so hard for me lately, I just can't seem to be able to do it for more than a day or two at a time.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : Looking better than the other girls in costume contests. I miss being hit on. Marriage has nothing to do with it.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Switch costume from the Matrix, she's the only one who wears white, got killed... or Vash costume from Trigun, I know he's a boy but what the heck. And a chainmail bikini.

Screen Name: LaughingDog

Age/Age Range: 37 (now I have to check the 36-50 box on surveys, yuck)

Family Life: 1 DH, 1 dog, 1 teen

Occupation: Happy Homemaker

Hobbies and Interests: Reading, knitting, movies, and most of the same geeky stuff as my slightly more geeky sister MinuetInC.

Favorite Music: I listen to everything, and I mean everything. Right now I have Dr. Demento, Martha Stewart Playtime, Bobby Darin, Bob Marley, and the Practical Magic soundtrack in my car, among others. See, the geeky stuff comes out in all areas.

Favorite Color(s): Pink, I just luuuuuv Pink. I also like green and white.

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: I love the balance ball, can't say enough nice things about it. After using the balance ball regularly I have such nice posture and abs. I also like my Nordic Track ski machine, but I don't think there are many ski machines anymore. Nordic Track was bought out and now they only make one type of skier (which I don't like). I hope my machine lasts 100 years. I also like free weights. I just got the Firm fanny lifter and I can't wait to try it out.

What are your fitness/health goals? I just want to feel good after being on my feet all day, right now I'm pooped by 6 or 7. I used to go-go-go all day and feel great the whole time.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? My feet hurt in the morning and I can't stand it (there's a double meaning in that). Did I mention I love corny jokes in the interest section? There's another stupid joke in that sentence too.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? I drink lots of water, I don't eat junk food, I eat plenty of fruits and veggies so you'd think I wouldn't be in this boat. My problem is I can't control my portions and I get bored with exercising after about four months. That's the longest I last and then it's a struggle again.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? I need to eat less and move more and keep my walking pact with my sister.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : Holy cats! I just want to look better than ME!!!

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? I want to wear a size 5. Everything looks good in a size 5, though I'd take an 8 too.

Screen Name:Skinnyrose

Age/Age Range:23

Family Life:married for 6 years with 2 children(6, 3.5)

Occupation: student(accounting degree)

Hobbies and Interests:

Favorite Music: anything I can dance too

Favorite Color(s):blue and pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts:Pilates and Buns of Steel

What are your fitness/health goals? to be tone and fit and weigh 130

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I saw myself in a picture and I was tired of buying larger clothes

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

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? finding time to exercise more for longer periods of time.

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

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? a sexy dress to my husband's christmas party

Screen Name: Waterbaby, but call me Claire

Age/Age Range: 52 (birthday is Halloween)

Family Life: Husband, stepson & his wife & son live 3,000 miles away; DH and I have two cats and a lot of tropical fish (3 aquariums!)

Occupation: Database analyst; classically trained singer; voiceover actor

Hobbies and Interests: too numerous to list here...NASCAR, writing, handwork of any kind, organizing, restoring/fixing just about anything, skin care, horses.

Favorite Music: I like most of it and listen to a pretty wide variety.

Favorite Color(s): warm tones; faves are terra cotta and turquoise.

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Love the feel of a cold iron dumbbell in my hand. Free weights! Horseback riding or swimming are my favorite cardio. I also enjoy belly dancing when I'm thinner. There's too much real estate in the way to even get a decent camel walk working!!!

What are your fitness/health goals? I want small, defined muscles all over me. I think it gives a feeling of strength, power and confidence (which I sorely need)...also, muscles are the only thing that will give my body any shape after I get the lard off.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? I've been overweight and on and off diets since I was thirteen. When the scale went over 300 pounds and I was wearing the largest size that most stores carried, that was IT...I have to do something. 320 pounds and five feet five doesnot paint a pretty picture.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Sugar, and boredom eating.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
1. Try not to do everything at once. baby steps, baby steps.
2. Stop searching for the magic pill or program. After 40 years of diets, I should know what works.
3. Expecting more of myself. I let me off the hook too easily.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : I want to look better than I do now. I want to be an original that others want to look better than. I want to be a national treasure, in a manner of speaking.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Cute panties, and I can't wait to wear my own skin and it look fabulous!

Screen name: Lilymay10633

Age: 32

Family Life: Divorced mother of 3 (Zack 12, Megan 8, Abby 6). Living with parents so I can finish school.

Occupation: full time student attending Bowling Green State University to fullfull my middle school education degree. 1 yr left!

Hobbies/Interests: Walking, reading. movies. Love to spend time with friends as time to do that is so limited.

Favorite music: I listen to country and pop.

Favorite color: Love all colors but especially that ever so slimming black!

Favorite exercise/workout: I love to walk. Not only do you lose pounds but it's also a stress reliever. I also like to do taebo on those days when walking outside is not possible.

What are fitness/health goals: I want to get to 150#. I want to be the one to drag my kids outside to play and not the other way around. And of course I want to look good for those single men out there

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide to lose weight and become more fit? Being on a university campus with all those young, skinny girls does not help one's self esteem. I also want to start my teaching career off feeling good about myself so that I can devote my time on the students and not on my problems.

What do you struggle with most on this journey to health? I'm a sugar addict. I definitely eat when I am bored. My worst time is between 1 and 4. I don't eat at night and am satisfied after breakfast but once 1 rolls around I am ready to devour the kitchen.

What are 3 things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
1. eliminate the sugar
2. Eat one healthy snack in the afternoon instead of 10
3. Do more exercise.

Who do you want to look better than? I already look better than my ex's fiance which is always beneficial but I would like to look better than what I do now. Trying to compare to others just makes my goals unrealistic.

What can you not wait to wear once you reach your goal weight/size? Anything form fitting and a bathing suit that I don't need to wear a shirt over!

Screen Name: Zoritsa

Age/Age Range: 33

Family Life: Husband and two boys,Alex(11) and Ty(3)

Occupation: Stay at home Mommy

Hobbies and Interests: Camping,swimming,snow skiing,gardening

Favorite Music: New age,alternative,80's

Favorite Color(s): Blue and purple

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Walking,pilates and yoga

What are your fitness/health goals? To be at an ideal weight for my height and to be able to get around without being winded,tired or achey,and to feel stronger

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Going to the Dr. and seeing that I was gaining back some of what I had lost once.I was not about to have to start from the beginning,or even at a higher weight.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? I'm still having a hard time trying to figure out if I am truely hungry,or just wanting something to keep me busy.Also trying to eat in moderation when it comes to snacks.Right now I've cut out snacks entirely because I just can't seem to control how much I eat...but eventually I'd like to enjoy a single serving of something sinful like everyone else I see.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Getting in more exercise,getting in enough water on a daily basis,measuring foods out,and remembering to log everything in on Fitday...ok,so that was 4 things

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : Hmm...not better,but I want to look as good as I did when I was younger...weight wise,don't mind if theres some added wrinkles or anything like that.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? A dress.I don't think I've ever worn a dress when I was thinner.I always hated them...but now I want to feel sexy in a cute lil summer dress,or something hot.