Screen Name: hubbabubbababy

Age/Age Range: 25

Family Life: Married with 2 boys - ages 2 and 2 months

Occupation: stay at home mom, freelance writer/editor

Hobbies and Interests: scrapbooking, journalling, shopping, reading, watching movies

Favorite Music: christian

Favorite Color(s): pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: yoga just my size, swimming, walking

What are your fitness/health goals? to be able to be skinny enough to comfortably play on the floor with my kids and to be able to run after them in the park - that is my short term goal, anyway

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? reaching 350 lbs!

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? I love to eat, and I love to eat sweets. I also eat as a way of dealing with stress, which is not good.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? I need to actually exercise, not eat after 9 p.m., and make better food choices.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : My skinny sister.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Skimpy lingerie for my hubby.

Name: Natalie

Age/Age Range: 25

Family Life: single, live alone, have a cat (family is all in texas, i'm in seattle)

Occupation: financial analyst... desk job from 730-4pm

Hobbies and Interests: music shows, socializing with friends, shopping

Favorite Music: indie

Favorite Color(s): green & black

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: i'm not going to lie- i come up with great excuses not to exercise

What are your fitness/health goals? i'm tired of being fat. i finally want to look in the mirror and not be ashamed.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? i'm tired of not being able to buy the clothes i want to. i dress my sister up in clothes "i'd totally wear," which are very fashionable. i want to be able to shop at boutique stores and pay $100 for a shirt that looks amazing on me.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? self motivation. i lose sight very easily.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? 1) exercising period. 2) counting calories 3) no splurging

Who do you want to look better than? : My skinny sister.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? normal size clothing from boutique stores

Screen name: pudin27263:angela

Age/Age range: 36

Family life: divorced, but dating someone serious since sept of last yr. and my three cats.

Occupation: stay at home caring for my grandmother and mother ( who suffers from cervical dystonia )

Hobbies and intrests:coffee houses, learning to cook, reading self help books

favorite music: pink floyd, Godsmack, led zeplin.

favorite color: green

favorite excersize/workout: Shimmy ( the workout program on fit tv and working with my resistance bands on alternate days. when its pretty and warm out i go walking on the nature trail near my place.

What are your fitness/health goals? to be able to workout for an hr and not get short winded, increase flexibility, to be able to walk the stairs or do everyday tasks and not get out of breath, to feel pretty and sexy inside and out and not be ashamed for my bf to see my body in the daytime or with the lights on.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? when i saw myself in the mirror and i looked as if i was 8 mths pregnant and i cant have children. I was literally wearing maternity clothes because people kept asking how far along i was. i was hiding behind maternity clothes instead of doing something about my weight

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? my bf needs junk food and protien to bulk up and i am stuck with healthy foods lol.
the motivation to find a way to work out for at least 40 min a day

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
1. better food choices
2. no more snacking after 9 pm
3. portion control

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? my tall skinny sister who is 10 yrs younger than me.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size?
something sexy for my new bf, a bikini, my old jeans * the pretty ones that are a size 8 that are hip huggers and have a beautiful glitter rose design on them.

Screen Name: Me_Amarie

Age/Age Range: 29

Family Life: Single Girl

Occupation:Insurance/Grad Student - Planning on going back for my PhD

Hobbies and Interests:Not a lot right now I'm fighting back from about 2 years of hard-core depression during which I pretty much stopped doing everything I liked. It'll be exciting to see what hobbies and interests I develop now! Oh, I love dogs - have 3.

Favorite Music: Enter the Haggis (cool celtic-rock band), Natasha Bedingfield, Tom Cochran (life is a highway....so much fun to rock it out to while cleaning the house)

Favorite Color(s): Green, Blue, everything!

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Walking my dogs, I used to love Yoga, but its been a while

What are your fitness/health goals? I want to get healthy - no more fat, no more excuses for sitting on my tush. I'd like to have a healthy BMI and be able to be more active - maybe do a marathon again some day.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? When I really started about thinking about leaving my job and going back to school. My work life has turned me into someone I don't want to be anymore (fat and depressed) and I want to be free to start myself on a new path without having to carry all that with me

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Two main struggles - depression and hunger. My doc has me on medication now to deal with both, and I am taking advantage of that opportunity to develop healthy habits so that someday I can do it med-free.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? #1 (Big One) I need to get more active. I put the sed in sedentary, but that is going to change. #2 - I need to learn to treat food with respect and dedicate time to making healthy food from scratch. Convenience foods are a major crutch for me. #3 - I need to become more present and accept the day for what it is - I get WAYYYYYY ahead of myself and run off into dreamland about what I will do in a year instead of doing the work I can today.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? I want to look better than an unhappy person.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? My doctoral gown and hood

Screen Name: FluffeyNutter

Age/Age Range: 28

Family Life: Married for 4 years no kids yet.

Occupation: Advertising

Hobbies and Interests: Painting, Graphic Design

Favorite Music: Things with melodies

Favorite Color(s): Pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: rebounding, stationary biking

What are your fitness/health goals? To have a normal BMI and not an obese one

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? The scale reached 250 for the first time ever and my size 20's were getting tight!

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Getting time to exercise.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
1. I need to stop estimating calories and start really measuring them.
2. I need to force myself to make time for exercise.
3. I need to stop stress eating when I'm not hungry.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : The skinny sister who seems to be an evil motivation for many.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? A cute dress from the juniors department.

Screen Name: ImpalaHoarder

Age/Age Range: 16

Family Life: Living with my dad and younger brother, about to move in with my new stepmother and stepsister.

Occupation: Student

Hobbies and Interests: visual art, writing, reading poetry, scifi television (<3 Battlestar Galactica), GOOD scifi/fantasy books (Terry Pratchett, Robert A. Heinlein, Sherri Tepper, Neil Gaiman, etc.), reading Latin, learning languages. I'm also just learning sabre fencing, which is a ton of fun because you get to hit people in the head with a sword, and I've run for a few months now.

Favorite Music: Mostly I listen to music when I'm running. I don't have much of a defined taste. I basically listen to anything- I have a walkman, but no music tapes, so I listen to whatever's on the radio. Preferably music with a fast beat, interesting guitar and as little obscenity as possible. If I had my choice, I'd probably listen to more heavy metal, celtic, and medieval music, and that really bizarre genre that is a mix of folk music and heavy metal. Really, though, if I get an iPod, its playlist could include anything.

Favorite Color(s): Green

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: Sabre fencing and running!

What are your fitness/health goals? To lose as much weight as makes sense given my weird build, which I anticipate will be to reach 160 pounds, but it could be less. I guess I'll see what I look like when I get there. Really, REALLY long term to fence internationally and run a marathon. Hey, a girl can dream. Short term, to be able to run a 5k in the next year or two and get a fencing rating in the next five or ten years.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? A few things- stepping on the scale and realizing I weighed over 200 pounds, and looking at my driver's ed photograph in which it was clear that I was twice the other students' size. I also saw a woman at a play who was so overweight she could barely walk a few feet and had to use a cane. I knew I had to stop before I started to seriously injure my health.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? A tendency to eat WAY too much. Sure, it's easy to be thin if you can't finish a slice of pizza. I on the other hand, could probably finish the whole thing. I love high fat, high sugar foods, and I hate salads.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
Trying harder to keep up at fencing practices, snacking so I don't get hungry and inhale the kitchen, distracting myself long enough to get through my running sessions.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? :
Anyone. If I'm no longer the fattest person I know, I'll be happy.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size?
A skirt that shows my legs.

Screen Name: griffogrubb

Age/Age Range: 20

Family Life: My mommy and daddy, brother

Occupation: student, pizza making machine

Hobbies and Interests: reading, golfing, being dorky, losing weight

Favorite Music: anything really, just not that big a fan of country

Favorite Color(s): blue

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: I like running...a lot

What are your fitness/health goals? To maintain my weight loss and lose a tad bit more weight

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Well, I was 17 and pushing on being morbidly obese. My doc told me that I'd probably have a heart attack by the time I was 40...that was scary as ****

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Eating well used to be really,really,really hard. I've gotten better at it, but sometimes it's still a little hard to resist temptation

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

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : I just wanna look the best that I can

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

Screen Name: Vek

Age/Age Range: 33

Family Life: married

Occupation: web/graphic designer

Hobbies and Interests: drawing/photography/bird watching/SF

Favorite Music: african/rap/R&B

Favorite Color(s): blue/black

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: floating in my pool

What are your fitness/health goals? 1hour/day bike

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Reaching 200lbs.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? Exercising. I'm too lazy.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Forgeting chocolate, being less lazy, eating less.

(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? : myself at my own wedding

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? Tight jeans.
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Screen Name: lene2

Age/Age Range:33 yrs

Family Life: Married and have 2yr old son

Occupation: Personal Support Worker

Hobbies and Interests: bowling, reading, cooking, hang with family and friends

Favorite Music: rock and country

Favorite Color(s): black

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: tie bow work tapes

What are your fitness/health goals? Finally being healthy and to be around for my son

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Was going good after my son was born, but got into my bad eating habits, not good

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health?
Finding good recipes to eat.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve?
My butt, upper legs and continue with exericse routine
(Evil motivation ) Who do you want to look better than? :
my sister
What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? really nice size 14 jean, sexy top
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Screen Name: jlkeahi

Age/Age Range: 20

Family Life: no bf/husband or kids.

Occupation: being myself. fulltime student

Hobbies and Interests: LOVE to play video games and watch "reality" tv.

Favorite Music: i like a little of everything!

Favorite Color(s): actually i like all colors!

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: WATP, Richard Simmons,

What are your fitness/health goals? its not about being skinny, its about being fitter and healthier!

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? i started getting heart burn, i went up a size in jeans, and the highest weight i have been in the 20 years of my life.

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

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? have more of a structured routine, eat SENSIBLY, and exercise regularly.

(Evil motivation) Who do you want to look better than?: one of my friends that thinks shes hotter than a summer in vegas!

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? omg what cant i wait to wear????

Screen Name: silence

Age/Age Range: 33... edited to say... I mean 32! Apparently I'm so heavy that I feel older than I really am LOL

Family Life: married with 4 daughters

Occupation: sahm

Hobbies and Interests: reading, photography, spending time with my family

Favorite Music: i like a wide variety

Favorite Color(s): green

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: no favorite really, i'm more a 'make myself do it' type

What are your fitness/health goals? I admit it, I want to be skinny. And, I want to have more energy and improve my general mood.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? No trigger really, I've wanted to lose weight for years. I've lost weight before. Now that I'm done having kids (my youngest is 1), I'm ready to do it for good this time.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? remembering why I'm doing this, when I'm in the moment (and tempted by evil food LOL)

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? make better choices as to WHAT to eat, stop myself from eating when I'm not really hungry (I'm a BIG snacker) and start exercising (and keep at it!)

(Evil motivation) Who do you want to look better than?: I don't know that I want to look better than anyone but if I could look as good as my sister-in-law or sister, I'd be thrilled.

What can you not wait to wear when you are at goal weight or size? a bathing suit without wanting to hide!

Screen Name: sunflower48

Age/Age Range: 48

Family Life: Married, 3 grown children gone this year. So I am a new empty nester.

Occupation: Office work

Hobbies and Interests: Photography, dachshunds, sewing.

Favorite Music: all kinds

Favorite Color(s): pink

Favorite Exercise/Workouts: I havent really found anything yet.

What are your fitness/health goals? to become healthy and to lose 50 or so lbs.

What was the "trigger" or incident that made you decide it was time to lose weight and become more fit? Starting the 2nd phase of my life. I quit smoking about 8 months ago and the weight was next in line to go.

What do you struggle with the most on this journey to health? understanding the whole planning thing. My DH is thin and doesnt need to loose and is very picky about his food. I like lots of foods and I think I am an emotional eater.

What are three things in the area of diet/exercise you need to improve? Drinking water, my snacking is way out of control and I need to start moving.

(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? Heels and cute clothes.