Hi Folks,

I'm 27 years old and my goal is to lose 50 lbs by Christmas. While I am average height for a woman, I have a largish frame and have always been solidly built. The weight that has crept on since I hit puberty has spread itself around. By the end of highschool, I weighed 174 and I was horrified. When I moved away to school my weight dropped a bit and my fitness level rose because I had moved from my rural home to my urban university... but when I did grad school, I didn't have time for that working out so my weight crept up again.

I've also spent the last four months back in my rural community, driving everywhere, and eating my parents' diet -which isn't horrifically unhealthy, just doesn't do much for my body as it's very meat and potatoes driven.

Last week I weighed myself in at 181 lbs. I'm not a student anymore. I start my new job tomorrow. It's time to do something.

So, now that my husband and I are settled into our new home, I'm going to get going on a new exercise program. I'm going to try workout videos first. If I can't make that work, I'll be signing up for classes. And I'm going to return to my former diet which involves more fish and fruit than my parents diet.

We'll see how it goes.

So that's me.

Welcome. It sounds like you have a good plan. Stick too it and Christmas will be here before you know it!

Great job on having a plan. I am trying to finish my weight loss up (another 20 pounds) and then maintain. I will be starting a bootcamp on June 1. I just got back from getting married in Vegas and I met that weight loss goal, so I have set another. I have heard many, many bits and pieces of advise and little sayings, but I think Valerie Bertinelli (?spelling) comes closest to what I feel..... I want 2010 to be the first year in many years that I do not have to worry about my weight........ Wouldn't that be awesome? That is my goal for 2010!

Hi! Good luck with your weight loss journey! I don't know what kind of exercise DVDs you will be looking for, but the ones I use are Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds. I love them!

Thanks for the warm welcome

OOh, I love that quotation. That is pretty much how I feel. 2010 will be the year... I'm just tired of carrying these extra pounds around and the sense of failure that comes with them.

As for the exercise videos, I'm finding myself drawn to the Slim in 6 series simply because I've felt plateauish lately and people keep saying they can see a difference when they use it which would help motivate me, but I grabbed a cheap one from Zellers today just to see if the concept of following workout videos is going to work for me. If I last the week, I'll buy something better...and I'm roaming the boards here seeking out the expert opinions. Thanks for your suggestion.

Welcome! Surf around and settle in! We have subforums based on age, eating plan, exercise and more!

Hi and I hear you on the meat and potatoes driven diet....my hubby grew up on that diet and learning to eat (and cook) differently can be quite an adjustment. We're doing the LAWL diet.....we've both had success on Atkins in the past but we can occasionally have a potato on LAWL whereas that doesn't tend to work so well with Atkins! Best wishes for a successful weight loss journey!

Hi!
Yes, Christmas is right around the corner. My holiday wish is simple ;to weigh less this year than I did last year. The only way I will get there is eating healthy and exercising one day at a time. Lets reach our goals!
P.S. I'm preparing a healthy meal tonight.