Name: Chris or Christina
Screename: Chrily
Homestate: Montana
Occupation: Stay at home mom of 3 girls...11 yr, 6 yr, and an almost 3 yr
Age:34

Currently I'm back on the WW wagon and trying to incorporate some SB diet twists in it. IT's been hectic lately so I haven't lost anything but on the plus side, I haven't gained either.

I was a skinny little twig (119) until I got pregnant with my first daughter. I gained 69 lbs with her. I lost some of it but never quite got back down to the skinny me. I gained only 25 with my second daughter...but after her birth, I developed rheumatoid arthritis. Then I got pregnant...*oops* the third time and only gained 16 lbs. It came off but then I got put on prednisone for my RA and ballooned all the way up to 223. Now I am down to 200 but I want to be down to 150. That would be a comfortable weight for me.

I like to do scrapbooking, sewing, and playing on the computer....esp. ebay and yahoo games...

Thanks for starting the new thread!! This will be great so everyone get introduce themselves!!

Name: Carmen
Screename: bootiegirl28
Homestate: TX
Occupation: Stay at home mom of a 15 month old boy.. just started staying at home in May of this year.
Age:28

At my son's delivery I weighed 202 which was a 40 lbs weight gain for the pregnancy. I dropped most of that weight and got back down to 168 within just a couple of months of having him. My goal is to get down to 150 lbs which I haven't weighed in many years!

I love working out and doing fun, new things with my son! I also hang out on the computer for atleast a few hours a day!

Carmen, yOu computer junkie! I am the same. I could hang on the computer for hours if you let me.

Today though...I got a little girl who wants to get her hair cut and another who wants to go do some shopping. Gets who gets to fork out the money.... Oh well. I better get my butt outta here. Check back later.

So what are you doing for exercise? And your weight loss program? That is if you don't mind telling. Have a fun day!

~chris

Name: Lori
Screename: alsbttrfly
Homestate: currently Germany, but moving to NY in August
Occupation: Stay at home mom of 3 children. DD will be 4 in August, DS#1 2.5 and DS#2 7 weeks
Age:30

I'm doing WW and trying to go to the gym at least 3X a week.

Did WW last summer and got down to 155 and then found out I was pregnant. Gained 50 lbs unfortunately and so far I've lost about 30 of that. I have 20 more lbs to lose to get to my prepregnancy weight and then another 10-15 to get to my goal weight of 140-145.

I love spending time with my family. I also love hanging with my girlfriends and their kids. I love to workout and to walk my dogs in the nature park where I love. I also love to spend time on line but don't get much time to do so with 3 little ones that demand so much of my attention.

Hey girls! Chris, I do exercise tapes for my workout program. They include taebo, bellydancing, yoga, pilates, and the latest is dance/hip hop and striptease!!! Woohoo! Its alot of fun!
For my weight loss program I'm concentrating more on counting carbs. I'm entering all the food I eat into fitday.com to help track that along with fat, calories, and protein! I don't seem to have any problem staying under 1800 calories per day which is what is recommended for my weight and height while I'm still nursing!

Name: Kimberlee
Screenname: Tonkasmom
Homestate: MD
Occupation: P/T Operations Mgr./ SAHM to Twinfants
Age: Will be 30 in August

New here.I used to be thin and active (size 6, jogging 5 miles/day). Well, I gained 60 lbs. w/ my pregnancy, lost 30 immediately and settled at 160. For the first few months, I kept eating like I was pregnant, but was bf/pumping. After I gave that up I got really upset looking in the mirror and basically was not going to allow myself to stay that way.
Right now, I am counting calories(1500/day), go to the gym 4x a week, and do crunches and push-ups at home. It is starting to SLOWLY come off.

I lke to read, and walk my dogs,x-box, play w/ the babies and am a computer junkie also My time is now limited, however, for reasons which do not need explaining

carmen-I've done the taebo, pilates, and salsa dancing exercise videos..but was curious about what you think on the striptease, bellydancing and hip/hop ones? I love to do stuff that doesn't seem like a workout.

For all of you, I was wondering how you gals find time to squeeze in exercise. That is my hardest challenge. I think that's why its taking me so long to get this weight off. I can't seem to stay consistent with exercising. My girls are a big distraction, or rather, and interruption when I try to do it during the day. They can leave me alone and do their own things but all of a sudden there is trauma everywhere when I try to exercise. I shouldn't just pin it down to exercising. They get all attention starved whenever I try to do something for me like sewing, reading, taking a relaxing bath...etc. Ahhh...the life of a mom!

Kimberlee-If you have any ideas on how to adapt crunches and pushups for me, let me know. I have rheumatoid arthritis and my lower back hurts alot and I can't bare too much weight on my wrists. I have done pushups in a standing position and using a wall. That I can tolerate for a bit.

Lori-First of all...Congrats! I see you have a very new little baby at home. You're in my boat now. 3 kids. Awww..they're great though. I gained all my weight by being pregnant and then the last 30 or so pounds from being on prednisone. I've gotten most of the prednisone weight off...but the baby weight is still lingering. I really have no excuse for it. Just a lack of attention to me. I'm also doing WW and trying to watch my carbs. I've noticed when I eat too many of those, my blood sugar takes a nose dive shortly after and I get lightheaded and feel just odd. I don't know how to explain it. My body feels like all rubbery. You know that feeling after you really exercise good.

Okay...dinner needs to get cooking. DD #2 has swimming lessons tonight. And the DD#1 wants to go shopping after that. If I'm lucky, maybe dh will babysit the youngest...then I can actually look at stuff.

~chris

Name: Cynthia or Cindy or even Cin
Screename: MorticiaAddams
Homestate: Michigan
Occupation: Retail Clerk Mother of a 11 year old son
Age:35 Will be 36 in 6 more days

I work full time and my highest weight was 313 pounds.
I am doing my own health plan but as much as im starting to read it seems to resemble a bit of the South Beach Diet. I just got the book and have started reading a little.
I am down now 76 pounds. I have been working at this with my husband who is down 66 pounds himself.
We would like to have another child ,but I really want to lose more weight first. Nice to meet everyone.

Welcome Cin,
I guess I've been on this thread the longest. It's nice to see people interested in posting. I did the SB diet for a month and lost 7 lbs the first 2 weeks. I'm thinking that cutting out the bad carbs is a good thing. There is alot of similarities between SB, Oprah's Boot Camp, and this diet I keep reading about in a health column in our paper. The first couple of weeks without sugar, and potatoes, and pasta was hard but I didn't miss them so much. I think I may have to go back to that. My cousin has lost 33 lbs on SB so far and she's been on it since March. I'm doing WW again...but I am using some of the stuff I learned from SB with it too.

BTW, your weight loss is phenomenal!!!! YOU GO GIRL!

~chris

Chris- you may think I'm crazy but I'm now thinking about having a 4th child and DC#3 isn't even 8 weeks yet. DH and I were done when we had #2 and #3 was a surprise. I was kind of depressed when I first found out I was pregnant with #3, now here I am thinking about having another.

Kimberlee- what kind of dogs do you have? I have 2, one's an Akita and the other is a mutt.

What's everyones favorite workout DVD? I have a couple of Tae BO ones but I'm interested in something new and fun.

Name: Char
Screenname: AlmostHeaven
Homestate: VA (Currently - likely not permanent)
Occupation: Networking (currently out of work until after the baby arrives)
Age: 40

I was working on my feet in a hot factory when I was pregnant with my daughter. So while I was eating two lunches every day, and feeling like I was starving, I wasn't gaining weight. So the doctor took me off work and I packed on the pounds. Afterwards, I went through a nasty divorce, didn't do any of my exercises, kept all that weight on, and added some more. Over the years, everytime I tried to diet, I'd lose a little and gain it back double. So I eventually stopped trying to diet.

About three years ago, I changed my eating habits and added daily exercise and managed to drop weight slowly and fairly steadily. However, when I was finally about to my goal, I got pregnant again. 20 years laters. Arrgh Now, I make sure to keep up my healthy eating and exercise. Though I eat more and exercise a bit less (60 to 90 minutes a day just isn't doable for me at this point). Keeping that going throughout the pregnancy should help me to stay on track afterward and lose this baby weight this time around.

Since this has turned into a support GROUP, rather than just support-I am moving it to the support groups part of the forum. Carry on ladies!

Lori, I have thought about another one but then I was reading articles on rheumatoid arthritis and most of them said that after a pregnancy the RA hits even harder. I don't want that. Also the meds I'm on are very harmful to a fetus. I guess it can cause alot of birth defects (i.e. missing limbs, and other things). Oh well...I'll just spoil my little nephew. He's growing so fast. He'll be a year old in August. He's the last one for my sister.

Exercise dvds...I love the WATP dvds and yesterday I did the Method Pilates workout with my sisters'. That one was a good one too. Ooohhh...gotta go.

I have to leave for work in about 20 min...and my hair is still wet, I'm not dressed, and my tummy is rumbling.

TTfn

chris

Name: Jacky
Screename: jkg0679
Homestate: Vermont
Occupation: Mom to 5 year old Sierra and full tme adm. ***'t. for student services for our school district.
Age: 26

I was 118 before my daughter came along...I gained 25lbs during my pregnancy and then got on the depo prevara shot for 3.5 years, gaining 25 more pounds. I got off the depo shot in Jan '04 and lost 25lbs, but sincemeeting my fiance, have gained 12lbs. I am on a mission to be 125lbs!

I'm getting ready to go out of town this weekend so I won't be around to post but I wanted to catch up with everyone!

First, I have to say way to go to everyone for so much weight loss! All your stats look terrific! I'm doing well on my new diet of watching my what my calories are coming from.. ie. carbs, fat, and protein. I'm trying to get as close to the 40/30/30 that the zone says to do as I can! I've already lost a pound this week so I'm very excited!

Chris, the bellydancing tape I have is ok. Not at all high impact but it gives your arms and tummy a good workout! I love the dance hip/hop tapes I just got. I've done them both.. Paula Abdul's Get up and Dance and MTV's Grind Workout. I'm mad about my striptease dvd though. I just got it in the mail and its defective so I have to send it back to get a new one. So the jury is still out on how that is but I'm sure it'll be alot of fun too!
As for squeezing in workouts... Since I'm a SAHM now I workout in the morning before I take a shower. I get my son up and nurse him. Then sit him down with his breakfast in his high chair and I workout. A few times a week I workout with my neighbor who has a little boy that plays with my son. Thats great too b/c it keeps both of them busy! I'd definately sit down with your kids and let them know that workout time is very important to you and that no interruptions will be tolerated. Then enforce that! I don't have older kids so I have no idea if this will work but its worth a shot!

Kimberlee, congrats on your twins!! I bet they keep you really busy!!

Lori, it looks like we're starting out at around the same weight and have the same goals! Thats great! And um, yea.. I'm thinking your a little wacky for wanting a 4th.. but I can't blame you... babies are just so wonderful!

Cindy, your weight loss is awesome!! I love seeing big losses like yours. And congrats to your dh for losing as well! Happy early birthday to you.

Char, how far along are you? Do you know what you're having!? You're weight loss from 240 all the way down to 137 is incredible. You go girl!

Jacky, it looks like you're on your way down to that 125. What diet and exercise plan are you following?

I love that a group of moms is hanging out on a board for support... this is really great! Baby talk and weight loss talk are my favorite topics!