Welcome to the Group

Welcome! We would love get to know you, so please tell us a little bit about yourself. You can choose any format you'd like, but most of us here share some or all of the following details:

1. History with weight loss:
2. History with Calorie Count:
3. Reason for joining this group:
4. Some interesting details about yourself, such as your job, your family, your pets and your interests:

And now just go ahead and make that first post!

Hello from Minnesota!

I'm eager for the opportunity to begin calorie counting again and hope to lose 10 pounds between now and 12/31!

 

History with weight loss:
My whole adult life I was overweight, weighing about 190. I NEVER exercised (actually had talked myself into believing I couldn't do it!) and had terrible eating habits. About seven years ago I did Body for Life. I lost 20+ pounds in three months. I realized I could exercise and lose weight, but went off the diet, gained the weight back. The next year I met my husband, got married, had two children and before I knew it, I weighed 204. Ugh! My doctor said to get down to 185. The first year I lost 30 pounds (was down to about 175) just by changing my diet, tracking caloric intake and taking walks with my little kids.

 

Last year I started running and have lost an additional 10+ pounds, but am struggling to lose more. Currently I'm at 159 and will strive to get to 150 by 12/31. I want to get to 140 which is a perfect weight for 5’5”. When I started running I was really hungry and stopped counting calories and started eating junk again. So, if I can get disciplined to eat right and keep exercising, I will have the formula for a healthy lifestyle the rest of my life.

 

By joining this group, I am committing myself to logging my calories every day to stay accountable. I weigh myself every morning and that has kept me from regaining weight. I don’t believe in diets. I honestly don’t! The last thing I would ever want to do is lose weight artificially then gain it back. Counting calories is KEY to putting in your body what it needs and living according to healthy guidelines (I follow the Mayo Clinic’s nutritional guidelines pretty closely.)

 

Interesting details about myself:

I’m currently a marketing director for a trade association and the job’s been quite stressful lately. I know that I need to deal with stress in a way other than eating, so I’m struggling with that and also looking to move on to a new challenge soon.

 

I have a 2 year old daughter and 4 year old son and a great, supportive husband. He’s lost a TON of weight and looks great just because we changed our habits! I knit, cook/bake, read, and I have two cats. I’m particularly interested in learning more about my body, running, yoga, and nutrition so I subscribe to several daily e-newsletters, magazines, etc. to stay informed.

 

Thank you to whoever started this! I'm hopeful that it'll keep nutrition at the top of my mind and get me back on track!

 

Hi.

I never worried about what I ate or exercized at all.  After I had three children, I went up one size.  But when I hit thirty and ballooned, I freaked out. I was never hungry, I barely ate, but I kept gaining weight.

I joined CC in August to try and evaluate my poor eating habits.  I thought that I was eating fairly healthy, but I kept putting on weight anyway.  Since I've joined, I have realized that my healthy choices were not very healthy!

I joined this group out of curiosity, to see if it would help keep me on track.  I have no discipline at all and am not sure if I can actually make changes in my lifestyle.

I am a single mother of three.  I am currently unemployed and quite depressed with the whole situation. So I don't really do anything at all right now.

Elderly 70+ years and inactive with COPD!  Had seven children and always lots of food in the house, especially snacks.  A couple years ago I was pushing 250 lbs.  and finally decided I needed to do something.  I am now down to 168 and need to get beyond this plateau to reach my goal of 150 by Christmas.  I found CC a year ago and find that keeping a log is quite beneficial.  It makes one realize just how much food is going in the mouth!  I have vowed to reach my goal and also hope I can keep i t off once I do.  Thanks for listening.

Hi I am 29 years old & gained 30 pounds in 3 years due to emotional eating.  I have been doing SO well, eating less & better choices & workingout every single day.  I have been doing this for 2 weeks now & lost 1.5 lbs.  Somebody PLEASE offer me some sound advice!!!!

My name is Karina and I am 31 years old.  I gained 80 pounds with my pregnancy and my son is 1 now and I've lost 65 of it on a modified weight watcher's plan.  I recently gained back five and thought I'd change it up.  I work out on my eliptical almost every day from 30-45 minutes.  But lately my husband and I have been having "cheat days" more and more often.  I guess I need a little support.

1. Hi my name is jay I was 180lbs when I was 16 since then I have always been a little weight conscious. When I turned 19 I dropped to 155lbs gained 5lbs in muscle witch was perfect. I'm 21 Now me and my wife decided to have a child and over the 9 months I right back at 180lbs. My goal is to get back to 160lbs I want my muscle back

2. Joined a couple months ago Thought it would be a good help to stay on a diet
3. Reason for joining is I Thought it would be a good help to stay on a diet
4. I'm in school for Web Development/Computer Science I am married and have 1 daughter

Hi, my name is Fran

1. History ........ In 2003 I weighed in at 189 pounds, not good for a 5'3" woman. I got divorced a year later and started to loose weight, not because I was depressed, but I wanted to be better. I lost 79 pounds and looked a little unhealthy. I lost the weight rather fast, from March to June. I met a wonderful man and of course got comfortable and before I knew what was going on had gained weight. As of 2 weeks ago I was 161 pounds, I am now 147 pounds.

2. Joined 2 weeks ago to track my weight and to keep me on track with my goals.

3. I want to know there are other people like me and would like the moral support of others.

4. I work in sales, love my job. I have 4 wonderful children. I have the best boyfriend of 3 1/2 years. Not once has he ever brought up my weight, I may bring it up and he will agree that sometimes he misses those little skirts or my great legs, but he always says he loves me with or without the extra pounds. I want to make myself feel better about the way I look and I want the "wow" back in his eyes. I want the body I used to have and I will have it

1. History with weight loss:  I've lost 70 pounds since Dec. 2007 and I have 15 pounds to lose to get to goal.
2. History with Calorie Count:  I've lost 20 of the 70 pounds since I've been a member of Calorie Count
3. Reason for joining this group:  I want to live a healthy lifestyle.  I'm tired of being fat and unhealthy.  I'm interested in conversing with other people who are on the CC site for support.
4. Some interesting details about yourself, such as your job, your family, your pets and your interests:  I am retired and stay at home.  I have a grown son that lives in NYC.  I have 6 pets:  3 dogs and 3 cats.   

1. History with weight loss:  I'm starting to lose weight after a pregnancy.  I gained 50 pounds with the pregnancy, lost 20 quickly and then got stuck 30 pounds overweight for that last 6 months. 

2. History with calorie count: I've been counting calories for a little while before I joined this group and lost 3 pounds.  Now I have 27 more pounds to lose by the end of the year. 

3. Reason for joining this group:  I need to have a place where I have to account for my weight changes so that I will stay motivated to work hard.

4.  Details:  I am a stay-at-home mom with 5 children and a busy husband.  We don't have any pets due to my husband's allergies.  I do alot of driving children around to activities after school, and volunteer work at their school.  I sing, play piano, and enjoy gourmet cooking.

Hello everyone, from FL

1. History with weight loss: I never really had a problem with weight until pregnancy. With my oldest 2 girls I was still active duty military (Marine Corps) so dropping weight honestly was not an issue then. Back in those days I ran 6 miles a day (M/W/F) and 3 miles (T/Th) with an hour of aerobics/weights in my daily exercise as well. Now that I've been out and had 2 more children....it's been a little interesting.

I had gotten all but the last 15lbs off after my youngest daughter had been born when I hyper-extended my knee in April 07. I was out 9 months with surgery and complications. It was work related so delays with everything (took 3 weeks to get into the approved doctor) truly made it worse then it had to be. With the surgery and infection and inflammation issues I was put on steroids which packed on the pounds horribly.

I've gotten about 30lbs off but have dealt with yo-yo-ing and serious plateaus. I'm an emotional eater so losing my grandmother this summer, after cutbacks at work in April (got fired) haven't helped me stay on track. I'm dedicated to pushing myself and getting back to normal. Just got clearance to run again so getting off the weight really is a thing I have to do. I'm not happy and it's time I did something about it.

2. History with Calorie Count: Just found it! I was looking up some calorie counts for fruit and trying to plan out my menu for the week, thank Google I found here!

3. Reason for joining this group: I see a lot of people here in similar situations. Support groups do help push you and it's good to have people there if you slip or have a bad day.... or to be that person offering motivation back.

4. Some interesting details about yourself, such as your job, your family, your pets and your interests: I was a pharmacy tech until cutbacks hit... daycare was a nice thing but with what it cost and me not finding work right away (tourist town) I made the decision to stay home again. I do still do freelance work as an artist/programmer and really do enjoy it. I'm married (almost 10 years) I have 4 children ages 9-3 (3 girls and 1 boy) and turn 30 in Feb. We have 3 pets, 2 cats Smokey and Bandit...though we're convinced Bandit is part goat from head-butts and constant attempts to eat paper.... and Sasha our very spoiled Beagle who has an affinity for wooden objects so she's part beaver. Fortunately she sticks to blocks and pencils, has never chewed molding or chairs.

I was a distance runner prior to my knee going out and I'm trying to get back at it. I love my gazelle since I can do that during the day when I have my very active 3 yr old running around. I play several instruments, including piano, bass, guitar and violin. I love to cook, especially from scratch even though it does take longer the results are so much more satisfying.

Look forward to meeting everyone!

Hi, I'm Nic..

Hmm, well, I was between 160-175 from age 16 to 20, and managed to get down to 150 about a year and a half ago because I was more active. Of course, that changes when you get a desk job. So I joined CC in July at 175 pounds, and I'm down to 149, but since I'm only 5'1 thats still not a healthy weight.

I'm here because I want to get to 130 by december.

Lets see, interesting things about myself.. I'm a vegan, I finish hideous plastic sculptures that sell for ridiculous amounts of money, I have a pirate cat named Marley, and I cook. A lot. 3x a day, at least. Probably my favorite thing to do at the moment. My roommate loves to eat, which helps.

1.   I maintained a weight of 125-135 most of my adult life, with a couple of exceptions: (1) I moved to GA for 6mos back in 2003 -too much of that good southern cookin' and I was up to 149.  It wasn't too hard to loose once I came back to CA and was surrounded by friends who eat healthy and get a lot of exersise. (2) Now ...  I still have 20-25lbs post baby weight a year after giving birth.  It's a lot harder to loose now I'm a little older and A LOT busier. Convienience became the top priority with food instead of healthiness. And, I had bad pain in both knees from carrying around extra weight, both on me and carrying the kid around.  So, it's been hard to exersise. I just finished physical therapy so, ready to get serious.    

2. History with Calorie Count: Joined CC last month although I've been counting calories off and on for years.

3. Reason for joining this group: I need to drop some serious poundage by 12/19 when I'll be a bridesmaid in a very big, very fancy, wedding.  I'll be so embarrased if I'm still chubby.

4.  I'm a business woman and a single mom.  I used to do more active things like hiking, running, swimming. But, not so much anymore. I'd like to meet some friends who have been successful at losing and/or who can relate to my situation.  

1. History with weight loss: Well I have been yo-yoing weight for the last 3 years and haven't been able to maintain a steady weight. I just recently finished my first year of grad school, moved to Chicago last year by myself not knowing anyone and so the stress and pressure led me to start emotionally eating a lot and I have put on 20 pounds in a year. I believe that I am motivated to lose weight the healthy way and stick with this new lifestyle.

2. History with Calorie Count: I think I officially joined a couple months ago but I haven't been using it consistently I use it for a week and then take 3 weeks off or a month off. If I fall off the wagon I tend to throw in the towel compeletly and gain some more weight and then start over with this site but I'm hoping this time will be different and I will stick with it even if I go over my calories in a day.

3. Reason for joining this group: It always helps to have support and to know that other people are going through similar struggles or that they have similar goals so that you can check in with each other or talk about what is working/what's not working. I'm really pumped about reaching my goal by December 25th!

4. I have a Jack Russell named Jack who just turned 3 and he's so much fun he forces me to stay active and gets me outside with his walks! I have a twin brother who is my best friend and two parents who are so supportive. I love to be outside especially in the fall with all the leaves changing and the smells. I love to read for fun but that has changed quite a bit with grad school now that I have a ton of reading I have to do for that every day!

Original Post by sheila_c:

Welcome! We would love get to know you, so please tell us a little bit about yourself. You can choose any format you'd like, but most of us here share some or all of the following details:

1. History with weight loss:
2. History with Calorie Count:
3. Reason for joining this group:
4. Some interesting details about yourself, such as your job, your family, your pets and your interests:

And now just go ahead and make that first post!

1.- The only time before joining CC that I actually dieted was about 7 years ago, where I had been in a bad relationship and gotten pretty chubby.  After finding myself single and available yet not as happy in my skin I just cut all dairy products from my diet (I am a compulsive cheese gnosher) and lost about 10 pounds in about a month.  Since then however I've been putting on about 3-4 pounds a year and want to get it off (I have knee and back problems which I feel are exascerbated by my extra weight) and keep it off, while styling a healthy eating and excersizing pattern I can stick with for the rest of my life.

2.- I've only been on CC for about 3 weeks, but so far I've lost 2 kilos (4.4 pounds)!  I'm also excersizing with the Wii Fit and Wii Sports (albeit not terribly faithfully) and walk about a mile and a half to my job and back every day.

3.- I joined this group in hopes of finding similar experiences, advice and motivation.  I do hope to reach my goal by December, however my "personal coach" keeps moving my finish date to January :(

4.- My name's Sarah and I'm from North Carolina but about 3 1/2 years ago I moved to Spain, where I am happily settled in working at a software company.  The only problem is that I have a lot of job-related stress on top of the normal daily stress of living in a foreign country where things like paying your bills are done totally differently.  I think a lot of my weight gain over the past year is due to stress.  To try to disconnect a little I try to think of my walks to work and back as pleasure walks.  My other roadblock to weight loss is that I LOVE LOVE LOVE food.  If asked to describe my one passion in life, it would be food.  And not just any food, but really well prepared food using the best ingredients.  So I'm trying to shift my cravings from things like creme brulee and camembert to perfectly ripe fruit and vegetables and low fat / calorie combinations that still pack a marvelous flavour punch.  So far I'm enjoying the challenge of cooking delicious dishes that my boyfriend still loves but cutting the calories and fat.  If anyone has any tips I'd love to hear them!

Hi everybody,

I am new to calorie count...I just joined earlier this week. Last year, I lost 60lbs, but I have since gained 10lbs back. I am joining this group because I would like to lose that 10lbs (and maybe a few more) and I would like to do that by Christmas. I don't know why I picked that date, I just did. :)

When I lost the weight the first time, I was a little more restrictive than I think I can mantain for really long term, so I would like to be able to lose this weight in a little more relaxed and "normal" way.

Hopefully, this works.

 

1. History with weight loss: Last year around this time I lost about 15 lbs. & was down to my goal weight of 130. Over the last year, I have gained it back plus two pounds. I couldn't keep with the diet & work out schedule, but I have realized now I have to make a lifestyle change.

2. History with Calorie Count: I just joined last week, but I knew that I needed support to lose the weight

3. Reason for joining this group: I would love to meet my goal before the New Year, so my New Year's resolution has nothing to do with weight. I also told my boyfriend that he could not propose until I lost the weight. (lol) So I would love to lose the weight asap!

4. I am working on my master's degree right now. It is a very intense program, and I don't much free time. In the little spare time I have, I try to be with my boyfriend and family. I have a little dog named Samson. My main interest in life right now is medicine (obvious by my membership name, right?). I love anything that has to do with genetics. I am starting a research experiment in January on a gene that we think is associated with Alzheimer's disease. I'm so excited! Oh and I am going to school to become a physician assistant for those of you who were wondering what a PA is.

My name is John Leach, I'm in the US Air Force and was basically given a mandate to lose weight or get kicked out, so here I am making it happen. I just joined Calorie Count yesterday, as I am not normally a Calorie Counter.....not my style. I joined the group to get ideas and see what other people are doing, as I have to lose at least 27 more pounds by the end of December. My max weight for fitness testing is 166, so that is my ultimate goal. In April I had my annual physical and was at 238....my worst ever, then at the end of June I was at 215 and here I am now at 193, so I'm well on my way. I've been hitting the recumbent bike every day for about an hour and that's helping a lot. I'm currently deployed so my food options are very limited and I don't eat veggies, so I get them from V8. Any advice that could be given would be very helpful.

Hi John:

You are doing a great job.  Keep up the good work.  You'll have it off in no time.  Have you gone into the Calorie Count Plus site and filled out a diet profile.  It is very useful.  All you have to do is answer a few questions and the site will give you the amount of calories you burn per day.  Cut that by 500 calories and you will lose one pound per week.  I've found as I get closer to goal, it gets a little slower.  But the important thing is that you go down instead of up.  But you will really have to hustle to get another 27 pounds off by December.  So you can exercise more to get more weight off.  Just don't make the mistake of not eating enough.  Your body will go into starvation mode and hold onto the weight.  That's why it's so important to find out exactly how much you are burning every day.  

Try it out.  You are in the Calorie Count message boards, but to find this Calorie Count Plus site, you need to go into Calorie Count Plus.  Just do a search in the internet.  It will take you right to the site if you aren't already in there.  It's free and very helpful. 

Good Luck 

This is my third try with CC this year.  I started last Feb and lost 8 lbs between Feb and May...then went on vacation (gained it all back + 2).. came back and started again in July but only continued to gain during July and August.  We are now at Sept I am still trying to lose 25 lbs and am completely exasperated!!!!!!  I am at a loss so any ideas would be great.

Let me give a little history:  Gained 75-80lbs while pregnant, after the baby was born I started smoking again and lost 50 lbs.  Quit smoking last November and became a stay at home mom and gained 25 of the 50 back.  Losing 25 lbs won't get me back to my pre pregnancy weight, but it is a good start.

 

I eat between 1300-1500 calories a day, do jazzercise 2X a week for 1 hr and am rather sedentary the rest of the week (do house work, walk the dogs, play with the son but no strenuous exercise). Can anyone help me lose 25lbs before Decemeber ( I am going skiing for my 10 yr anniversary and don't want to blow out a knee or anything.

Hi Tomcat:

You are experiencing the yo-yo syndrome that everyone complains about when they gain weight back after a diet.  I did it for years until I figured out that you don't go off of diets.  Yep that's right.  You have to watch what you eat forever.......!.  I know that sounds terrible, but actually it's not.  Here's what I did.  I identified the things in my diet that were pushing me over my calories burned daily.  I'm 5'8" tall and I burn 2240 calories per day if I'm just sedentary--my heartbeating, ect.  Okay, then I kept a diary of what I was eating normally without being on a diet.  The diary tells you a lot.  For instance, with me I was drinking milk three times a day (about a cup and a half at each sitting).  I was also eating 6 to 8 oz of meat at a sitting.  Okay, the milk I was drinking added up to 540 calories and the meat about 800.  Helloooooo.  It was a big eye opener for me.  That's 1340 calories, which left me with a total of 900 calories for the things I should be eating to stay healthy, like fruits, vegetables, etc.  Consequently, I was going over my daily calorie limit every day and it caused me to gain the weight back every time.  Now, I've reduced my meat intake to 3 to 4 oz (evening meal) and I drink Crystal Lite instead of milk for lunch and dinner.  I still get milk by eating things like yogurt and ice cream because now I actually have the extra calories for things like that. 

Personally, I think the best thing you could do for yourself is to get off the merry-go-round.  Keep a diary for a couple of weeks.  Find out where your excess calories are coming from.  Everyone has a pattern.  Then readjust your eating program.  You'll be glad you did.  For the first time in my life I feel free.  I stay within my required calorie count for the day, I can have anything I want in moderation, and I've maintained for months now.  

I hope this helps you.  Best of luck. 

Betty Jo