A YOU Worth Fighting For | January 2016 Weight Loss & Better Living Challenge

[JacknSally]

I'm on MFP! Same name there... araes2102. Not sure how to add people but feel free to add me!

For those on MFP, I'm also on there. My SN is courtney_beth because I'm uncreative and keep things with my real name.

How to add people who are on MFP:
- Go to "... more"
- Select "Friends"
- in the upper right corner, hit the "+" symbol.
- From the options, select "Email"
- You can add the user name of the person you want to invite.


Please friend me!!

@araes2102 - I sent you a request. Please let me know if it's received. I look forward to supporting you on your journey.

I added both of you on MFP! I resurrected my account from goodness-only-knows-how-long-ago, haha. I'm also adding a list of MFP usernames to the introductory post with our Instagram names, if any one else wants to link up on MFP!

 

[Zoesmama03]

I'll have to read all these threads. ahh

 

[Treysar]

Ok, I added all the my fitness pal people as friends. I just got a Fitbit and I'm excited about it, still trying to figure it out.

I'm a carb addict too. I followed a diet called "dukan", which was low carb, to lose most of my weight. It is the stabilization part that is very hard for me. I can lose and I can gain, but I have a hard time just "being". It's my biggest challenge. So far imhVe stayed the same for 5 months, variance of about 5 pounds. I'd like to keep,that or maybe lose 10 more, but mostly stay the same and focus on exercising.

In 2013 my doctor told me I was obese. It took almost 3 years to lose this weight. I'm now considered "normal" BMI. I am so afraid of falling back into old habits, so hav g accountability here will be good for me.


Thank you for being so welcoming!

 

[bigsis1970]

Hi Gang I am back for another go round in 2016.. I am currently doing (meaning I have the tools) weight watchers but I haven't really looked at the new program.. I am hoping to get my hubs to join with me - meaning him to sign up and come to the meetings which would be awesomesauce! (he got border line diabetic at his dr. appt a few weeks ago and I already told him I was NOT buy soda any longer for the house) I have a hard time with portion control so I will be working on that this year.. For Chistmas I got a fancy WW scale that does weight, BMI and stuff I hope to see all the numbers moving downward throughout this month!

About me : I am 5 feet weigh about 175 have dark hair with a smattering of grey and brown eyes - I don't like exercise altho I have joined Zumba in the past and enjoyed it but I think the teacher I like no longer does it.. I have a DD who is 22 and lives with her dad in the next town over from me, my DS is 19 and splits his time between both houses, I have a cat - Hunny girl who is a total lovebug and I have a Hubs who really is too good to me.. I live in Maine and yesterday we finally got our first snow of season - I hate winter!!! wrong state to live in I know but oh well this is where I've lived all my life and once upon a dream I said when DS finally graduated HS I was moving to FL but alas here I still am.. I have a paper pusher type of job that suits me just fine, been here for 16 Yrs just last week.. JOB = pays the bills and fun stuff, no career for me, no title just a plain ole job....

I will not be back till Jan 4th with my weigh in as I have no home computer and can only be on here at my lunchtime break (unless its really dead at work) Mon thru Fridays.. Wishing you all safe and happy New Year!!! Michelle

Edit to add goals for the month! I will drink at least 64 oz of water per day (challenge comes on the weekends!) and I will track all foods ate for the month.. I am putting myself down for a loss of 4 lbs.. Thanks Michelle

 

[njcarita]

i would love to join..... will be weighing in jan 1, but my goal is a 5lb weight loss this month

 

[JacknSally]

I'll have to read all these threads. ahh

Welcome, welcome @Zoesmama03 !! I saw that you are somewhat active in the 2016 thread that @Rose&Mike started up, but I certainly hope you'll jump in to our month-specific challenges, as well! These threads have been a life-saver and eye-opener for me, and have really helped me personally, at least, go from "OMG I really need to lose X amount of weight by X date AAAHHHHH where do I start how will I do it" to "OK, over the next 30 days I'm going to focus on losing X amount and this is exactly how I'll do it". Breaking it down into portions makes it so much easier to tackle it instead of always having this large numerical goal looming over you.

Ok, I added all the my fitness pal people as friends. I just got a Fitbit and I'm excited about it, still trying to figure it out.

I'm a carb addict too. I followed a diet called "dukan", which was low carb, to lose most of my weight. It is the stabilization part that is very hard for me. I can lose and I can gain, but I have a hard time just "being". It's my biggest challenge. So far imhVe stayed the same for 5 months, variance of about 5 pounds. I'd like to keep,that or maybe lose 10 more, but mostly stay the same and focus on exercising.

In 2013 my doctor told me I was obese. It took almost 3 years to lose this weight. I'm now considered "normal" BMI. I am so afraid of falling back into old habits, so hav g accountability here will be good for me.


Thank you for being so welcoming!

@Treysar , what's your MFP name, if you don't mind sharing? I'll add it to the list on the 1st page. I'm megannsmith358 on MFP.

Congratulations on getting back into the "normal" range! That's a HUGE achievement, and I'm proud of you for taking control of your life and your health!

Hi Gang I am back for another go round in 2016.. I am currently doing (meaning I have the tools) weight watchers but I haven't really looked at the new program.. I am hoping to get my hubs to join with me - meaning him to sign up and come to the meetings which would be awesomesauce! (he got border line diabetic at his dr. appt a few weeks ago and I already told him I was NOT buy soda any longer for the house) I have a hard time with portion control so I will be working on that this year.. For Chistmas I got a fancy WW scale that does weight, BMI and stuff I hope to see all the numbers moving downward throughout this month!

About me : I am 5 feet weigh about 175 have dark hair with a smattering of grey and brown eyes - I don't like exercise altho I have joined Zumba in the past and enjoyed it but I think the teacher I like no longer does it.. I have a DD who is 22 and lives with her dad in the next town over from me, my DS is 19 and splits his time between both houses, I have a cat - Hunny girl who is a total lovebug and I have a Hubs who really is too good to me.. I live in Maine and yesterday we finally got our first snow of season - I hate winter!!! wrong state to live in I know but oh well this is where I've lived all my life and once upon a dream I said when DS finally graduated HS I was moving to FL but alas here I still am.. I have a paper pusher type of job that suits me just fine, been here for 16 Yrs just last week.. JOB = pays the bills and fun stuff, no career for me, no title just a plain ole job....

I will not be back till Jan 4th with my weigh in as I have no home computer and can only be on here at my lunchtime break (unless its really dead at work) Mon thru Fridays.. Wishing you all safe and happy New Year!!! Michelle

Cutting out soda was such a huge change for me, and it made so much difference! I am trying to get my Mountain Dew-addicted DH to cut them out altogether in 2016. He quit smoking in October and his soda intake has definitely increased as a result of it. I hope you guys are able to do it and it will help with his diagnosis! My dad was diagnosed with diabetes several years back, and my mom had gestational diabetes with both of my younger siblings, so it's always been a big fear of mine that I will end up with it, too.

Have you tried any "tricks" for portion control - eating on smaller plates so it looks like you have more food, drinking a glass of water before meals so your stomach is more full, chewing more before swallowing, taking longer to eat, etc.?

I bet Maine is beautiful, but oh how I don't envy you and your snow! Yesterday was our first day in a long, long time where we weren't in the upper-60's to mid-70's range. Christmas definitely feels weird when it's warm outside, but I'd already give anything to have it back! Haha.

i would love to join..... will be weighing in jan 1, but my goal is a 5lb weight loss this month

Hello and WELCOME, @njcarita ! We would love to have you! 5-lbs is a very good and doable goal for the month. Best wishes to you on your journey, and we look forward to getting to know you better during January!

 

[SarahDisney]

Okay, finally, I got a chance to sit down and write an introduction...

Hi, I'm Sarah! I've been doing these challenges on and off for a little while, so some of you may know me already, but here's an introduction for those of you who do not.
I'm 29 years old and live with my parents (and siblings) in good old NYC. I'm currently (mostly) unemployed, but I'm hopeful that a great opportunity will come around soon. I've always been a little overweight, but about 5-6 years ago I made it to within 10 lbs of my goal weight. Then life got in my way, and when I was under a lot of stress and not doing well, and I ended up putting on 25 pounds. I've lost some of that, but not enough of it. I'm currently at the high end of normal on the BMI scale, but my goal is to make it to the middle of the normal range so that I don't have to worry about my weight fluctuating a bit.
I always say that I don't eat like a human being ... but that's only at meals. Not at meals I eat everything in sight. The more fattening, the better. I do like fruit, but I'll often reach for junk instead because fruit is a hassle (I mean, open the the fridge? Who wants to do that!). So one area that I know I need to improve is filling myself up more at meals so that I'm less prone to snack, and making better snack choices when I do need a boost between meals.
For the past 2 years or so I've been a runner, and I'm doing 2 runDisney races (a 5K and a 10K) in January. After that ... I'm not sure if I'm planning to keep up the running or change my exercise plan. It's gonna be an interesting month.

Also ... since MFP seems to be the popular tracking site on here, I logged into my account today for the first time in years. I've been using SparkPeople for my tracking because it's where I have all of my favorite foods saved, but I'm willing to give MFP another try. Still trying to figure out how to get it to automatically import my runs from my Garmin account (I have them connected, but today's run didn't transfer ... I don't know if that's because I ran before I connected the accounts, so I'll have to see what happens with my next run).
My MFP username is SarahLovesTink. No idea where that one came from (not that I don't love me some Tinker Bell, it's just pretty random).

 

[Treysar]

My MFp name is Treysar

A good portion control trick for me has been dividing my food and eating 5 meals a day instead of 3. Plan ahead what you will eat at what time. Breakfast, 8, snack 10, lunch 12:30, snack 3:30, dinner, 6:00. Since meals will be smaller, add in "tea time", or coffee, or diet soda, and then gum. I know it sounds silly, but if I have something to look forward to, no matter how little, it helps me move on to the next section of my day.

 

[flvy]

Ohhhh me! I'm sticking to my 10LB goal because I will eventually hit it! With my new huge focus on better eating and training this should be a piece of cake. Also LOVE the theme. I'll make a man out of you is actually on my work out play list.

I'm excited for January, and I have to say following a few of you guys on instagram has been great. I basically associate you guys with Disney and all things wonderful.

I'm ready to kick some butt this month and support everyone else while they do too.

@bigsis1970 My parents just retired up to Maine from Mass it's such a pretty state. Not my favorite drive, but so pretty and so New England.

 

[GeraldineW]

I would like to give this challenge a try. I’m Geraldine. I’m 48, work part-time, have two kids ages 8 and 11 and DH. I spend a lot of time in my car transporting kids all around/cross town and my job is also mostly sitting (and stressful at times). I used to exercise and eat well and care about my weight but over the last 6 years or so I have put on a lot of weight and rarely exercise and mostly didn’t care. I’d like to lose 80 pounds but really at this point anything I can lose will be a big health benefit. I’d like to have some weight off before my next physical in May. I try but quickly get overwhelmed. I’d like to see if setting a small goal that I can focus on instead of a big goal that seems impossible and overwhelming can help. I’d also like to see if having some peeps to check in with helps me. In the past I have tried Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers with varying degrees of success. At two different points in my life I lost a lot of weight doing low carb and lots of exercise. When I was exercising a lot I had a gym membership but I no longer have a membership and can’t seem to identify a gym that I think is convenient enough to get to regularly and that doesn’t cost a fortune. If I am successful during 2016 this would be the third big weight loss in my life. I’d of course love to lose the weight and keep it off once and for all. For now, for January, my goal will be to lose 5 pounds. I’d also like to use January to try to identify the best exercise type/location that will work for me and my crazy schedule. I will hopefully use exercise as a means to lose the weight but for this month I’d like to just track the pound loss and see how it goes.

I have never used My Fitness Pal but will try to set it up so I can join in on that tracking.

 

[DisPup75]

I'm in!!! Between the new job and studying I'm not sure that I will be a much more active participant than I was in November and December, but I'll do my best and I always LOVE reading all of the posts.

I'm Maggie, I'm 42, and I've been participating in these challenges since July. I thought about starting many diets over the years, joined several programs, and never really got started. I've been watching my weight creep up about 4-5 pounds a year for 20 years until one day I woke up and saw 219 on the scale and just had enough. As of this morning, I'm down 22 pounds since June 15, with a final goal of losing somewhere between 60 and 80 pounds (a wide range yes but I don't yet know the balance between vanity and livability). WW and my FitBit are my current tools of choice.

I'm still thinking about goals for January but number one will be really giving the new WW program a chance so I can make a decision about whether to keep it or go back to MFP when my current subscription runs in mid-February. For the WW goal, I'm thinking of going after the whole enchilada: 10 pounds. I'm glad I still have a day to decide!

Also, I officially volunteer to host May! I'm pretty certain that I forgot to post our final October results (I'm sorry!) but I blame vacation planning stress. And old age! By May, I'll finally have had my Disney fix and motivated to get back on plan!

 

[courtneybeth]

Hi everyone, @courtney_beth here. I bet you can guess what my name is?

I joined these challenges for accountability in Q3 of 2015 and am going to stick with it through all of 2016. I'll be your host for February and, once again, @JacknSally will leave big shoes to fill when this fabulous month is up! I've lost more than 65 pounds this past year and actually achieved goal weight on December 18, 2015. It was also the week I concluded my MBA program and went to Disney World... so a lot of changes have been taking place for me in the last couple of weeks.

My goal right now is to learn how to eat and maintain my weight. My goal is to stay around 150, so +/- about 2 pounds. If I can stay within the 148-150 range, then I'll consider myself at 100% of goal.

This will be especially challenging as I am beginning the first of 21 half marathons planned for 2016 this month. No, that is not a typo... I signed up for Rock n Roll's Global Tour Pass and I'll be traveling the country this year running in the USA and Canada... and maybe Mexico and Dublin should the opportunity present itself and my budget allows for some wiggle room. So I'm sure training, running and increased metabolism will tweak my progress.

My reason for all of this? I attended the wedding of an MBA classmate in June 2014, saw myself in pictures... and didn't recognize myself. Who was that fat woman next to that beautiful woman in the white gown? It was me! Yikes! So I made a goal that I didn't want to be fat at my graduation ceremony in May... so here I am. At goal weight, 5 months until graduation and I did it

I look forward to sharing in your stories and journey through this month. We are all going to rise up to the challenge and defeat our inner demons, or as appropriately themed, THE HUNS.

 

[flvy]

@courtneybeth I am so excited to cheer you on this year with those RnR races! I've been so happy to see the last stage of your weight loss goal and I cannot wait to see what amazing things you accomplish this year!

Annnd in pure me fashion I didn't do an introduction because I'm bad with them.

I'm Amber. I'm not as alt as my avatar suggests though I do have tattoos. I guess I get to classify myself as a runner now seeing as it's this thing I do. So far this year I'll be doing the Tinkerbell Half, and Dark Side Half (maybe challenge), and lots of local halfs and 10k races though I only have a few planned now. I'm a mommy to two trouble maker bunnies who are super adorable though I'm pretty sure one is plotting to over throw me as leader of the house. I have a bit of weight to lose anywhere from 60-80 lbs if I'm honest with myself. I'm sick and tired of having yoyo weight loss of the same 60 lbs because I've never lost it in a safe sustainable way.

In the past month or so I've taken a long hard look at myself and the person I currently am vs the person who I want to be. I've come to realize that I can't be doing this for anyone else, or in competition with anyone else. At 28 I just want to be a better and happier me and honestly realizing I'm worth it. Which is why I have my WISH journal so I can post my training and thoughts like how much I hate the first mile of any run.

Aside from a 10 lb drop I really want to be able to be as consistent with my training as possible in the weather that I'm sure will show up (yay northeast) and really be accountable for my food intake.

 

[courtneybeth]

@courtneybeth I am so excited to cheer you on this year with those RnR races! I've been so happy to see the last stage of your weight loss goal and I cannot wait to see what amazing things you accomplish this year!

Aww - you're super sweet. I've loved having you join these challenges with us and I am going to cheer you on as well. I'll be at the Tink 10K if you want to meet up at all that weekend.

In the past month or so I've taken a long hard look at myself and the person I currently am vs the person who I want to be. I've come to realize that I can't be doing this for anyone else, or in competition with anyone else. At 28 I just want to be a better and happier me and honestly realizing I'm worth it.

This. This. This! You are worth it. You are a high potential. You can do this! And now that you realized it's for you, it's so much healthier of an approach. You're going to hit that goal this month for sure. I'll be your personal cheerleader, as I was for @DisPup75 and @JacknSally making it to Onederland.

 

[flvy]

Aww - you're super sweet. I've loved having you join these challenges with us and I am going to cheer you on as well. I'll be at the Tink 10K if you want to meet up at all that weekend.

I've been thinking about getting up and loitering around to cheer on the 10K peeps so that just might have to happen. And thank you! I'm so insanely motivated right now I can't wait to ride this wave through all of 2016.

 

[5xdisneyfans]

So I have decided on my goal to be exercise distance. Aiming for 60km of just exercise distance in January. Yes I am Canadian.

0/60

 

[Zoesmama03]

Welcome, welcome @Zoesmama03 !! I saw that you are somewhat active in the 2016 thread that @Rose&Mike started up, but I certainly hope you'll jump in to our month-specific challenges, as well! These threads have been a life-saver and eye-opener for me, and have really helped me personally, at least, go from "OMG I really need to lose X amount of weight by X date AAAHHHHH where do I start how will I do it" to "OK, over the next 30 days I'm going to focus on losing X amount and this is exactly how I'll do it". Breaking it down into portions makes it so much easier to tackle it instead of always having this large numerical goal looming over you.

Yeah was trying to figure out the group I was posting with in past. hmm I can give both a go. I need the brutally honest approach with myself. But 30 days at a time is good. I know when I look at my total loss needed its overwhelming. I have a mini goal to get off the first 16 lbs and get me started. Probably will take two months though maybe a little more.

 

[JacknSally]

Okay, finally, I got a chance to sit down and write an introduction...

Hi, I'm Sarah! I've been doing these challenges on and off for a little while, so some of you may know me already, but here's an introduction for those of you who do not.
I'm 29 years old and live with my parents (and siblings) in good old NYC. I'm currently (mostly) unemployed, but I'm hopeful that a great opportunity will come around soon. I've always been a little overweight, but about 5-6 years ago I made it to within 10 lbs of my goal weight. Then life got in my way, and when I was under a lot of stress and not doing well, and I ended up putting on 25 pounds. I've lost some of that, but not enough of it. I'm currently at the high end of normal on the BMI scale, but my goal is to make it to the middle of the normal range so that I don't have to worry about my weight fluctuating a bit.
I always say that I don't eat like a human being ... but that's only at meals. Not at meals I eat everything in sight. The more fattening, the better. I do like fruit, but I'll often reach for junk instead because fruit is a hassle (I mean, open the the fridge? Who wants to do that!). So one area that I know I need to improve is filling myself up more at meals so that I'm less prone to snack, and making better snack choices when I do need a boost between meals.
For the past 2 years or so I've been a runner, and I'm doing 2 runDisney races (a 5K and a 10K) in January. After that ... I'm not sure if I'm planning to keep up the running or change my exercise plan. It's gonna be an interesting month.

Also ... since MFP seems to be the popular tracking site on here, I logged into my account today for the first time in years. I've been using SparkPeople for my tracking because it's where I have all of my favorite foods saved, but I'm willing to give MFP another try. Still trying to figure out how to get it to automatically import my runs from my Garmin account (I have them connected, but today's run didn't transfer ... I don't know if that's because I ran before I connected the accounts, so I'll have to see what happens with my next run).
My MFP username is SarahLovesTink. No idea where that one came from (not that I don't love me some Tinker Bell, it's just pretty random).

All of you runners are really inspiring me! I want to do a 5K - a fun one, like the Color Run or something - just to say I've done one, but there's no way I could do one in my current state. All of my respect to you guys!!

My MFp name is Treysar

A good portion control trick for me has been dividing my food and eating 5 meals a day instead of 3. Plan ahead what you will eat at what time. Breakfast, 8, snack 10, lunch 12:30, snack 3:30, dinner, 6:00. Since meals will be smaller, add in "tea time", or coffee, or diet soda, and then gum. I know it sounds silly, but if I have something to look forward to, no matter how little, it helps me move on to the next section of my day.

It doesn't sound silly at all! This approach works really well for me, too - I feel a little obsessive thinking "Oh, I can have a snack in 30 minutes" or "One more hour 'til lunch", but at the same time it kept me from just shoving food in my face all day long. It also helped the work day move much more quickly!

Ohhhh me! I'm sticking to my 10LB goal because I will eventually hit it! With my new huge focus on better eating and training this should be a piece of cake. Also LOVE the theme. I'll make a man out of you is actually on my work out play list.

I'm excited for January, and I have to say following a few of you guys on instagram has been great. I basically associate you guys with Disney and all things wonderful.

I'm ready to kick some butt this month and support everyone else while they do too.

@bigsis1970 My parents just retired up to Maine from Mass it's such a pretty state. Not my favorite drive, but so pretty and so New England.

Welcome back!! SO excited to take on another month with you! I have loved connecting with everyone on Instagram, too - it's such a fun way to get to know each other, and I especially love all the Disney trips that have been cropping up lately!

I would like to give this challenge a try. I’m Geraldine. I’m 48, work part-time, have two kids ages 8 and 11 and DH. I spend a lot of time in my car transporting kids all around/cross town and my job is also mostly sitting (and stressful at times). I used to exercise and eat well and care about my weight but over the last 6 years or so I have put on a lot of weight and rarely exercise and mostly didn’t care. I’d like to lose 80 pounds but really at this point anything I can lose will be a big health benefit. I’d like to have some weight off before my next physical in May. I try but quickly get overwhelmed. I’d like to see if setting a small goal that I can focus on instead of a big goal that seems impossible and overwhelming can help. I’d also like to see if having some peeps to check in with helps me. In the past I have tried Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers with varying degrees of success. At two different points in my life I lost a lot of weight doing low carb and lots of exercise. When I was exercising a lot I had a gym membership but I no longer have a membership and can’t seem to identify a gym that I think is convenient enough to get to regularly and that doesn’t cost a fortune. If I am successful during 2016 this would be the third big weight loss in my life. I’d of course love to lose the weight and keep it off once and for all. For now, for January, my goal will be to lose 5 pounds. I’d also like to use January to try to identify the best exercise type/location that will work for me and my crazy schedule. I will hopefully use exercise as a means to lose the weight but for this month I’d like to just track the pound loss and see how it goes.

I have never used My Fitness Pal but will try to set it up so I can join in on that tracking.

WELCOME to our club, Geraldine!! The great thing about our challenges is you can take your big overwhelming goal into much more manageable monthly goals, which I think really makes it easier to lose, and MUCH less stressful! It's so much less pressure to think "I need/want to lose 4lbs this month" vs. "I need/want to lose 50lbs this year" - 4lbs is SO doable!

Your approach is completely admirable and you have a great mindset going into the month! Keep in mind that there are lots of ways to sneak in some exercise during the day even if you aren't at a gym! If possible, use your lunch break for walks/jogs. Take the stairs if it doesn't mean killing yourself. Do squats or lunges while you wash dishes. During TV shows, use commercial breaks for sit ups or push ups.

Let us know your MFP name once you get it set up! I'm really looking forward to tracking with you all this month!

I'm in!!! Between the new job and studying I'm not sure that I will be a much more active participant than I was in November and December, but I'll do my best and I always LOVE reading all of the posts.

I'm Maggie, I'm 42, and I've been participating in these challenges since July. I thought about starting many diets over the years, joined several programs, and never really got started. I've been watching my weight creep up about 4-5 pounds a year for 20 years until one day I woke up and saw 219 on the scale and just had enough. As of this morning, I'm down 22 pounds since June 15, with a final goal of losing somewhere between 60 and 80 pounds (a wide range yes but I don't yet know the balance between vanity and livability). WW and my FitBit are my current tools of choice.

I'm still thinking about goals for January but number one will be really giving the new WW program a chance so I can make a decision about whether to keep it or go back to MFP when my current subscription runs in mid-February. For the WW goal, I'm thinking of going after the whole enchilada: 10 pounds. I'm glad I still have a day to decide!

Also, I officially volunteer to host May! I'm pretty certain that I forgot to post our final October results (I'm sorry!) but I blame vacation planning stress. And old age! By May, I'll finally have had my Disney fix and motivated to get back on plan!

Welcome back, Maggie!! We love having you in our group, no matter how much or how little you participate! CONGRATULATIONS on being down 22lbs, too - I'm so proud of you and how far you've come!!

I'm curious to hear how you like WW as you get used to the new program. I'm trying to find a way to have more "common sense" in my diet and wondering if WW can help with that. Looking forward to picking your brain!

Hi everyone, @courtney_beth here. I bet you can guess what my name is?

I joined these challenges for accountability in Q3 of 2015 and am going to stick with it through all of 2016. I'll be your host for February and, once again, @JacknSally will leave big shoes to fill when this fabulous month is up! I've lost more than 65 pounds this past year and actually achieved goal weight on December 18, 2015. It was also the week I concluded my MBA program and went to Disney World... so a lot of changes have been taking place for me in the last couple of weeks.

My goal right now is to learn how to eat and maintain my weight. My goal is to stay around 150, so +/- about 2 pounds. If I can stay within the 148-150 range, then I'll consider myself at 100% of goal.

This will be especially challenging as I am beginning the first of 21 half marathons planned for 2016 this month. No, that is not a typo... I signed up for Rock n Roll's Global Tour Pass and I'll be traveling the country this year running in the USA and Canada... and maybe Mexico and Dublin should the opportunity present itself and my budget allows for some wiggle room. So I'm sure training, running and increased metabolism will tweak my progress.

My reason for all of this? I attended the wedding of an MBA classmate in June 2014, saw myself in pictures... and didn't recognize myself. Who was that fat woman next to that beautiful woman in the white gown? It was me! Yikes! So I made a goal that I didn't want to be fat at my graduation ceremony in May... so here I am. At goal weight, 5 months until graduation and I did it

I look forward to sharing in your stories and journey through this month. We are all going to rise up to the challenge and defeat our inner demons, or as appropriately themed, THE HUNS.

21!!!!!!!!!! Wow. And not only 21 races, but 21 all over the continent -- HOW COOL is that?! I can't wait to follow your journey!

@courtneybeth I am so excited to cheer you on this year with those RnR races! I've been so happy to see the last stage of your weight loss goal and I cannot wait to see what amazing things you accomplish this year!

Annnd in pure me fashion I didn't do an introduction because I'm bad with them.

I'm Amber. I'm not as alt as my avatar suggests though I do have tattoos. I guess I get to classify myself as a runner now seeing as it's this thing I do. So far this year I'll be doing the Tinkerbell Half, and Dark Side Half (maybe challenge), and lots of local halfs and 10k races though I only have a few planned now. I'm a mommy to two trouble maker bunnies who are super adorable though I'm pretty sure one is plotting to over throw me as leader of the house. I have a bit of weight to lose anywhere from 60-80 lbs if I'm honest with myself. I'm sick and tired of having yoyo weight loss of the same 60 lbs because I've never lost it in a safe sustainable way.

In the past month or so I've taken a long hard look at myself and the person I currently am vs the person who I want to be. I've come to realize that I can't be doing this for anyone else, or in competition with anyone else. At 28 I just want to be a better and happier me and honestly realizing I'm worth it. Which is why I have my WISH journal so I can post my training and thoughts like how much I hate the first mile of any run.

Aside from a 10 lb drop I really want to be able to be as consistent with my training as possible in the weather that I'm sure will show up (yay northeast) and really be accountable for my food intake.

What are your tattoos of, if you don't mind me asking? I love tattoos. I've got two and am itching for more - but I've told myself I can't get another until I hit that 160lb mark... I told myself that 3 years ago, LOL.

SO PROUD of you and how you're coming into this new year and new challenge. Knowing that you're doing it for YOU and no one else will get you SO FAR in this journey, and I can't wait to see your progress!

I'll be your personal cheerleader, as I was for @DisPup75 and @JacknSally making it to Onederland.

Take her up on this! She's a GREAT cheerleader!

I'm so insanely motivated right now I can't wait to ride this wave through all of 2016.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one riding the motivation wave right now!! We are going to have an AWESOME month and the support here will be through the roof, I know it!

So I have decided on my goal to be exercise distance. Aiming for 60km of just exercise distance in January. Yes I am Canadian.

0/60

I'm not ashamed to admit I had to google a KM to MILES converter LOL. BUT! That's an awesome goal, and completely doable!! Are you an indoor or outdoor exerciser?

 

[5xdisneyfans]

I prefer outside but it will all depend on weather here. I wanted to set it to be enough of a challenge but not way too much that I will be killing myself to get it.



I'm not ashamed to admit I had to google a KM to MILES converter LOL. BUT! That's an awesome goal, and completely doable!! Are you an indoor or outdoor exerciser? [/QUOTE]

 

[JacknSally]

Yeah was trying to figure out the group I was posting with in past. hmm I can give both a go. I need the brutally honest approach with myself. But 30 days at a time is good. I know when I look at my total loss needed its overwhelming. I have a mini goal to get off the first 16 lbs and get me started. Probably will take two months though maybe a little more.

Well, you are more than welcome here, no matter how much or how little you participate! We start a new thread every month with a new theme and a new host each time, but it's all a part of the same on-going "challenge" to be healthier and happier overall. Feel free to check out our previous months' threads to get a feel for the energy here. We are definitely a brutally honest group, which I LOVE - but even better, we all stay positive and encouraging with each other no matter what!

Here are links to the last 3 months if you'd like to look at them!

"Carousel of Progress" December - hosted by @pjlla
"No One Loses Weight Like Gaston" November - hosted by @courtneybeth
"From Zero to Hero" October - hosted by @JacknSally& @DisPup75