Hey Guys and Gals! I'm Stephanie, and I'm new here. I have a husband and 2 birds. Ummm.... I lost about 70 pounds 2 years ago and within the past year I have put on about 30 of it. My goal is to lose weight and feel better abut myself. Can't wait to jump in here!

Steph

Hi Stephanie! Welcome aboard!! It's a great place to be and we're happy you're here!
Krista

Hey Steph! I'm so glad you joined us I would have welcomed you earlier, but I just got home from baseball. LOL I know you're gonna love it here! Jump right in and make yourself at home.

A real quick about the board (sorry if some of this info you've already figured out):

We have the Head to Head competition. There's a place to sign up if you wanna be part of that. It's all in friendly competition, to help motivate and push us. We are split into 2 teams (Black Panthers, and Blue Piranhas), no one gets voted off, etc. We have a challenge each week, BL style, and each team seems to, at times, be hosting their own mini challenges!! WOO! I really hope you sign up and join us. It's hopefully gonna become the backbone of this group. A lot of the icons you see under people's names have to do with these teams.

We weigh in every Saturday. It's in the Head to Head section. Please post your last weigh in there.

We also have a picture section, so we can visually catalog our journey. The weigh in section, the food plate section, AND the picture section are all private. Only members of the group can see them. This is just to help all members of the group to feel more secure in posting.

We also have mini weekly challenges. This week it's to make sure your eating fairly often to keep your metabolism up. They will change each week.

Also, for accountability, we write in what we eat for the day, and our exercise for the day. It's always an eye opener when things are written down.

There's lots more on the board, and we hope to add more in the future. Feel free to make suggestions, etc. We wanna know what you want!!! Just jump in and make yourself at home.

One thing to note... we have a no lurking rule. This goes back making sure everyone feels secure in posting, etc. So try and make sure to check in with us at least a couple times a week... But I really hope you love it here, and want to post much more!!

Thanks Jackie! I'm super excited to be here. When I lost all my weight the first time I was in a group similar to this, except all we did was keep a spreadsheet of our weight and send it weekly, but it was all email. This is so nice an organized and I love it already. My hubs thinks I'm nuts cause I keep telling him about how I write out my food and workouts and stuff. HA! But I'm hoping that this will really kick my butt into gear, especially now that I'm being kept accountable.

I'm reading the Jillian Michaels Making the Cut book, and I have found it really interesting and motivating, especially if you want a kick butt workout - its not easy at all. I'm really excited to get started on that too.

Okay. done with my novel. Thanks for all of the warm welcomes and info.

Welcome Stephanie...I'm having fun here...I'm sure you will too!

My husband wouldn't join for that reason. LOL He has NO desire to write out his food. LOL

I'm glad you are loving the board already! If you have any suggestions feel free to let us know. I try to tell everyone that I want this board to be about all of us, and if there is a section you want/need, or something you think you'd like on here, or whatever. We're always open to ideas.

I'd love to hear all your thoughts on JM book. I have her 30 day shred dvd, but can't do it yet. I need to get a little more in shape. LOL

Okay, well I've read the actual reading part of her book and I think it's great. The diet is set up for 4 meals only, but what I like is that she has 3 meal plans, one for slow oxidizers (which i am), fast oxidizers and normal oxidizers. I really have no idea what this means, I mean I read it and I believe her, but it basically is what your macro-nutrients will be based on, % of protein, % carbs, % of fats. So we will see. But I just love her over all attitude through out the book, it's not all warm and fuzzy, it's honest and its going to be a hard routine and meal plan. The problems I have with diets with meal plans is that I dont have the food just hanging out in my kitchen, liked swordfish. ha! So I have to be creative and find alternate foods to use.

Oh and on my comcast on demand I have her 30 day shred stuff too. I'm hoping I can do it. I figure while I'm unemployed its the best thing I can be doing, other than getting my photo biz up and running. I have/had - not sure anymore- the Billy Blanks bootcamp workouts. I could never do them, sucks! So hopefully I'll be able to get working on her stuff.

Yeah I have a lot of different dvds. I like variety. Or at least that is what I say. I tend to gravitate toward the same ones each time. As I get stronger, leaner, and more able, I'll do some of the others.

I agree about the diets and foods. I don't have basically ANY of the food they want you to have, and 2... I don't have the money to GET a lot of those foods. LOL I need the diet that says "Lose tons of weight and save money too!" Ha ha haah