I got married recently and now have a 4-year-old stepdaughter, and it amazes me how much she loves her vegetables. It wasn't until recently that I really came around to liking many beyond a simple carrot; meanwhile, if you give her a sandwich with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, etc., the first thing she does is peel it apart and eat everything that's not meat or bread. I've been trying to eat more like her, recently. :)

Shelleben -- you can enter it as "Other." I do this with some of my activities. I just Googled really quick, and while I know it'll vary depending on speed and such, it looks like an average is 11cal/min burned jumping rope. Hope that helps!

I've been trying to record my calorie output, basically, correctly for the last several weeks, to the point where if it's not in FS's list of activities, I go out to other sites to figure out how many calories are burned per hour of activity. However, I recently noticed that when I replace resting hours with certain other activities (reading, knitting), my calories spent [i]drops[/i]. I had assumed that "resting" was basically minimal caloric output, something akin to watching TV (given that pretty much everyone says that watching TV is an activity that burns absolute minimal calories). When I looked to see the calories it expected to be spent "resting," it turned out to be 75kcal/hour. Does anyone know what kind of activity "resting" entails on this site? Also, just for fun, what are some of the activities you do that you have to enter manually on here? :)

I'm in a similar position -- I work a desk job, so there's not a whole lot of opportunity for actual physical work during the day. I'm trying to make running a habit, but I'm self-conscious and so won't go if there's anyone else even in our apartment center's fitness room. My husband recently picked up a hand-me-down stationary bike for me, since he knew my frustrations, and though I do get bored pretty easily, what's nice with that is that I can set up in front of the television and go while watching a program that takes my mind off what I'm doing. I've also at times propped a book up on the front so that I can read while pedaling. Just some suggestions to make the stationary bike not so boring. :)

Welcome! As everyone else has said, keep active on the site -- it helps! I started my account a couple years ago, stuck with it for a few weeks, and then abandoned it because I got too busy -- I ended up gaining back what I lost, and much more. Now that I'm back, I think I'm doing better. I haven't lost much weight that I can tell yet, but just having to record the calories I'm taking in against the calories I'm burning through every day is keeping me on track and helping me create habits that I know will result in weight loss in the long run. :) So again, definitely, stick to it! And good luck! :)

It will be my first 5k ever, but I'm excited -- Run For Your Lives, on June 23 (in part 'cause it's on my birthday!); the event isn't just a 5k but a bit of an obstacle course and, oh yeah, volunteer "zombies" chase you through it. I'm looking forward to it; hopefully it goes well enough that I'll have the confidence in myself to sign up for others. :)

I don't really post anything like that to Facebook -- I try to keep my Facebook as detail-free as possible, actually, when it comes to the things going on in my life. As far as I'm concerned, the close friends that would actually care about it are people who would talk to me in places other than Facebook. If people notice any weight loss based on general pictures I've posted, great, but I'm not going to go on and post a photo specifically to say, "Hey, here are before and after shots!"

Welcome Sheena! I'd be glad to offer support (well, emotional/verbal, anyway :-D), if you'd like. I'm 25 as well, and looking to lose about 30 myself.

Like an00bis said -- don't eat less than 1200. That's what will make your body start retaining and storing everything it can, 'cause it will be thrown into something like starvation mode. If your body doesn't think it will get food again soon, it will hoard it when it does get it. You want at least 1200 calories to keep it from getting in that mindframe.

This is actually something I wondered myself -- I work in a building with four floors, and I'm generally up and down the stairs all the time (not counting my stairs at home, three flights up) -- I figure it's got to add up to something, but I'm just not totally sure how to calculate it. For now I just kind of roll that time in with the time I figure I spend walking, but ... I'd rather be more accurate.

Once upon a time, I made a couple CDs that were mixes of music I enjoyed running/walking to. I mostly focused on what beat each song had, and ended up using a lot of techno songs, some Freestylers, Vengaboys, and miscellaneous tracks from my "Pulse" compilation CD. :)

I'm the evening circulation assistant at an academic library. I primarily handle billing for lost and overdue items, maintaining electronic equipment, and uploading content to our new online repository. So ... I spend most of my time sitting in front of a computer. I'm currently taking classes part-time as well to get my MLS so I can be a [i]REAL[/i] librarian. :) I also occasionally pick up the odd job writing or editing through Craigslist, but not terribly often.

Exercise, my downfall as well. For the most part, I hate "exercise" -- anything you need a machine in a gym to do, or any activity that seems pointless other than the fact that you're burning calories while you do it. Doesn't mean I hate all things that are exercise -- hiking, canoeing, swimming, stuff like that I consider fun, but I still have a problem scheduling it into my life. When I first started losing weight, though, one thing that helped was that I went out for walks, a lot, with various friends. I got to a point where people would call or message me to ask if they could join me for a walk 'cause they knew I'd up for one and they just wanted to talk. It was great, because walking is generally easy enough and not as totally energy-zapping as other forms of exercise, plus I had a friend or two with me, who would hold me to going out for that walk. Do you have any friends that might join you on a walk regularly each night, StephStu? Having someone go with you might get you over that hurdle of feeling "too pooped" to get out and do it. :)

1. I'll be honest, and I know it's a bit shallow, but -- I want to look good. I've never really liked the way I look (or much of it) and a big part of it always seems to come back to my size. 2. Health 3. Self-esteem, though I guess that kind of goes along with my first reason.