A little about me as an intro: I'm 5'5, female, and weigh 137 right now. Yelch. Seven months ago I had our second daughter and returned to my pre-pregnancy weight of 130 pounds. Then, I kinda went crazy after the self-imposed limits on my diet during the pregnancy, and ended up in the ER with kidney stones.
That sent me to my doctor, who sent me to specialists, who sent me back to my doctor, who sent me to a nutritionist. The nutritionist weighed me and I was a whopping 142. I was 4 pounds shy of my 9 month pregnancy weight!
Totally freaked me out. So, we started working on getting my meals down to actual meals, instead of getting sidetracked my the kids and not eating anything at all. I got that down.
Then we went over my caloric intake....2500 calories in a day was my average, mainly through fast food, and eating while I was reading. You wouldn't believe that I could eat an entire large bag of chips while reading, but sure enough, I can!
So now I've worked on getting it down to 1500 a day, and I've seen a great improvement, down to 137 today.
Now my main goal is to find some time to fit gym time into my schedule with the kids.

Good luck on your journey - what's your plan for the gym?

I'm not quite sure yet. Right now the plan is just to go, and make sure I keep going. Usually when I go its 30 min of cardio and 30 minutes of weights.

So far I'm doing prety good. MWF I run on the treadmill for 30 minutes, then do 30 minutes of full body circuit training. TTh I do the elliptical and circuit training. Yesterday I did 10 minutes on it and it nearly kicked my butt, its been a while since I've been on the elliptical.

Monday I didn't feel any soreness or tightness, which I would expect after my first day back to the gym, so I upped all the weights yesterday. Not feeling too sore today, only my legs, but I was also on my feet running around at work yesterday night. A litle tightness in my shoulders, but I think its a good tightness. Not too uncomfortable, just a reminder that I actually did something.

As I get used to the gym again, I'll get a more organised routine going. Usually I alternate upper body and lower body, and do core every day.

Depending on the exercises you do in your upper and lower workouts, you may not need that much dedicated core work.

To me it sounds like you have overcome the biggest obstacle, overeating. I’m a foodaholic myself and dance with the devil everyday on that front, unfortunately I’ve got two left feet when it come to dancing and I’m always tripping up.

Good job on your meal plan and workouts! Keep the gym fun and keep us posted!

Hi Johny, yes, overeating is a HUGE obstacle. Fortunately, my nutritionist has been giving me some great tips, like counting your chewing to make sure you don't gulp down your food and take more time with eating it. Being a mom, I got into the habit of trying to gulp down food in between feeding the two kids, or before one of them needed my attention.

Okay, so I haven't been here as religiously as I had hoped, however, I have gotten in 4 days a week at the gym. MWF I start out with my running program on the treadmill. I should really go out and run instead of the treadmill, but the neighborhood isn't exactly the safest.
After 30 minutes there, I switch over to the circuit training room, for about 30 minutes and do a full body workout on the machines. I would ultimately like to switch over from the machines to free weights, but I gotta say....you guys INTIMIDATE me! I'm a really shy person and you guys scare the living bejeezus out of me! Which is why I sneak into the circuit training room which has few, if any people, and do the machines.

Runninggirl, don't be scared. The guys and gals using the free weights are just there to get in a good workout, like you, me and everyone else. I suggest learning one free weight exercise at a time and then working it into your routine. Find a good site on the internet and research it ahead of time so you get an idea of the proper form, perhaps practice it at home using some small object as the weight, and then given you'll know what you're doing you'll have more confidence when you go to do it at the gym. Then go back and complete the rest of your routine using the machines. Gradually add a 2nd, 3rd, etc... free weight exercise and before you know it you'll be doing your full routine this way. Then learn some variations and work them in. By that time you'll be a pro and folks will be scared of you. :-)

Also, start very light with the weights so you can be sure you do the move with good form. If anything starts to hurt or feel uncomfortable, then scale back the weight or stop. If it's too easy, then add some weight. Listen to your body and you'll do great.

When in the free weight area just say hi if you make eye contact. Only a real jerk won’t say hi back and if they are a jerk everyone there already knows it. You should feel free to ask for help or advice from anyone. Once you know a few people things will get really less intimidating. If your working at a station and somebody is hovering near by ask if they want to work in (take their turn while you rest). Or ask to work in with them if you need to get in a few sets. Obviously this works best at the cable stations, being there could be a lot of work involved with rearranging plates on a bench press.

I’ve always been more than happy to help others in the gym.

And another thing ... most people in the free weights section are disinclined to offer advice unless it looks like someone is doing something patently dangerous, so, don't be surprised if no one offers advice. But, I can't ever recall anyone not providing advice if I asked for it.

I have always felt the circuit machines are to be used as a crossover from the cardio to the free weights and are not to be used indefinitely.

Hi everyone, I haven't forgotten you. Been getting to the gym 4 times a week. I'm hoping to make it 5 times this week.
Went to the nutritionist on Friday, lost another pound, which brings my grand total to 6 pounds lost. I stayed at 26.8% body fat, but that meant that I've lost 3 pounds BF. Originally when I started I had 6 pounds of extra body fat, now I have three.

Eating at a normal pace is getting easier for me.