WaistAways Team Chat JANUARY 2022
Options
Replies
-
Hi everyone, my name is Ashley, I'm 35 years old, and I live in Airdrie, Alberta, Canada with my lovely husband and fellow group member @bowens1973 . When he and I met in late 2017, I had just lost a bit of weight by exercising and eating more intentionally, but the joy of coming together, COVID, and having an amazing cook for a husband who also loves to dote on me through food meant that A LOT of eating was done in our first few years together. Not only that, but Brad was awaiting a hip replacement surgery that he did get in late 2020, so before then he was fairly immobile and leading an active life together wasn't something that felt possible.
Fast forward to Jan 2021... I knew my weight was starting to affect me in a major way, I felt tired and sluggish all the time, I had sleep apnea (still do.. although we're getting retested once we get down to a healthy BMI to see if weight loss made any difference or not), and everything just felt HARD. I woke up one morning from a terrible dream and just felt moved to make a change. I hopped on the scale, recorded myself at 293, and my weight loss journey started that day.
Since then, I've been tracking every bite, staying within my calorie goal, moving my body, and staying intentional with my choices. I am down 105 pounds and have the last 20 left to go to hit that normal BMI range. Making new habits has been absolutely critical. There are so many things I do automatically now that were not part of my life a year ago.
Changing your life IS possible. I had given up... things seemed grim... I was doomed to always be overweight, and yet here I am. There was no magic, no secret, just a good honest look at myself and a decision that getting my health in order was more important than anything else.
I will say that I am blessed to have my husband on the same journey. As we are both logging in MFP, meal planning at home is easy because we have very similar goals. I am also blessed to be part of this amazing community. Checking in for accountability is a huge key for me. I am a "gold star" type of person who loves to check a box... and coming here and reporting in speaks to that part of me.
Well.. there's lots more that I can say.. I love being active and was very athletic as a child but also grew up in a house where we ate anything we wanted and ate for the wrong reasons, so when the sports slowed down in high school, the weight gain began. I've been overweight my whole adult life.. getting down to a health BMI will be new for me. My mom is severely obese and while she's only in her early 60's the weight has started to take a major toll on her and I was walking into the same path before I started working on myself.
I look forward to getting to know all our new members and as always I love learning more about those that have been around for a while. Let's make January a GREAT month!8 -
ashleycarole86 wrote: »While it's a step challenge, your daily steps from your tracker AND your minutes of intentional exercise will all count.
I have a question about the reporting. I have been walking on the treadmill but not reporting that since I have my tracker on while I walk. I've only been reporting my total steps. Should I have been reporting my total steps AND my time on the treadmill?
1 -
PW: 182
CW: 180.2
Happy January! I am 43 years old and have four children and a wonderful husband. I stay at home, and I cook everything we eat, so I am able to control our food completely. We rarely go out and grab something (maybe once every couple of months). That helps me and my husband out a lot. He is really fit, and he watches his nutrition as closely as I do. It's nice that we both do. It helps me out a lot that I'm not the only one. I want to lose 40 pounds to get the rest off. I have lost 36.6 so far. The treadmill, weight lifting, and step aerobics are my favorite exercises, and I do them all from home.
I have four children, and they are all out of the house! Freedom! Haha. Now, I'm just waiting for grandchildren.
Here's to January!8 -
Hello, I am Kelly. I live in New Mexico, USA with my husband, our 4 kids ages 2-17, and our dog, Lilly. I teach Kindergarten. I joined this team in January 2019, when I was trying to lose the baby weight. My weight loss has been minimal compared to some, but I dropped a pant size each year. I feel pretty good about that. I love this group and find it to be so supportive.
My 2022 word is consistency. This applies to my entire life, not just weight loss. I did print off one of those monthly color sheets and hope to have most of it colored by the end of the year . I initially got it for exercise (which I didn't do yesterday 🙄) but I might get one for logging to.
My January Goals
1. Log everything (I don't remember the last time I did this for the entire month)
2. Daily Activity
3. Daily 15 min clean ups (this will reduce my stress)
Welcome to all the new people. I hope you enjoy this group as much as I do.5 -
Steps
Sun 5,975
Mon 8455
45 min strength
Tues 5,554
Wed 9,846
Thurs 8,105
30 min elliptical
Fri 7,673
Sat 4,970
Thats right. I didn't reach my step goal AT ALL. 0/7🙄 Probably my worst week 2021. Igo back to work on Thursday, but I just have 2 days of in-services. I am going to have to work to get my steps this week. I am going to work hard to get my 10,000 each day this week.4 -
lonestarbabe wrote: »ashleycarole86 wrote: »While it's a step challenge, your daily steps from your tracker AND your minutes of intentional exercise will all count.
I have a question about the reporting. I have been walking on the treadmill but not reporting that since I have my tracker on while I walk. I've only been reporting my total steps. Should I have been reporting my total steps AND my time on the treadmill?
No - the steps alone tell the tale. If you run, however, there is a "supplement" that can be added, so you could report how many minutes of your time is running and around what speed. I do that with my snowshoeing - the steps count, but then there is an add-on for how much harder those steps are!1 -
Happy New Year Everyone and a very big welcome to the new members of our team. My name is Brad Owens and I am the proud husband of team co-captain Ashley Owens - @ashleycarole86. We live just north of Calgary, Alberta, a short drive from the Rocky Mountains where we love hanging out. We are also the parents of Morgan, our 2 year old Maltese pup.
I am an avid cyclist and train most days. This time of year (-30C most days) you'll find me on our Peloton (#KingOfTheClimb) but the moment the weather improves you'll find me on the roads around Alberta. I've signed myself up for my first two Gran Fondo races this year. Both of these are 160km efforts through different parts of the Rocky Mountains. This will be the main focus of my fitness goals for 2022.
My weight loss journey began about 9 months ago and since starting I've lost close to 100 pounds. My rate of loss has dropped off considerably recently and I need to get re-focused. I attribute this to the colder weather (less walking) and less vigilance to tracking. However, with the holidays over, it's time to get back at it. I am 35 pounds away from my ideal weight. My motivation is two fold: 1) Every pound I lose equates to better performance on the bike 2) there is a 13 year age difference between my wife and I and I want to spend as many days as possible holding her hand and hiking in the mountains.
Finally, to our new members... Congratulations on taking a positive first step towards your better self. I would like to offer you a few suggestions:
1) This is YOUR journey and you need to do this for yourself, but that doesn't mean that others (kids, spouses, pets, etc.) can't be amazing motivators and reasons to stay the course.
2) Try and visualize how great you'll feel when you've reached your goal and use this as motivation. My experience has been that my imagination downplayed just how amazing the freedom of carrying less weight is. It feels amazing!
3) It's not easy - losing weight and keeping it off takes serious effort and dedication. We don't subscribe to quick fixes or fads. These are not sustainable and in most cases aren't healthy. I love the fact that no food is "off-limits" provided you can build it in to your calorie allotment. Be sure to celebrate the milestones along the way.
4) You are surrounded by people who understand you, support you and are cheering for you! If you need anything, have questions or just need to be propped up a bit, ask. Many will drop off over the course of the next several weeks but you don't need to be a statistic. Battle through it, lean on us and stay the course!
Wishing you all a very Happy and Healthy 2022!
Brad...
12 -
Exercise for week 4 December:
Sunday - 8031 + 45 min. bike
Monday - 7737 + 15 Pilates, 45 bike
Tuesday - 8462 + 30 Pilates, 60 snowshoe (supplement of 78 per min)
Wednesday - 9471 + 10 Pilates, 45 bike, 40 snowshoe
Thursday - 12,075 + 45 bike
Friday - 6721 + zip nada
Saturday - 9363 + strength training 12 min.
I did not hit my 10,000 steps, but at least got off the couch a bit! We had some icky freezing rain and stuff for a couple of days that wrecked the snowshoeing, but it has been snowing for a while now and it should be a lot better soon.
6 -
If anyone wants to look at the chart of step conversions, it is at
https://www.arhs-nc.org/live-healthy/data/StepConversionChart.pdf
It is not perfect, but I think @ashleycarole86 has worked out a great system. I always used to feel left out of the step team thing (before we started using this tool) because I could never reach the kind of steps that some people do (they are amazing!), even though I was getting a lot of good exercise. This seems to be a simple way to get more people involved in the team and to encourage adding minutes of just about any kind of exercise. We usually don't count housework or other normal daily tasks, but there are a lot of ways to do things that count. Go for it!4 -
Belated Happy New Year, Friends!
Here's my Sunday weigh in:
PW - 186.6
CW - 186.1
Back later, Ashley (@ashleycarole86) with my steps and exercise stats for the last 7 days.
Yx5 -
lonestarbabe wrote: »I have a question about the reporting. I have been walking on the treadmill but not reporting that since I have my tracker on while I walk. I've only been reporting my total steps. Should I have been reporting my total steps AND my time on the treadmill?
I would do one or the other. I'm generally only recording "other activities" that don't track on my step counter. But, if you were to take your tracker off on the treadmill, then you'd for sure want to report that as its own item.
Having said that, you mentioned you were walking on the treadmill, so this likely doesn't apply, but just an FYI that running does earn more step credit than walking, so if you (or anyone else) runs then I'd ask you to report how many minutes you ran and at what speed so I can add that supplement for you.
There is some grey area. For example, I tend to not report activities like hiking and shoveling separately and just use them as part of my step count, but you absolutely can and should if you feel like keeping this level of detail. You will see lots of reporting on things like strength, yoga, Pilates, biking, etc. because of course these aren't registered as steps on your tracker.
Let me know if there are any other questions.
3 -
Hi everyone!
I'm Kellie, almost 32, twin to @bonnie_red and working full time as chemical engineer in training. Like Bonnie, I'm in grad school doing an MSc in chemical engineering, which will be going full tilt in May once my work contract is up. But I'd much rather be working full-time so this uncertainty (and looking for jobs to apply to) has been causing me a lot of stress lately.
I'm hoping 2022 will be better than 2021. My husband has decided he wants to climb some mountains this summer - we live in Alberta and are so close to the Rockies - so he's decided to ramp up his fitness. This should help me get out a bit more and get some steps. My husband has always been fit with a very high metabolism and doesn't emotionally eat, so he's never had problems with his weight. I, on the other hand, have yo-yo-ed considerably during our 9 years together. When I met him, I was 155 and this crept up to 228 when I was doing my second bachelor's degree. I managed to get down to about 170 for our wedding. And then got back up to 210.4, which has been my "starting" weight for this round of weight-loss. At this time last year I was 175ish and I'm just mad at myself that I let it go up (again!).
My main goals are to get significantly stronger (I just want to do 1 bodyweight chin-up, which doesn't sound like much, but I've been trying to do one for that's two years), lose some weight, and be able to move my body with more ease/less pain.
This group is so supportive - I checked in every day, even when I was on the support team. I want to be a bit more active in it, though! @ashleycarole86 could I join the step challenge? My goal is to get 11k steps a day! I regularly go to Orangetheory (a HIIT style gym), so I'm not sure how that counts towards it... Thank you!
Sorry for the rambly post 😅10 -
@ashleycarole86
Please add me to the step challenge for January.
My goal for January will be 8000 steps per day. So do I understand correctly that today is Day One?
Thanks 😊3 -
@kellie_erin If you report your minutes doing interval training at your gym, that would be great!
@Waifer003 That's correct - today is day 1 so by next Sunday I'll be looking for your stats from Jan 2-84 -
Hey friends, old and new! I am Sam from Munich, Germany. I have been with this group since late 2020.
After a lot of unsuccessful attempts, I gave it another go in May of 2020 in the beginning of Corona. I remember I was so scared of catching Corona those days because of my physical condition which is sad bcuz I was only 34 years old. I was 361 lbs at 6 ft tall and every day was a challenge. Getting food from the supermarket or taking a shower was the only exercise I ever got. I wasn't depressed or anything, I was obsessed with my work and was killing myself trying to further my career. But even after putting so much sweat and blood into it, I couldn't get a job because of the pandemic. That was a cruel shock to me and I had an epiphany. If fate is not going to let me control the direction of my career, then I am going to find that control somewhere else — in my health. This time, I decided to do things a little differently. I didn't have the willpower I had in my last few weight loss attempts (I am talking eating 500 calories only for 5 months straight, worst mistake ever!) But what I did have was the knowledge that I have to enjoy what I am eating, otherwise, this wont work. Also, I had patience that it was going to be a painful, mindnumbingly-slow process. And somehow, I have managed to make it down to 175 lbs today. Hallejuah!
As for this year, I want to get down to 10% bf slowly and then go on a bulk. I want to put on muscle because I am starting to look a bit skinny these days. Just yesterday, I stepped out of the shower, looked at myself in the mirror and went, "Jeez! Go eat a burger or something" lol I also want to do hanging leg raises, at least 20 pull-ups, also bench press and squat my body weight this year. That would be cool.11 -
@ashleycarole86
Sunday 26th - 8115
Monday 27th - 10214
Tuesday 28th - 8486
Wednesday 29th - 15115
Thursday 30th - 13842
Friday 31st - 12786
Saturday 1st - 2228
We're in the last rushes of getting the house ready for decorating (started properly yesterday) but even though we're constantly on the go - and I feel guilty for stopping to write this! - it's not equating to many steps. Got a run planned with a friend tomorrow afternoon.
Yesterday was indeed a 'perfect day' and today is on track to follow suit. It's helped being busy as I'm very stressed at being so busy, but at least there's no time for emotional eating 😂5 -
@ashleycarole86 @bowens1973 @happimess01 Your posts here are so incredibly inspirational!! Thank you all. So glad you joined our team.
Coming on and reading everyone’s posts is certainly inspirational and motivating. It really helps to check in every day. I say that as someone who sometimes doesn’t and it’s not helpful to staying focused and on track.
@KellyBgetsfit We have both been with the team the same amount of time and I think I just learned you were from NM. 😂
So glad to have all the new members here joining us. You can certainly feel the energy.
@Waifer003 I am 57 and totally hear you with how menopause slows this process down. Before when I was focused, losing a few pounds a week did not seem all that hard. Now, I can do all those same things I used to do and hardly any change occurs. It can be very frustrating. But the alternative of doing nothing is not going to get us where we need to be to take care of our health. So come in. I’ll grab your hand and pull you along and sometimes reach for your hand to pull me along. It a great group to journey with!!
I need to get moving. But, my heart goes out to you Albertans. Brrrrr!! -any degrees. It was 78° here yesterday. Kinda scary because it should not be that warm. Tomorrow we are supposed to get two inches of snow. Go figure.
Make it a great day.8 -
2
-
Congrats on completing yet another month with Fat2Fit! You can see the results of Week Four and the month of December by clicking the links below...
Here's a sneak peek into how your team did...
Week Four-
December -
2 -
You all officially rock. I say officially because I am the supreme commander of F2F (as one of the other captains snidely calls me), so it has to be true. Officially.
I just had a revelatory hour or two. I have gone back to the habit tracker, but in thinking about what I really need to track for my health, I added something that has been lacking in my life. I'm a musician, but I have never listened to music all that much. For teaching, it was something I did to choose performances for my students to learn from, but mostly I played with other people and I have a huge repertoire of mental music that runs non-stop. Now I am neither teaching nor playing with other people, which is enormously horrible. The mental soundtrack is stale. So my resolutions for ways to improve my health now include listening to something I have never heard before every day. I started yesterday. I did not find anything I particularly liked yesterday, but it was interesting stuff. Today I hit gold. I found a new(ish) piece be Linda Catlin Smith, one of my favourite composers. It blew my mind and made me feel how starved my brain is for sounds. The words go away, I walk around with my eyes closed, the music makes me breathe. I have been feeding my brain way too many words, and way too much through my eyes. I listened to the piece again while I ate lunch, instead of reading. It took me forever to eat a plateful that normally I scarf up in minutes. I think I'm onto something here.
I guess I'm telling you that long story because we have to feed ourselves in more ways than one. I had kinda forgotten that.8
This discussion has been closed.