Hello Team Slimsons and Welcome to July!!

My name is Ashley @AB0215 I will be your captain for this month.

Here's a little about me:
I am 32, and I have been overweight basically my entire life and in the last 18 months or so, I decided to change that, I have been working towards that goal for the past year. I'm down about 50 lbs and I still have a way to go, and I just recommitted to my goal and I'm ready to jump back in and get rid of another 30 lbs in the next 7 months.

Please feel free to introduce yourselves and share your goals for the month, I'd actually like to encourage this as I know that for me it helps me to have some accountability and helps me reach my goals when I share them..and with that in mind, my goal this month is to lose 5 pounds. I've spent the past 6 months training for a weight lifting competition and I've put on a lot of muscle in that time, but I need to focus on losing some more weight again, mostly because I need to get down to a lower weight for competition. This time, might be a bit tougher as I'm also going to try and maintain all the muscle I've gained while trying to lower my weight.

We are also going to be running (Optional) Mini-challenges again this month: Question of the Week and Daily Posts

First and foremost is that participation in these challenges is optional. It's up to you as to whether you want to try this. If you don't want to participate in these challenges, you don't have to, the choice is yours, but I would like to encourage you to participate as it seems to help keep us on track and thinking about our goals on a daily basis and it's encouraging to see other's successes and struggles so that we realize that we are not alone!!

The Daily Posts Challenge is based on another challenge on MFP called UAC (ultimate accountability challenge). The way UAC works is that the aim is to follow 5 basic rules.

#1. Track EVERYTHING you eat that has calories.
#2. Stay inside your allocated daily budget.
#3. Try to do at least 20 minutes of activity a day (anything: walk, run, cycle, swim, gardening, housework, yoga, gym, etc.. As long as it gets you active and off the couch)
#4. 1 pass day permitted per week (went over calories, could not track, not enough exercise, intentional pass)
#5. Check in daily (tracking yes/no, calories yes/no, exercise yes/no).

****End of the week. those who have managed to keep to plan for 6 out of 7 days are recognized in the thread as being part of the weekly "winners circle".

A side note as there has been a bit of confusion for new members in the past, this is not the same as the official results, which are weight based, this is just another tool to help you reach your weight loss goals.

**REMEMBER**
You set your own daily budget.
You choose you own exercise and intensity (no step limit, no exercises you cannot or should not do, 20 mins of gardening counts as much as a 10mile run, activity is activity, anything that gets you up and moving!).
Is not weight based (as weight fluctuates day by day).
Can continue beyond weight loss.

Daily check in keeps you in touch with those doing similar. Longer term weight management is hard to do on your own.

It also has frequent resets (as in a circle each week).

It works on an honor system. Being honest with yourself and others is a key to making things work. Remember, this is a judgement free zone, everyone has good days and bad days, but the way to get to the finish line is by being honest and when we have a bad day, picking ourselves up and carrying on the next day!

Consistency and new habits have been shown the only long term successful way to change weight. We all want the progress made here to last a lifetime.

Your posts should look like this:
Daily Post (Sunday)

Goals/Day: (Tell us a brief description about your day or goals)
Track: Yes/no
Calories: Yes/no (were you under)
Exercise: Yes/no (what type and how long)

The Question of the Week Challenge is a fun participation booster and we will be using it sometimes just as fun and sometimes it can help to foster new ideas for others as we all are different and have different experiences so sharing ideas can help someone else with motivation of freshening up their routine even!! Keep on the lookout for these questions.

This is something that is fun, but challenging to me since I am running out of questions, and I would like to invite any of you guys to feel free to come up with a question you think is fun and send it to me. I am running out of creative questions and would like to use my "Ask the Audience Lifeline."

On a side note, I might be changing this up this month, still trying to come up with ideas but this month got here a bit faster than I was ready for, so...TBD....

Please post your weight on your scheduled weigh in day, as if you miss weigh-ins, you may be eliminated from the challenge and we don't want to see that happen!!

Your posts should look like this:
Username:
Week: February Week 1
PW =(previous weight)
CW=(current weight)
Just type PW & CW if you'd like (or if it's easier, you could keep a note on your PC desktop to make it easier to copy and paste from week to week.)

Please, please setup your posts in that format as it really makes it much easier for me to track your progress for the challenges and the weight loss!!

I'd like to help us be as successful as possible and if I can help in any way, please let me know. Also, if you have any suggestions for the team or fun ideas to spice things up a bit, please feel free to share them, I look for new ways to help engagement and keep people motivated!!

I am committed to this group and to help where I can, and please let me know if I can help in any way!!
Side note--I follow a Ketogenic diet for any that may be interested, I have tons of recipes and resources for anyone interested.

Welcome to July and let's make things happen this month together!!

Your Captain,
Ashley (@AB0215)

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ka97 wrote: »

How about the person with the highest percentage of weight loss gets to post an exercise or nutritional challenge for the following week?

@ka97 I like that idea, maybe exercise might be the best choice as we all follow different nutritional plans, or at least one that anyone could do.

I was also thinking about adding in like a weekly workout challenge, something that uses body weight since we don't all use a gym.

lhebert1969 wrote: »

Not sure if doing this right or not:

Username: lhebert1969
Week: July week 1 (weigh in day - Mondays)
PW =my starting weight on 5/1/18 was 294.
CW=275
Tracking: Yes
Calories: Under
Exercise: Haven't started exercising yet.

@lhebert1969 You only need to post your weight on your specified weigh in day, which is Monday for you, so you'd post on 7/2 your updated weight, and as for the Daily Posts, those are optional but strongly encouraged as it helps create a new habit.

jennfalzon1979 wrote: »

Its a heat wave up here. 45C with the humidity. This is where I will be. Already mowed the lawn and gardened. Happy day

@jennfalzon1979 I think it's like a heat wave everywhere right now. I swear whoever turned on the heater outside needs to be fired. It's 100+ here which puts the heat index around 110, and I refuse to set foot outside after noon. I wish I had the luxury of a pool...didn't realize how much I liked them until recently and I grew up with one.

ka97 wrote: »

AB0215 wrote: »

jennfalzon1979 wrote: »

Its a heat wave up here. 45C with the humidity. This is where I will be. Already mowed the lawn and gardened. Happy day

@jennfalzon1979 I think it's like a heat wave everywhere right now. I swear whoever turned on the heater outside needs to be fired. It's 100+ here which puts the heat index around 110, and I refuse to set foot outside after noon. I wish I had the luxury of a pool...didn't realize how much I liked them until recently and I grew up with one.

Yeah, hot and humid here all week. It's going to be a tough week to be a runner I think my goal is going to have to be to focus on what I'm eating, and try to hit my weekly calorie burn in whatever ways possible - without worrying about running mileage. I might even have to jump on the treadmill

@ka97 There's so many ways to do it, there are a lot of body weight activities you can do, you don't need a gym if you don't have access, I'm going to find a good one to post tomorrow.

LovebyDraug wrote: »

Username: LovebyDraug
Weigh in day: Saturday
Week: July 1st 2018
First weight (yesterday June 30, 2018): 243.6

Personal goal: lose 10lbs by August 1, 2018

@LovebyDraug Your first weigh in for the challenge will be Saturday July 7 That is an ambitious goal, but achievable if you work hard, welcome to the team!