Hello Team Run Track Minds and Welcome to October!!

My name is Tracy @tlgale I will be your captain for this month.

A little about myself...I started my weight loss journey back in December and am now about 50lbs lighter! But I still have a long way to go, about 85lbs. I have a nearly 4 year old son with spastic quad CP and his different abilities and needs are my main motivation for wanting to get the weight off. As he grows and gets heavier, I need to shrink and get stronger, lol.
For October my goals are to get back into the gym, and to have less cheat days. I was trying to have 1 a week but it always ended up being 2-3.

Please feel free to introduce yourselves and share your goals for the month as well.

We are going to be running a (Optional) Mini-Challenge this month: Daily Posts/Ultimate Accountability

First and foremost is that participation in the challenge 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". 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!).
It is not weight based (as weight fluctuates day by day).

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

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)

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

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 weekly weigh in 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 setup your posts in that format as it really makes it much easier to track.

Welcome to October! Let's make it a great month!!

Hey! Goal is to lose at least 1lb/week and to track for all of October even the bad days

I still have a few more days to finish September strong but thought I would pop over here and check in to show my commitment to continuing in October

hmhuff wrote: »

This is my first challenge I have participated in. I have struggled with yo-yo dieting and being active, and my weight gain within the past year has been crazy. Hoping that being in this group makes myself become accountable for my actions so I can start to see some changes! Excited to start this with you all!

@hmhuff Welcome to the group

MekaP97 wrote: »

I'm excited to join the October challenge. My monthly goal is to get back into a regular exercise routine and also make my breakfasts and lunches at home and bring to work. I actually started the exercise routine this week with doing 25-30 minute HIIT routines that I have found on youtube, I plan to do this 4-5 days per week. I need to grocery shop this weekend to get food in the house for meal prep.
Overall I need to lose at least 100 pounds because right now I'm at 294 and I'm 5'6'. I'm going to just focus on regular exercise and clean eating though instead of the actual weight I need to lose as I think this will create a healthier lifestyle for me in the long run and the weight loss will be an added bonus

@MekaP97 Hi and welcome to the team!! I keep hearing of these HIIT exercises but haven't gotten on board yet, think I'll have to give it a try!
I think not being totally dependent on the scale is a great idea...there are so many great NSV to be had. Measurements are also a fantastic way to track progress. I measure once a month, and it really helps me know there are changes going on, even if I'm not seeing them.

Hi! This is my first challenge/group on here. Hoping this will serve as the motivation I need. Like many, weight has been a struggle for many years. My challenge is that I know what I need to do (watch eating habits and move more) but lack motivation to stick with it. I work full time, have two busy school age kids (grades 6 & 10), and have rheumatoid arthritis which zaps energy... looking forward to this - thank you all!

This is my second month on this team. I just weighed in for my last week of September. September I lost 8.8lbs. It's a good loss, but I really thought I would lose more. I'm excited for October and I hope I have some better #'s then September. I'm on a low carb diet and I have been keeping to that very good for a month, but now I really need to add in exercise regularly. My goal is 140, by next summer. My starting weight for October is 218.2. Let's do this run track minds. My originally goal was to make to onederland, but honestly I dont know of it's going to happen in October, but if it doesn't November for sure!!!

Welcome back @JLPadron86 @kellyjellyjeanbean @redrob1966 happy you are here again

chanmartin wrote: »

Hi! This is my first challenge/group on here. Hoping this will serve as the motivation I need. Like many, weight has been a struggle for many years. My challenge is that I know what I need to do (watch eating habits and move more) but lack motivation to stick with it. I work full time, have two busy school age kids (grades 6 & 10), and have rheumatoid arthritis which zaps energy... looking forward to this - thank you all!

@chanmartin Welcome to the team glad yo have you here. There are lots of great people and support here!

First day of October starts tomorrow, is everyone excited??!!!