Happy New Month, Everybody! So happy to see all the new faces in the chat (and the old ones too, not that I'm calling anyone old, I swear)!

I am minstrelofsarcasm, also known as Minstrel, also known as Ashley, also known as "that sweaty girl in the corner"... I am one of the co-captains along with the ever-marvelous @melaniedscott. My role here is to provide some real talk, some good motivation, and a few too many jokes about stress eating for anyone's comfort levels.

The Basics:

I am 26 and currently living in Ohio. I work as a combustion engineer for an industrial manufacturing company (I set things on fire for money). I am fascinated by all facets of science, whether that be nuclear physics, nutrition, geology (I hear it rocks), chemistry, etc. Feel free to ask any of your questions when it comes to the science of things. I can't guarantee I'll know the answer, but I can definitely figure it out and provide an answer in a way that's (hopefully) understandable.

Why I am Here:

I love numbers, and when I discovered that I could get healthier (as my doctor told me I absolutely had to do) by keeping track of numbers, I signed up for MFP. My original weight was 8lbs 2oz, and while I don't think I'll ever make it quite that low ever again, my goal is to never be above my highest weight of 234 (September 2014).

Despite having joined this wonderful community, I didn't take my weight loss or my health seriously until after I graduated college in May 2017 and was told by a different doctor that my eating and (lack of) exercise habits put me on the road to diabetes. I'll admit, I was terrified. I grew up with a diabetic parent who took no actions towards improving their health to reduce their dependence on insulin and is now facing some very serious health complications. I didn't want that to happen to me - I wouldn't want to put anyone through having to worry about me in the same way I worried about them.

So I searched "gym" on Google Maps, and signed up for a free class with the first place that popped up in the results, a spin studio. Since July 1st, 2017, I have completed over 1,000 spin classes.

In other news, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in December 2019 after an arduous journey from doctor to doctor, through several misdiagnoses (why is it that the first thing a doctor will suggest is anxiety if you're female and show emotion in the doctor's office?), 14 vials of blood drawn for blood tests, 3 weeks of being unable to consistently feel the left side of my body, 2 MRIs, 1 spinal tap, and a partridge in a pear tree. I could go into a long rant about everything, and I have, but there's no need to fill my introduction with things I've written time and time again (I'll post a link to my blog, for those of you interested in my madness).

In Summary:

Since joining MFP, I have lost over 70 lbs, regained about 15 while on a three-month business trip in France (wine and cheese is my weakness), lost 5 of them, gained 5 of them, maintained throughout 2020, yo-yo'ed for the first few months of 2021, and here I stand (sit) at 170 lbs, a good 64 net lbs lost. I don't have a goal weight anymore, since BMI was developed by a mathematician and not a doctor, and as long as I feel healthy, I can weigh whatever I want (somewhere in the 150's sounds pretty good right now, but I guess we'll see).

As for exercising, I do regular functional training HIIT classes to build up some resistance training on top of my strong cardio background. I’ve recently left the spin studio for a number of reasons, but may return at some point in the future.

If you want to know more about me, or my journey, feel free to ask questions, or you can find my blog here: LINK

Blog posts I’m especially proud of:

• Creating a Sense of Accountability - This is my first blog post ever, and I’ve grown a lot since then, but so many of the same factors are still present in my life
• Timeline of a Post Vacation Bloat - Follow how my weight fluctuates throughout the week after my return from a short vacation, and the factors that I believe played a role in each shift
• BMI is BS - I essentially wrote a history lesson on BMI and why you shouldn’t base your self worth on it. Most likely, your BMI is misrepresenting you.

I'm looking forward to getting to know all of you even more as we work our way through the month.

We have completed another month, folks! We really knocked it out of the park in January - let's try to keep up the momentum for February! Click the links below to see our results from the last week of January and the month overall.

Here's a sneak peak of how your team did...

Good Afternoon WNM! Welcome to all the new ladies & gents!
I'm Melanie and I'm from Kansas. I’m the other team Co-captain. Truly, Ashley does most of the heavy lifting.
I was always was skinny (no, not thin, skinny, all knees and elbows). At 18, I weighed between 110 and 120 at 5"6'. Maybe. I got happy. Then I got fat. I found myself weighing in about 230 and my six sixteens were too small. I bought a couple pairs of 18 pants from the thrift store and joined MFP.
I lost ~70 pounds in about a year and was pretty pleased. But I wanted another 20 off...and it didn't move. And things got a bit crazy with my husband's family (we won’t talk about that—it always leads to crazy-pants ranting)...so I decided to maintain for a bit. Instead of maintaining, I gained back most of the weight. So...now I'm here and working on losing 60 pounds (40 of the 50 I 'found' and the 20 I never lost).
My special snowflake challenges
I'm fairly significantly asthmatic (on meds all the time), have terrible allergies and connective tissue issues (not enough collagen, too stretchy, lots of joint slippage). The past five and a half months have been difficult for me because of the slippy joints—one of my shoulders slipped, refused to relocate and…well. Weekly PT is almost over but I'm doing PT exercises to the tune of about 30 minutes most days. August 2020, I acquired some vertigo problems (or, maybe they just got worse). After adding some meds, adjusting my diet a bit, and stopping coffee (so sad), I’ve got it mostly under control, with only intermittent episodes. The point behind saying this is not woe-is-me, it is that a lot of exercise people promote is bad (anything high impact), and sometimes dangerous, for me.
Outside of PT, I’m not exercising much. I do get about 30 minutes of walking at least during the week because I have to walk to and from my car for work and all around the building to get to anyone I need to see or the ladies’. I try to get a walk in otherwise but frequently fail (especially if vertigo jumps up, like the last two Fridays). Weekends are a mixed bag. Even walking had become painful with the shoulder, so I’d not even been doing much there.
My 2022 Goals

• I’m not going to talk about last year or the year before any more.
• I have a closet full of size 10's that I want to wear.
• Back to Wedding Weight (165) before the end of the year. Maybe lower...

Daily goals:

• Walk at least 30 minutes a day. (I plan to start participating in the step challenge again)
• Get back to doing core exercises every day (I add these in to my PT because shoulder exercises are boring).
• 80 oz of water or non-alcoholic liquid a day, mostly water.
• Cut down on sugar and junk food (but it is Girl Scout cookie season!!)

I wasn't around much last month as about a week into the month my husband was exposed, tested positive and was pretty sick. He's up an around now and seems to be recuperating well. But I was...distracted and not engaged. I had other fish to fry. I'll likely be more active this month, barring any other excitement.
I want to congratulate all our losers from January! Small losses add up. Don’t get discouraged if you ‘only’ lose half a pound or pound. I am super proud of all of you! 😊 And several of you have maintained, which is terrific, too. Not seeing losses or not seeing the losses you want can be disheartening. Don’t give up! Think of all the things you have accomplished…you can do anything you put your mind to!
Welcome to the team newbies! I think I’ve sent friend requests to all of you (many have already added). If I missed you, please send a request. Looking forward to getting to know you all!

@IDebraK I hate the snow. The only fun thing about it was watching my granddaughters play in it. They had so much fun.

Welcome new team members. I'm Tracy, 49 and I live in new Hampshire. I have 2 boys, 2 granddaughters and a grandson coming in march. I have been married a long time. I am an assistant director in childcare which keeps me on my toes. I gain and lose the same 5 pounds. I have been going to a weight loss clinic and seeing a nutritionist so far nothing. They want me to take meds which I'm not to comfortable taking. I love to walk and do zumba. I am thinking of giving up my gym membership which would mean not going to my zumba class anymore but they now only have class on sunday morning and no subs if she isnt available. So far for January I have been once. She teaches at another place that is a little more expensive but has more options. Or I may get beach body. I already own some of the videos but what the heck. I do have the ifit app which I like. My steps last week were horrible, I have to get back into a groove. I made homemade pasta sauce today, it wasnt that bad but I feel something was missing. I cant wait to meet you all.

IDebraK wrote: »

I was at around that the other day, so I had to google how many miles I'd have to "travel" to get the 30,000. The answer is about 4 miles at 3MPH. I went to the gym to get those 4 miles in on the treadmill.

That seems more doable than I thought.

IDebraK wrote: »

MotylekOkruchy wrote: »

My step count for the day: 22570.
Next time I have a day without kids, I'll try to push for 30K.

I was at around that the other day, so I had to google how many miles I'd have to "travel" to get the 30,000. The answer is about 4 miles at 3MPH. I went to the gym to get those 4 miles in on the treadmill.

I don't trust those values. From my experience, 4 miles is about 10k. Typically, at my standard walking speed, I hit just above 9k when walking 4 miles. So, 30k for me would be about 13 miles.

Basically, ditto on what Melanie said.

Hi my name is Patsy and I've been in this group for a few years. My original goal was to get down to 145 but cancer hit and the doctors wanted me to maintain (close to 160). I have managed to lose and gain about 5 pounds - you know the yo yo drill.
I was diagnosed with liver cancer one week before Covid shut everything down in 2020! Bummer times infinity!!
I had chemo for four months then tried immunotherapy for a year and a half. My tumor shrunk to almost nothing (51 cm to 4 cm) in a year then stalled. Finally at the beginning of this month the doctor conceded that the Keytruda was no longer doing its job. She has arranged for me to try radiation/chemo treatments starting in a couple weeks. I met the radiation/oncologist last week and got the scoop of what to expect. Five weeks, 5 days a week then stop. I hope it kills the cancer so I can get back to seriously losing the 15 pounds I want gone. Of course I may lose some during the treatments but I am so weird that on chemo I was starving all the time and ate more than ever. I expect more of the same now.
My weight journey is also weird: I weighed 99 pounds when I got married at 18 and 120 the day before each of my kids was born and didn't really start to gain until ten years later. I was at 138 in my mid 30s. After the hysterectomy I started gain a few pounds each year and before I realized it was at 169. I switched from full strength Coke to Zero sugar drinks and lost 20 pounds in two years. And here I am waiting to see what happens in the next six weeks.

Username: EDTake2
Weigh In Day: Monday
PW (Previous Weight): 209.4
CW (Current Weight): 210.4

Username: IzzyMillz
Weigh In Day: Monday
PW (Previous Weight): 264.7
CW (Current Weight): 265.3

Gotta love extra bloating this time of the month 😩😬🙄

callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »

probably best to move me to support for time being until things return to something resembling normal

You got it! I'll move you to support for the rest of the month and you can decide if you want to come back for March. Hope things normalize soon!

Hey! Forgot to post the weigh in yesterday.

Not sure if this is for the last week of January or the first week of February.

Username: GingerPwr
PW: 152
CW: 150

pacsnc6
Thursday weigh in
Week 2
PW: 161.5
cw: 160

slight gain but I'm not too upset by it because I'm just coming off vacation and I didn't hold back!

@MotylekOkruchy I love that idea of reading on the treadmill! I'm going to give it a try this week. thanks for the tip