Morning all. I am happily co-captain of this lovely team alongside @jugar

My name is Ashley, I'm 35 years old, and I lost 125 pounds to go from morbidly obese to a normal BMI from early 2021 to mid 2022.

I am a new maintainer and I still have lots to learn about my body. My favorite activities include walking and riding the Peloton. I live at home with my lovely and supportive husband @bowens1973 , and recently my mother who is unwell has moved into our basement. We have our dog Morgan, she has a small dog too, and we have two cats. I work full time in a management position that I find stressful and for fun we like to camp at the lake on the weekends which includes boating as well.

I run our step challenge and am happy to have any new members. If you're interested, all I need is a daily step pledge and each Sunday you can post your daily exercise stats for the Sun-Sat before. Please include your steps and any minutes of other intentional exercise which will be converted to steps. The accountability of reporting in can be really helpful and I do some different friendly competition type stats to show how everyone is doing.

My July habits:
Push ups every day
Better than a poor sleep score (was aiming too high last month - need to start smaller)
Staying under my calorie goal weekly

Hello everyone! My name is Lauren and I am from North Carolina. I have been overweight/obese since high school. I have made several attempts to lose weight in the past, would lose about 50 pounds, and then put it back on. Most recently, I have gained 30 pounds since finishing graduate school in May 2021. The last 6 months, I have been exercising a lot and maintaining my weight. Which would be good if I was at my goal weight 😂

For the month of July, my goal is to track my food every day, even if I go over. I did that last month and did pretty well, until the last few days and I didn't track any of it. I have not posted the daily calories I ate on here or given daily updates. My second goal will be to try and post an update at least every other day.

I look forward to hearing from everyone else about their journey and goals for July!

Good morning, I'm Sylvia, 53, in Massachusetts US, single, no kids, a wonderful cat, love to garden & cook and anything to do with nature/science. Off and on heavy throughout my life, mostly heavy. Joined Waistaways in Jan 2020, was hyperfocused and did really well, lost about 40 lbs (felt amazing!), since last summer I've struggled and gained back about 25, grrr....that's really irritating. A lot of stressors in our household at the moment (both parents requiring significant care & attention, trying to keep my FT office job and an old house in constant need of repair). I do have nearby siblings that help but as the live in primary caregiver, it feels like there is not a spare minute to focus on my eating... but I'm going to TRY in July (hey, there's my new mantra!).
I know that the thing that really worked for me before was logging all my food, every bite, every day; more so than any deliberate exercise. I'd typically enter it all the night before (had a plan) and then it was easy to just tweak it during the day as things might change a bit. I haven't been logging at all for quite a while now and I need to. Calorie expenditure is usually not a problem, especially this time of year, I can walk miles in my own garden,
I had funny thought this morning re. the dumb ice cream sandwiches in the freezer which mum and dad love, and I binge....I should get a sharpie and write notes to myself on each and every one "not for Sylvia', 'remember how good your jeans felt', 'one leads to five', 'go pull some weeds', 'you don't need this crap', etc... If I find I give in today, I am actually going to do that.
okay all...let's Try in July!!

Hello everyone!

I'm Yinka from Worcestershire, UK, although we're currently on holiday in Virginia, USA, visiting our son and his lovely wife. We're here for three weeks.

I have been gradually putting on the pounds since my wedding day - 23 years ago! And because it's been gradual, I hardly noticed. But the truth is that I went from a size 10 to a size 16. In fact, that was the point when I decided to do something about it. I managed to lose enough weight to drop a dress size. But then my weight loss stalled. And that was about 7 years ago!

Workouts are no problem, so diet is my kryptonite! I definitely have to get better and drink the water - somehow.

This group is great and so long as I check in every day - even if I don't share an update myself - I can stay mindful.

Welcome all newcomers!

Jan110144 (jan)
Weigh In Day – Sunday
PW 174
CW 174
I introduced myself in the June thread. This will be my first month in the challenge. I am 77, live in Indiana, love riding my horse, playing with my dog, reading, concerts, plays, etc. Not much of the latter here during the summer time as Sept – June are primary moths for theater and concerts.

My first day is not going all that well {- Have decided to be firm but gentle with myself and allow a few days to get things figured out. @ashleycarole86 Looking forward to this challenge. I need it! I like the “better than poor: sleep goal. Good sleep is always a challenge for me, although I usually manage at least a fair. I would particularly like to increase “deep sleep” since getting around an hour of that seems to make more difference to me than the actual hours of sleep. In addition to sleep, my goals for July are to just establish some consistency … planning/logging food, actually COOKING dinner, paying attention to what works and what is causing problems, etc.

That said, my first day did not start out well I have a weird injury that is making doing things (particularly riding) problematic. These kinds of things are really challenging for me as exercise is a major mood enhancer and appetite suppressor for me. When I can’t do things, I tend to get very down and when I get down I EAT ☹ Have decided to take a few days totally off from the things that aggravate it and call tomorrow to schedule an appt with a sports doc. In the meantime, I need to work on non-food remedies for frustration and depression! While I am taking the bulk of tomorrow off, I will spend the time to set some clear goals for the month.

@ashleycarole86 I like your sleep goal! Sleep is a major issue for me, although I usually manage at least a fair. More than the amount of sleep, though, I would like to increase the amount of deep sleep. Anytime I can manage an hour of deep sleep I feel amazing.

@lauren_989 Yes, tracking!! It is clear, for me, that NOT tracking means that I am falling off the rails. I think I need to do what you are doing … track regardless. I tend to stop tracking when I have gone over for the day and then, too often, that leads to not tracking the next day (and the next and the next!)
@eggfreakAlas, I understand all too well about gaining back. I did wonderfully pre-covid. Lost nearly 50 pounds and maintained successfully for over a year. Then COVID (ugh!) Very tough time for me. Have gained about 30 of it back. O too find it really helpful to log the night before (I consider it meal planning). Really helpful when I come home REALLY hungry. I know what I am going to have and can just fix it. It I just come home hungry with no plan, I tend to open fridge/cupboard and just graze. Never turns out well!

@Kali225 First of all, best of luck in your job search. I hope you find the perfect job. We just got done with the awful heat and are getting a few days break before we head back into the next heat wave. My only answer is to get out early in the day! I find that if I can get to the barn, ride and be done by noon it is bearable. After that, doing anything outdoors until about 9 p.m. is a real challenge.

@YinxFed Enjoy your visit here in the states. Imagine you are finding it a bit warmer than back home. I am still working on the water issue, but I do notice that I feel better and can more easily manage the food challenges when I do meet my water needs.