Good morning everyone and happy October! The less said about my eating over the past few days the better... but I'm here and recommitting again.

The October Week 1 Group Challenge is open and ready to begin on Sun, Oct 2nd. I hope you'll join us each day this week for Daily Journaling. It's something creative and a little different. Here's your link:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10874984/october-week-1-group-challenge-daily-journal-prompts#latest

Hope to see you there!
Jessica

Good Evening Everyone,

I am so excited to be part of this group. I love the fall colors and going to the pumpkin patch to get pumpkins to carve.

I am using this month to change my lifestyle and lose the weight that i have put on over the past couple of years. I figure if I give it the effort, by tracking my food intake and starting to exercise 3 or 4 days a week, the pounds will start coming off quickly initially. Therefore, my goal for October will be 8-9 pounds. I am going to try 12-14 hour intermittent fasting, with no food after 7 pm. We'll see how it works. I am also going to increase the amount of water that I drink.

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 27 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 1,040 spin classes. There was some… drama at the spin studio, so I no longer have a membership, but will drop in from time to time.

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) around 170 lbs, over 60 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 have recently joined a new gym. Between spending time with my friend (who has a personal training certification, and who I guess is now my personal trainer) and dropping in on spin classes and all the amenities my new gym has to offer, I am hoping to get back on track. Previously, I have had memberships with CycleBar, OrangeTheory, and F45 - By no means am I an expert on fitness classes, but I know a thing or two.

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
• More Work to Do - Here’s a confession of some recent unhealthy thoughts I’ve had regarding my health journey, and some of my thoughts may sound similar to ones you’ve had towards yourself
• 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.

Hi, everyone!
I am so happy to be a part of this team!
My name is Seika, and I live in Japan.
I believe this is my 3rd time joining the F2F, and the first time was in 2017.
My goal is to hit 156.5 pounds.

SarahJoyManea wrote: »

Current Date: 30/09/2022 (Friday)

@SarahJoyManea -

Hey! I've been noticing all of your updates have been for the Friday of the previous week, and not posted on Friday. Do you want to move your weigh day to a different day, so you can provide a more current weight? Or would you be able to post your Friday weights ON Friday? Let me know what works best for you!

sandielewis2001 wrote: »

@minstrelofsarcasm - Sorry I missed the weigh in last week. Life has been a bit crazy. Can I move to the support team for the month of Oct?

You got it! Do you want to come back to the weight loss team for November?

MotylekOkruchy
steps:
Sunday: 10673
Monday: 11511
Tuesday: 12009
Wednesday: 11441
Thursday: 11828
Friday: 7419
Saturday: 10016

TOTAL: 74,897

Aiming for average of 11K per day (or more).
This week was not bad - except for Friday.

Weigh In Day: Monday
PW (Previous Weight): 209
CW (Current Weight): 207

Steps September 26- October 02
September 26- 11238
September 27 - 2962
September 28 - 9968
September 29- 6384
September 30 - 6263
October 1 - 6587
October 2 - 8442

Steps

Sun-4,644
Mon-10,713
Tues-13,683
Wed-12,282
Thurs-10,919
Fri-10,506
Sat-8,608

Username: CassieGetsFit2013
Weigh In Day: Sunday
PW (Previous Weight): 232.2
CW (Current Weight): 232.0

Hey fellow steppers.

Have any of you ever noticed that your fitness band tracks more steps when you wear it on one arm vs the other? I normally always wear mine on my left wrist but the skin there felt a little irritated Sunday morning so I wore it on my right wrist. I've worn it there for 2 days now and it looks like I'm tracking somewhere around 2K more steps a day than when I wore it on the other wrist. Is this a common observation? Seems weird to me.

GinLee61 wrote: »

Hey fellow steppers.

Have any of you ever noticed that your fitness band tracks more steps when you wear it on one arm vs the other? I normally always wear mine on my left wrist but the skin there felt a little irritated Sunday morning so I wore it on my right wrist. I've worn it there for 2 days now and it looks like I'm tracking somewhere around 2K more steps a day than when I wore it on the other wrist. Is this a common observation? Seems weird to me.

I have found the one arm moves around more and the band counts the moves. For instance if you are carrying something in one hand that arm doesn't swing as much as the free arm, or are you holding the railing while climbing stairs? I have also found I can add steps just by swinging the arm with the band. It doesn't "know" what kind of moves you are doing!

gem_t_86 wrote: »

Please can someone let me know how I record my steps? Do I update these when I do my weekly weigh in?

Thank you!

Hi! You can post your step totals here, either as daily counts (Sun - Sat) or your total steps over that time period (for example, joining this week means posting your steps from September 25th - October 1st).

Steps should be posted before Wednesday at noon EST, which is when I start compiling all the numbers. Since you weigh in on Mondays, posting your steps with your weigh in works perfect!