Happy August Shape Shifters! Welcome new members! Thank you so much @PatriceFitnessPal for all your motivating words over the past year and thank you to @Sbus12 and @Cyncia85 for taking on this important role!

Here's a little bit about myself:

I joined this group in August 2022 after hitting a nigh of 207lbs in the spring. I really appreciate the community motivation and accountability that it brings.

I'm a mom of two busy kids and work a desk job, 100% from home (and next to our kitchen!).

I'm naturally drawn to getting in daily physical activity but really struggle with eating appropriately.

For activity, I get most of my steps in walking or jogging with our dog. I love to cycle, especially along the paths by the water. It brings back all the good feelings that I had when I used to row competitively, which was over 15 years ago. I play recreational hockey in a league with a bunch of fantastic women once a week and from Sept-April, I'm also on the ice coaching my youngest's hockey team.

I had some success with weight Ioss last Fall when I was tracking consistently. However, I have gotten out of that habit. I have a big sweet tooth and haven't figured out how to slow/curb that yet. I'm doing better with not snacking through the workday, but find myself snacking at night after my kids are in bed.

Goals for August:
1. Get back to logging food everyday
2. Cut down on chocolate!
3. Add in at least one weight training session per week

Bearchested
Friday
PW: 183.2
CW: 183.4
LTD: 23.6

Sorry for the long update. TLDR: RAGBRAI was awesome.

RAGBRAI (week-long social bicycle touring ride across Iowa) last week was challenging and also a lot of fun. Because it was the 50th anniversary there were a lot more people than prior years (so I'm told) and temperatures some days were in the upper 90s to 100s with significant humidity. The mornings were chaos to tear down camp as fast as possible and get in line to throw your bag on the semi when they opened a 5 in order to get on the road and beat the heat and lines. The day my team decided to wake up 30 minutes later and take more breaks ended up being our toughest day. Since we allowed ourselves to take longer, we had to deal with the heat more and didn't roll into the overnight town until around 530pm (typically we'd roll in around 2). While there was concerts and plenty of activities, most nights you just wanted to set up camp, lay out everything for the next day, get a shower and dinner and get as much rest as possible for the next day. Many RAGBRAI veterans said this was one of the longest, hottest, and most challenging RAGBRAIS they can remember, so to finish feels really good.

My team and I also completed the century (100 mile) day, which was the first century ride for several of us. That day ended with a ride through Iowa State's football stadium, where we rode to the top of the bowl with people cheering the whole way. While my team (Iowa Hawkeyes) and Iowa State are rivals, that was definitely one of the highlights of the ride. Later in the week we rode through the Iowa Hawkeyes stadium, but it was early in the morning so there wasn't as much cheering or fanfare. It was great to see my home state from a different perspective, along with riding through my hometown and seeing some of my family.

This was one of the most physically challenging activities I've done, but my training went a long way. I still earned some saddle sores, and one of my knees started giving me issues halfway through the week, but I was mostly able to keep up with my team and enjoy the ride. The ride was even more special because I was able to spend a week with one of my oldest, best friends who was on my team. We see each other every year, but haven't hung out that long since I moved away from Iowa 10 years ago.

I probably gained weight on RAGBRAI, enjoying all the food and pie on the ride as well as keeping hydrated. However, I started feeling sick this Tuesday after getting back, and tested positive for Covid on Wednesday. I haven't had much of an appetite so my weight is around what it was when I left for Iowa. My coach and I are going back to focusing on building strength with some hypertrophy elements so I don't plan on losing weight quickly. I'd still like to get under 15% body fat from my current 19.5, which would put my weight around 175.

Cre804
PW 189.0
CW 189.5

I’m back from a lovely week with family at a lake in Virginia. It was fifty eight steps from dock to deck, so I certainly got my steps in! Lots of treats and drinks I don’t normally have (fudge! Mojitos!) so it’s time to get back on track.

I went back for a follow up visit at my surgeon this week and everything seems to be tracking well, according to him, though I still want things to hurry up and get better!

And I was able to start back at the gym this week! Arms and core only, for now. My trainer was kind, and didn’t overload me with weights to start. Still a bit sore, but in a good way. I was worried about getting up and down off the floor, but my trainer placed a small bench nearby and I used that for support. It worked pretty well. I still have limitations, but we are modifying as needed. It felt good to be back.