WeightNoMore Team Chat - August 2024
Megan_smartiepants1970
Posts: 42,799 Member
Fat2Fit has five great teams. The group and team leaders are as follows - contact them any time!
Our Moderators:
Ashley - @minstrelofsarcasm
Jessica - @jessicakrall8
Lauren- @lauren_989
Megan - @Megan_smartiepants1970
Our Team Captains:
Downsizers - @Megan_smartiepants1970 and [open]
Mission Slimpossible - @Katmary71 and @trooworld
Weight No More - @minstrelofsarcasm and @melaniedscott
WaistAways - @ashleycarole86 and @lauren_989
Shape Shifters - @jessicakrall8 and @Pupowl
Our Team Motivators:
Downsizers - @NachDeezy
Mission Slimpossibles - @19shmoo69
Weight No More - @rachelrjh and @BodyTalking
WaistAways - @MaddawgMadsen
Shape Shifters - @LaurieWrobo and @Cyncia85
HOW IT ALL WORKS: The August challenge runs for four weeks, from August 4 - August 31.
Everyone weighs in weekly on their chosen day right here in the team chat. At the end of each week, the tallies are done to determine the team and individuals with the most weight lost. The best losers are announced with full fanfare every Sunday. The team competition is all in good spirits - may the most losing win, and may everyone else get to work on next week!
We also celebrate those small, steady losses. If you lose, however small an amount, you are in the green! At the end of the month, we celebrate everyone who lost at least a bit every single week. You are heading steadily towards your goal even if you aren't at the top of the weight loss leaderboard. In March we are aiming for every team to hit 50% green every week - let's do this!
To make your weigh-in easy to find for your team Captains, please put it right at the top of a message, and use this format:
Weigh In Day:
PW (Previous Weight):
CW (Current Weight):
If you miss two weigh-ins in a row without asking for a break, you will be dropped from the team, so be sure to inform your team captain if you are traveling, sick, or just need some time off. If you want a break, you can be excused for a week or two, or can be moved to the Support Team for as long as you need. You still participate in the discussions, you can weigh in if you want to, but it will not count in the weekly tally. Don't worry! You can always come back even if you get dropped.
Once you reach your goal weight, you join the Goal Zone. You continue to weigh in every week. If you have 2 weeks above your self-defined goal zone, you go back to the regular team to lose that amount before it builds up. You will have a chance to hone those maintenance skills and stick with your team.
In addition to your own team, there are weekly F2F Full Group CHALLENGES. You can do all or none - it's up to you. Participating adds a lot to your success, so we hope to see you there often! These can involve anything fitness, health, or nutrition - and they’ll get you moving, thinking, and learning about this journey. Check the Announcements section for full group challenges.
Let’s show our fellow challengers some F2F love Introduce or re-introduce yourselves right away, and let's get August on the road!
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Hello August! For those of you who haven't met me or would love a reminder: Hi, I'm Ashley. I'm one of the co-captains here at Team Weight No More, and one of the moderators for the Fat2Fit Challenge Group. If you fancy a bit of reading, here's my extremely long introduction post:Hey WeightNoMores! Welcome to July August! I'm excited to see where the month will take us!
Anyway, I'm Ashley, I'll be one of your two co-captains here to guide you through the month (and even longer, if you'll stick around with us).
While most of this information has been copied and pasted, I have updated some of my information to be more current and accurate. And if there are any questions, any at all, please do not hesitate to ask. I'm more than willing to talk about my struggles, my digestive tract, my sleep schedule, how there are very few healthy date foods and I don't want to look like that person around my boyfriend, how lifting heavy saves me from potentially beating up my coworkers, stress baking, stress eating... you get the idea.
There's a lot of content here, and it's spoilered, so it doesn't make a long post even longer. You get to pick and choose what you read.~ THE BASICS ~Name: Ashley
Age: 28
Pronouns: she/her
Location: Ohio, USA
Occupation: Chemical Engineer and Certified Personal Trainer (since November 2023!)
Height: 5'7"
Highest Weight: 234lbs
Current Weight: 183lbs
Lowest Weight: 6lb 10oz (August 28th, 1995)
Lowest Non-Infant Weight: 155lbs (although there were some heavy ED vibes, so I wouldn't romanticize that time of my life too much)
Medical Diagnosis: Multiple Sclerosis~ MY HEALTH STORY ~I grew up in a Clean Plates Club™ household, with the idea that food could stuff down any emotion and mask any discomfort. This led to being bullied as a child, expecting people to be mean to me in middle and high school (and then being mean to people first so they didn't have the chance), having an identity crisis in college, and being scared (ahem) poopless after a doctor told me I was on the edge of being pre-diabetic.
I used this fear to catapult me into fitness, starting with indoor cycling classes. I expanded into trying out OrangeTheory, Barry's Bootcamp, F45, and numerous smaller boutique fitness studios. Eventually, I landed on a nice gym that offers group fitness but also allows you to use their equipment for your own personal use. That, combined with having a personal training session once a week, and dropping into group fitness studios from time to time, has led me to have a balanced fitness routine.
In the middle of me getting my (ahem) stuff together, November 2019, I had my first major Multiple Sclerosis relapse and could not feel half of my body. At the time, I had no diagnosis and did not know what was going on outside of the sensation of pins and needles on my left side. After playing a rousing game of Musical Neurologists™, I found a doctor who did not believe my condition to be severe anxiety. He ordered an MRI and a spinal tap, and I was on my way. 14 vials of blood, 2 MRIs, and one spinal tap later, I had a diagnosis. My symptoms are mostly manageable, and my active lifestyle along with reasonably healthy eating has allowed me to continue on with my life without much interruption. My next MRI is in a week, and I hope it shows no further deterioration, as there is currently no cure for MS.
And now? Now I'm focused on building muscle, maintaining my cardiovascular health, and holding back the icky side effects of the autoimmune disorder. Losing weight would be fantastic, but it's not my focus anymore. I've also become a certified personal trainer, with the intent to make fitness more accessible for those with chronic illness. Oh boy, do I have some new fun facts bouncing around in my brain.
APRIL - The plan for this month is to find somewhere to take my personal training certification. My original lead did not pan out, for a myriad of reasons, so I am back to the drawing board.
MAY - I reached out to a local group fitness studio and threw my hat into the ring for becoming an instructor. Formal training won't start until the end of May, so I have the rest of the month to take classes and observe where I can to learn the basics.
JUNE - I edited this intro while going through instructor training, stay tuned for updates!
JULY - My instructor audition is July 6th! Wish me luck!
AUGUST - I have officially passed my audition and began teaching classes last week. It's going to be a fun new adventure for me.~ FUN NUMBERS ~Number of Spin Classes Attended: 1185
Deadlift Personal Best: 185 lbs
Squat Personal Best: 160 lbs
Fastest Mile Run: 6m 11s
Percent Body Fat: 28%
Times "Started Over": Too High to Count~ THINGS TO KNOW ~- I am a moderator for F2F, so if something doesn't look right, you can let me know and I'll take care of it.
- As a chemical engineer and certified personal trainer, I am VERY familiar with a lot of the chemicals we put into our bodies, and numbers are my friends. I also do research for a living. You want facts? I'm your girl. I am always (ALWAYS) happy to explain the science behind something.
- I used to have a blog on MFP before they removed the blog feature. I didn't save everything I ever wrote, but you can find some of it here: LINK
- I am an open book. You want to know about life with MS? Just ask. You want to know when my last bowel movement was? Just ask. You want my maple donut cookie recipe? Just ask. There is not a single topic I am unwilling to chat about - all it takes is asking the right questions.
~ CURRENT STRUGGLES ~My weight has been slowly increasing over the past year. And even though I know there's been quite a bit of muscle growth, and plenty of sources of water retention, it's getting to me.
In an attempt to quell my anxieties, I ordered a new scale.
I know what you're thinking. Obsessing over my weight even more will not help.
But that's not why I ordered a new scale. This new scale has a couple built in features I'm excited to try out, tracking a dozen more metrics than a standard scale, including BMI, body fat percentages, muscle mass, etc. I am hoping (HOPING) that these new numbers will help me re-center myself and trust that this slow process is working for me, that my plan to build muscle to increase my basal metabolic rate (BMR) while losing fat from a slight caloric deficit has been benefitting me.
Because sure, my BMI claims I'm overweight. It's been decades since I haven't been overweight. But I know I'm more muscular than I've ever been at 180lbs, and I've been here several times before. And I know I can do far more than I ever could previously.
So, it's going to be okay. But my brain needs a few more numbers, just a little more data, before it believes that.
UPDATE - OCTOBER: The new scale was incredibly helpful. Here's what I posted soon after testing it out:minstrelofsarcasm wrote: »~ New NSV!!! ~
I mentioned in my long rambling post about myself that I ordered a new scale to better track the numbers in a way that matters, and oh boy was that a smart idea. I have the results of the InBody scan I did way back in May last year, when I was actively participating in a challenge at my gym at the time, F45. And while there are some things to be wary of when comparing two different methods of obtaining these numbers, I am still ridiculously proud of how far I've come.Let's take a look...
May 9th, 2022
Weight - 177.1 lbs
BMI - 27.7 kg/m2
Skeletal Muscle Mass - 74.3 lbs
September 8th, 2023
Weight - 179.4 lbs
BMI - 28.2 kg/m2
Skeletal Muscle Mass - 88.2 lbsBut what does this mean?
So here's the thing. My weight went up. For a lot of people, this is a huge no-no. And because my weight went up, so did my BMI, because BMI is based solely on weight and height, not levels of health. I wrote a blog post back in the days when MFP still had the blog feature (I was smart and made a copy of this blog, so if you want to read it, you can click here).
But let me draw your attention to what I'm actually proud of: Skeletal Muscle Mass. According to what my special scale told me this morning, I've gained almost 14 whole pounds of muscle over the past 16 months. And if I gained 14 pounds of muscle, but only 2 pounds of weight, that also means I've lost approximately 12 pounds of fat, give or take a pound or two to account for hydration levels and how much heavier my hair may have gotten.
All of this is to say that the number on the scale isn't the whole picture. I can already see a couple issues I have with the measurements my new scale has taken, because there's way too many variables that could affect the values they're giving me, but it's a lovely way to compare my values one day to my values on another, and that's a better picture than a standard weight-only scale could ever provide.
UPDATE - November: I still have a couple issues with the numbers I've been seeing, but the slight shifts from day to day have aligned reasonably well with my eating/exercise habits, so I can't complain too much.
UPDATE - December: I've been out of control with my eating recently, but I think I've discovered several of my triggers to overeat, and I have a plan to regain control. It's just a matter of doing the damn thing.
UPDATE - February: My weight has mostly stabilized, so now I'm focusing on the little details and paying attention to their impact on my weight, essentially treating my body like a science experiment. Stay tuned.1 -
Hello everyone, for any newcomers, I'm Mairi and I live in Prague, Czechia, where I teach English as a second language. I'm usually more active than I have been recently but I've got some aches and pains that need fixing so I'm not doing much in the way of walking and exercising. My main focus for health is finding things I want to eat, since my appetite is low, and to stay within calorie deficit to lose some weight. I think the bonus of this tough period, is that I hope my body will get used to eating better and not crave certain food just because my belly is being greedy.3
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Happy first day of August! I didn’t do well this week but at least I didn’t gain any either.
DorisV207 - Weigh in day Thursday
Starting Weight: 210
Previous Weight: 196
Current Weight: 196
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Hi team Weight No More. You have a new member joining your wonderful group. Please welcome @Lizslonghaul!1
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Hey team! Welcome to all the new members, happy you’re here!
I’m Angie. 37 yrs old. I’ve been a member of this team starting in October 2023. I’m a wife and mother of a 2.5 yr old. I work in a factory setting that can be moderately physical with a lot of steps.
A LOT about my history with MFP and how I got here:I joined MFP back in 2012?ish when I was my highest weight (205lbs or so) for that time. Didn’t use it much and it fell to the wayside.
Fast forward to June 2020, I was again at my new highest weight (261lbs). I didn’t feel great, and knew I needed a change, and turned to MFP again and steadily got down to 213lbs by the end of 2020. Took some time off for the holidays and fell off the wagon. By March 2021, I was pregnant and had my son on Halloween that year.
Within 1 year of being PP both of my parents were diagnosed with cancer at different times. It was stressful, scary and hectic. Navigating first time motherhood, working a 3rd shift schedule and taking each of my parents to their respective appointments was a lot and I didn’t give 2 sh*ts about the food I was shoving in my face lol
By August of 2023, my parents were healthy and doing well for which I am so thankful but my weight had suffered and I reached 275lbs. I needed to do something about it. MFP had worked for me before and so I thought I would take a chance. I signed up for this challenge in late September 2023 because I knew I needed something to hold me accountable and give me the push to achieve the things I know are possible.
Since the beginning of 2024, I’ve joined a boot camp style gym and work out there about 4 times a week, sometimes more if I can manage an at home on demand workout through the gyms app. I run about 3 times a week and I’ve completed 2 - 5k races and have 2 more on deck as I have found a love for running which I never thought was for me. I’ve never run on purpose, so this is huge for me 😂
Something my trainer asked at my gym, was “What is my Why?”
It’s first and foremost my son. But it’s also me, I’m worth it to feel my best for myself and for him. After losing close to 80lbs and finally in Onederland (got under 200 a month ago before vacation and have been fighting to get back there since 😂), the little things of being able to run around and dance around with him for longer and not feel as tired or as winded has meant more to me than the smaller clothes I get to wear.
If you’ve stuck around and read all of this, hi and thanks lol I’m happy to be apart of this team!2 -
Weigh in day: Thursday
PW: 247.0
CW: 250.0
I am puzzled as I gained 2 lbs this week, but I had to go to the next hole on my belt as my pants were falling down. I think my scale is out to get me, LOL.2 -
The August Week 1 Group Challenge is live and ready to begin on Sunday, August 4th. Please join us for a 7-Day Mental Health Challenge! Here's your link:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10921224/august-week-1-group-challenge-mental-health-challenge#latest
See you in the chat thread!
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Hi everyone, I'm Liz, 39/F from California. I work in marketing, have lots of animals on my mini-ranch, and live my husband and daughter.
I want to lose weight so I can ride my horses, specifically to ride with my daughter who is interested in the sport of endurance but needs a sponsor. I need to lose quite a bit to get started riding, so will be buckling down. Hoping to do a short ride in November and a real ride in March.
My biggest struggle is insomnia/poor sleep quality when dieting. I've taken quite a few different supplements with no success, but am not giving up.
Nice to meet everyone!0 -
Mizzmagenta
Weigh in day: Sunday
Starting weight: 145.7 lbs
Previous weight: 137 lbs
Current weight: 137.6 lbs
Not too bad, putting on half a pound, considering I haven’t eaten very well this week.1 -
BodyTalking
Weigh-in-Sunday
Starting weight: 81.7 kg/180.12 lb
Previous weight: 78.5 kg/173.06 lb
Current weight: 78.4 kg/172.84 lb1 -
BodyTalking
Steps 21-27 Jul
Total: 5,731
S 599
M 335
T 377
W 1062
T 603
F 862
S 1893
I haven't been able to do anything this week.0 -
Steps week ending 8/3
Sun- 11,870
Mon - 10,660
Tues - 13,766
Wed - 10,082
Thurs - 7,696
Fri - 12,824
Sat - 14,151
Total 81,0490 -
Happy August Friends! So I've been out of sync.. and just lacking all sorts of motivation to track, to exercise.. Need to pull myself out of this funk! Thank you all for being here.. and allowing me to vent my frustrations!
CW - 310
PW - 308.6
HW - 495.0
MFP User Name: beabenitez1978
Chosen Weigh In Day -Sundays (Previously Wednesday)1 -
@melaniedscott and @minstrelofsarcasm are there results for F2F the week that ended yesterday?1
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Team Results
By Percentage
By Pounds
Individual Results
By Percentage
By Pounds
Team Winners
Percentage of Members in the Green!
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Team Results
By Percentage
By Pounds
Individual Results
By Percentage
By Pounds
Team Winners
Percentage of Members in the Green!
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@melaniedscott and @minstrelofsarcasm are there results for F2F the week that ended yesterday?
@daria0919 - Yep! Pardon the delay, I was out for a walk and completely lost track of time. The results have been posted.1 -
minstrelofsarcasm wrote: »@melaniedscott and @minstrelofsarcasm are there results for F2F the week that ended yesterday?
@daria0919 - Yep! Pardon the delay, I was out for a walk and completely lost track of time. The results have been posted.
@minstrelofsarcasm super glad you got your walk in first!! 👍🏻
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minstrelofsarcasm wrote: »@melaniedscott and @minstrelofsarcasm are there results for F2F the week that ended yesterday?
@daria0919 - Yep! Pardon the delay, I was out for a walk and completely lost track of time. The results have been posted.
@minstrelofsarcasm super glad you got your walk in first!! 👍🏻
It was a good one! Took almost 3 hours, but I hit 18k steps and walked 8 whole miles! I also found a bunny just hanging out by the side of the path and it didn't seem to be scared of me. Fed it a clover before a couple cyclists spooked it.1
This discussion has been closed.