Hey WaistAways! I have been out of town for the past week. Specifically, I was in the middle of the woods in remote Oregon with an occasional one bar of service. It has been wonderful catching up on everyone's posts!

@strong_fit_ells - It took some serious courage to share that with all of us and I am so happy you did! It is so great that you talked with your doctor and figured out a path forward to help with the kidney issues and especially no drinking. I've shared before how drinking is a crutch for me in all situations. So, please know that you are not alone.

@kali225 - Two workouts in one day is AWESOME! Nice work! Also, way to go with the laps in the pool. I am not a water person. I almost drowned a couple of times when I was a kid [fell off a boat and was shoved off a high dive], and generally avoid being in the water. Note: I do know how to swim. After the falling off the boat incident when I was really little, my parents put me in swimming lessons. All of that to say that I am super impressed with you and your getting out of bed early to swim laps.

@jugar & @lauren_989 - One of my best friends growing up now lives in Huntersville, NC. It was a picture from her wedding last year that enticed me to join CrossFit and this group. It's such a pretty area. I hope you have a wonderful time there!

@ashleycarole86 - I grew up in 4-H and contributing to the fairs. However, most of my family showed animals. I did cooking and sewing. One year, I received blue ribbons for both my chocolate chip cookies and my recipe box. Both went onto the state fair (I had to bake a new batch of cookies) and I ended up getting a grand champion for my recipe box. Sadly, I have not been able to find the box in years. But, I did discover that my mom kept the cookies. She literally kept the cookies that the judges took bites out of on the original plate, in a plastic bag. Amazingly, they were hard as a rock, but didn't have mold or anything on them. I made her throw them out when I realized she had them... about five years ago. Sorry for the long story. County fairs are fun and I am glad you had a chance to experience one!

@Neon_hippie - I like what your friend said about the eating style being hobbity and reducing the "food noise" to make a difference. Do you know how they did this? Or, do you have any examples of how you're doing this?

@strong_fit_ells and @kali225 - I know you are both taking on the no drinking challenge for a while. I'm going to join. I drank a lot on my vacation as my way of dealing with family drama. I'm over it. Also, I stepped on the scale today to see that it went up a lot over the last two weeks. I am finally done with traveling and everything else for the year, so now would be a good time to start focusing on not drinking, tracking food, making better food choices, and exercising.

@MaddawgMadsen Jolene, your message couldn't come in better time for me
Thank you so much for your comment. I was just about to give in and go shopping for my fav red wine when I read your above comment and I decided not to go. I put my pyjama on and went to watch tv in bed mind you it is only 8pm in UK.

It is hard day for me. We are staying in our motorhome at the campsite and are sourounded by motorhomes and tents. Weather is beautiful and most of people have BBQs out, quiet music but you can hear clinking of glass. Beer bottles, wine bottles on most tables My husband is teatotal, he doesn't drink alcohol at all so at least I don't have temptation there

Tonight I am winning I am proud of myself and that is another day done.
One day at the time and it is getting easier

@Kali225 we can do this

@ashleycarole86
can I please join the step challenge again?
First week of August I wasn't wearing my fitbit but from
8th August 10,593 steps
9th August 12,674
10th August 11,675
11th August 14,434
12th 18,211
13th 10,931
14th August6,315

Have a lovely evening everyone

@strong_fit_ells way to use this group for support and stay strong with not getting wine! I am in my pjs early now a days too! Also, it is not unheard of for me to go to bed at 8pm so I don't snack when I don't need it!

@MaddawgMadsen I hope you had a great trip! Time to get back to your habits now that you are home.

@Kali225 I love that you got another swim in this morning! And zucchini fritters sound delicious!

I fell off the wagon today. I was doing soooo good on my plan and staying within calories. Then someone mentioned crumbl cookies. And then I had it in my mind and could not stop thinking about it. The plus, is that I only ate half of one, but still...I didn't need it!

@strong_fit_ells You bet girl, I've got your steps down.. thanks! Can you remind me if you have a daily step target you aim for?

@MaddawgMadsen That's amazing, especially that the cookies hadn't molded. How fun! I just giggled to see the little bite mark in the trays there... such a fun experience to be part of and cool to hear you've been a competitor before!

@Kali225 So we have used HelloFresh, Chef's Plate, Fresh Prep and Goodfood.. I suspect some of those are Canadian only. I was managing all four and pausing most weeks but it was way too much to juggle (why was I doing that to myself??) I like them all, honestly sometimes it's just the creativity of the meals that I love.. I usually pick the lower calories meals and it's great to know what the count will be with everything pre-supplied to you.

Steps are going well this week, I had a good soccer game, and I almost got on the bike tonight but it was too late... I am also having a lot of cramping and such and just didn't feel up to it. I do miss it and need to re-organize my life so it's less busy and exercise can resume its priority.

Last call, anyone else for steps for week 1? Thanks all!

Username: Bowens1973
CW: 245.0

PW: 178 or 179? I can barely remember my own name today
CW: 182.4

Sorry team. Camping with my all of my extended family is apparently not good for my eating habits. I will get back on it though and hopefully can start posting some losses soon.

@Kali225 - The chocolate chip recipe I used was just the one on the back of the chocolate chip bag. Honestly. No special recipe. Although, I now make gluten-free cookies and I play around with extracts to compliment certain seasons - peppermint in the winter, pumpkin spice in the fall, etc. I think the reason I won the blue ribbon at the county fair is for two reasons. 1. They didn't have many competitors. 2. All the other competitors tried to do something extreme and out of the box, but failed.

@strong_fit_ells - Choosing not to have the wine is a major win!! Good job! I came home after pickleball last night to find my husband a few sheets to the wind on micro brews. You are lucky to have a SO that doesn't drink. I am glad you were able to find the encouragement you needed to stay away from it through this group. We are all pretty awesome.

@Kali225 - here's a pic of some gluten-free, chocolate chip cookies I made for a meal train a few weeks ago. They were perfect. Definitely would have won another ribbon for me.

@wishfuljune
@micki48

Quick check in - I have had suchhhh a long day. Up at 4:30am for a 3.5hr drive, an unexpectedly long day of work, therapy, dinner with my mom catching me up on some drama & bad news for some old family friends. Extremely ready for bed.

@MaddawgMadsen those cookies look great! My mom uses the recipe on the bag too but I find that everyone's still come out a little different

@ashleycarole86 yes, HelloFresh is the only one I immediately recognize from your list. 4 at once is a lot! I have heard good things about low calories options, so maybe this fall I'll try it

Alright good night!

Hi team,
Things have been good over here, just a little busy.
On Monday I went to see the PT people to try to figure out what I am doing wrong to cause these random pains. Randomly my ankle, knee, and elbows will hurt when I haven't done anything to injure them, and it can last a long time, or go away in a few days. No xrays, or blood tests have ever shown arthritis or anything, and the joints looks fine they don't swell or anything. Anyway, after several tests, she did a mobility test, and I scored a 9/9 for hyper mobility- So she thinks that is the cause of my pains, so basically, I just need to make the muscles around my joints stronger, because my ligaments aren't doing their job as well as they should. So I am going to keep up with my pt for a few weeks and see if it will make a difference. Which explains why my elbows have been feeling a little better since I've been rowing regularly.

I've been slacking on the exercise this week, alot, although the food has been good. I did make my own ranch dressing, I did not use the yogurt recipe. I used mayo, sour cream and buttermilk, with fresh parsley, dill, chives, then garlic and onion powder, and then added a little paprika and cayenne pepper to give it a little kick. It's so yummy, although I made way too much and it says it is only good for a week, so I brought it in to work for everyone to use. lol - it was a hit.

This weekend weather looks rainy and cooler, so I told hubby at 6am Saturday morning, we are going on a hike before the rain comes.

Have a great weekend.

@zankash23
@veronica1359
@StayFITTer

Week 1 Step Report

Top 3 steppers
#1 @ashleycarole86 with 70,528 steps
#2 @zankash23 with 55,781 steps
#3 @lauren_989 with 49,239 steps

Consistency stars
#1 @zankash23 6 days of 7 meeting pledge
#2 @lauren_989 3 days of 7 meeting pledge
#3 @ashleycarole86 2 days of 7 meeting pledge

Hope everyone is busy working on beating their week 1! It's always a fun challenge

Hello all! I am back from vacation and a very hectic and busy first week back at work. Sorry for the late post!

CW: 193.8 lbs.

Not bad considering the many nights of eating out on vacation and then a wedding. I didn’t do as well with working out this week (just felt so tired), but I have a spin class this morning and a yoga class tomorrow to get me back into a better cadence.

What did the women's retreat consist of @StayFITTer ? Sounds fun

We are enjoying a nice afternoon at the lake playing cards