Weight No More Team Chat - September 2024

Megan_smartiepants1970
Megan_smartiepants1970 Posts: 42,799 Member
edited September 29 in Social Groups
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Here is your Team chat room for September 2024. This is where you weigh in, post your goals and progress, discuss any issues or topics of interest, share ideas, support your teammates, receive help when you need it, and dream big. Try to post often, and help each other succeed! Bookmark this thread to make it easy to land here any time.

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:
Mission Slimpossibles - @19shmoo69
Weight No More - @rachelrjh and @BodyTalking
WaistAways - @MaddawgMadsen
Shape Shifters - @LaurieWrobo and @Cyncia85

HOW IT ALL WORKS: The September challenge runs for four weeks, from September 1st - September 29th.

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 leader board. 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 September on the road!
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Replies

  • nansbones7708
    nansbones7708 Posts: 398 Member
    @lauren_989 thanks I’m in now
  • jessicakrall8
    jessicakrall8 Posts: 5,393 Member
    The September Week 1 Challenge is open and ready to begin on Sunday, Sep 1st. Please join us for the Pick 3 Challenge! Here's your link:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10922858/september-week-1-group-challenge-pick-3-challenge#latest

    Bring a friend and see you there!
    Jessica
  • nansbones7708
    nansbones7708 Posts: 398 Member
    @lauren_989 I can get into the team spreadsheets but cannot enter any information..
    My weigh day is Sunday but can’t enter it, nor can I enter a my step target.
    Haven’t tried anything else.
    Habit tracker is fine
  • melaniedscott
    melaniedscott Posts: 1,411 Member
    @lauren_989 I can get into the team spreadsheets but cannot enter any information..
    My weigh day is Sunday but can’t enter it, nor can I enter a my step target.
    Haven’t tried anything else.
    Habit tracker is fine

    Enter your weight here and one of the captains will add it to the spreadsheet.
  • melaniedscott
    melaniedscott Posts: 1,411 Member
    Welcome to all the new ladies & gents!

    I'm Melanie, 48 (argh, that's still new) and I'm from Kansas. I’m the other team Co-captain. Truly, Ashley does most of the heavy lifting. I generally do the steps challenge.

    Welcome to September! Sometimes I post an intro and sometime I forget until the last week. I've been on MFP for a long time (more on that in spoilers, if you're interested). I am happily childfree, married for 24 years and I don't love exercise but I do like walking. I need to lose weight to aid medical conditions and because I don't like what I see in the mirror.
    The rest is my standard stuff, read it or don't; don't if you've been around a while and already did, up to you.

    My (really short version) story
    Once upon a time, I was very skinny and could eat anything I wanted and not gain weight. I was pretty active and took meds that probably ramped up my metabolism (and put me at risk of severe medical problems). But that was a long time ago and things are different. Now I an the opposite of skinny,stress eat and I look at anything yummy and gain five pounds. I need to lose 80 lbs.
    My special snowflake challenges
    I'm fairly significantly asthmatic (on meds all the time).
    I have terrible allergies, mostly mold. Which is literally everywhere. And cats. Anything that doesn't have square pupils (but not things with square pupils!?! I have no problem with squid, apparently!), including people sometimes.
    I have migraines.
    And I have connective tissue issues (not enough collagen, too stretchy, lots of joint slippage).
    August 2020, I acquired some vertigo problems and persistent deafness on one side. Yay. Fall of '23 the ENT decided to call it Meniere's and recommend hearing aids, which are good.
    What I do about it
    I take glucosamine and collagen supplements for the connective tissue problem. When I have bad days, I also drink collagen peptides (but I really dislike them). I've been supplementing with Vitamin C for decades, not really knowing why. In the past few years, I learned Vit C helps the body produce and process collagen. Suddenly, my lifelong obsession with the C makes sense.
    My neurologist recommended I take 500 mg of ginger and 400 mg of Vitamin B2 every day to reduce migraines, it has helped a lot. The migraines are so much better (almost non-existent) and manageable when they happen. The ginger also helps with the vertigo. I have no excuses for not doing exercise when the vertigo is managed, except for being lazy.
    After adding some nasal sprays and sinus irrigation, adjusting my diet a bit, adding copious amounts of ginger, and stopping coffee (EXTREMELY, TERRIBLY sad), I’ve got the vertigo mostly under control.
    What is the point behind all this?
    The special snowflake stuff is not woe-is-me drama llama. It is that everyone has to do what works for them now. The stuff a lot of people go on about (like HITT) are not good for me, and are sometimes dangerous, for me. Sometimes people get down on themselves because they don't do the stuff everyone talks about (HIIT, Insanity, stair steppers, etc). I not only don't do those things, I shouldn't. But I should exercise.
    My Goals
    My daily goal to get about 30 minutes of walking a day at least during the week isn't doing much for me. I try to get a walk in otherwise but frequently fail. Had a gym membership but wasn't using it and canceled it at the begining of the year. Weather in good ish, no excuse to not walk.

    Anyway, I've been with WNM for a long while now. Early days, I lost a lot but blah blah blah, it came back and brought friends. I changed jobs in April '24. The new job gives me opportunity to I move more but I also drive a lot and do a lot of documentation, so...sometimes don't move enough. Need to work on that.


  • daria0919
    daria0919 Posts: 1,027 Member
    @melaniedscott please set my steps goal for 7500 average per week.

    Steps for August 25-31:
    Su 5934
    Mo 12371
    Tu 10805
    We 4280
    Th 10045
    Fr 2932
    Sa 10073
  • nansbones7708
    nansbones7708 Posts: 398 Member
    Sunday weigh in
    1/9/24. 152 lbs
  • BodyTalking
    BodyTalking Posts: 2,679 Member
    Hi all and welcome to new members.

    I'm Mairi, from Scotland but now living in Czechia. I'm quite inactive at the moment because of arthritis so I'm making sure I don't eat too much. When I'm in a healthier state, I like to walk and do basic exercises. My next goals are to increase mobility and strengthen my muscles again...as well as lose weight. Over the summer, I seem to have been successful at kicking chocolate and sweets from my diet and I've stayed in calorie deficit too. I also haven't had any alcohol for about 6 weeks. I know I'll have these things again but I'll not overdo it and I really don't feel that I miss them.

    I wish you all well on your health and fitness journey.
  • BodyTalking
    BodyTalking Posts: 2,679 Member
    edited September 1
    BodyTalking
    Weigh-in-Sunday

    Starting weight: 81.7 kg/180.12 lb
    Previous weight: 77.5 kg/170.86 lb
    Current weight:76.5 kg/168.65 lb

    BodyTalking
    Steps 25-31 Aug
    Total: 24,950

    S 2764
    M 3000
    T 3448
    W 2635
    T 10068
    F 2733
    S 302
  • CassieGetsFit2013
    CassieGetsFit2013 Posts: 597 Member
    Weigh In Day: Sunday
    PW (Previous Weight): 224.4
    CW (Current Weight): 225.0
  • mizzmagenta
    mizzmagenta Posts: 48 Member
    Mizzmagenta

    Weigh in day: Sunday
    Starting weight: 145.7 lbs

    Previous weight: 133.6 lbs
    Current weight: 131.1 lbs
  • minstrelofsarcasm
    minstrelofsarcasm Posts: 2,486 Member
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    Team Results
    By Percentage
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    By Pounds
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    Individual Results
    By Percentage
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    By Pounds
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    Team Winners
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    Percentage of Members in the Green!
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  • minstrelofsarcasm
    minstrelofsarcasm Posts: 2,486 Member
    n1bx52w74edw.png
    tvpo361ry3q6.png
    by6su14dtvh1.png
    ejy76pi76va0.png

    Team Results
    By Percentage
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    By Pounds
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    Individual Results
    By Percentage
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    By Pounds
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    s3mhvr0ow5m2.png

    Team Winners
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    Percentage of Members in the Green!
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  • minstrelofsarcasm
    minstrelofsarcasm Posts: 2,486 Member
    Hello September! 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 SEPTEMBER! 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: 29
    Pronouns: she/her
    Location: Ohio, USA
    Occupation: Chemical Engineer and Certified Personal Trainer (since November 2023!)
    Height: 5'7"
    Highest Weight: 234lbs
    Current Weight: 185lbs
    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:
    ~ 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 lbs

    But 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.
  • mnsmov15
    mnsmov15 Posts: 315 Member
    Hello everyone, I got back Sunday, and am ready to jump back in! I would like to set a goal of 11k steps/day for September. Will continue my weigh-in to be Wednesdays. I will update my weight on 9/4
  • nansbones7708
    nansbones7708 Posts: 398 Member
    I would like to make my step goal
    5000 per day
  • minstrelofsarcasm
    minstrelofsarcasm Posts: 2,486 Member
    mnsmov15 wrote: »
    Hello everyone, I got back Sunday, and am ready to jump back in! I would like to set a goal of 11k steps/day for September. Will continue my weigh-in to be Wednesdays. I will update my weight on 9/4

    @mnsmov15 - Excellent! Welcome back! I have you back on the weight-loss team. The last weight I have from you is 148.4, do you want a different starting weight for this month?

This discussion has been closed.