WaistAways Team Chat - September 2024

Megan_smartiepants1970
Megan_smartiepants1970 Posts: 42,885 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

  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
    Welcome to September 2024!

    I am Lauren, co-captain along with @ashleycarole86. I am 38 years old and from North Carolina, USA. I have been on a weight loss journey most of my adult life. I have done a lot of the yo-yo thing, losing a lot of weight in 2012 and then gaining it back. Over the last few years, I seem to be gaining and losing the same 10-15 pounds.

    August was a good month for me. I did have some ups and downs, but overall I am down 6.2 pounds. My goal for September is to hopefully lose 4-5 pounds by tracking every day, getting 7,000 steps daily, and I want to add on doing the couch 2 5k program. My 5k is coming up in November and I want to be prepared 🏃🏼‍♀️

    Some helpful information/tools:

    Posting your daily updates
    We know from experience that posting daily (or as often as you can!) makes a huge difference to your success. Use any format you like to let everyone know how you are doing on your daily goals and habits. You can report on food, exercise, water, sleep, or whatever you are tracking and trying to stick with. While you're there, talk about how you are, ask questions, and if you can answer someone else, please do! Congratulate others, commiserate, enjoy someone's rant, or go ahead and rant yourself. It all helps make the kind of community where we are in each others' heads when the hand is reaching for that off-plan snack, or the couch is feeling way too inviting...

    Weighing in
    Please try to weigh in on time (but don't sweat it if you have to use a different day sometimes)! Put your weigh in at the TOP of a message, so it is clear and easy to find. If you cannot post your weight for whatever reason, you can request a week off, or if you need a longer break, you can be moved to the "Support Team" where you still participate but your weigh-ins will not be part of the weekly tally. This is where members who are ill, on vacation, or just needing a break can hang out for as long as needed.

    The F2F Habit Tracker
    If you want a simple place to track your most important habits, give this a try:
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10922737/habit-tracker-september-2024#latest

    So everyone, tell us a bit about you, your goals, what steps you are going to work on. It's fun to know your name and where you live (if you're willing to share that), what brought you here, how your weight loss journey has been, and where you are headed now. We all have information to share, things we can learn, and lean on each other as a team for a successful month!
  • jessicakrall8
    jessicakrall8 Posts: 5,479 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
  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
    Hey Team, we have a team member returning, please welcome back @AnnaBananza15!
  • ashleycarole86
    ashleycarole86 Posts: 6,280 Member
    Hey team! Co-captain @ashleycarole86 here and organizer of the step challenge. Those faithful few that participated in August will automatically be added to September. For anyone else who is interested, the week runs Sunday to Saturday, with the steps and exercise minutes you recorded for yourself due to be posted the Sunday after the week concludes. Provide me with your daily step goal as well (keeping in mind exercise minutes get converted to steps and count towards this goal) and I can highlight your consistency as well.

    I lost over 100 pounds in COVID and since returning to my office, resuming my commute, and getting back to my normal social life, I've gained all but 30 of it back. But, I'm still here and still trying to focus on turning things around.

    I was always an athlete growing up but I had also always had a food addiction, I binge eat, and generally use food to treat every emotion - good and bad.

    My husband @bowens1973 is on the team and on a weight loss journey with me. He too lost and regained- we are great support for one another but we also gain together. So we are both wanting to get back on track.

    September I will be absent for a good portion of the month as we leave Sep 17 for France. So, I will be missing a few weigh-ins and will need some patience or assistance with step reporting. Looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish before we go!
  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
    Sunday: 8,464
    Monday: 5,635 + 60 minute body pump class
    Tuesday: 4,637
    Wednesday: 4,595 + 60 min body pump class
    Thursday: 7,052
    Friday: 2,648
    Saturday: 10,438 + 20 min jog @ 4.5mph + 30 min weight lifting
  • Kali225
    Kali225 Posts: 684 Member
    Hi all and hello September!! I'm Kay, 29, living just outside Boston and I work in finance downtown. Been with this group since Aug 2020. Love home workouts, still struggling to be consistent with movement that feels good, but I've got a lot of options on the docket for this month and a lot of girlfriends who workout with me virtually over zoom during the week, which is so fun and helps with consistency. I grapple with binge eating and emotional eating. More recently, I have been having trouble with meal prepping in that by the 2nd or 3rd day, I have lost all interest and appetite for the things I prepped! So that's a mini goal for this week, just stick to the plan and make something that will appeal...

    About a year ago now, I started seeing a new doctor who focuses on weight management and she suggested I try an ADHD medication to help with my binge eating and I think it has really helped! We had some months in 2024 of stalled weight loss as we found the right dosage but I think we are there now and I am definitely bingeing waaay less, which is awesome.

    I'm one of those people who gets over the moon excited for Autumn. I have already planned out most of my weekends in October with which movie I'm going to watch, what activities I am going to do, how many gorgeous shades of leaves I will see...

    My overall goals for September though are:
    -Continue with my daily habit-tracking, both on the F2F google sheet + my physical paper tracking pad
    -Do better on my protein goal and mix of fruit/veg servings daily goals
    -Solidify my Thursday evening strength training w/a friend - make it a consistent habit that feels like a class
    -Continue with PT exercises each day + start going to regular PT sessions (Tues & Thurs after work, starting the 2nd week of Sept, since both I and my PT have been on mismatched vacation weeks lately)
    -No drinking except at my cousin's wedding on the 29th!
    -Find a dress I feel good in for said wedding

    Now admittedly I am not off to the best start this month because I had a really weird night of sleep, which is unusual for me, and I slept way in as a result. Luckily, tomorrow is a holiday in the US so today is allowed to feel a bit more like a Saturday, but I do plan to think about meals and get my groceries done as early as possible.

    TTFN
  • ashleycarole86
    ashleycarole86 Posts: 6,280 Member
    Happy September all. When was the last time the new month actually started on the 1st of said month? How fun!

    I just got back from walking my dog.. lately I have been procrastinating on movement and as the day goes by it gets harder and harder to get going. So the fact I got out there before lunch felt good.

    And to conclude my August step count:

    Aug 31 - 4701 steps

    We are returning home from the lake this afternoon and tonight is a potluck to meet the group of folks we're travelling to France with in just under 3 weeks! Brad made a smoked potato salad which is going to be a tasty addition and it showcases his love of barbeque!
  • minstrelofsarcasm
    minstrelofsarcasm Posts: 2,528 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: 2,528 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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  • Heathere244
    Heathere244 Posts: 23 Member
    Heathere244

    CW 174.1
    PW 174.6

    Not much weight loss, but no gain so that is good. I am doing better with meal prepping especially for my lunches. My goal this week is to keep going with meal prep and I found a kettlebell routine online I would like to try. My hours at work changed so I go in later. My plan is to keep waking at the same time and get the workout in before work.
    Good luck to everyone this week!

  • jugar
    jugar Posts: 10,271 Member
    September I will be absent for a good portion of the month as we leave Sep 17 for France. So, I will be missing a few weigh-ins and will need some patience or assistance with step reporting. Looking forward to seeing what I can accomplish before we go!

    Ashley - I'd be happy to fill in the spreadsheet with step counts and all while you are away - you should be free and clear while in France!

    I had an excellent September 1st today - got some great news from my sister @EvMakesChanges - big changes coming up in her life! I'll just give a hint (moving in November!) and let her tell us all about it.

    Then had a fantastic work session with Jasper - building up his back muscles and getting more balanced, keeping steady (he loves to rush on long straight lines...), and both of us getting more stamina. Then of course, there are the hilarious stretching games afterwards where pieces of carrot have to be reached for by stretching his neck in all kinds of directions. He eagerly awaits that part 🥕

    Eating is going much better - the vegetables from the garden taste better than any kind of inadvisable food (except maybe ice cream, and there is none of that in the house, or else!), so I have been feasting wisely. Sugar cravings are on the wane. Hopefully this will continue! My goal for September is to keep the strength building on track, eat wisely, and get back down to the middle of my maintenance zone.

    Hope your Septembers are off to a good start too. :heart:

  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
    Great job to our week 4 winners @Kali225 @jugar @veronica1359!!

    And to our month winners @Kali225 and @neon_hippie!

    Now to set goals, plow through, and have an amazing September!! 🎉
  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
    @heathere244 0.5 pounds down is an awesome week!!

    @jugar I love hearing about your workouts with Jasper. I can just see him stretching for that carrot! I can't wait to hear @EvMakesChanges news!

    @ashleycarole86 great job getting your walk in early! I find that is helpful, especially when I don't feel like exercising later in the day.

    I have another day off tomorrow and wish every day was a 3 day weekend! I met my goals for today and am really hoping for a good September!
  • AnnaBananza15
    AnnaBananza15 Posts: 2 Member
    edited September 2
    username: AnnaBananza15
    PW: 207
    CW: 205.7

    Hey everyone!
    I'm Anna from North Carolina, currently in grad school pursuing a PhD in Cancer Biology and...struggling with it haha. I went 'back to school' later than everyone else in my "grade" so I turned 31 this summer and am hoping to graduate and get a real job by the time I'm 35...I hope... 😂
    I'm definitely very stressed all the time and that's certainly not helped the emotional eating and weight retention. I've had a bad body image and a lot of weight yo-yo-ing my whole life, so that's nothing new, but I'd like to get to a point where I can accept myself more. A few years ago I was in a good rhythm and got back down to the 150s, but it's since all come back. I'm trying to figure out how to be patient with myself with attempting weight loss alongside everything else that's going on. I signed up for this group a few months back and I don't know if I ever actually made a post. Hoping to do a much better job this time around! Like what was said above, I think checking in regularly will be a big help in that regard, so that's what I aim to do a few times a week :)
    Question about peoples' scale habits --
    Do you weigh in every day? Take the average vs the number on your weigh-in day? Only weigh once a week?
    Weighing every day does tend to keep me more accountable in my habits, but does also run the risk of me fixating too much and sometimes overreacting to normal water retention swings. I've seen/tried out all options, so just curious on peoples' patterns!
  • Lyss983
    Lyss983 Posts: 52 Member
    edited September 2
    Current Weight: 165.8 lbs
    TOTM weigh-in. Have stayed on track, food-wise, so I'm thinking next week will be back to "normal". :)
  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
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    @cleaneater80
    @Lyss983 (got your weight)
  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
    edited September 2
    Welcome Anna (@AnnaBananza15)! What part of NC are you from? I live in the Greensboro area. Congrats on going back to school! When I was in undergrad is when I gained my most weight so I understand your struggle with school!

    I am currently weighing myself daily. I was doing weekly for a long while, but I would tend to overeat after my weigh in and the next day, because I still have all week to get that back off and go down. Ended up in me basically maintaining. So I have been weighing daily for about 2 months now. My hubby who is losing weight as well only weighs in every 4-6 weeks. I don't know how he does that but likes to see a big drop on the scale and not be affected by the fluctuations.
  • micki48
    micki48 Posts: 2,322 Member
    Happy September!
    @lauren_989 I know I’m too late but my weight was 220.3. The next day was higher. I’m requesting to be support team for September. I know with school getting rolling I will be busy and tired. I was so bad at checking in last month, thought this makes more sense for me.

    I am not giving up. In fact my new school has a beautiful gym and wellness center. I would like to use it twice a week to start and do Pilates at home 3x a week. But, I have to get brave. Don’t quite know how I feel about exercising with high school kids in there. We will see.

    I will stop in and hope to be lower at the end of the month.

    Happy Birthday, @Gidgitgoescrzy! Hope it was wonderful.
  • fourathomej
    fourathomej Posts: 4,395 Member
    Happy September...weekends are tough for checking in. We spend our weekends out at the trailer on our seasonal lot. So I don't tend to pick up my phone much.
    It's a long weekend so we are staying out to watch the football game...then head home.
    Looking forward to this month...still need to tweak my goals...I did horrible last month 😕
  • ashleycarole86
    ashleycarole86 Posts: 6,280 Member
    @fourathomej Another parallel in our lives.. my husband and I ALSO spend our weekends at our seasonal spot at Pine Lake. LOL. So I can totally relate

    @jugar Thank you, that would be SO appreciated! I'll take you up on that for sure.

    @AnnaBananza15 I weigh daily and have for most of my time on here. I like the data and it keeps me more motivated than weighing weekly. The nice thing is that the body fluctuates and if your weekly weigh-in happens to be on that up day it can make you feel bad when you actually were doing well all week. BUT on the flip side you have to take it all in stride and not let an individual day get you down.

    SPECIAL ALERT
    Ok, don't want to break the Internet or anything, but....

    Brad and I FINALLY got back on the Peloton.

    And it was HARD. And we were out of shape. BUT, we did it.

    I feel so great about that.
  • Kali225
    Kali225 Posts: 684 Member
    @ashleycarole86 WOOOOOOO for getting back on the Peloton!! I basically associate Pelotons with you and Brad haha, you guys were all about them when you were first joining this team. I've been thinking about trying the stationary bike in my apartment's gym, but it's the kind that's like a full chair seat + pedals. My mom is bringing my actual bike to Boston at the end of this month which I am so excited about.

    @lauren_989 and congrats to you, dear leader, on being in the August winners!!!

    you won't believe it but I overslept this morning. I know, so unlike me. :D So swimming will be a later afternoon activity. Going to head up to the roof now to get some sun on this Labor Day holiday in the US. Probably going to finish my current book, which is stressing me out. I've ordered the next 3 books in the series but they won't arrive until Thursday at the earliest.

    @AnnaBananza15 I weigh on my weekly day (Fridays) only - I do tend to fall into the trap of then overeating the days after my weigh-in, esp bc it is then the weekend, like Lauren mentioned. For a while I was a Tuesday weigh-in to help mitigate that weekend effect, and I have been considering going back to that. I tried daily weigh-ins for a few months as well in 2021 I think, and it was helpful from a data perspective - your weight really does fluctuate a lot day to day for varied reasons, but ultimately I got a little too obsessive with it (a personality flaw) so back to weekly for me!

    I've laundry and a bit more meal prep to do tonight as well, and a scheduled call with a friend at 8pm to discuss and book our vacation together in mid November. I am VERY excited about it, we are going to decide on an all-inclusive resort in Mexico or the Caribbean, which I have never done before. Hopefully the vacation acts as a bit more weight loss motivation since I don't typically need to put on a bathing suit in November. :)
  • strong_fit_ells
    strong_fit_ells Posts: 148 Member
    Good evening Waistaways 🥰

    My name is Ellie, I am 46 years old, from UK, I'm married mum of 3 teenagers and 1 pup.
    2 eldest boys are moving away to university next week and I feel like my heart is going to explode because I will miss them so much 😢 but at the same time I am so proud that Shaun and I raised such a clever boys 🥰

    I've had a weight gain problem since my youngest boy, Ben - now almost 16, was born. He developed epilepsy at only 10 months old. His attacks were scary, instead of 3 they lasted 45 minutes. He was always in hospital and I was always with him eating of the vending machine 😢

    His seizure free for 10 years now and I keep losing and gaining the same lbs 😢

    Hopefully this month will be my "click" to lose weight 🥰

    @lauren_989 so sorry to mess you around but can I please come back to main team? Surely I must be the quickest person to come from support to main lol 🫣 I just have a feeling that not being part of the main group I just gain a lot of weight back. I just weighed myself now and I am actually lighter. Can I still weigh in on Sunday 🥰

    CW 238.9LBS
    So I lost weight since last weigh in 😊🎉

    @ashleycarole86 can I please stay on the Steppers team 🥰 my goal steps are 12,000 but I left my Fitbit to charge and forgot about it so
    Sunday 1st September 0 steps
    Monday 2nd September 0 steps

    Thank you and have a lovely week all 🥰

  • jugar
    jugar Posts: 10,271 Member
    Labor Day? Not at my house! Very little work today.

    Well, I just said that, then thought about what actually got done during what felt like a relaxed day - laundry, veggie picking, sorting through a few of my many shelves of music scores to find things for my new quartet, changed the bed, paid some bills, made some overdue calls, took a walk, did a workout. Not too bad! I even managed to put a huge paper bag full of old photocopies of music, ratty old scores missing parts, and things I know I'll never ever play again into the recycling. There is zero market for old musical scores where the paper is crumbling and they are full of markings from multiple performances, so out they went. It feels good to start that job - I have been wanting to get to in for ages. I guess it is good to have to dig through it all to find some ideas for the new group!

    @AnnaBananza15 - welcome! You do have a plate full with your studies and all, but it is great to have you here. I hope it helps you to prioritize taking care of yourself! As to weighing - I mostly weigh every day, and eventually stopped identifying days as "bad" or "good" based on that number. I discovered that eating things made of flour always bump the weight up the next morning, no matter what. Same # of calories, but the flour packs a punch. Grains in general have left my menu most of the time, but I still enjoy them once in a while - and the daily weighing data makes it easier to correlate the effects of a specific day's intake. But then I just go chaos style sometimes and don't weigh for a while, or only on weigh-in day. Fool around with it and see what works - but if you try daily for a while, work on building the feeling that it is good information that helps you tweak things.

    One more thing - you can post your average for the week on your weigh-in day if you prefer. That works well for some people.

    Raccoon outside the window says "hi". It's going to be good a chilly tonight :smiley: Single digits Celsius - yay!
  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
    Wahoo! Ellie I got you back on the team. Nice loss!

    Michelle- I have you on support. I hope your school year starts off ok.

    Ashley and Brad - great job getting on back on the Peleton!!

    I had a busy day today! I wish every weekend was 3 days though, I accomplished a lot! I did unfortunately eat a little extra 🫤 Back on track tomorrow!
  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
  • Gidgitgoescrzy
    Gidgitgoescrzy Posts: 281 Member
    Good Morning, had a nice long weekend, and didn't go overboard with anything. Got in a couple of nice hikes, and some stuff done around the house. We are in the beginning process of a complete kitchen remodel, so we saw a kitchen designer on Sunday, that took forever, and we still aren't done, and it looks as though I am not going to get my kitchen island.. BOOOOO

    I am ready to kick butt this September, those warm months seem to zap all motivation and energy from me, so I am ready for fall...

    Have a great day !
  • ashleycarole86
    ashleycarole86 Posts: 6,280 Member
    Happy Tuesday.. yes the mornings are cool here now too @jugar .. there is something very nice about it!

    Brad and I are intending to get back on the Peloton tonight when we get home from work. We will do what we can to not let the stress of the day have us skipping it tonight.
  • lauren_989
    lauren_989 Posts: 1,257 Member
    PW: 209
    CW: 208.4

    I was down more earlier this week, however yesterday we went to the In-laws and had a barbecue and ate cake for my FIL birthday. NSV- I only ate one piece of cake while everyone else had two. But my weight still did go up today. Back at it though today!!

    @Gidgitgoescrzy I hate that you can't get your Island! Make sure you post some before and after pictures though.

    @ashleycarole86 tell us after you and Brad did the Peloton tonight!
This discussion has been closed.