WaistAways Team Chat - September 2025
Here is your Team chat room for September 2025. 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 - @trooworld and @micaroo4
Weight No More - @minstrelofsarcasm and @melaniedscott
WaistAways - @ashleycarole86 and @lauren_989
Shape Shifters - @jessicakrall8 and @frankwbrown
Our Team Motivators:
Downsizers: @HorsesRock9999
Mission Slimpossibles - @gemwolf110
Weight No More - @BodyTalking and @daria0919
WaistAways - @MaddawgMadsen
Shape Shifters - @LaurieWrobo and @nancyinmiami
HOW IT ALL WORKS: The September challenge runs for four weeks, from August 31st - September 27th.
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! 😎
Replies
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The September Week 1 Group Challenge is open and ready to begin on Sunday, August 31st. This week, we're working on Meal Planning, a great opportunity to work on your Prep Methods and share tips with others on the team. Here's your link:
September Week 1 Group Challenge - Meal Planning — MyFitnessPal.com
See you in the chat thread!
Jessica 😀
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Welcome to September! 🍂
I am Lauren, co-captain along with @ashleycarole86
I am 39 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 great month for me! Now I need to continue with consistency so I can keep this weight loss going. I have been jogging and am preparing for another 5K (ish) on Thanksgiving!
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:
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!
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Greetings Friends!
I'll come back before bed with my step and exercise stats. But for now a quick re-introduction.
I'm Yinka, 62 years old, from Worcestershire in the UK. I am married to Ben and we have a grown son, who is married and lives in Virginia USA with his lovely wife. We both work from home, running an AI consultancy, and I also work as a Skills Tutor for my local council. I was focused on Digital Skills, but this coming term I am adding a couple of creative classes to my portfolio - sewing (I'm looking at you @Gidgitgoescrzy and love the idea of a bowl warmer as a project. I might be stealing that!) and knitting. I'm really excited about the juxtaposition of the two distinctly different types of classes that I teach.
Oh, and @conleywoods what an adorable pooch. We're ready for our next dog.
Back to why I'm here. I am post menopausal and now finding it extremely difficult to lose weight. I am definitely carrying an extra 40lb, which, admittedly, has been gradually making its presence known to me over the past 15 years - but I really want to put a halt to this negative movement.
I work out between 3 and 5 times a week - normally a couple of weight-based sessions and one or two cardio - but I struggle to put in the cardio work. I am finally coming round to the realisation that my diet is key and I realise that I do better from 3 meals a day (I frequently skip breakfast). This is why Mary K ( @mkksemail ) Bingo idea appeals to me so much.
I was down in London this weekend, visiting my mother, and on the train on the way home this afternoon, I created all of the things that I want to see in the Bingo grid, so I'm really looking forward to getting stuck into this new challenge. I have 3 key targets that I want to attach my weight loss to: 1. A short break with Ben to Cyprus in October (-5lb please), 2. A city break to Rotterdam, again with my beloved in November, to celebrate his 60th (another -5lb please) and then if I could lose an additional 5lb for Christmas it would be a very merry Christmas indeed.
TTFN
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Hi Team !! I just had to do an intro on my BLC team, so Imma just copy/paste this month ;-). Yinka, I'm so stoked that you're as excited as I am about this Bingo Sprint to the New Year. As I said in my other team, when someone was talking about challenges,
Me: Happy Back to School y'all ! My Hogwarts team started a new 'term' on Monday, and my BLC team starts a new round on Wednesday, and my F2F team starts a new month tomorrow. A mini-group of us on my F2F team are doing a 'sprint to the New Year' monthly bingo board, with goal tracking starting in September, so I'm excited about that. It's my only challenge that is solely focused on my own goals. I like the challenge games (obvs!) lol, but sometimes I lose track of my own goals while I'm chasing challenge completions. Looking forward to that (and hope I can maintain it all 4 months, won't that be an accomplishment?) New beginnings all around 🌅🌻🌞 Cheers ~ mk :)
Them: Going back farther in chat, you have a lot of challenges going on! Would make my head spin. You mentioned you liked one because it was the only challenge focused on your own goals. Ah-hem! The DDT Challenge lets you set 3 goals of your choice and you get a point a week for completing them. That's my favorite thing about our challenges. Being able to be focused on our own program rather than what we're assigned is huge. Re-reading (need to do that more often I think) - "solely" - Missed that word. That would be my first choice too.
Me: I laughed at your A-hem, pointing out that our DDT challenge focuses on our goals. I know, and I LOVVEE that, plus the Mighty Tortoise Exercise challenge, too (it's making me do Flex heh), but I did pitifully as far as collecting my Personal Goal points last round. Like …. flat out embarrassingly terrible! I did pretty well at collecting points for the team, tho :p. That's what I meant when I said I love these challenges, but I often chase challenge completions rather than focusing on my own goals. Maybe bc my goals are annoying, and if I wanted to do them, they'd already be habits, right? lol And challenges are fun! They're always so creative and interesting :D.
shiny things!
😂
And, wow, I love the juxtaposition of your wholly different kinds of classes !! Looking forward to hearing about yours and Vikki's sewing adventures, I have to say!
Intro copy/paste:
Where do you live (general area and country is fine or be specific if you prefer):Portland, ME.Tell us what you do with your days, who your loved ones are (pets certainly count, too!)- husband Eric (m, 1990), daughter Katie (b, 1990 - you do the math ;-) ), currently 3 rescue kitties, all boys, all rescued by my dauther, the ER vet. Not working, not retired, not sure what I might do about that yet :p. We sold my husband's 7-Eleven store in April '21, I haven't worked since then.What's one interesting fact about you that we might not know?My daughter married a Turkish man in Aug '23, who she'd met while on a girl's 3-wk trip to Egypt and Turkey. Our immigration system is a shitshow, so they're still waiting on a visa for him to come here. Applied 2 yrs ago … and counting! (She visits Turkey every 5-6 weeks or so, good thing her work schedule allows the time to do that, as well as the budget!) Anyway, hubby and I are both learning Turkish now, so we can understand what our future grandchildren might say :D.What is your favorite thing to do with your free time?Play on MFP, apparently :p. Oh, and play with Chat GPT. I use it as my personal tutor. Love it ! Been taking Google Sheets 'lessons' from Chatty for about a yr now, and just last week asked Chatty if it, Claude, or Gemini would be a better AI tutor for Turkey. That was interesting to see how it compared the three. Chatty decided that combining lessons with Claude (for longer context window) and it (for drills, etc) would be the best approach, so I signed up with Claude for a free account there last week. I asked Claude the same question, and uploaded the transcript of the ChatGPT conversation, which was a hoot to see it react to, and take issue with, some of Chatty's assessments of its capabilities. I then giggled when I watched Chatty reacting to Claude's reactions to it. LOL! Anyway, they worked up a lesson plan for me to begin this week, but I think I'm going to wait until next week to begin. After all, September is back-to-school, right!?Cheers! ~ mk :)
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Here's my step and exercise log for the last 7 days.
Sunday 24th August - 2108
Monday 25th - 2482 / 29mins Caroline Circuits Bodyweight Core
Tuesday 26th - 2974
Wednesday 27th - 2499 / 33mins Caroline Circuits Full Body Dumbbell workout
Thursday 28th - 3027 / 39mins Caroline Circuits Upper Body Dumbbell workout
Friday 29th - 3827
Saturday 30th - 5079
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Well DONE - Lauren, Kristin, and Jackie !!! Joann and Ellie, too !!!
🎉 🥳 🎊 🎈
💃 💃 💃
🎉 🥳 🎊 🎈
💃 💃 💃
🎉 🥳 🎊 🎈
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woooooooooo, Lauren - in the green all four weeks !!! 🔥🧨🎇💥
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Great job team on coming in second the last week of August! 🎉
Shout out to the top winners: @cleaneater80 @strong_fit_ells @jguldi11 and @conleywoods 🥳
Milestones:
@jguldi11 16 pounds down!
@strong_fit_ells 11 pounds down!
@zankash23 25 pounds down!
Way to go team! 😊
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I had a busy day today, but did sleep in! I went for a walk/jog this morning followed by more work in my garden. The last 2 days, I trimmed, weeded, raked, mulched, and put new stones around it. A lot of work but it looks great! Tomorrow, I have one other garden area I want to do this with. Luckily it wasn't too hot, but I still worked up a sweat. But after I took this picture, it looks like I need to powerwash the walkway. Things are never done around the house!
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My steps
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Welcome September!
I am Michele- 61, married with two grown children and two granddaughters. I teach first grade at a private school near Philadelphia, PA USA. I have been with this group since 2019. (More or less)I did fine In August but haven’t checked how much I lost.
I’ve been logging my food and increasing my stepconsistency.I was hopingI’d be4 pounds down by the end of the month but thatdidn’t quite happen. But I AM down and that is what matters. This week I head back to school and that poses new challenges yet a normal schedule and more movement in general.My goals are tolog my food daily,stay under calorie goal,take 10 minute walks.
Do 2 weight
Try a new recipe each week.Drink more water and check in daily here.Good luck everyone!2 -
Just checked - I am down 2 pounds in August. And down 5.3 from my all time high of 225.4 in June.
Slow progress but progress just the same.
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Wooop!, Michele !!
And wtg, Lauren !! Lauren, I sent you a friend request so I could message you. lmk if your rec'd it :).
Cheers ! ~ mk :)
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@lauren_989 your garden looks beautiful. That hard work certainly paid off!
@micki48 Slow and steady wins the race. I have to keep reminding myself that! Well done you!
TTFN
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I am going to the Michigan Renaissance Festival today (huzzah!) So I only have a minute to post my intro. I'll come back when I get a chance for a more thorough update!
I'm Jackie, 35F, and I live in Michigan, USA. I'm married with 2 kids, a 4yo son and a 1.5yo daughter, and I also work part time as a mental health counselor. My kids keep me active, but my job typically involves a lot of sitting. I do have a few clients who enjoy walk and talk therapy, so when the weather allows I like to take advantage of this opportunity to move.
I gained quite a bit of weight during my last pregnancy and while breastfeeding, and now that I'm done with that phase of life I'm ready to put my weight loss goals toward the top of my priority list.
I have PCOS which can make weight loss a bit tricky, but I have the tools I need to be successful. I resumed my weight loss journey in May 2025 and I've been making slow and steady progress ever since! I appreciate all of the support and encouragement this group provides, it really makes a difference in my motivation and staying accountable.
My goals for September are:
•Stay in the green each week
•Meet my step goal of 7000 at least 5 days/week
•Keep logging all of my food intake
•Engage in physical activity 5 days per week, with 1-2 of those being strength training
•Maybe see the next decade? That might be too lofty of a goal, so I won't make it official
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@ashleycarole86 my steps from last week
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PW: 258.3 lbs
CW 257.1 lbs
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Good afternoon Waistaways 🥰
My name is Ellie and I am married mum with 3 boys. Two of them are in university and 1 is starting college tomorrow. We live in UK.
I'm with Waistaways for a long time and hovering around the same weight between 250 and 240lbs but guess what?? This morning I am in new decade! 🎉🎉🎉
CW 239.2lbs
Woop!Woop! I feel really happy 🤣🥰
Have a great day all ❤️
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Congratulations, Ellie ! Jackie, Huzzah !! Have fun Ren Faire-ing (we enjoyed it very much this summer - my first time, but hubby had been to the Michigan one a few times, as a kid).
Cheers Waistaways ! ~ mk :)
Steps:
Week 1 (Sep) ~- Sunday: 17,295
- Monday: 12,928
- Tuesday: 16,344
- Wednesday: 16,328
- Thursday: 12,231
- Friday: 7,574
- Saturday: 8,060
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Great scale victory @strong_fit_ells !!
I love your goals for this month @jguldi11
I have added the friend requests I received. I usually only get requests from men I don't know...
Today has been a relaxing day, but I did update the downstairs chalkboard 😊 I am waiting to see how long it will take my husband to notice 😂
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Sunday: 8,340
Monday: 8,159 + 30 min bike + 30 min weights
Tuesday: 10,633 + 35 min jog
Wednesday: 6,692
Thursday: 3,397
Friday: 3,308
Saturday: 13,330 + 30 min jog
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Hi everyone
I'm Kath from the UK.
I have gained 14kg over the last 11 months due to long covid.
My physio goals are to walk for 5 minutes 3 times a week, 18 sit to stands, wall push ups and heel lifts.
I have also started a low carb diet as I'm determined to fo as much as I can to recover some form of physical activity.
My aim is to lose these 20kg by July '26.
I'm a naturally competitive person so im hoping this challenge can spur me on to stick to my health goals.
Good luck everyone
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Krea4
Monday
PW 87.70 kg
CW 87.55 kg
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@ashleycarole86 my steps for last week 🥰
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Good evening,
PW: 143
CW: 141.54 -
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