Yikes! Feels like I lost a week there, how is it already September? I have caught up on everyone's posts, some amazing weight loss milestones, the cute dog pic @conleywoods and all the positivity people are emanating about September!

My name is Ashley and I am a co-captain on this team whose job it is to compile the step challenge results. Lately we have had a record number of people participating which is fantastic! We have steppers with all sorts of daily goals but remember along with pushing for the most steps, you're also working on your own goals to meet pledge and best your week prior. If anyone who wasn't logging in August wants to join in for September, just let me know.

I'm married to my husband of over 5 years Brad, and we live in British Columbia, Canada with our animals. We both work full time. I find it very uncomfortable to live in this body of mine and want to be different but my mental health tends to get in the way. I was an athletic kid and am drawn to sports and movement naturally, but I'm also drawn to using food and drink to cope with all feelings and as a way to enjoy life.

Happy as always to be here with such a wonderfully interesting group of people!

Steps catch-up:

8/24: 9212
8/25: 3987
8/26: 4205
8/27: 5138
8/28: 7750
8/29: 4023
8/30: 5715
8/31: 3107

@Gidgitgoescrzy Congrats on completing your first piece. I tried sewing as a hobby during COVID but I've never been great at anything crafty and I really struggled. When we moved I ended up selling all my supplies, and we don't have room for it in the condo anyway, but it was a fun thing to try and I really respect those that can make functional things!

What does everyone else do for hobbies?

Have a great Tuesday!

Bingo Team WaistAways Sprint to the New Year! starting in September:

• @mkksemail
• @jguldi11
• @conleywoods
• @strong_fit_ells
• @YinxFed
• @Gidgitgoescrazy
• @ashleycarole86
• @micki48 

This is the list I have. Vikki, I can't send you a friend request as your profile is private. Will you send me a friend request so I can message you ?

Cheers~! mk :)

Hi Team!

I'm Kristi 43, married with 3 kids. I'm in Washington state in the US. I have 3 dogs and 4 guinea pigs. I work part time as a school occupational therapist. I'm currently working with a health coach to help me stay accountable. My coach will be doing a 6 week challenge in a few weeks. I'll be joining the challenge and competing for prize money. To earn points, you have to complete your daily tasks. I was one of the winners last time. My goal for September is to really lock down my exercise, habits and food daily while being back at work.

@Gidgitgoescrazy Congrats on your sewing project! I like to sew but don't have a lot of time for it. I have a quilting project going now but it's slow going.

My hobbies are walking, hiking, kayaking and occasionally painting or sewing.

I had a great time at the Ren Fest Monday, lots of entertainment, some window shopping (and actual shopping haha), and yummy food. It's one of those days where calories don't matter 😅 so I definitely went overboard with food and drink. I still feel bloated 2 days later lol gotta drink more water. I did get a lot of movement in though, it involves a lot of walking.

NSV I saw a couple pictures of me from the festival and I actually liked what I saw! It's nice to see the difference in appearance. I also fit into a clothing item from pre-pregnancy so that's exciting. Still have a long ways to go but it's nice seeing progress along the way.

Tuesday I got back on track with eating and logging. I also had 2 clients who wanted to walk for our sessions so lots of steps for yesterday!

Today I have healthy meals planned so I'm not worried about that. It might rain all day and I'm not one to walk in the rain, but I could do a strength training or dance video after work, as long as I have the motivation and energy haha.

My hobbies have been kinda neglected since having kids but I try to make time for things here and there. Recently exercise has become more of a priority and I like to think of that as a hobby. I also enjoy reading, gardening (haven't had a garden in 5 years though), video games, cooking (now it's a chore though lol), arts and crafts, journaling, researching topics of interest, browsing at book stores, thrifting, and recently I started giving myself gel manicures. I received the nail kit 2 years ago and only last week made the time to try it, and now I'm hooked 😆

Nice job @Gidgitgoescrzy ! Out of sight out of mind is a great tactic.

I hear you, Mary K ( @mkksemail ) I will send you my list tomorrow. Yx

No worries, Yinka, I'm still updating the sheet for the new months. I was just throwing out a reminder :). You can post your 22 list here when you're done, or DM me. I'll plug everyone's list into their boards for the first month, so the learning curve is pretty flat :).

I updated (many, but not all, lol) of the images from the Turtle Theme to Fat 2 Fit theme. I had an inspo pic section that I just left as is, everyone can swap out to their own inspirational images (or not), as they see fit. I'd migrated the sheet from my August/summer break to our new Fall Sprint to the New Year sheet via copy/paste rather than duplicate (because … no good reason, lol). It brought over all the formatting (I thought) and formulas, but not the images. I took that as an opportunity to update the images. I didn't notice until I was quite a ways into it that the conditional formatting didn't make it, so I'm going to need tmw to finish updating that, too, for our first month, at least. (I'll update the other months throughout Sept.)

Loving reading about everyone's hobbies! ~ mk :)

PW: 162.4 lbs

CW: 164.9 lbs

@mkksemail I hope I did this right, feel free to make suggestions as you see fit

1. Meet step goal 3 days in a row
2. Journal x4
3. Gratitude Prayer
4. Eat freggies with every meal for 1 day
5. Try 3 new recipes
6. Include all food groups - 1 breakfast
7. Include all food groups - 3 lunches
8. Include all food groups - 5 dinners
9. Stay below carb goal 3 consecutive days
10. Make chickpea snack
11. Log all meals 1 week straight
12. Have fish for dinner 2x
13. At-home manicure
14. At-home pedicure
15. Take a relaxing bath
16. Dance party! 30 minutes
17. 20 minute strength training
18. 30 minute strength training
19. 40 minute strength training
20. 30 minute walk
21. 45 minute walk
22. Try a new workout

PW 226

CW 226.4

This is just time of the month water weight. I've been really working on doing all my exercise, healthy habits and meeting my nutrition goals during my TOM. I usually give up. Pushing through really does show a positive impact on my weight loss. I just can't get around the bloat and water weight. I even took supplements with dandelion root for bloat. Oh well!

Our school year has been off to a weird start. The cooling systems in our high school and middle school are old and not working well. It's really hot and classrooms are 84 degrees. My 2 big kids are on half days while my youngest is on regular days. Luckily my position let's me have some flexibility. Lots of driving around. More of that today too.

Waistaways Week 4 Results
Full week participants: 8

Top steppers
#1 @strong_fit_ells 93,773 steps
#2 @mkksemail 90,760 steps
#3 @lauren_989 64,659 steps

Pledge stars
#1 @micki48 met pledge 7 of 7 days
#2 @zankash23 met pledge 6 of 7 days
#3 @strong_fit_ells and @mkksemail met pledge 5 of 7 days

Ladder up legends
#1 @mkksemail 46% increase in week 4 over week 3
#2 @micki48 15% increase in week 4 over week 3
#3 @jguldi11 7% increase in week 4 over week 3

Waistaways August Final Step Results
Total participants: 11

Top steppers
#1 @Alatariel75 415,804 steps
#2 @strong_fit_ells 336,545 steps
#3 @mkksemail 327,992 steps

mmmm, cinnamon rolls! 😋

Jackie, you def did it right! And there's no wrong way to make the list, you can include whatever things you want to accomplish in September, fun stuff, tedious stuff, difficult stuff, engaging stuff, whatever you'd like :).

(((Vikki))) hugs for the cyst removal, and all the rest too! Xx FUN on the upcoming camping trip! And no worries, on the list, we have all month to work on the items.

Kristi, well done on pushing through with your habits during TOM ! You're right, water weight is annoying, but it disappears as whosh as it arrived, that's true. ooof, that's tough about the HVACs at the schools!

So, I'll be out all afternoon. I booked two trainer sessions at Planet Fitness, Upper Body and Stretch, and they're 3 hrs apart :p. I love that there is free personal training at PF! but today I want to finish the conditional formatting on our Bingo and Goals Boards sheet, and not do that! :p. I'll be happy having done it tho. I'm going to need that extra day to finish adding back in the condtional formatting that I lost when I copied my sheet from August. I'm excited about our game tho! Wow, if I can maintain focus on my goals for 4 months, straight to the New Year, won't that be fantastic!

Cheers! ~ mk :)

^^^^ well I wrote that this morning, but it didn't send (at least it saved). As to my big plans for the personal training I signed up for - NOPE! The trainer left unexpectly, and they don't think they're going to re-fill the position. The guy said the company is moving to app-based training classe, and as trainers leave, each club has to decide whether to sundown the position, or fill the position. It didn't sound like my club is planning on filling the position. The guy asked me if I'd tried the app - I said it's too tiny! You can't workout to a vid on your phone screen. No way. At least I can't :/.

Okay, weigh-in next. Too bad it wasn't last weekend, I'd have been down 0.7 instead of up 0.7 :p.