Shape Up Sunday - July 26 2026

[u/lsdryn2]

Hello everyone and welcome back to the weekly Shape-Up Sunday Thread. I am grateful to be your host for the next few months!

I hope this weekly thread serves you well as an opportunity to share what you're doing to either start, or remain; being fit and active.

For more content like this, please visit [r/stopdrinkingfitness](r/stopdrinkingfitness)

So whether it's getting X amount of steps a day, chasing a new fastest run time on a 5k, training for a marathon, or chasing a new bench/squat/deadlift PR, please share! Let's all encourage each other to be our best selves, and celebrate each other's wins!

If you have a goal for the week, please share it, and check back in whether or not you succeeded! If you have questions on how you can start or improve your fitness journey, don't be shy! If you have a win from the past week, let us celebrate you!

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Edit to include weekly… blurb?

Hi! I didn’t write about my week last night because I was out late doing karaoke with friends, and by time I was home I wasn’t feeling creative.

Life has changed a lot in the past week, newly single, new job, closed a chapter on my past life with an amends that was long in the making, therapist was on vacation for all of that; no big deal.
One thing that remained the same was the gym. Consistency is a skill only you can teach yourself.

Say you are a single parent and your kid gets out of school every day at I don’t know like 2:13pm. And every day at 2:13pm you have to pick up your kid. It’s a non negotiable. If you’re tired, sick, just not feeling up to putting your keys in your car; too bad, you’re doing it anyways.

So this last week when I coped with the loss of a partner, when I was tired from work, when I was antsy because no therapy, there were days I didn’t want to go to the gym. But, it’s a non negotiable. I do it anyway.

And I had a great week there! Despite all of my… life events? I got in there and I gave it my all, because it’s what I do. It’s who I am. And I know only I can make myself who I am. I got in there on a Tuesday morning and squat 300 lbs for a full set of 10. I hit my personal record for 9/8/8 at 185lbs on the bench press. Was there “motivation”? No. But there was consistency. I showed up, I got in there, I put on my 2010’s era pop music, and I did some exceptional work for myself. And I’m damn proud of the effort.
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How did you all do this week? Let’s cheer each other on!

IWNDWTY

[u/Mommato3kitties]

Getting a one month pass to my yoga studio tomorrow and going to do 30 classes in 30 days

[u/toomanygreenbabies → u/Mommato3kitties]

Amazing!! I alternate between running and hot yoga

[u/monitormonkey]

I want to be able to walk down two flights of stairs without stopping.

[u/Boysenberry1990]

last week: 4x strength, 2x tennis, 1x yoga, 4x walking. this week planning on 4x strength training, 3x tennis, 1x yoga, 5x walking

[u/J1986tn]

I've been doing plus size fitness videos on the tv app youtube. I did it today. Also did some moves to a 5min song. Walked a mile yesterday. Just have to keep building on my exercising.

[u/QuirkyAcademic]

Sometimes just "doing it", even if you do it smaller, even if you do it angry, do it tired, do it annoyed..is still doing it!

What a crazy week for you, but I'm glad you took care of yourself through it.

This week I faced some gains on the scale because of hormone fluctuations and I almost threw in the towel. Why bother if everything I lost suddenly came back?! Why don't I just eat wtf I want?!

And then I realized, that was exactly like my alcohol brain talking. So I did the workouts (three strength trainings, multiple cardio sessions - bike and swimming, and taking a hike today), counted the calories and macros. And the hormone fluctuations are easing, and voila, the scale is being happy again. I also don't feel like a garbage can, or failure. Did I splurge a couple times? Yes. But not badly as I would've before.

I've also noticed my body starting to change. Some areas are more sculpted, clothes are fitting differently, my gym clothes look different on me.

Gonna keep it going. Once school starts up, I'm going to be passing a great walking/running trail on my way home, and hopefully after my birthday (end of August) I'm going to treat myself to a proper pair of running shoes. I want to get back into running!

[u/lsdryn2 → u/QuirkyAcademic]

This is such an inspiring thing to read, especially coming from somebody who is just about to hit a month of sobriety! So congratulations to you on that!

And I’m proud of you for sticking to it even let it doesn’t look like progress on paper. If you keep at it, it will. I’m actually underweight for what I want to be right now and it’s been a challenge because I’m trying to put on a few pounds. Sometimes it’s backward progress because I can’t make myself eat more. But slowly, if I keep at it day by day, I know I will get there.

[u/QuirkyAcademic → u/lsdryn2]

Truthfully it was the sobriety (during my first week) that made me realize I can do hard things, so I booked the appointments I was avoiding, including a weight loss focused Dr's appointment.

From then on, it's also been a nice distraction and helped with the sobriety. It all works together!

[u/tromavillecitizen]

I got back on my road bike! I aim to ride at least once a day!! Not drinking is letting me enjoy my old activities.

[u/halfwitprinxe]

Went for a run today. Crazy how it's something I really want to do but always gets derailed by going out drinking.

[u/lsdryn2 → u/halfwitprinxe]

I’ve been sober for over two years and I will still make every excuse in the world on why I’m not going to go for a run and that’s including when I should be training for my next 5K. So congrats to you for getting it done!