Halea

So beautiful

How are the splits progressing? I'm currently working towards them. I'm including pigeon pose & crescent lunge in with the rest of my yoga routine...then attempt splits towards the end after everything is loosened up. Seeing progress

I enjoyed this. Thanks for posting

Awesome, congrats!

Thanks for posting this

This is awesome. Thank you for posting this

Hey all, Just thought I would share this article. I think most people have experienced these effects at some time or another but it is interesting to see the science of it all. Hope you enjoy http://io9.com/this-is-what-happens-to-your-body-when-you-stop-exercis-1724581507

Greetings from a fellow history major & avid hiker! Slightly jealous of your Cambridge & survival skills adventures Welcome to NF!

Congrats!

155 today on deadlifts... lifting 2 of my nemesis (45lb weights) and then some

Hi there! This is something I think most people struggle with...a lot of it has to do with the type of food you are eating. You mentioned going into the cafeteria for a salad and ending up with a burger and fries.... huge difference in the composition of said foods. I would definitely recommend cooking & bringing your own food with you if possible. It is easier to make sure you include the right amount of protein and healthy fats. I eat wraps every workday for lunch. I started to realize I was burning out on them so I recently added avocado. This made a huge difference in how full/satisfied I am with the wrap option. Whether or not you go hardcore is really going to depend on the type of person you are. I personally prefer to ease into new diet changes...My first inclination is to jump in, but then I burn out in about 1-2 weeks. My motto is progress not perfection. Just keep moving in the direction you want to go. Even if it is slow progress you will eventually get to where you want to be. Life is about balance. Don't beat yourself up if you have a bad meal or a bad day. Figure out what happened, learn from it, and move on. Good luck with your quest!

Welcome I'm sure the community here can help you find the resources to figure out what works for you... there is so much information here it just takes time to search through it. Have you talked to your doctor about your workout routine and caloric intake? She maybe able to give you an idea of the number of calories you need a day. I use the My Fitness Pal app to track my calories and I know there is an option to track calories burned as well (if you want to pay). Maybe google average calories burned for the exercises you perform regularly? It won't be exact but it will give you a starting point. I'm experimenting with the app right now...testing it to see how many calories I really need to support muscle growth but continue to lose weight (since I'm cheap and haven't quite decided if I'm ready to pay for extra features ). Like Ulfgard mentioned, you may gain weight starting off as you gain muscle but this will eventually slow down. Good luck with your quest! See you around the forums

Welcome congrats on 90lbs. That's quite an accomplishment! Hopefully, you can share some of that nutrition knowledge you've gained. There is quite a bit of information out there to wade through. See ya round the boards.

Hey all, I’ve been following NF for a while…getting regular updates through my best friend & soul mate Vilegrin and felt it was time to join in: to finally create a profile and introduce myself. In most MMOs I’m known as Halea…in “the real worldâ€, Katelin. I’ve been fairly active for most of my life…soccer, cheerleading, and kenpo when I was younger…hiking, mountain biking…a little bit of rock climbing & kayaking as an adult. I taught RAD Self Defense for a couple of years and dabbled in jiu jitsu, kung fu, and crossfit. I love yoga and try to practice it regularly and I’m currently doing Stronglifts 5x5 with Vilegrin (so much fun). I’m a bigger girl…my class would probably be a druid/adventurer (not really sure about the race). My goal is to work on functional strength and flexibility as well as incorporating regular meditation (this is currently an on again off again thing for me). I had an accident in the gym a few months ago that put me out of work & out of working out for a number of months (2 essentially lazing about…8 before I got back in the gym). Someone left 400+lbs on the bar at the squat rack. When Vilegrin and I went to take the weight off, he got his side unloaded before I even began on mine and the 4 45lb weights fell…at least 1 smashing the big toe on my right foot. I thought I would walk it off… but it turned out the toe was completely annihilated. Luckily, we had 2 firefighters in the gym that day. They found a chair from the group room and carried me out to the car and directed us to the nearest emergency room. The surgeon was great. He completely repaired the toe, but I was unable to really walk on it for about 2 months and spent most of that time sitting with my leg propped up. Even car rides were pretty painful. I spent the following months working on my gait (once I was able to walk again) and doing body weight exercises. I lost a lot of muscle in my right leg during the 2 months I barely used it. It took a while before I could get back to Stronglifts (which Vilegrin and I were working on at the time I smashed my toe). Even now, I have to really watch my form and my weight increases to make sure I’m not overloading my right leg. I put on quite a few pounds over those few months (although I did enjoy quite a bit of gaming J ) and am happy to say I’m finally losing it (regular exercise and watching caloric intake for those who want to know). The upside to all of this was it really made me think about gym safety, and it has helped me to focus on my lifting form. It’s really easy to go in…thinking only about picking up heavy weights and putting them down again. It’s actually one of the things I love about weight lifting…it clears my mind. But it’s so important to make sure you are focusing on doing it correctly. And for the guys/gals out there lifting heavy weight: make sure you take the weight off again when you are done! lol. If you have to unload a lot of weight, make sure you unload a little at a time from each side. It seems like a no brainer, but the bar seems so stable when you are working at lower weights, I never even thought about the physics of it at 400+lbs…and never even thought to tell Vilegrin to slow down. I was in my own world…not focusing on the here and now like I should have been. I lost a lot of time and money from my mistake but I was lucky it didn’t cause permanent damage….I can still do all the things I want to do, it’s just taking me longer to get where I want to be. Hopefully, you all can avoid similar troubles J. Well, that’s enough about me for now. I’ll be seeing y’all around the forums J.

Avivit Cohen... Krav Maga instructor