Gem1304

I signed up to this a fair old while ago but never actually progressed with anything and never posted here again! However, everything has changed. After a couple of years of doing absolutely sod all exercise (and I mean literally nothing) I have got really fed up with no only being very unfit but also being very weak! So I've taken the first step and signed up to the local gym. Been 4 times in my 1st week, 3 times just cardio before my induction yesterday, where I asked the PT if he could introduce me to the free weights section. Cardio and machines is all I've ever done in the past but they've never excited me and the more I've read and heard about free weights the more I've wanted to do it! He showed me through everything and has given me a workout program to start with. Not gonna lie, yesterday absolutely killed me and my legs hate me today! The plan is weights 3 times a week with 2 days cardio. Tomorrow will be my first day proper doing my weights workout and although quite excited I am pretty nervous, not only because there were a large number of men there yesterday and no women, and the amount my legs hurt today! So yeah, basically just saying hi and stating my objectives. I need to be strict with my diet also, as I'm a bit of a chocoholic! And I won't deny myself chocolate Gem xx

Count me in! Been looking forward to this all week http://nerdfitness.com/community/entry.php?3916-My-1st-Challenge-Can-t-frickin-wait!

I've been to the gym this morning and got my body fat %.... 28.6%!! Not good at all! So there's goal number 1!!

OK awesome. Thank you all so much for your help! Wish me luck

It's taken me about 20 minutes to work that out.... dammit! Thank you for doing that tho OK, so carbs not too bad, if i were to aim for fat/protein/carbs 40/30/30 that would work wouldn't it? I'm sorry for sounding so dim about all this. I guess that's probably because I am! That might be one of my challenge goals... be less simple

I used to think maths was my strong point until I started reading all this!! Brain is melting slightly, but I'll get there. I've been tracking my food for the last few weeks. I like the idea of paleo and have started by cutting out bread/pasta/rice (whether thats a good start or not I have no idea) but I'm fully aware that I don't think I'm still doing it right. For example, today I've eaten 1148 cals (I know, nowhere near enough!) of which 79g was carbs, 65g fat and 55g protein. I'm sat here now with a bit of paper trying to work what % that means I've eaten!

Thanks guys. Reading that starting strength link is making me realise how little I really know though!! I'll come on here tomorrow and let you know how it goes

Born and bred! Don't come much stranger I am a little nervous if I'm honest. Part of my thinks he'll laugh at me. And then there's the idea of actually going into that scary scary section with all the big buff men. I'm sure it'll be fine.... I'm just a worrier!

Hehe. I can't speak for the rest of my country, but I'm probably weirder than most

OK thanks for that I reckon I can just about get my head around that. How would I decide on how much to eat of each?

Lol. Well when you put it like that I was asking a pretty dumb question! Thanks tho Do all those things translate here in the UK too?

Forgive me if this is a really stupid question, but I've seen a lot of mention of fat/carbs/protein % such as 50/20/30. How do you work out these figures? How do you know how many grams in total you should be eating in the first place? For the challenge I want to up my protein intake and cut down on carbs, but I'm a little confused with the maths! Any help you can give me will be muchly appreciated.

Basically, I'm very much looking to start my strength training journey and will be doing this mostly at the gym. I have an appointment at 8.30am tomorrow with my trainer and would like to ask you guys what specifically should I be saying to him I want to do? I know that's a very open ended question, but having read other places that some gym trainers can be useless I want to be able to phrase my questions in a way that he'll understand and hopefully be able to help. About me, I'm 26yrs old, female, and having been going to my gym since October, mostly using weight machines. Now, I already know to say to him I don't really want to use the machines much if at all and focus on the free weights section. Any tips on what I should say to him tomorrow? Gem x

Definitely in on this! Will be my very first challenged and my mind is buzzing with goal ideas. Need to work out waht to focus on and I'm off!!

Wow! That woman is incredible shape! I don't know if it's just the self defeatist part of me... but there is no way in hell I'll ever even get close to that! Can always give it a go tho My diet has always been a big problem, mostly because I have no willpower and adore bread/pizza/biscuits/chocolate etc. Given the option, I'd happily live on these things, but they're not doing me any good! (shame really!) Eating enough protein is probably something I find quite hard so I'll look into the protein shakes. I just worry about over doing it on the protein and putting on weight? As for the workouts.... I had a look in the "men's" section with all the weights at the gym yesterday.... pretty intimidating! I've seen a few girls in there before and they're petite gorgeous little things.... I'm really not! The idea of going in there and training with the lads is pretty scary to me. I'm hoping the trainer on tuesday is going to be helpful. I'll report back here after I've been to see him and see what u guys reckon to is advice. Gem x