Grimravn

I'm new here too but I thought I'd say hello. You've been through quite the rough patch to say the least but you're right -- never let it keep you down! But definitely keep the heels. Shiny heels are awesome. Welcome to respawn and good luck with the strength training! Your time as a competitive martial artist sounds amazing. It's something I've always wanted to do and never did.

Thank you! I'll look into that. I'm in a rather small city (30k people) in New Mexico but they might have something like that in one of the larger cities nearby... Definitely going to look!

Hi all! I'm over here in Alamogordo! Not too far from Las Cruces. Would love to get into parkour, too!

I know how you feel. I am so not a social butterfly and forums, well..there's something very intimidating about putting this kind of stuff in writing on a public forum. I prefer to be hidden from view not out there for all to see. But I also know that it's hard to do these life changes in a vacuum so...here I am. And here you are! So chin up! You'll be great!

Hello all, I have been thinking of joining Nerd Fitness for some months now -- at least since I first discovered it some 8 months ago. I've been telling myself that I could do this solo but let's be honest, this scout needs a good dungeon party....or at least some good tavern buddies to swap encouraging tales with...because I have failed the quest on my own. Aside from needing just a bit of encouragement -- or maybe a reminder as to why I can't eat that piece of chocolate -- I'm facing three challenges health-wise. I have Porphyria (a rare hereditary blood disorder that means sunlight can literally kill me) which severely limits what I can do outdoors unless it's dark outside, PCOS, and hypothyroidism. Basically, I am a hot mess when it comes to trying to lose weight because all of those things conspire to make a girl gain weight...but a primal/paleo diet honestly really does fix it. Let me explain where I'm coming from... I feel like I should, at least some. Well, I'd been eating the normal high-carb, low fat diet and working out like crazy and still gaining fat. The gym's nutritionist had me on 1600 calories a day and even with 3 Zumba classes and 5 weight training days a week, the scale went up (and it wasn't muscle). Then... In early 2014, I found a knowledgeable endocrinologist and his nutritionist who knew how to deal with my medical issues (not surprisingly, many medical professionals don't have a clue how to treat these things). What I discovered is that the combination of my conditions sets my BMR way lower than it should be for someone of my weight, height, etc, because my metabolism is just that slow. So for example, if a BMR calculator says I should eat 2,023 calories a day to maintain my weight and I eat that amount, I will gain fat like nobody's business because my body just doesn't use it. It took a bit of medically supervised experimentation to figure out what my BMR actually is, which is around 1400 calories. So if I eat too much above 1400 calories a day, I will actually gain weight. Anyway...Following their advice and having finally gotten my blood chemistry sorted with new medicines, I began a low-carb primal type diet on which I lost 70 lbs in the first 6 months. But that didn't last long...which was entirely my fault. I sort of fell off the primal band wagon after a series of close family and family friend deaths... Ultimately, I regained most of that 70 lbs back as my blood chemistry went wonky and I went back to eating a lot of carbs again. Which brings me to where I am now. Sigh... I don't have the support system I had before so here I am, hoping this will get me back on track and back to the gym! I'll be joining the academy tomorrow (Woot! Payday!) under probably the Assassin class. Whether it's a Rogue in WoW, an Assassin in EQ2, or a Nightblade in ESO, I've always preferred the scout archetype. I've done this before, I know I can do it again. Not to mention I have a closet full of clothes I need to be able to wear again! I refuse to buy bigger clothes! Plus I'm dying to try parkour! Not sure how well that's going to work out in after dark in the desert where rattlesnakes are nocturnal hunters...But hey! What doesn't kill you makes you stranger, right? Haha! Not that I need help in the strange department but ah well! Joking aside, it was devastating gaining all of the weight back last summer. I remember how great I felt to be making hose changes, to buy smaller clothes and be at least partially happy with the way I was beginning to look in the mirror. I want that back. They say community, whether online or off, makes a huge difference so here I am, hoping to both gain support in my own fitness quest and provide a little extra DPS for those that need some on theirs. PS - If you made it all the way to this point, thanks for reading my essay! Sorry, I can get a bit wordy!