BinaryPhoenix

Hey there - I'm sort of new, but not. I've hung out around the forums, read a bit, but haven't really posted before. After two and a half months of lurking I decided it was time to emerge from the shadows. You all don't know it, but you've all already played a huge roll in my success so far. My story is interesting, but nothing folks haven't heard before I'd guess. Got pregnant, packed on pounds, had baby, lost some but not quite as many as I packed on. Got pregnant again, began packing on pounds, miscarried, depression, packed on a few more pounds. Got better, lost a few, but again... not quite as many as I had packed on. Got pregnant again, put on bed rest for 3 months, really packed on pounds, had baby, lost some, but once again... not quite enough. Got pregnant for a final time (yes, again) this time with TWINS. Gained exactly 11 pounds, thanks to a WHOLE LOTTA morning sickness. Had exactly 12 pounds worth of babies (5.5lbs and 6.5lbs), but suffered hella postpartum after. You guessed it, more pounds. Then, a few months later my thyroid ballooned to the size of a baseball. Largest benign tumor my surgeon had ever seen. Once we got that taken care of, I sort of expected the synthetic hormone to do the weight loss work for me. Big surprise - it didn't. A year ago last April, I got a major wake up call. My stepfather passed away at the age of 59 from a heart attack. I stepped on the scale at 235 pounds, and knew I wanted to be around for my babies longer than that. Tried a few fad diet things like juicing that didn't really work. Finally found Nerd Fitness a few months ago. I began doing the Angry Birds workout CrossFit style, and started stepping myself toward Paleo. I'm not fully paleo, but I'm off sodas, and down to pasta only twice a month. Never was much of a potato or rice fan, so that hasn't been hard but cheese - I don't think I'll ever give up cheese. Cheese is one of my happy foods, LOL. Lurking here on the forums has provided me with plenty of motivation and inspiration. Since June 1 I'm down 17lbs and two pants sizes, from a 22W to an 18W (I carry my weight around my middle, the worst place possible). I look forward to taking part in the conversation from here on out!

When I started this journey in May (before I found Nerd Fitness and the wonderful folks here) I weighed in at 235 and wore a size 22W. This morning I weighed in at 217, and just bought myself some 18W pants! I want to do cartwheels (though I don't think my wrists could take it quite yet)!!

I definitely dominated today. While I didn't do anything work-wise because it's still my weekend but I *KILLED* on the exercise program today. Angry Birds, level 2, with knee push ups not incline or wall push ups. Go me! There's progress towards goal #1. Goal #2 work is tomorrow - I don't run on the days I strength train as a favor to my own body. Goal #3 - while my choices weren't exclusively Paleo, they were mostly so. Breakfast was scrambled egg, sliced tomato, and a salad of romaine and mustard greens. Lunch was a spicy shredded chicken skillet with stir fry veggies, and dinner (my unhealthy choice) was a slice of thin-crust meat lovers pizza. Since I followed that up with the workout, I'm not feeling overly guilty about it (after all, I did pass on the cheesesticks and cinnamon sticks). As for goal #4, while I didn't work today, I do have at least $110 worth of work lined up for this week already, $50 of that for tomorrow. So I'm in good shape as far as that goes. Hope all your challenges started out well today!

Jaimee - You don't have to do Crossfit to be a Ranger. Many of us don't. I am currently mixing walking, running, the NF Angry Birds workout, and yoga. I personally feel the classes are more about fitness views, attitudes and preferences than the actual exercises involved.

Oh, I'm always open to anyone who wants to toss more work my way.

I stick mostly to fruits such as blueberries, blackberries, and rasberries. The not-as-sweet fruits. Still, they're more of a snack or treat than a core part of my diet.

I'm a writer - I write web content for various websites, mostly centered around gaming and technology.

I've been looking into archery as well. I'd love to learn accuracy both for target practice and hunting reasons. Never been much of a hunter, but the idea of hunting with a bow appeals to me. Must be the paleo diet rubbing off into other areas of my life, LOL.

Half-Dwarf apprentice here. Can't imagine why not.

The hubs got me the box set of the original Star Trek movies for my birthday yesterday. WOOT WOOT!

Great to meet you!! And of COURSE you can be a Ranger-Assassin!

Looking forward to this six week challenge and pushing myself a bit! I'm going to take this opportunity to see just how much I can really do, because I usually end up selling myself short. You can find my full backstory in my intro thread, but I'll post some of it here. I've just begun this journey, and I'm throwing myself headlong into it. Back in April my stepfather died from a massive heart attack and that SCARED the crap out of me. He wasn't even 60 years old. My father has also had 2 heart attacks, and his doctors have told us multiple times that the only reason he survived was because he was in such EXCELLENT shape (the man is 63 years old and does the Insanity workout, plus participates in triathalons, etc). It really woke me up to the difference that fitness can make in your life and health. I'm determined to be around to watch my kids grow up and have children of their own, and be around long enough to form bonds with those children. I do not currently have a scale/measuring tape, that that will be rectified tomorrow after a quick run to the store. At some point during this challenge I will also be picking up some dumbbells. Starting Stats: STR: 2 DEX: 3 STA: 2 CON: 3 WIS: 3 CHA: 2 GOALS: 1. By the end of the challenge be able to do the Angry Birds workout with regular ground push ups. Reward: 3 STR, 2 DEX 2. Run/Jog one mile without stopping to walk. Reward: 3 STA 3. Stay on track Paleo-wise with no more than 1 "cheat" day per week. Reward: 2 CON, 1 WIS Life Goal: Earn no less than $150 per week in my at-home writing business. Rewards: 2 WIS, 2 CHA So there we have it! I'm pumped up and ready to go.

Thanks very much!

I see many people on here with their "stats" - Cha, Wis, Dex, Str, Int, etc. posted in their signature. How do you figure out what to put for those?

Yes! My family absolutely loves 2 things - Bacon and egg "muffins" (cook your bacon until it's just below crisp, then break up and put into muffin tins. Pour raw scrambled egg over it an bake in the oven), and sausage and peppers (saute some garlic and onion in some olive oil until translucent, add mild Italian sausage {removed from the casing} and brown, then add red, green, and orange bell peppers and cook until the peppers are just beginning to soften, but still crisp. Making the switch hasn't been nearly as hard as I thought it would be, after I realized I didn't have to limit myself to certain foods at certain times of day. We now often have eggs and bacon for lunch or dinner, and I'll often eat dinner leftovers for breakfast. I will say that feeling better doesn't happen instantly. For about the first week or so you might get the "low carb flu" (headaches and general ickiness as your body detoxes and switches to a fat burning mode), but it passes fairly quickly. Mine was worse because I gave up soda at the same time that I went paleo/primal.