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Hi, Been looking at NF for a couple of years (I know!), finally decided to take the plunge and see what its all about. Basically, never had much success or staying power with exercise, have been going to the gym on and off for a couple of months and want to try and focus now. I'm really interested in trying out lifting, rather than my normal (unsuccessful) attempts at running etc. Just completed my benchmarking and started looking at the workouts, but am a bit confused. I'm starting at Bodyweight Workout 2A, which is great - I'm not quite at the bottom! I don't really know how to plan these workouts, how often I should be doing them before levelling up, how to mark them as completed etc. Any help would be appreciated. In the past, I've always tried to have very rigid workout regimes as I'm rubbish if left to my own devices, but these inevitably fail when I miss one as it breaks my routine. I know I need to look at this far more flexibly but not really sure how/where to start, so am just copying my wife's workout at the moment. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks all!

I've printed off my own copy of the worksheet for the 4-week challenge starting...Now? Next week? The one after Feb 4th..... Do we just say, "Hey, I also am Doing The Thing" and post accordingly? Or is there more to it than that?

I've printed off my own copy of the worksheet for the 4-week challenge starting...Now? Next week? The one after Feb 4th..... Do we just say, "Hey, I also am Doing The Thing" and post accordingly? Or is there more to it than that?

Hey guys, I'll keep this short because I wrote up a full topic about myself yesterday which can be found below but to be completely honest I am starting to get overwhelmed. I feel like I am on my way but it could be improved and I am missing things. I want to be confident with what I am doing. I am feeling very motivated at the moment to a point that I haven't felt before and I want to take advantage of it. I don't currently work and want to dedicate the necessary time to achieving my goals. If anyone could take some time to really show me the way and get me going i'll be fine from there. What I really need is a fitness partner even if it's just online. Thanks, Leverage.

Hey guys, I am brand new and I feel in over my head. Is the layout 100% forum formatted? Or am I missing something? I am just confused on how to navigate. Intro: What up guys I am a university student that used to be a gym rat and then joined the navy and started to hate working out while serving. I like to think it was the crazy long hours, so I just lost all motivation to do anything except sleep and drink beer in my off time. Since getting out I have not worked out a single day. Ive been out for a year and a half now. Anyway, I recently saw the new Warcraft movie (WHICH WAS AWESOME BTW) and I kept thinking to myself I used to look like an Orc. For anyone that doesnt know Orcs are beefcakes. Super muscular and not the lean type of muscular but Atlas strongest man competition muscular. I would like to restore myself to my previous glory and have fun doing it. When I heard about this community I got super excited and immediately looked into it. Could someone please tell me where to start?

Hey! I'm new here . I'm so confused with the diet that this community follows. I've tried eating clean and I can do that but I also had to many "cheat" days So how do I start off? what am I can I eat in compared to what I can't? I tried to google some answer but really it's just confusing me even more... C x

Hello everyone! I stumbled upon Nerd Fitness only yesterday and have been reading articles and poking around. I love the site! I have thought about joining the Nerd Fitness Academy, but do not know if it would be right for me. I am a disabled veteran, and as such it is a struggle to figure out how to keep fit & active with my injury. Anyway, in the mean time, I was trying to figure out how to become a part of the community here. I saw the 6-week challenge that started only yesterday and would love to participate, but to be hoenst, I am pretty overwhelmed by all of the information in the forums. Where/how do I start? I read the info on the 6-week challenge post, but I am kind of confused. Would anyone be willing to help a totally newbie learn the ropes and start her adventure?! :-D Thanks to everyone who read & replied!!

Thanks for clicking! Time to roll the dice! MAIN GOAL: Turn my flab into muscle, and regain my healthy body from the best timeline - a.k.a. years ago. (Bonus goal: Don't die at 42) SPECIFIC GOALS: 1) Complete online 16-minute workout 4 times per week (Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday) 2) Avoid bad foods: Limit pasta, pizza, bread, etc to one day a week, and limit alcohol consumption to one binge night and three casual drinks per week 3) Spend 40% of Netflix and sports-streaming time moving around or exercising, either doing pushups, squats, or cooking healthy stuff SIDE QUEST: Get through that exhausting heap of envelopes of bills and errands and forms that is piling up on my desk MOTIVATION: I'm entering my peak mate-finding years. I will have more and better options if I am in peak condition! I have no idea how this all works, but good luck to you! What do we say to death? Not today!** **or for the next 60-something years

I post an introduction when I first registered for the site, but that was months ago but I didn't seem to have the drive to do anything until now. I think part of that was because I had the money to go super grocery shopping. So here's a little about myself: - 28 y/o - Female - married - Pittsburgh, PA - 5'1" 157# - work F/T in the retail setting, go to school F/T - working on a BA in Liberal Studies, then hopefully a MA in School Counseling. - Size 10/12, would like fit into a size 6. - I realize a 'weight goal' isn't a good idea since I will hopefully be building muscle. - would like to get toned, lose a little belly flab, slim my upper arms (I have "bingo arms") and definitely tone/slim my legs and thighs. - They are large, and always have been. - I can go to the gym 2x a week, Tues/Thurs, while I am on campus. I realize this isn't a lot. - Hopefully I can be full paleo within a month. Feel free to ask any questions, I'll answer pretty much anything. Any advice is more than welcome, too. ~Reanna

To be perfectly honest, I had never heard of TDEE before this morning. After doing some research, I found out that it stands for "Total Daily Energy Expenditure", and is a gage of how many calories your body needs to function based on numerous factors (activity level, age, weight, etc). Subtracting a percentage of that (10-20%) will result in weight loss! Magic! Hooray! Ok, obviously it's not quite that simple, but it seemed like TDEE would be a good gauge for a target calorie consumption. So I ran my numbers and ended up with.... 2,610??? Through some trial and error, I've found that 1800-2000 calories results in good losses for me, though to be fair, that's largely in comparison with the 1500 area. I've never tried keeping track of calories and consuming 2600 in a day... A few factors: I am about 100 pounds overweight, tall, and young. So yes, obviously, I will need more calories than a 120 lb girl who is 5'4". Cuz, you know... Science. But 2600? That would be a 20% deficit from my "maintaining weight" target. Does that seem right? If so, am I way under-eating?

Here's the deal: I hate how my life is going. I'm sure there are millions of people that could say the same thing, and I sympathize with each and every one of them. I'm at a loss. My life is so far off track that I don't know how to begin putting it back together. But, I've made some improvements recently. 1.) I finally got my GED! At the age of 24, I finally fixed my biggest regret! And, I scored high enough for a scholarship! I start at the end of January. 2.) I'm slowly but surely overcoming my depression, co-dependency, caretaker burnout, and general anxiety. It's nice not to be scared of literally everything that 'could' possibly happen! 3.) I'm drinking way, WAY less soda, and much more water! I feel good. But, I'm ready to take it up a notch! I'm ready to achieve great things, both academically and physically. My whole family is overweight, and I don't want to be another one to say it's 'genetics'. All that is, is an excuse. I'm 24, married, mother of two, and I'm my heaviest at 210 lbs. I'm only 5 foot 2, so -needless to say- I am NOT a pretty picture. I'm a stress eater, and as a wife, mom, and caretaker, stress IS my LIFE. But, I'm learning to handle stress without stuffing my face with every comfort food in sight. And, I'm ready to get physical! I need a workout plan, but I don't know where to start. I do know I love to walk and jog. It kills me, but I love that burn. I'm in the process of finding a gym, now I just need to know what to lift and how many times. I'm clueless lol. Somebody help!

I am a newbie. I started crossfit and paleo about a month ago. I am still learning new things everyday. I dont know if this is a stupid question, but here it goes. What are macros? I hear people talking about it all the time, and it confuses me. Can someone help me understand this?

I'm a complete beginner and after losing 8kg recently, will be stepping into my local gym for the first time at the start of September. I expect for the first couple of weeks to do some cardio and get used to my surroundings until I feel comfortable. I've planned that once I am comfortable, i'll follow the article on how to build your own workout routine (http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/15/how-to-build-your-own-workout-routine/) and that will start my progress off until I find things that are more suitable for me? I am massively interested in following the paleo diet and would eventually like to make that transition. I have no idea which way to go in terms of what I should be eating? My diet at the moment is relatively healthy in terms of meals. I eat a lot of veg and try not to eat a lot of pasta/carbs. I eat mainly white meat and fish but also enjoy bacon every few days haha. At the moment I don't eat bread of rice as I feel that it bloats me and makes me put lbs back on. I eat too many sweets and artificial sweetners at the moment but am slowly cutting them out as I type, but don't feel as though this will be a problem. My aim really is to lower my body fat %, lose some more weight/get smaller, but also put on some muscle and look lean and tight. I keep reading about calorie surplus and deficit etc. but as much as I read I don't have a clue what I should be doing. I know I shouldn't compare but I have a favourite lady that I like to look up to at the moment, and in essence this is what i'm aiming for - http://instagram.com/moietys Any help? Katie x

Hi everyone! I've been doing the Rebel Fitness Guide (Basic Training) for about 5 weeks now and am on Level One: Rookie. I've recently rejoined the gym near me because I needed to up the weights and a lot of the time, I feel I work harder in the gym because there are more people there. Now, I'm not VERY unfit, and do feel at the end of these workouts I could go further. I'm VERY keen to start yoga and I'm quite tempted to start spin classes again, which is something I used to do before I gained the weight back that I'd lost a couple of years ago. Now, I do my rebel routine on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, and do half an hour of cardio on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. My question is this: If I were to attend yoga on the same day as one of my rebel workouts, is that doing too much in one day? Also, if I do a half hour spin class (sometimes a 45 minute spin class) on the same day as one of my rebel workouts, is that too much? With regards to spin, I'm conscious that Steve will have me running intervals when I get to level 2 of this workout, and know for a fact that too much leg work will mean I'm too sore to do the squats (etc) in my workouts, and I've felt so much stronger since starting that I don't want to do anything that will detract from the progress I've made. I don't want to half-ass a lift day because I did too much sprinting and spinning. Has anyone ever swapped the running intervals for something similar to a spin class? On a side note, does anybody do yoga at home? Are there any DVDs anybody can recommend that would enable me to simply do yoga at home without having to worry about there only being 2 days in the week I can attend a class? (Work and University commitments make it difficult to attend the ones during the day). I feel that yoga is the key component here, because I suffer from lower back pain, something which I know yoga is good for because it helps you get stronger (and leaner, which is great). My main question, essentially, is how much is too much? I apologize if this is all over the place and seems like a simple question, but I know that you all have tonnes of experience and would love to hear back from you with advice on how to proceed! Thank you for reading! PD X

Hi All, I’m eating about 70% paleo, little bit of wine and dark chocolate, occasional bit of rice and greek yogurt. Mostly meats, salads, nuts ect ect. I’m still counting calories just because I want to make sure I’m not eating too much, or too little. I’m doing it for the 6 week challenge and then plan to only to it occasionally just to keep me on track. I don’t know how much I should be eating, I’m 175 cm and 63kg. Skinny fat. Trying to put on muscle and lose the fat. So trying to eat enough to gain muscle but still tiny deficit to lose the fat. I’ve been using the tracker app on my phone and when I add my weight and height it gives me two options 1570 calories or 1820 a week and I’m not sure which I’m meant to be eating? I did try googling it but every website seems to have a different number, from 1200 − 2500 and I’m confused. If its any help, I work out 3-4 days a week, usually strength - just starting so basic moves (deadliest, squats ) but a very low weights (30kgs for squats and deadlifts, 15-20kg for bench but I started out less than that and plan to move up next work out ). Would love some advice on how much to eat. Also I workout after work (I start work at 7am half an hour away from home and the gym doesn’t open early enough for me to go in the morning) and the gym is right near my work so I eat about 30 minutes to an hour. What should I eat? I was eating greek yogurt and nuts but I want to cut out the yogurt so what should I eat? After I eat a can of tuna (15g of protein and some sweet potato or some meat - chicken before going home) I don’t want to do protein shakes. I want real food. Can you guys suggest what I should eat before a workout? I’m trying to cut out sugar but I just realised that a lot of veggies have sugar in them….cherry tomatoes for example. Is that counted or is it fine because its from veggies? Thanks in advance xxxx