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Hello, fellow Rebels! I'm Beth, 28, stay-at-home mom of 3. My Husbeast is in the Army, so we move around a lot, but I'm currently on the East coast. My struggle with my weight has been there for as long as I can remember, and adding 3 pregnancies on top of it hasn't helped matters much. However, it feels like I am finally in a spot to change my life for the better - permanently. I joined a gym at the end of April and a few weeks ago started working with a personal trainer twice a week. On the nerdy front, I'm a HUGE Whovian (10's my fave so far, and I worship River Song) and Potterhead (Go, go, Gryffindor!). I curse Fox for ever cancelling Firefly. Reading has always been my favorite thing to do, and I love learning new things. When interested in something new, I get a bit obsessive and have to learn ALL THE THINGS immediately. Unfortunately, this leads to burn out rather quickly and has affected my fitness journey. So, hi!

Greetings from Adelaide, Australia! My name is Em and I'm new to the rebellion. I made a new years resolution at the beginning of this year to get fit for a couple of reasons. In 2012 my Dad, who is overweight like me got diagnosed with diabetes and high blood pressure. I don't really want to go there. I'm starting to get a few health problems of my own from being overweight I miss punching things and I want my black belt. I got to brown belt black tip in Taekwondo but I had to give it up for a year, and haven't been able to get back into it.(I tried, but the fitness gap at the brown belt level killed me). I hit triple digits on my scales (metric triple digits) just after Christmas and I nearly died of shame.I've been overweight since I started high school. I've tried lots of things to get the weight off since I left uni, but nothing took. I did Taekwondo for quite a while. It kept the weight down and got me fitter, but didn't knock it off (that probably had something to do with the 2-4 cans of high caffeine energy drinks I was drinking every day). About a year and a half ago my body and mind went into meltdown (mostly because of all the Red Bull) and I stopped drinking energy drinks but I also stopped Taekwondo at the same time. The weight started to creep up again. I bought a house about 6 months ago, and I started to eat more junk and buy my meals from the work cafeteria. My weight started to creep faster. I hit 100 kg and said ENOUGH. So, why is it going to work this time? I got me a buddy in the same situation. We got a gym memberships at the same gym and we're equal parts encouraging and competing.I'm not just dieting or exercising, I'm trying to build healthy eating habits and make exercise part of my routine.My exercise plan is a mix of cardio and strength (if anything, it probably leans towards strength, because I'm enjoying it more)I'm getting my nerd on! I've got an engineering degree, and I work as a computer programmer, but I never have approached getting healthy like I approach a problem at work! Research, plan, execute! Stick to the plan unless it's clearly not working! Measure and report your progress! A old school friend put me onto this site and it's now my first port of call for fitness info.Its taken a while, but I'm starting to see some gains. I know I'm getting stronger, because my spreadsheet tells me so. I know my cardio is getting better, because I can run further on the treadmill in 10 minutes than I could at the beginning of the year, and I feel like I'm recovering faster. I'm just starting to see the weight move too. My greatest enemy will probably be my diet. I love food, and at work I have quick and easy access to lots of bad foods. I also LOVE to bake, and I'm not too bad at it either. What do I bring to the table? Well, one thing I kind of got a bit obsessed with when I got sick was gardening. Once you get going, it can be a super cheap way to get super fresh veggies! Nothing more fresh than picking it straight off the plant. I'm still trying to get my garden in my new house setup (My garden is typical northern suburbs CLAY, and the previous owners let the garden go), but that process itself may be a story worth telling.

Greetings from Wales, UK! I stumbled on to Nerd Fitness while doing a google search about body fat percentages and been hooked ever since. I've recently started working with a new personal trainer (who is awesome!) and educated me on body composition, so I was keen to check out more about body fat averages. Turns out this site is SO MUCH MORE than body fat! I am loving getting stuck in and ready to level up sir! I'm a dance teacher by trade and have danced myself since the age of 4, mainly ballet and contemporary dance (known as modern in the US). You'd think this would guarantee a perfect body right? WRONG! Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of benefits - posture, flexibility, co-ordination, lower body strength etc, but dance by nature is very start-stop, and if you combine this with an excessive calorie intake high in carbohydrates the body is not all that it could be! (Disclaimer - this is a unique situation, I am by no means saying dance is not good exercise!). This was what started me on my journey to level up my life, since years of dance have given me a considerable amount of muscle, especially in my lower body and core, but its all covered by unnecessary fat! I am happy to report that after a few weeks of training, my body fat percentage has dropped from 32% to 30% (my goal is to get to 20% at least), while my muscle has remained and even increased. Another of my goals is to increase my upper body strength, so I am loving the focus on strength training, and the Paleo diet advice. This carb-oholic is making the transition, and it's so much easier that I thought it would be! I'm not 100% Paleo yet, easing in, but the eggs, bacon, chicken and tons of vegetables have been cooking away! Feeling so much better for it.I have also started rowing as part of my training, with promising 100m sprint times (19.2 seconds is my fastest so far but I know I can get that down!). I am thinking of joining a local rowing club to see if I could be any good at it, so watch this space! I knew my long legs would come in handy - would have told my 11 year old self this when she was all insecure about being taller than all the boys in her year at school So to sum up, goals are: -Body fat percentage down to 20% -Get wicked strong, with the goal of completing a pull up -Get my 100m row sprints down to 17 seconds This site has already given me so much knowledge and enjoyment, thank you Steve and the team! Looking forward to taking the next step and interacting with all you lovely Nerd fitness peeps! -Emily

Hello NF peeps, I thought that I'd drop a line and introduce myself. My name is Steve, I am on a path to change my body but more importantly to change my way of eating and my view on health and fitness. I have been uber lazy and let all types of junk food and beer go into my body, I hope that hearing all of the rad success stories from you all keeps me motivated and informed on the right way of life. Chat soon! Stevo

Hiya Nerd Fitness *waves*, Story: I'm 25, and working in industry as an electrical engineer. I am a lifelong self-described nerd, and always proud of this :-) Firefly, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica, Star Wars, Final Fantasy... the list goes on (my favorite video game of all time is far and away Chrono Trigger; I could talk your ear off about it if you give me the opportunity :-P) As far as physical fitness and nutrition goes, I've actually been at it for some time. I gained a considerable amount of weight in college (curse you all-you-can-eat dining halls!), which brought me from 180 pounds up to 210 pounds for a time. At the beginning of 2012, I set a resolution to reincorporate exercise into my daily life, working out 4 or more times a week. My will was strong, and I largely stuck to it (with the exception of a ~2 month hiatus in May in which I knocked out my last set of finals for grad school and transitioned to my first full time job). I was undeterred by this setback, though, and continued on for the rest of the year. The results were promising: I went from being able to run about 1.2 miles continuous to 5.6, dropped from 210 pounds down to the 190-200 range, where I held stable most of the year. I adopted the hundred pushups program in July and worked at that over the course of 2 separate 7 week periods until February 2013, and developed some noticeable upper body strength for probably the first time in my life. I renewed my commitment to fitness in 2013: I've done a great job working out 4-6 times a week every week this year (so far). I'm joining and reading Nerd Fitness because I've had a taste of the benefits of physical fitness in life, and wish to push this further. I'm inspired by the impressive stories and physical conditions of the Nerd Fitness heroes, and aspire to count myself among them. Furthermore, life post college can be a tad solitary, and it is my hope to meet many of you, online or perhaps even in person, and feel connected to other human beings. Battle Plans: With regards to strength, I've begun working through the Beginner Bodyweight fitness routine. I plan to continue this routine every other day for 6-12 weeks, increasing the difficulty as I go. At that point, I plan to 'level up' to the advanced routine for 6-12 more weeks, and then begin more advanced strength training with freeweights. With regards to cardio/endurance, I've reached the level where I can comfortably run 5k distances without stopping. I plan to try 1 or 2 5k races, and then move on/continue to 10k training. I plan to run one or more 10k races this year, and would potentially love to push to being able to run a half marathon sometime in the fall. Regarding other stuff, I plan to begin hiking and developing backpacking skills this year, in preparation for an epic adventure I intend to take next year. In addition, I'm an inventor in my non-work hours, and I plan to work myself out of complacency and begin my freetime invention craft/hobby/trade anew. What I'm Bringing to the Table: I spoiled it a little in my battle plans section, but I enjoy inventing in my freetime. I know much about circuits, 3d printing, and more, and even ran a prototyping business/electronics website for a little while during my college years. I'm hear to learn, inspire, and help, in any way I can :-) Can't wait to meet all of you :-)

Hello and salutations to whoever reads these things! To follow the old cliche, I never know that to write in these self-summaries. I'm excited to see what life brings. Sometimes I'm afraid I'm turning into a hipster. I can hit a hackey sack about 3 times before it hits the ground or my face, and I have been known to dance with the mop when I'm cleaning the kitchen. It turns out mops are only slightly worse at dancing than I am. I have a rather massive collection of novelty T-shirts. Like, around a hundred. Paradoxically, I own like 5 pairs of pants and one pair of shoes. My eventual goal is to have a shirt for every mood and situation. And eventually world domination. I'm not sure if its possible to conquer the world with a T-shirt collection, but I think it is worth trying. I've been reading up on the paleo lifestyle, and it's gotten me rather hyped up. I must have read every single success story on the internet, and I'm ready to take the plunge. I can't really say I've ever had a truly serious foray into the weight-loss circuit, so I've not really had any failed attempts. Oh sure, I dabbled in Atkins a bit and lost maybe ten pounds - but that was more solidarity for kin than a serious attempt. All I know is I'd always been a chubby kid, then blossomed into a chubby adult, and am now dangerously close to hitting that 300 mark. I've managed to stay not-quite-blissfully ignorant of my escalating weight mostly for the fact that I am 6'3" and am descended from Scottish, German, and Russian stock (the big boned hairy ones!) There is only so much moob that denial can psha-away though. So at 290 pounds, I've decided enough is enough. I'm about to move into a new place, and it shall become my cocoon. Hopefully, given enough of my effort, I'll emerge as a beautiful, muscular, energetic butterfly - instead of a lazy moth flitting so annoyingly in front of someone's porch light. This seems like an amazing community, and while I'm not cripplingly self conscious or anything, it will be nice to have a community of like-minded awesomepants to speak with! I'm tired of my life being on hold because I'm not comfortable in my skin! Bring it on! *edit* I forgot to do my whole nerdy bit! Well, I've owned every console since the 2600, though I currently eschew them all for my PC. My favorite games have always been RPGs (chrono trigger, FFVI, and SMRPG are some of the finest games of all time.) I love science and learning new things, and am currently a Botany major (chem minor) It's taken me forever to get through school, as I only just got my associates at 25. I paid for it all out of pocket though, along with medical bills and whatever life threw at my way, so I'm not too sad about it. I love Archer, Arrested Development, Futurama (I have a planet express decal on my car) Firefly (my car's name is "Serenity" and she has that emblazoned on her rear window for all to see. Since it's winter and snowy, I can even pull off a ground-based crazy ivan!) and...a zillion more likes. The games I'm currently looking forward to the most are Planetary Annihilation and Star Citizen (I love space, yeah.) P.S. Yes, this was written in comic sans. Boo ya

Hello! This is an intro post, and a pretty long-winded one at that. I'm Skilde; a not very healthy Adventurer whose non-fitness motivations are EveOnline, Minecraft, and learning how to crochet. Been overweight all my life, recently peer pressure has prompted me to really get my act together. I’ve known what I should be doing for a while, but haven’t put forth the effort to reap any benefits. I look up to the Primal Lifestyle outlined on Mark’s Daily Apple, love the book Brain Over Brawn, and really appreciate the community that Nerd Fitness offers. I have a Fitbit to increase my overall activity level and I’m participating in a challenge on the Fitbit forums to loose 50lbs. I’m putting this out here as a way of being accountable to myself. I have some 2013 goals to look forward to. Monthly January Remove sugar(fake and real) from my drinks. No crystal light, or tons of sugar in my tea.February Put $200 into my savings account every month.March Find a way to locally source all of my meat and dairy.April Pay all money owed to the IRS. –OR– Put 100% of the refund into my savings account.May Keep up with my guy friends/roommates when we move apartments. Heavy boxes/furniture RAWR! –OR– If we don’t move, buy some vibrams and start up a Couch-to-5k.June Learn to ride my bike.July Change my basic workout plan over to the Primal Blueprint Workout ScheduleAugust 90% of the time hit my Fitbit daily goals. 10k Steps, and 15 FloorsSeptember Enter a crochet item into the Desert Bus Craft-A-Long.October Do not ask for, or need my Mother's financial assistance when purchasing family XMas presents. While still maintaining outlined financial goals (ex. February's goal). I am a grown woman.November ???December Profit! (hidden goal) Year 2013 Overall Complete my Fitbit 50lbs ChallengeParticipate in a Nerd Fitness ChallengeFigure out what my LVL 50 is & choose a forever classAcquire a new job that not only offers paid benefits; it also pays a comfortable wage for the Northern Virginia area, and doesn't require a 2hr+ commute. I'm hopeful that most or all of these goals will be attainable for me in 2013. I the job one will be the most difficult, I'm working on it though. I have lots of peer support for the fitness related goals, and I'm HIGHLY motivated toward the financial goals. Thanks for reading, I look forward to a productive year for all of us, Skilde