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Hi all, I'm Beki, I'm new & I'm flabby. I've managed to start the beginner strength training workout - keeping it realistic at 1 cycle this week so as to not overdo it. Baby steps onto the bus, Bob... I'm researching the Paleo, as I think it would be very good for me (my body doesn't seem to like sugar anyway), but that's going to be step 2, as I'm no cook & need to get my head around it. But soon... Anyway, looking forward to the journey - cuz those "before" pics I took yesterday aren't pretty! , Beki

Greetings and salutations! I stumbled across this site by way of a friend by way of a friend and am finding it awesome and exactly what I need! As for me, I am of the female variety, currently 39 years, and live in sunny Brisbane, Australia. I'm a big gamer type, RPGs mainly both video and tabletop. I'd love to be able to cosplay, but alas that's not a done thing when one isn't thin and hot. And I haven't been thin and/or fit since I was a child. So, I've recently started a weight loss program and have lost nearly 9 kilos in 9 weeks, which I'm pretty happy about, and which has dropped me back into double digits where I don't think I've been for about 10 years or so. However I'm finding the exercising side of things boring and difficult, so was looking for something else to do, and here we are! And from the information on the site I've started looking into Paleo, which looks good. I've already cut out all sugar and soft drink from my diet. The bread will be a hard one to let go of, though... My goals are to get back to about 65kg and a size 12-14 and basically just to be happy with myself and not be disgusted when I catch a glimpse in the mirror. Also to rock a Commander Shepard outfit So, hi and thanks!

Helloooooo It looks like these intro logs get read so I will do a little spiel I guess I am 'GirlIN' .. Its one of the three usernames I use all over the World Wide Web. I am currently 22years old, I am a born and bred Australian, lived on the east coast and central, including at Uluru I was active growing up, but got injured then gained alot of weight. I have lost the weight, but only got serious about exercise last year. I currently lift weights and play women's soccer. I recently started to focus on a primal diet. I'm not to sure how 'nerdy' I am lol but you can test me I guess! I love finding fitness communities but it can be a struggle to find nice ones (in my experience) I'm on Tumblr, Fitocracy, myfitnesspal kik etc if anyone is interested chatting / following in those places. My goal is just to be healthy and strong. I really recommend fitocracy to turn your real life workouts into Levelling up games, you can duel others and join groups. My username is GirlIN on there too, let me know of you join! Its free! (Unless you are a hero)

I'm about to be 31. Married for almost 6 months now. This is a portion of the email I sent to Steve that describes my situation pretty well. I'm struggling with Maintaing resolve long enough to start to see results. I definitely have entrenched myself in poor patterns of eating and sedentarity(which should be a word, dangit) that my body works hard to keep me fatter than I need to be. 1900 calorie diet, exercise 3x a week for a month. 3 lbs gained and zero inches lost. That's discouraging, but I know my only option is to double down on my efforts and plans. But, I just plain have to make a change. I owe it to my wife who lost her dad at 16 and had to watch her mom struggle to continue without her partner. My amazing and beautiful wife doesn't deserve for me to leave her in a similar way, especially due to my own insipid habits and gluttonies. THIS WILL NOT HAPPEN. Today I'm 277 lbs and at 5'9" I should be around 200 or even less, really. But it's not the pounds as much as the lifestyle. I want to canoe. I want to snorkel with my wife. I want us to kayak together, to rock climb together. to win a local doubles tennis match. I don't want to sweat just getting upstairs to our condo. So, here I go. My plan at the moment. - Switch to a "light" Paleo diet (killing carbs and unnatural sugars) during the week. Still keeping that to a net 1800 calories a day.- Doing some kind of exercise for 45 minutes a day (rowing, weights, elliptical, switching it up), monday through friday.- Doing something fun and active every saturday (Tennis, racquetball, hiking, basketball, etc). All while keeping a freakin' beastmode of a positive attitude about it, all. Let's do this.

Hi! My name is Brittany, and I am a nerd about healing. I'm an incest survivor, and have basically been "leveling up" my life for the last 8 years. I'm finally ready to go out into the wide, wide, world and live! YAY! I'd really like to be able to do that as the sexy, confident woman I know I can be. Namely, I move to Puerto Rico in about a month and a half, and I want to be in a bikini before I leave that island. I'll be living there for one year starting in mid/late August. I'm gonna be broke, jobless, and working with my partner/boyfriend. It is gonna be...something. lol But at the very least, it will be an adventure! I am documenting all my madness online, and am hoping Nerd Fitness will be a cornerstone in my process over the next few years. Can't wait to get to know everyone better! :-) -Brit

Hello out there, I know I'm a day late for the rest of the world but this is my Monday night so I'm still counting it. Night shift has to be good for something. I work at a midstream oil and gas plant, which means I work 12 hour shifts alternating back and forth between days and nights. I would like to say these are going to be the most challenging days but I do much better at drinking said water on work days but study less. The walking is hit and miss but I would like to figure out how much I currently walk and how much more I need to hit the 10,000 steps. Goals 1- Study and prep for my final exam in Power Engineering 4th Class -I have to wait for a response but I have this booked to write July 16th, the last day of the challenge. Still waiting, seems I missed a page so now waiting on my cheif to fill it out in the am and send it to me so I can request my exam. This is going well already! A- Studied at least one chapter every day and passed my exam. B- Studied five chapters or more over the course of a week. C- Studied six chapters or more over the course of two weeks. Every exam I’ve written in the past six years has been a passing rate of 70% or higher so I don’t have the option of lower than a C. I don’t hit this point. I failed. 2- Walk 10,000 steps every day -Buy a pedometer and use it, let's get my walking up and the move on to the 5k challenge! A- Walked 10,000 steps every day. B- Walked 8,000 steps every day. C- Walked 7,000 steps every day. 3- Drink at least 3- 32oz bottles of water a day and eat two meals completely paleo -I don't drink nearly enough water A- 3 bottles of water drank, two meals paleo. B- 3 bottles of water and one meal paleo or two bottles of water and two meals paleo. C- 2 bottles of water and one paleo meal. 4- Post to this thread on a regular basis. -I have a hard time following through with these challenges since I tend to have a rather insane schedule at the best of times so this is going to be a very important fitness goal for me. Mental fitness and following through! That and I never know what to write, I mean really who wants to read about my life. Which is humorous because I’m part of a online journal and quite enjoy reading up on what else everyone is doing… A- Post to NF at least four times a week and twice to LJ B- Post to NF at least three times a week and once to LJ C- Post to NF at least two times a week

Hello, I just registered because I've been lurking on this site a lot and really enjoy it, I agree almost 100% with the authors, and I'm a huge nerd, so I felt the need to finally join. I'm a U.S. Army Infantryman and I'm a dedicated CrossFitter and eat paleo. My goal now is to cut a little more fat, and my longterm goal is to compete in the annual CrossFit games. As for the nerd side of me, well, I am a fan of almost every genre so I have a hard time playing every game I want. I was really into WoW, but now I am eagerly awaiting Elder Scrolls Online and trying to go through my video game backlog (going through the Crysis series right now, then Cthulhu Saves the World...).

Hey. So, I'm a 29 year old training for the firefighter test in August. I've passed the test before but it's been awhileee. I'm no stranger to the gym but, within the last month, I added strength training and love it. I'm still clueless in regard to specific weight workouts so I'm working with a trainer until I feel more comfortable. So far, so good. Just wanted to say hi & feel free to add me. I'm a nerd at heart. -Kelly

Hello everyone! I am pleased to join this online community of fitness and health nerds! I'm also terrible at these kind of introductions. I'm Bryan, 27, and probably 6'2" and about 270lbs at the moment (was 280, so that's a plus, well, a minus technically). I have spent the last year and a half boxing, doing interval training and running.Getting slowly back into tennis and basketball, although I'm pretty terrible at them. I'm definitely a comedy/ music nerd. I listen to too many podcasts and improving with some friends is some of the most fun I can have. I also have no idea what to put in this little text box so I am going to wrap it up. For your sake as much as my own. Let's be friends, stay in touch, help each other out and other uplifting, completley normal things. Thanks for having me!

I'm falconer007. I've been a falconer for almost 4 years now, enjoy hunting rabbits with my red tail hawk, as well as training education birds, designing, and leading raptor conservation programs. I've lost 20lbs in the past 2.5 months, and am feeling so much better, that I want to keep going, (or at least stay where I am). I want to lose weight so that I can race my bird to the bunnies, keep flushing out prey at a reasonable speed so she stays interested in hunting with me, and increase my stamina so that I can help with group hunts. Goals: Swimming laps/water aerobics at least once a week (I was severely depressed, then working in AK, so have't been in a pool since Oct)Walk 35k a week (five days)drink 64 oz of water daily1 day a month of juice fasting I'm kicking off my 6 weeks with a 5k mud obstacle course (Rugged Maniac)- walking it. And to keep up with my goal, I have an excel sheet on my phone, a 32 oz water bottle next to my bed (can at least empty it when wake up/go to bed), a packed gym bag in my car, and mp3 player living with my walking shoes and camera (since I like taking nature pictures).

I have been signed up to receive email updates from NF since August last year and have come on board for the new 6 week challenge. I guess that I have added about 20% to my body weight over the past 15 years. I was always a slim/skinny kid and went into carpentry straight out of school and as such maintained a relatively fit physique for someone who drank smoked and didn't spend a lot of time at the gym. It has been a steady gain due in part to taking a more sedentary job, laziness, going onto certain medications, giving up smoking and just generally being inactive. My wife gave birth to an amazing, beautiful daughter last May and I had managed to gain about 8kg's over the course of the pregnancy! I had heard of that happening before but never believed it. Well the weight gain didn't stop until July 1 last year when I decided that 103.3kg's was as far as I was willing to let myself slip. I found a few online resources which I used to get myself back on track and in early April I was weighing in at 93.7kg's. Since then i have slipped back to 97kg's which is why when I got the email relating to the 6 week challenge I thought that it would suit me perfectly at this time. I'm from Melbourne, Australia 40 years old 172 cm 97 kg

Good afternoon everyone! I have been poking around on Nerd Fitness for some time, telling myself "you should just dive in" but so far have not done more than say that. Today,I decided the only way I am going to do it is do it. So here I am. A little about myself. I am 40, married, have 3 cat-children and work at a desk job for 8ish hours a day that makes me want to bash my head against the wall. Unfortunately, my method of dealing with stress and frustration is no beuno. I eat. And I hide what and that I eat, because I know I should not do it. My relationship with food had been kinda messed up. But that was the past, and I am pulling out a clean character sheet and getting ready to roll my four d6's six times. I have a long way to go starting down here as a 1st level new healthy, fit, joyful me. I have many obstacles, dungeon crawls, enemies to defeat. One is myself. So far in my life, I have created lofty goals and expected myself to be perfect, and when I have slipped, I gave up. I had an all or nothing attitude. That obviously has not been getting me anywhere good. Two is my own laziness and self created physical issues (my weight has caused me to have lower back and knee issues). I get home from work, and plop on the sofa, watch TV and mess around on the internet. I know that I should get on the treadmill, work out, something..but.... Three is my lack of support. My husband verbally says he will support me, but he does the opposite in order to make my life easier at that moment. I don't have a normal social life, so I don't have friends that I can lean on. I have had a couple that have said they would help, but then.... So, here I am. I have my pencil, a good eraser for making positive changes to my character, a pristine character sheet and my lucky dice.

Hi Everyone. A good friend referred me to NerdFitness and I'm stoked to be here. Here's my story. Two years ago I competed in my first triathlon and performed pretty well. I trained a lot, ate well, and loved the lifestyle. Since then, I got laid off and moved in with my parents. The stress of it all hit hard, and I ate whatever my folks served up (I love 'em, but home-cooked meals aren't exactly healthy). I started taking odd-jobs to pay the bills and had no routine at all, so no exercise. I've since put on some weight and can barely run a mile anymore. I'm sluggish, self-conscious, and downright tired of it. The good news is things are turning around. I've got a stable job and I'm moving into my own place next week. I'll set my own schedule, control my meals, and have a cardio center inside my apartment building (not much, but no excuses). What I'm looking for is the support to get started and to keep going. For my NF Character, I'm totally a scout. If it's about endurance, whether on flat land, in the hills, or in the water, I'm in. I'm still working on setting goals (any suggestions are welcome!!!). One outcome I want is to fit into the t-shirt I got from my first triathlon. I prefer bodyweight exercises, but I'm open to learning about weights too. Well, that's it for now. I look forward to becoming part of the community!

Hello, my name is Faervel. I'm a brand new member from Canada. I'm a mother, wife and photographer. I'm looking to push myself and change some really bad habits over the next six weeks. Would be a huge bonus if I could look good in a bikini by June 1. My weight is 148lbs My height is 5ft 5in I'm 22 years old. My goals are: 1) Cut out the crap . (+3 CON) I'm a junk foodaholic. I can't resist it if it's near me. Even if I'm eating really well I tend to overeat on crap. So, I need to eliminate it. No chocolate, no iced cream, no chips, no pop, no cake or cupcakes, really just limiting all the treats. I WILL be allowing myself 2 iced teas a week, frozen yogurt and popcorn as well as one cheat day per week. Not that I will be allowed to overindulge that day but just to curb the craving and desire. 2) Drink More Water (+2 CON) I really need to add more water to my diet so I will have a goal of 4 classes (500ml) of water each day. I will allow myself to count 1 cup of tea as water. 3) Lose 6-10 lbs or at least 2 inches in my waist (+2 STR +2 STA +1 DEX) I'm on the very tip of the normal scale and I just want to drop back down to more middle. Nothing fancy. I plan on achieving this by eating healthier meals, cutting the crap, doing my bodyweight workouts, going to bed earlier (not 2am or later) and adding more water to my day. I know it sounds like a lot all combined but it's not to me. I've been doing really good at eating better all year, been keeping up with my workouts, the crap and water are part of my other challenge. It's all just a matter of maintaining what I'm already doing but do tend to drop more than I would like. 4) Personal - ACE my glamour photography. (+3 WIS +2 CHA) I am currently adding a new genre of photography to my work and it's glamour. I am taking a course and I need to finish it, print everything off and make a pose binder to refer back to just before sessions, finish making my backdrops and cleaning out my space a bit better, and get some people in to actually practice this and have images for marketing. This also sounds like a lot but this is my job besides being a mom so this is what I put my time and effort into the most. Thanks for having me in the group, Would love to help encourage you all as well. We're in this together and I'm so excited to be part of a team working towards goals.

Approaching 2 years of no smoking and finding all my muscle groups again. I am pushing and finding myself through my old high school days of swimming and my 20's when I did vinyasa yoga. I peaked out from normal into the overweight side of life and that was motivation enough for me to back away from the computer and get back into a normal healthy life. I knew the day would come when eating anything any everything would take it toll and it was not till mid 30's that it hit, so glad to enjoy it while I could. My main goal is to get back to my 20's yoga weight by the end of summer and to cut my body fat down. Holding a handstand without a wall for 30 seconds would be nice or 2 minutes with a wall. Once there, get back into a gymnastics and be able to do back handsprings again and hopefully learn to do a routine on the rings. Trying the paleo diet and found it to make the most sense out of all other diets out there. The basics of it were always there in the back of my head, just never found the motivation to do anything about it or try. I am easing myself into it till Memorial Day and then going full throttle after I get to enjoy a solid BBQ kicking off summer. Seems to be working well already as just dropped a belt loop size for the first time in 5 years and damn does that feel good. Really dig the use of legos and other fun silly things used throughout the site. As a Yogi, the recent spiderman workout plan is great as I have been using a similar style throughout my day. Why sit down when you can do a wide legged strattle to do some work. Dropped something on the ground, so use a half moon pose to reach down and pick it up and stay down for a few extra seconds to get the core and legs working. If I ever find a way to integrate my favorite, the Bird of Paradise pose into daily life I will glady share, but don't think that one is going to happen anytime soon. Just glad to do what I can with breath to bring myself back into a healthy lifestyle. Namaste

Hi all! I am completey and totally new to the whole healthy lifestyle and exercise thing. Because, as my title says, I'm pretty damn lazy. But, I"m trying to change that and being a nerdy gamer type, this place seemed the best place to start!! I'm 36 years old mom of 3 (ages 12, 6 and 10 months.) I have never been what you'd call 'fit'. I've always been awkward, clumsy and self-concious of it. But, I wasn't what you'd consider fat until after the birth of my first daughter. Since then, I've been varying degrees of overweight/obese. About a month and a half ago I decided I was sick of being fat and feeling gross and crappy and started tracking calories and watching what I eat. Between Apr 9 and May 13 I've lost 9 lbs! But in that time, I've been 'collecting underpants' and now am ready to do Phase 2! Today was my first day doing the BBW and I could only do 1 full rep (knee pushups) but I figure it's a step in the right direction! I'm 5'9" and currently 232 lbs. As far as my nerdiness. I love MMO's and have been playing them off and on since 2001 (starting with Asheron's Call), most recently I was playing WoW under the same name. I also LOVE Doctor Who and Harry Potter and think that if all else fails, watch Star Wars. I'm hoping to find lots of info and encouragement here!!

Aloha, I'm Barefooted, a level1 Halfling. I am five foot, four inches and 153lbs of future Scout. I started this adventure in February at 165 and I am aiming for a healthy 140lbs. I just graduated to 4 miles on my long runs this week! My knees and ankles are aching :-) I'm still struggling to achieve my first, unassisted pull-up. It will happen. For my current goals I have: 1) Earn more WW activity points than weekly points that I eat. [+1CHA] 2) Run one long run (4 or more miles) and at least two short runs per week [+1 STA] 3) Back exercises at least twice a week (I'm coming for you, pull-up) [+1 STR] 4) Spend at least 16 hours/week on average building a workout app. [+1 WIS] What I'm doing: 1) Tracking my food and activity via WW. Working out three+ days a week. 2) I increase my long run by a mile every three weeks, so I'm on target here -- my level 25 goal is to run a half 3) Angry Birds workout. I'm not making near the progress with pull-ups that I wanted. I chose this goal to motivate me. 4) I've started an app to track my workouts. I'd like to submit it, once it's ready.

I stumbled upon Nerd Fitness by chance (well, by thinking, 'is there anywhere nerds to go for fitness advice?' and then googling "Nerd fitness"). Needless to say I haven't be disappointed. A little background: I'm a 29 year old nerd soon to be father of two (first is currently 2 years old and requires a ton of energy to keep up with). Over the course of my life I've only once struggled with weight, but have always struggled with unhealthy practices (overeating, constant snacking) and just being out of shape (no real energy to do things and no stamina when I do). Since coming here and discovering Paleo, I've decided to make a change in my diet for the better. The one time I struggled with weight was 2 and a half years ago, I weighed 220lbs and was constantly getting sick. I went to doctors and they couldn't figure out what was going on with me, ended up getting let go from the place I was working because I was just constantly in pain. Needless to say it became a fight for my life. My Wife (the genius in the household, it would seem) put 2 and 2 together early on and said it was my lactose intolerance coming back (which I hadn't had to deal with since before I was 5). Turns out she was right; We cut dairy out of my diet and I dropped 40lbs over the course of 6 months. I got a new job where I was constantly on my feet and kept it off for about 2 years. The Present: Now I work IT for a company and spend most of my time sitting at a desk. I've been there for 2 months and I've climbed back up to 200lbs. I was also either bringing in something unhealthy or ordering food everyday (and getting Starbucks every morning, I have had an unhealthy addiction to Starbucks). That stopped this past week, I am cooking something healthy every night and portioning it out so I'd have some for lunch the following day. I eat an Orange every morning (this has been going on for about a month now) and have incorporated a Lara Bar or Clif Bar as extra fuel if needed before lunch. I no longer drink any pop and pretty much have a glass of water on my desk constantly after the regular coffee I bring in from home every morning is gone. This week I started running almost daily after doing a quick warmup. Vibrams have helped me reform my running practices (I was a natural heel striker, which you feel every pound of in Vibrams). I've started out doing the 20min Hotel Workout and last night 3 starred all the level 1 Angry Birds workouts (except for planks, since they seemed a bit shaky; taking that one away from myself). The Nerd: As noted above, I played Everquest. I played A LOT of EQ. I was all about pushing myself to be one of the best on my server and being in a competitive high-end guild. Sleepless nights and 48 hour gaming sessions are not foreign to me (though something that is definitely in my past). When people started leaving EQ, I got on board with WoW. My wife, girlfriend at the time, joined in (up til we were done leveling our first characters), then I went back into focusing on being the best virtual Warrior I could be and getting into a high-end guild; Again I succeeded, but I was raiding 4-6 hours a night 6 days a week (this almost destroyed my relationship with my wife). Since, what I describe as the decline of World of Warcraft, I have sworn off those type of MMORPGs. Now I play mainly shooters and Action RPGs when I have free time, which is hard thing to come about with a very active 2 year old. The Future: I want to be able to play with my kids, like there is only us on the playground. I want to show them how to play and be healthy through it (I've been eyeing the playground workout on the website). If that means weird stares from families on the playground, then so be it. I also want to have the endurance and fitness to run a 5k, 10k and half marathon. I want to someday do a full marathon, but mainly I want to be Agile and have Endurance.

Howdy. Are we allowed to say 'Howdy' here? Howdy. It's hard to know exactly where to start. I could mention how impressed I am with the Nerd Fitness site and various posts I've read or how encouraging and positive everyone seems to be. Or how much I wish this site had been around when I first started trying to get in shape. But instead I'm going to launch into a random rant on how apple farmers in the US are in a conspiracy with the government of Mars to turn us all into tree-bark addicts with the assistance of Girl Scout Cookies. Tee hee. Just messing. I'm an average nerd who figured out about 6 years ago the PvP was not a form of exercise and it wasn't doing my back any favors. Probably like a lot of you, I started various kinds of programs that fizzled out quickly once I understood just how afraid of public exercise I was. I did alright on my own, even though it took more years that I'd like to admit that I didn't understand how important diet was to health and weight loss. And then! (this is where the dramatic music starts) Just when I felt like I'd sort of figured things out, I got sick. Like, really sick. Like I spent almost four months bedridden, barely able to eat. I lost a lot of weight but it was extremely unhealthy and I think most of it was muscle mass. I went from being fairly healthy and capable to getting lightheaded when I stood up or tired when climbing half a flight of stairs. I felt horrible and I looked worse. All I needed was yellow contacts and an open wound somewhere to be a walking dead extra. But! (this is where the inspirational music kicks in) I am recovering. I feel better. I'm improving day by day. And now I have a great deal of hope that I'm going to become, not only better than I am now but better than I ever was. ... Eegads, this is getting cheesy and too long. Let me wrap it up. I'm worried that I won't be able to match the awesomeness I've seen here but I'm hopeful that with encouragement and assistance, I'll be back to the glowing picture of nerdiness I once was. Then pass that up. I think that I'm lacking a lot of the powers that y'all clearly have but I'm willing to keep trying. And though I feel like a gimp, (can I ask for level 0 to start out?) I'm totally on board. Thank you in advance.

I'm new here and thought I'd introduce myself because I'd like to join the April 15-May 27 challenge. I've had a rough two years and have gained about 30 pounds because I just stopped caring about making an effort. Now I'd like to lose it (and more) -- 45 pounds, in all. I'm hoping that getting involved with a challenge over six weeks will get me motivated to start. My overall goals are big and will take lots of time and discipline to accomplish, but if I can lose anywhere between 12-18 pounds during this challenge, I'll be thrilled. Mainly, I want to get myself used to exercising, again, and being healthier in general. So, my current goals (for this challenge) are modest: -- Go to the gym five times per week. -- Cut junk food & processed food out of my diet. -- Eat 3 balanced meals in a day, instead of one unhealthy one. Level Up: Organize my studio and my bedroom.

Hi everyone, I just joined yesterday and am planning to take part in the new challenge next week. I'm in my early 30s and live in N. New Jersey with my husband and dog. I used to run all the time, but got burnt out after training for and running my first marathon. I haven't done much in the way of exercise since, other than weekly yoga and walking the pup. In general I try to eat low carb (which to me is basically Paleo with dairy). But I'm terrible with temptation and need to fully track everything to stay on target. Currently my goals for the next challenge are as follows: 1. complete 6 weeks of my running plan. It's a variation of Couch to 5k, but without the run/walk part. Galloway method works for lots of people, but I'm not one of them. 2. Track all food by logging BEFORE I eat it. I'm less likely to actually eat a cupcake if I've got to write it down and look at the nutritional content first. 3. Drink 60oz of water daily. 4. Organize how mail/other stuff comes into the house and gets to where it's going, a.k.a. stop dumping our crap on the dining room table. If you can't tell, I'm a Whovian. But I also love Joss Whedon, Neil Gaiman and John Scalzi. I'm a voracious reader of hard SF and urban fantasy.

September 2012 “Bah-bee? After we put the kids to bed, I think I’mma go for a run.†My wife, a lovely, redheaded brainiac sat across the kitchen table from me, mouth agape with a hint of a smile; her eyes filled with equal parts surprise and happiness. Next to her sat our daughter, an adorable and intelligent 15 month old who turns from seriously analytical to goofily playful like one would flick a light switch; the lower half of her face covered with spaghetti sauce in such a way that resembled Ronald McDonald. In my lap sat our son, a 2 month old with blue eyes as large as his sister’s. Still a blank slate personality-wise, but you could see a spark of good humor lurking in his pupils. I held his bottle with my left hand, while I shoveled a forkful of my own spaghetti into my mouth with my right hand. “Good for you, bah-bee. What brought this on?†my wife asked. “Well, there’s a 5K in November that I want to sign up for and I think it’s about time I get of my ass and get back into shape.†“Go for it.†Mid-November 2012 Weeks passed and I ran the 5K. It was hillier than any route I’d ever run before, and as such I had to stop and walk a few times, lest my knees collapse from beneath me. Still, I finished with a faster time than my previous 5K from December 2009. My motivation had been to imagine my runs as epic battles against the Roman god Jupiter, ruler of the skies who attempted to dissuade me from my runs by causing rain and high winds. And for a while, this battle raged on, with me coming out on top as I ventured out into the elements anyway. But I wasn’t eating better and my weight only dipped slightly below my starting weight of 235 lbs to 230. After the 5K I learned that a community theater I had worked at was going to put on a production of my favorite show, Jesus Christ Superstar. I decided I HAD to be in it. Fortunately, auditions were due in February 2013, so I had time to get in better shape. I acted like the part of Jesus or Judas (the only two parts I wanted and the only parts my wife would allow me to accept) was already mine and as such I wanted to look the part. Especially if they decided to go with the traditional depiction of Jesus on the cross (i.e. wearing nothing but a loincloth). So began the rebooting of my fitness regimen. I began logging my meals on DailyBurn Tracker again and ran in such a way that I was actually improving my overall pace. My goal: to be in better shape so I would feel comfortable being shirtless onstage. January 2013 The weather was getting colder, but still manageable for running. From mid-November to New Year’s I had dropped 7 lbs and was then 223 lbs. My friends and family began a 90 Day â€The Biggest Loserâ€-style challenge. The highest weight loss percentage wins. I started out slow. After New Year’s the cold began getting bitter and running outside was becoming less safe. We have a stationary bike in the basement, but it was not the same. Fortunately, I received an email from DailyBurn inviting me to try their workout video site for free for 30 days. The email promoted their Tactical Bodyweight Training program. “Perfect,†I thought to myself, “this should help out just nicely.†I began the 28 day program and it killed me in ways running didn’t. My weight dripped off me with each bead of sweat. I was shedding inches like they were articles of clothing. I had begun taking pictures of myself at the beginning of December and the beginning of each month hence and the difference is noticeable. My arms started to see definition, my belly was getting smaller and my waist was shrinking. My clothes got looser as time went on. To date I am 206 lbs (a total loss of 29 lbs since September 2012), my body fat went from 22.1% to 17.5% and I went from a size 38 pant to size 36 or 34 (depending on who makes the clothes). Now However, since I returned from my long Easter weekend, when my wife and I venture up to Maine with her family for some skiing, my motivation has been wavering and I can’t really figure out the cause. One theory that I have is the 90 Day Challenge it coming to a close this weekend. The person who organizes it posts a weekly leader board showing the top three losers for the week as well as a running tally of top three losers overall. For the past few weeks I have been solidly stuck at 2nd place while the leader, who no one thinks even had that much weight to lose, rests comfortably at the top spot. She’s a woman and weighs much less than I do, so she doesn’t have as much to lose to be me in percentage. Another theory is that I am experiencing what my wife and I like to call my “exclamation point.†This is basically a sort of male PMS and it occurs with me a few times a year for a few days or even longer. I never notice it’s coming on or that it’s over, but I usually notice it’s happening right when I’m in the thick of it. But whatever the cause, I am trying to battle through it until my motivation kicks back in and I’m all gung-ho about working out again. I finally worked out again last night, the first time since Sunday, which was the last time I skied, and I plan to do it again tonight. I’m still doing TBT on DailyBurn. I decided that I liked the results and signed up for a full membership. After this cycle, I think I might want to try their kettle bell program to build some strength. The play was cancelled, by the way, but I still worked out like it was still going on and the show would be later this month and I think I’d be comfortable being shirtless, even if I still have lovehandles and small man-boobs. It’s better than I looked before. I still have other goals, which I came up with the same time as the Jesus Christ Superstar goal. I plan to do at least two 5Ks this year, one of which I want to be in the top 5 finishers. Based on previous years, I would need to improve completion time to 18 minutes maximum. My last run (which was a couple of weeks ago), I finished in 24 minutes. I have until September to improve. Good thing the weather is starting to cooperate again. I also am going to sign up for a Tough Mudder that will take place in the spring/summer of 2014, so I need to definitely work on my running and strength over the next year. I found this site at the right time, I think. Already, writing about how far I’ve come has begun re-inspiring me to get back on the horse. Looking forward to many nerdy shenanigans!

Hello everyone! I'm Vanessa, or Nessi, and I have been reading Nerd Fitness for about three months. I am pretty overweight and have lost the same 30-40 lbs more than twice which really frustrates me. I reached the highest weight I have ever been in my life about five months ago and since then I have been working on eating healthier and becoming more physically active. I've been on this mission to get healthy, mentally and physically, for the past three years or so. August of 2012 I did my first ever Warrior Dash and I absolutely loved it. My time was not great but I did the course and I finished it which was enough for me to feel really proud of myself. However, I have a hard time staying motivated. My fiancé is not really a healthy person himself but his body type is fairly lean and it has been difficult to work on this without his support. Recently we both signed up to do Wisconsin's Zombie Mud Run together and he got a membership to gym out here. He's gone a few times. Our schedules have made it difficult to stay on track with exercising. I will say that he has been, in the past month, very open to eating healthier. We've both been eating more fruits and veggies for snacks rather than chips. I see the potential for us to be really great motivators for each other once we get a plan but we are both struggling with following through currently. Since Thanksgiving, I have managed to lose about 30lbs by eating healthier and moving around more. I do feel as though I need to kick it up a bit because I still have about 60lbs to go. My long term goals are: - lose 60lbs - eat significantly less processed foods - be able to wear a bikini Short term goals: - not get winded going up stairs - lose 15 lbs by May 18th Like I have said, I would like to be actively involved in this community, I am just unsure of where to start. I have knowledge about nutrition stuff, at least a little, but I would like to learn more and encourage others while I get stronger, better, and more healthy. Feel free to add me and send me a message! Also, if you are from the Milwaukee area, let me know because perhaps we could get together and exercise together or do activities together. Thanks, Nessi

I absolutely LOVE dancing. It's ironic, because growing up, it was strictly forbidden in my family (<-- preacher's kid). And we were too broke for me to take gymnastics. But that was what I always wanted to do. Well, I finally started taking swing dance in college, clogging followed after that, and then a few years back I started pole dancing. Yup, I'm a rebel! So while I have a little bit of training here and there, I want to get back into shape, and I'm going to do by eating right and DANCING. I've begun looking around, and I have found a few locations with lessons that look like they'll fit in my budget. And while I don't want the stereotypical ballerina body, I do want to slim down. I want the body that I will get from dancing. What that means to me is a little less fat, a little more muscle, but keeping a few of my curves. My initial goal is 25% body fat. I think I was there a few years back, and that looked right for me. And just to remind myself, all I'm going to do is eat right and dance. That's my version of cross-training...a little break dance here, a little hula there, sprinkled with some pole dance and maybe even some aikido or gymnastics to top it off. Just the things I want to do! Getting fit was never so fun!

Well, I started with my challenge post (link in sig), now to backtrack to the introduction! The basics: I'm a 23 year old waitress/college student who wants to become a police officer (and not one of the fat doughnut eating ones). I'm studying Criminal Justice in college with a minor in Political Science. The revelation that I wanted to become a cop is actually what started my fitness craze, although in the years since a million other reasons have popped up and become almost as important. On the fitness end, I started years ago when I hit my maximum weight (175 lbs). It took me over a year to really get into something I could stick to, and it wasn't until August of 2011 I started to make progress (mostly through calorie counting, partly through the "divorce diet" -- when I broke up and moved out of my ex boyfriend's house). I went from 175 to 145 lbs by Dec-Jan. I fell out of the habit for awhile, then went through a spurt over the summer of 2012 of working out a lot and "streamlining" as my current boyfriend calls it. Jump to August of 2012 when I decided to go back to school. Fifteen credit hours and a full time job left me with little time -- or maybe more accurately energy -- for much else. I'm now at about 150 lbs and ready to get back to it. My goal for this winter break is to get back into an excersize and eating routine that I can carry into the next semester. My boyfriend is set on going Paleo, and my biggest goal for eating is to support him (he went from six-pack to keg in the year I have known him). I won't be going completely Paleo, with things like cottage cheese in my diet, but most of the way. We have started juicing in the mornings for breakfast, cooking and packing lunches for work/school, looking into healthy snacks for hunger cravings (I just made kale chips for the first time today -- amazing!) and he usually cooks us a nice Paleo dinner (pork loin with mushrooms and shallots on the menu for tonight). So, here we are! Reading all of the articles on NF has given me a ton of inspiration to work out and get back to it, so the next logical step is to become part of the community. Here is my journey thus far from biggest (don't have many pictures... deleted most of them) chronologically to now: And my goal! Stolen from the NF article Meet Stacy, she is my end goal! Especially since, her start is almost exactly where I was. I don't have bikini pictures to prove it, but I promise, I looked exactly like her before picture. It's exciting to know that someone with my same body type and similar starting point can end up looking that good! She is also my new inspiration to include a lot more weights! This is the picture from the article -- I want to be her after picture.