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Hi guys! I'm new to the forums but not new to Nerd Fitness. I've been following the blog on and off for years - more "on" the last couple. Some of you might know me from one or more of the Facebook groups or from Camp. I'm a warrior-assassin-adventurer and I eat sort-of paleo. By which I mostly mean I try to avoid grains in favour of vegetables. I have never really eaten much sugar, processed food or fizzy drinks. But I don't stop myself from having the odd sandwich either! Warrior stuff - I've been powerlifting for nearly a year now. I've been finding it hard to get back into post-Camp though - have only been a couple of times in the last month and a bit. Steve wrote about "treading water" somewhere - when you get overwhelmed, making sure you're at least not going backwards, even if you're not making much progress. So I'm trying to go once a week at the minimum. But more on that in my 4-week challenge post... Assassin stuff - I really identified as an assassin (so to speak!) way sooner than I identified as a warrior. I read one of the "what class are you?" posts and the intro to parkour one and got super excited. I was doing bodyweight training at home before work for quite a while before I got into powerlifting, but then that took over for a while. I recently read Steve's article about using gymnastics rings and I've bought a couple to play around with. So we'll see how that goes Adventurer stuff - the new class! When they added it, I knew it was me I've always been a curious traveller. I took a few months to travel before university and another few afterwards. During that time I jumped for cool new opportunities and doing cool new things. I also did it while at uni - trying judo, paragliding, Chinese brush painting, etc. I felt like I'd lost a bit of that recently - that it had been a while since I'd been on a proper "adventure". So I signed up for and went to Camp Nerd Fitness, which was an adventure all of its own. What else? I live in Edinburgh. I'm in my (very) late twenties. I have two geckos. I'm a software developer. I have a list of 101 goals that I'm trying to achieve in 1001 days. That's it for now! Itti

Hey Y'all I'm Ben (and yes I am a wizard obvz) I'm from Florida and I'm brand new to this thing. Can't wait to join you guys on this nerdfit. Some things about me: I used to play soccer, do gymnastics, basketball, karate, and swim but somehow got out of all that exercise.I'm wanting to get back into such stuff and maybe learn to love oter physical activities. My non athletic activities are reading, writing, playing instruments, and cooking (although I can't say I right now am cooking healthy). I hope to see y'all in the forums

Hey all! So my name is Jackson and I've been putting off jumping into this community for a while now cause I didn't have the time to dedicate to doing it well. My wife and I just made a big move out to Michigan and we've had a lot going on. But I'm ready to be pushed now so here goes. I've been a member of Nerdfitness for close to two years now and couldn't love it more. I decided to go in on the academy cause I loved the quest based work outs and needed the nutritional and mindset information it gave me. I'm a Ranger/Adventurer by the character name of Jarlwulf who I guess would be mostly inspired by the Aragorns, Ragnar Lothbroks, and Martins (The Wise Man's Fear) of fiction. I've been playing with the idea of evolving into a Paladin but we'll see how that goes. I also come from a theatre background so I like to mix some bardic tendencies in whenever I can. I enjoy lifting, am challenged by bodyweight training, and am working on endurance through biking. Running tends to be a challenge because of a history of knees injuries but I'm getting there. My Adventurer side gives me a love of the outdoors through hiking, trekking, and camping and I'm starting to get into mountain biking. Mostly I'm just excited to be a part of this community. I love the story-fication (Is that a word? It is now...) of working out that goes on here and am excited to jump into the 4-Week Challenges as well as the mini-challenges. See you all out there. Strength and Honor Jarlwulf

Hello, all! I'm a 19-year-old Weakling from Glasgow, Scotland. I am.. very unhealthy. I live largely on Irn Bru, Monster, cigarettes, and coffee. I have a strange fear of warm food and lately of solid food. I have osteopoenia and anaemia as a result of my dreadful diet. For a while I was on Fortisip/Ensure/misc. protein shakes and working out, and was getting better, then moved house and was too far from my old gym, and my family was so insistent on me "having proper food" that they took away my nutrition drinks. What a bloody nuisance. I'm a transsexual male, and am set on building a little muscle to look a bit more masculine. Skinny would be fine on someone born male, but on me? Nope. :-( My major focus, however, is on plain ordinary strength. I'm so weedy I can't open some food packaging. I'm so sick of being so weak. It frustrates me to no end. I tried to slam dunk a basketball a few days back, as I used to do in high school, and found I could no longer jump so high. I'm schizophrenic (or bipolar I? or schizoaffective? The docs have no clue any more) and currently in hospital for it. The food here is dire, and there's no gym or anything. On the ward I was moved to yesterday, there was the aforementioned basketball hoop plus a tennis net, but here there's just nothing. I try to do press-ups and sit-ups in my room but I'm just too weak and if I make the slightest noise (i.e. fall) the nurses complain. So, here I am, the Weakling. (Should call my next novel that, ahem.) If anybody would like to ask me about hobbies, diet, etc., go right ahead. This is my current chicken body, and this is plain aul' me.

Hello, introductions are always so tough. Well, let's start with the basic. My name is Alexander, 22 years old and I'm from Sweden! I like daydreaming and coming up with all sorts of fantasies in my head, it's amazingly fun. So, here's the thing. I have always been struggling with my weight, I eat when I'm bored, stressed, sad and the whole spectrum of emotions. After so many years, it has turned into an extremely hard habit too break and I need your help! A place that I can turn to in my darkest hours, when the craving for "sugar" is strong. It feels nice joining Nerdfitness and it's community and I hope you all will welcome me with open arms. Thank you for reading and it's so fun meeting you all! Thank you!

Hi!!!! Former Fito Freak that had a nasty injury mess with not only my body but my mind set as well. Put me into a very dark place that I've managed to get out of but now working on getting back to healthy happy fitness freak I love to be. I'm a dork and nerd and geek to the core. Love books, anime, video games, movies, and love making chainmaille. I used to be an avid trail runner till I fell and really screwed up my back. After healing from surgery I was told I could go back to running but I am honestly scared to death to go back to it. I have been thinking about other low impact ways to exercise and would love impute. Maybe swimming (gulp scared to death of deep water) or maybe biking (looks expensive). I loved lifting but have REALLY let my strength go. Will be starting pretty much everything from scratch. I really miss being on my trails running... I have been up a lot of them walking or hiking but still not the same. I just need to get myself back into that schedule that made me so successful before. Will be perusing around NF to get a workout schedule down and get my food intake back under control. Any friends and accountability partners welcome!

EDIT: Here's my first challenge if you're interested: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I was nervous about posting this, I'm quite a closed off person and have only ever revealed this information to my counsellor before, but I guess being anonymous on the internet helps and I used my 20 seconds of courage. I also need to introduce myself otherwise I'll probably won't convince myself to move any further on NF. So anyway... Hi everyone, nice to meet you all. I'm a University student about to enter my final year. I've been a big fan of NF for a long time. I love the philosophy behind it, the articles and the community. I started off with the Beginner's workout and then kinda just improvised from there. I also did Taekwondo in my spare time. However, I've kinda been thrown off... things haven't been easy for me (well life isn't easy for anyone, is it?). Backstory (I tried putting it in note form to shorten it, but feel free to skip to the TL;DR). TL;DR: Close to suicide, but counselling saved me. Now ready to sort my life out and take care of myself. Still suffer from depression and anxiety, so it's going to be very hard though. Hopefully committing to NF forums will help. Now enough of the sob story! Time for the fun things! Nerdy side: Uni got me into anime! (So addicting, though, hopefully it won’t be too distracting…) That’s what I get for joining Fencing (in my Uni most fencers study science and/or are part of the anime society. Someone should’ve warned me! ). I love Fairy Tail and have chosen Erza as a role model. She’s BADASS and I feel like I relate to her (no, I'm not saying I'm badass ). I wish there was a real Fairy Tail guild, but I doubt we can train our magic no matter how hard we try. But please no spoilers! I haven't finished the 2014 season yet! (I know, shame on me ). Fitness goals: To be Erza Scarlet! I’ll have to think about this. I’m struggling to pick a guild. Erza would fall under Warrior, but personally I would prefer Assassin or Ranger. I want to be built for travelling/exploring, climbing and martial arts (for fun, but self-defence is handy too). So there's my backstory and bits of trivia. Despite my mental support, I still wish to commit suicide sometimes. But like my counsellor said, I wouldn't keep coming back to her if a part of me didn't want to get better. This little piece of info has helped me realise that I do want to get better and live a good life. The prospect seems so out of league, almost impossible, especially since I know I'm going to be (subconsciously) sabotaging myself. It also feels like so much, not just my fitness, but my health, goals and life in general. But one baby step at a time I guess... Anyway, thanks for reading (if you managed to read through my melodramatic - and maybe TMI - post). Looking forward to getting to know you guys.

...a man with three buttocks. Now that I have your attention: Hello everybody! After following the Newsletter for quite a while, I decided to join the Academy and at the same time made myself an account for the forums. While I've been using the Facebook-Academy-Group quite a bit, I never really used the forums. Not only does the new quest system push me towards the forums, I have also realised, that the forums will help me. I'm not big on blogging and I don't want another account to keep track of and I can't always find my own posts on Facebook in the group. So I will try to use the forum as a blog to keep track of my journey and for you to hold me accountable. I promised an introduction, so here it goes: I am a nearly 35 year old married electrical engineering student from Northern Germany. Seems old to be a student? Yes, but I after school I completed a three year IT-Training and a total of 8 years military service (the last of which I was already enrolled in university). My next education goal (after the bachelor in electrical engineering) is to become a teacher (electrical engineering and English). Sportswise I am normally active in the Academy workouts and after the summer holidays (which would today) I want to respawn in Judo (again). I say normally, because I broke a toe a few weeks ago and I am still in healing... My goals are general fitness, flexibility/higher range of motion, overall strengh and a black belt in Judo (I am currently on brown). Other than studying and sports (in the little time left inbetween), I enjoy RPGs (pen and paper!!!), Heavy Metal and Hard Rock music, going to shooting club. Have I left anything out? Any questions? Feel free to ask... See you around.

Good morning all! I made it here - I have decided to be strong and to commit for once and for all. So here I am. Hi, I'm Veeee! I turned 30 earlier this year, and realised that, for the last 20 years, I was not happy with my body. I had numerous attempts at keeping fit and eating the right things (I'm a pescetarian, carbs have been my best comfort friends for as long as I can remember). I started running two years ago, and completed a 10k in April (12-year-old me still doesn't understand how). However, my body was still chubby and running got a little bit difficult so I trained with a PT for six weeks; the programme ended two weeks ago. I lost 8 pounds. It was an eye opening experience, the PT definitely helped me seeing my strengths among the weaknesses! We worked on bodyweight and strength exercises, I love kettlebells, barbells and dumbells (less happy with squats and planks!); but the diet aspect of the training was the most difficult for me. Not being able to eat rice, quinoa, lentils, pulses or sweet potatoes, which were staples of my day to day life, was a bit of a nightmare. I eat a bit of eggs, salmon, tuna and cod but it's becoming a bit boring haha. I quit sugar but had a relapse over the weekend, and now I need to get back on track! I can't really afford another six weeks financially, so I figured I could continue on my own - This is where Nerd Fitness enters the game! Very inspiring to read articles about workouts at home and how to navigate a healthy life! So now I'm ready; ready for the quests, the workouts, the "you can do this!", the changes in my food diary. Bring it on! (a bit of numbers: Im 5'1, current weight: 10st 39lbs, body fat %: 44.) Nice meeting you all, any questions let me know! edit because I forgot: my plan exercise wise is to mix running, yoga and strength exercises during the week.

Forgive me for my laziness, but it might just be best to copy/paste what I typed in the Ranger thread... Hail! I am BigBaldPaptimus Prime. I have also been known as BigBaldPapa, BBP and TheBBP (which I believe is how I registered when I came here the first time) or just Jeremy. I am a 42 year old male human who has fallen wayyyy far off of the path. My background includes years of Wrestling and Football in school and some more Football when I served in the Marine Corps. I got out of the Corps in October of 2005 and since I have made a terrible stand in regards to my health. To shorten this up, just over a year ago, I weighed in at 499 pounds. Today I am 440 and am struggling to fight. I know where I want to go and I know what I want to do, but I am having the hardest time finding the desire. I am hoping that spending time around others who are in similar battles will motivate me more than I am able to motivate myself. I have an interest in obtaining a well-rounded fitness profile. I would like to build muscle, but also master a healthy bodyweight. I want to be able to do dips and pull-ups again. As for running... meh. I could enjoy getting cardio through kettlebells and other forms of cardio resistance, but am not looking forward to jogging for fitness. At least not now. Ultimately, I wish to get down to a goal weight of 225 so that I can re-evaluate where I want to go from there. I am SUPER glad to be here and hope to become an active member of this community.

Good morning everyone! My name is Travis, but of course I go by Synyster here. I have been with this site for many, many years! I have been in and out quite a bit, mostly due to personal issues. I am re introducing myself as I have not been on here in almost 3 years!!! I was doing some research for my website when I came across some old posts I had made here and nostalgia hit hard like a rock. I am still very much in to fitness these days. I have ventured in to bodybuilding and plan to compete next year. I moved last year from Las Cruces, New Mexico to D'Iberville, Mississippi and have met a lot of bodybuilder friends here! I have learned a ton from them and improved so much more than I could ever hope for! I currently work for a company called Freedom Boat Club in Biloxi, and it has been a major blessing! Here's why: 1. I get to work with boats all day! I clean and fuel them, and when no one is using them I drive them around for fun!! MAJOR PERK THERE! 2. If I'm not busy (like today) I have been given the freedom to work on my own business! AWESOME SAUCE! 3. Because business is slow (it is a brand new club in Biloxi, just opened about 4 months ago so it is growing) I only work 3 days a week! It's bad hours for pay, BUT 4. It has pushed me to invest in a domain name and host. With that I have started up my own blog, experimented with an affiliate product (I will probably remove it shortly, but it is still up for sale for the time being) and am now taking a 90 day course to help build my website up to grow my Subscriber list! The research I was doing for my website led me to a forum post here about online entrepreneurs. I was reading it and saw my profile and thought "Whoah. This is years old!" Do you guys know how AWESOME it is to look back at something from a FEW YEARS AGO and see how much you have progressed? How one little thing had pushed me to finally invest in something I have only read and dreamt about doing?! I'm super excited guys! And I am SO VERY HAPPY to come back here, share my experiences and LEVEL UP with NERD FITNESS!! WOO!

I swear by my pretty floral bonnet that this is the beginning of something great. I've been browsing Nerd Fitness for a while now. Researching some on my own. Occasionally going out on a run. But nothing seems to be working or sticking or turning into a habit; whatever you want to call it, there has been no real life change. No rebellion. Yet. At this point, nothing but pure undeniable PARTICIPATION is left for me and I'm seizing it. I'm ready to dive in and take this healthy permanent lifestyle by the horns. So, a little background. 21 year old female, reading my way through college, brewing coffee, protecting the country, making all kinds of things and hanging out with my cat. I want to play harder, do better, become faster, and feel stronger. And I'm here to start my journey.

Hi, Okay. So I got a little carried away... Believe it or not this is the short version. It's been a while since I have written anything other than work email or support ticket so I hope it doesn't put you to sleep. Here goes. I'm a 33 year old IT guy with an overactive imagination. The truth is I've been overweight my entire life but for a short span of about a year. My life hit an all time low in my early 20s and, at that time, I turned to fitness and spirituality to cope. When my life was at its worst I was happiest with my body and soul. 10 years later and my life is pretty good. I have a good job that I love and I am earning enough money for me to be happy. I have a loving fiancé. Someone without whom I feel incomplete. I am also the heaviest I've ever been. I am beginning to feel the effects of it. My horrendous diet has robbed me of all my energy and has left me permanently tired. On top of this I suffer with crippling social anxiety made worse by my low opinion of my body image. So one Thursday afternoon I decided to change. It was an unremarkable Thursday. I'd eaten a popular brand of fried chicken fast food for lunch. The same lunch I'd had almost every day for six months. It had tasted like salted ashes. I'd long ago stopped enjoying it. I was eating it just because it was there. That night I came home and made a salad for dinner. I'm a pretty damned good cook. The irony is that when I don't care what I eat I really don't care. It was the first time in six months I'd taken time to think about what I was putting into my body and what I was tasting. It was a salad because that is what I had. No excuses. I enjoyed the fresh crunchy veg more than the last ten fried chicken lunches. That was only a few weeks ago. My mentality is to leap and ask questions later - if I spend too long thinking about something I talk myself out of it. A lifetime of failed 'diets' meant I had strategies. My goal was to eat well. Make real food and to eat enough. Far too many people go from 5000 calories a day to 1200 and wonder why they want to eat their arm off. I fail on that path. I consider it a fool's errand. I wasn’t interested in making large dramatic changes but small sustainable changes. Naturally, when I start to eat healthier I get more interested in what I am making I begin to take care with my cooking and enjoy what I’m putting into my body. I wanted to nurture that rather than try to punish myself for being overweight. Once I started, I wanted to focus on the second thing my previous attempts at weight loss had lacked. Fitness. I only know how to get in shape one way. That is the way I learnt when I was young. Of course, I’m not 23 any more but I am not in quite as poor shape as I was then. I am heavier but I have kept reasonably active. Cycling but mostly walking. I love to walk. It is frustrating that I can’t run 10k without caving in my knees or that I can’t deadlift 350lbs or squat 500lbs - once I could do all that and I loved every second. I have to remind myself that, when I started years ago, I couldn’t sit on the rowing machine for even 10 minutes. So starting where I am now is better than where I was then. It will just take time, persistence and commitment. Experience told me that I’d enjoy the activity and I do! Even at over 300lbs, I love to lift weights and do strength exercises. I’m taking up cycling again. Social anxiety sometimes cripples my progress. It is why I fell out of shape the first time but I hate to make excuses for myself or my actions. “I put on weight because X happened. I stopped exercising because Y”. When it comes down to it I everything that I did happened because I chose that path Right now, I am choosing the other path. The steep, rocky but much more fulfilling path. I’ve about had it with feeling too tired to move. So I found this place. I’ve been on my own in this fight for a few weeks and hope that I can find some kindred spirits to help on my journey. Reaching out for help and support is also not something I've done before. I’m losing weight, working out and feeling more alive than I have in years. Well that got a little out of hand ;-) Here are my grand goals: Reach a healthy weight, (I am currently 305, but started at 330. Its not fun!) Maintain that weight. Not to stress about the scale every day. Eat well do exercise and take it slowly. I didn’t put the weight on in a week and it sure as hell won’t take a week to lose. The numbers will catch up. Eat only Good Food. Good to Eat, good for me. Eat Real food. Made by my fair hands, from scratch, if possible. Make the best choices for me when I am not eating home cooking. Begin a strength and cardio fitness program (started) Maintain this program for at least 4 weeks to condition my body to the new types of activity Start to ramp it up (honestly my biggest trouble is taking it slowly. I’m much more likely to hit hard and burn out than not to try something). Regards Jon

Beastie here! I'm on my millionth respawn it feels like. I've never been particularly active, though now I've joined a nerf league and begun practicing my lightsaber combat again. I've been trying to lose weight and being massively derailed/challenged by life events for a little while. I'm better than I was, but now its time to see if I can progress instead of clinging to my goals for dear life. Current weight: 278 lbs. Current dress size: 22/24 Ultimate Goal right now is to be a 14/16 again My main goal is at this exact moment is to get back on my TEN PUNCH Program and get my diet wrangled on two fronts - portion control and getting rid of gluten. I think I may have been hamstringing myself with all those lofty aspirations. It's not a sprint, it's a marathon.

Hey all! Since my last introduction mysteriously vanished, I just reintroduce myself: I am Marc, I am in my early thirties and I am part of this community since February. I have no pressing issues I need to address right now but quite a few things I want to change. I am practicing German Ju-Jutsu since 2008 and I have earned my 2nd masters degree in it in July. I am also a certified coach in Ju-Jutsu. To further improve my art I've also started training in Kali Silat Evolution, which is also a fun martial art to practice. I am a big believer in calisthenics, though I lack the discipline to keep up a training regime. I am just in a "implement healthy habits" mood, (again) and the reset of the questing system was a pleasant coincidence. If you have any questions regarding Ju-Jutsu I am happy to help. You can also ask me regarding calisthenics and stretching - at least I am educated in those fields Apart from Martial Arts I like Bouldering and I always wanted to take a shot at Parkour. So I would deem myself a Monk-Assassin. My goals so far: I want to lose around 20 pound (or exchange it with muscle) Establish a daily workout routine Increase my flexibility (First goal: http://breakingmuscle.com/video/5-flexibility-standards-you-should-be-able-to-meet-video, Epic goal tbd, high kicks are certainly a part of it) Increase my physical strength using Calisthenics Movements (I am a fan of Ross Enamait, Al Kavadlo and Convict Conditioning), goals tbd Increase my stamina. I am huffing and puffing after a short period of strain which inhibits my ability to perform my art under stress. Goals tbd, but since Martial Arts are often anaerobic, I will work with HIIT stuff to get going. If you want to connect with me, you can reach me in Fitocracy under the same nickname as here :-)

Rebels, Taking the time to introduce myself. Resident IT nerd and lover of all things computer and gadget. My fitness journey began in January 2016. I finished up my degree at the age of 29 and when everything was said and done I noticed that my schedule of waking up, eating, going to work and sitting, eating, sitting some more, going straight to class, eating, sitting all night till 1030 and doing it again the next day had left me with an extra 20lbs and I was not happy with my appearance. So naturally, being a Nerd, I starting searching the internet and in the midst of all the fad diets, supplements, and Beach Body ads I discovered nerd fitness. My kind of place. After reading the success stories I was convinced that this was the approach that would work for me. Even though I knew eating bad would make me fat, I never even considered how much of a role (roll?, lol) diet played in my weight and appearance. I knew nothing about Body Fat percentage and I didn't truly know what healthy eating really looked like. It was at this point that I got real excited and started to implement some changes. First with my diet. I dropped soda for water and started focusing on piling my plate with veggies. I shopped around the outside of the grocery. I started cooking all my meals. 2 months later I couldn't believe the effect of eating better food had on my body composition. I was down to 166 but it looked like I lost 30 pounds!! I went from a 34" waist to a 31". I now eat 80/20 Paleo and prep all my lunches for the week. Encouraged by these results I began adding some strength training. Beginning with bodyweight and eventually moving to a gym with a friend of mine that had been lifting for years. Today I am in better shape than I ever have been ( could never do a pull-up and now can do 5!) but I have a long way to go. I know this is about the journey and not the end results. After achieving success with my job, education and work life I had been struggling to find new goals until I stumbled across Nerd Fitness. Now I have a new way to level up my life and am so excited to finally have some good information that works, I want to share it with everyone I meet. I have to remind myself that this is a process and that anything in life worth doing takes lots of time and lots of hard work. Here's to getting a little better everyday! -Phil

Hello all! My name is Blake I am 26 years old, 6'3" currently around 245 pounds. I started my weight loss journey about 18 months ago after I hit an all time high of 340 pounds! I began by cutting out my sodas and slowly phasing out the bread. Then incorporating and increasing different exercises. I did well for the first 6-9 months losing 70+ pounds before hitting a serious plateau. I followed some bad advise and changed my tactics to strictly maintaining and reincorporating all of the foods I love (pizza, cupcakes, etc.). I did maintain but eventually I realized I had to this was not working. So I again cut out the junk and focused on exercising. Since then I have been yo-yoing fairly badly and realize that I can't do it alone. And with the ridiculous overload of information available online I don't know what way to go. But, happy to have found Nerd Fitness and hope that it will help with my goals.

Hi and whats up everyone? I registered far earlier on this forum but kind of busy with life and totally forgot about this awesome community. I couldn't think of a cool nickname either than using my own name with a number at the end of it. I know I'm boring.Bleehhk. Anyway, Yup, me name is Zaid from Singapore. I'm like living half way around the world and I believe it is the only Island that is recognized as a developed country. In fact it is the only island city-state. With only two seasons, Rain or Shine, those living here can't possibly have any excuses not to keep fit all year round isn't it? But I guess not. Lifestyle here is like so fast paced and you are expected to work long hours just to make ends meet. I'm currently a chemical process technician working for a German company called Evonik, the one who is sponsoring BVB Dortmund. Been working in shift for almost three years now and I would agree that shift work is hard on the body in addition to the physical labor job we need to do. We value our off days so much as we need them to recover from the workload and inconsistent sleeping time. To think about improving our fitness level would need a lot of motivation, hard work and proper strategy to prevent burning out. Luckily I'm single without many commitments to begin with. If my off days falls on a weekday, I would spend most of the time, working out, reading, studying and probably lazing off with my cat. If my off days falls on weekends, then that is when my schedule will start to get packed. When it comes to fitness, I used to be skinny and underweight, but now I'm having problems with tummy fats with small arms and legs. Probably due to irregular sleeping time affecting my weight now. It's very confusing for me. It's like I want to grow stronger and bigger but my tummy is the only thing that grows faster and easily. Annooyyyiing:/..haha I have just joined membership with Anytime Fitness, hopefully I can start with a beginner workout regime and see results..CANT WAIT.. Anyway if anyone is on shift too and hitting the gym, do beep me Id love to hear your advice. Also,if anyone coming to Singapore for vacation you can beep me for some tips going around here!:D Here are some awesome place to go!

Hey my name is Matt i'm a mechanic by trade & love the outdoors. Turning 16 was the end of my fitness, because I stopped riding a bike and I bought my first jeep. I joined NF with my wifey to get back into shape and get stronger while building up my endurance. This site is a great way to inspire each other to do more with our goals as well as be each others "accountability buddies." It's to late to post much just wanted to introduce myself . I'm off to bed before I pass out on the couch; hope to talk to some people that can give me a few pointers as well as being able to stay on track using the battle logs. Night everyone.

I actually signed up with NF about a year ago, but failed to keep up or follow the advice. About a week ago, my wife and I decided that we were tired of being winded just walking up the stairs to our apartment and feeling tense/tight all the time. We got NF Yoga and kind of started doing that. Monday, my wife and I got the gym for the first time in about a month and I did a dumbbell variation of Stronglifts 5x5 (getting to a bench or rack was just impossible). It felt great and I was happy. Yesterday morning, I weighed myself before doing anything else. The number said 372 lbs. I hated myself and was depressed (I'm also battling depression). Throughout the day I decided I wasn't going to hate myself, I was going to change. I went home and made my wife and I do NF Yoga Water Series A; it felt great. I've been reading NF blogs, checking out other sites, speaking with a friend who is a personal trainer, and making a plan. Monday, Wednesday, & Friday will be strength training & cardio. Stronglifts 5x5 and elliptical for 20 minutes (1 1/2 slow pace, 30 seconds fast pace). Tuesday, Thursday, & maybe Sunday will be NF Yoga and I typically go hiking on Thursday mornings. Food is my issue. I'm trying to eat more chicken, beans, brown rice when I don't beans, and green veggies (typically kale, spinach, broccoli, and green peppers). Our issue is that when we run out of meal prep lunches we just go out. I feel horrible after and regret it. I plan on meal prepping for a week for lunches to start; actually I already did that and it went good. Tomorrow I will go shopping and meal prep again. At some point, I'll be able to wake up early enough to make a good breakfast; this is my major problem meal. I typically grab something from Jack In The Box on the way to work. That's about it for now. Later.

Hello, everyone ! Here's my deal: 37 year old male. Married, father of 3. Full-time software developer, part-time drummer and total geek. Love Star Wars, LOTR, Star Trek, AD&D, MST3k, XBox (D3, Battlefront, NFS Rivals, Alien Isolation and Portal series are go-tos). Favorite character: Boba Fett. Currently addicted to junk food. Not "addicted" as in hyperbole for comedic purposes, legitimately "hiding from and lying to others" addicted. This wasn't really a problem when I had the metabolism of a hummingbird in high school. Fast forward a couple decades...after being at a desk job: I have tried and failed many times to not only stick to a regular exercise regimen, but I have really struggled with eating healthy. Certain junk foods are strongly associated with very sentimental memories/feelings and when I have stress/anxiety (which is quite often...) I raid the junk food and fast food. I don't smoke and very rarely drink, but I could easily destroy a bad of Doritos in a single sitting, I'm pretty sure my bloodstream qualifies as a variety of Dr. Pepper, and a picture of Jimboy's Tacos makes me misty-eyed. I'm here to change all of this so I can be the dad that actually plays with his kids and practice their sports with them. My daughters are 9 and my son is turning 2. I can't continue like this and expect to play with grandkids someday. My wife is very beautiful and frankly is getting a crummy deal with a puffy oaf like myself. [My charming personality can only make up for so much...] If I can get off blood pressure medication by getting my body fat % down from 28% to 18%... that is would be a success story. If I can get there and not feel like I'm going to die if I don't have a Dr. Pepper, then my success will actually last. I definitely have fallen into the "eager beaver" trap in the past. I'm trying to pace myself. I also have fallen into the "lone ranger" category (although I think Leroy Jenkins would be a better comparison in some past fitness endeavors), so putting myself out there is a bit of a challenge for me. If I can reach my goals and share the journey with fellow geeks, it makes it even more rewarding. Thanks for your time.

I'm quite late to introducing myself to the forums, so you may already have met me on Facebook (Kat) or IRC, where I'm also Happytin. Who Am I? I am a 29 year old agender (which means I have no gender - I find the concept entirely alien - and prefer "they") person living in Edinburgh, UK. I live with my partner, nighteyes, and our small cat, Lyra, who is like a dog in a slinky pussy cat body. I started life on hard and only recently got to grips with my play style. I am very short-sghted and blind in my left eye. I have severe OCD, chronic migraines, and am prone to depression. This meant that my childhood and teenagehood was spent in bed, at the hospital, suspended from school, and then expelled. This eventually landed me with a compound fracture in my left leg, a broken wrist, three cracked ribs, a cracked cheekbone, and a year of rehab before I could walk again. Now though, I'm on great medication for my OCD and migraines, have had years of physio, have a good party with nighteyes and my therapist, and I'm starting my adventures. This just goes to show that getting the right support system is key to success. Talk To Me About I read a LOT of books. You can find me on Goodreads if that's your thing, and I am always interested in what people are reading. Recently I've been reading Spinoza's treatise, John Irving's Avenue of Mysteries, and The Just City by Jo Walton. I'm very into sociopolitical and economic fantasy. Point me at some and let me fly. I game on my PC and also own a Wii U and N64. I'm currently playing Cities:Skylines, Deponia, Civ V, and holding myself back from another trip to Skyrim. Nintendo owns my heart. Zelda, Starfox, and Mario are my games of choice. In fact I love Zelda so much I have a triforce tattooed on my inner wrist. Majora's Mask and I do not speak, however. I studied Human Geography at university. This means I know a bit about, and am incredibly interested in: politics, sociology, economics, ethics, social justice, settlement, industry, global relations, colonialism, imperialism, religion. Wikipedia and I hang out a lot. Rebel Base Level I've been a sneaky part of the rebellion for a month now, but here's where I started. Weight: 142lb Fitness: I attended a swimming class once a week but otherwise did no exercise apart from walking into town. Nutrition: I tried hard to eat well but binged frequently. I did Whole30 a lost 16lb but then struggled to progress afterwards - I ate to celebrate and ate to commiserate. I drank three or more mugs of coffee each day. Mental Health: I quit my job in December because it was incredibly stressful and I hated it. There followed six months of being very ill with migraines and trying to work out medication. I felt a failure for not working, bored at home, and anxious about my financial security. Play: I spent most of my leisure time playing computer games. This resulted in a lot of neck and shoulder pain. I also read. Happiness: 4/10 Ranger Initiation My build is naturally a ranger and my background has included martial arts, rowing, army cadets, and high school achievement, so it makes sense to continue this history of breadth and adaptability. I am following the career paths of Diplomat and Cat-Whisperer. Since joining the rebellion I have: Got a new part-time job I enjoy Learned to do a wall handstand Started practising piano 10 minutes a day Begun the academy workouts Beaten General DOMS Registered to study for a Certificate in Counselling Skills Taught Lyra to get into her carry case Taught Lyra to appear when I summon her Taught Lyra to sit every time I ask, even without a treat Made a budget and started monitoring my expenses Started meditating for 15 minutes each day Lost 9lb Switched from soy milk to black coffee Dropped to two mugs of coffee a day You can find my current quests on my character page. Would Like To Meet I'm currently looking for a new swimming buddy in Edinburgh, preferably at the Dalry baths. I'd love to talk to swimmers in general, whether you're an otter or a puppy paddler (I tend towards the puppy) and need some cheerleaders to force me to get in the pool more than once a week.

Hi all My name is Fran; my superhero alter ego is Lady Diamond Dust. I’ve never spoken with any of you before (even though I’ve technically been a NF Academy member since November of last year)—so I am a little bit terrified. More than anything, I wanted to finally write my thoughts down and ask for your help. Let me start by telling you where I am right now: On the outside, my life looks pretty good. I am 26 years old, married to the love of my life and we are a little less than three months away from our one year anniversary. We are both college students, living in our cozy one-bedroom apartment in a small Midwestern town; we aren’t wealthy—truly, we could easily be considered “poor”—but we try to be responsible with our finances and overall, we are really happy. I work for a reputable college in a city not far from where we live—I am essentially a desk-jockey, assisting students navigate college life. It sounds somewhat idyllic, right? Please know that I’m only trying to paint a picture, not brag or boast. On the inside, however, I feel like my life is out of control. I’ve struggled with depression since I was 11 and even though I’ve been able to manage it relatively well over the years, the last 6 months have been the most difficult of my life. I feel like I am forever walking through molasses, I am moving so slowly; I simply feel old. My joints are popping and cracking in scary-sounding ways and every day, if I’m not having general stomach pain, I’m having hypoglycemia induced migraines. Every single day, when my husband asks how I feel, more often than not, I say that I am tired—that is the answer we have both come to expect. I feel like the life I am living has had all the vibrancy, color, and excitement leeched out. With my mental health becoming a large concern of ours lately, we’ve been trying to discover the cause(s). I’ve been afraid to say it up until now, but I am 97.36% sure that, in large part, it has to do with my physical state. Growing up, I was always small—petite and thin. I ate nearly anything I wanted (the metabolism of youth was on my side!) and I stayed relatively active (as much as an asthmatic nerdy bookworm would be). But, as so often happens, as an adult my metabolism changed and I started getting jobs that would constantly require me to sit at a desk. Adult metabolism + sitting at desks all the time + 0% change in my habits = No Bueno! I am now 170 lbs. (whereas only 3 ½ years ago, I was hovering around 115-120 lbs.) I’ve been buying more and more clothes, always a size up, and despite all of this buying, my closet always seems to be shrinking; in reality, I’m growing steadily larger so my clothing choices are becoming more limited. My shirts are stretching and something I’ve discovered is that my pant zippers are constantly falling open (I didn’t even know weight gain would do that?!) As embarrassing a confession as this is, it’s all really just a longwinded explanation when all I’m trying to say is: It’s time for a real change. In the past, there have been half-hearted attempts at becoming healthier. But I would always stop after a few days because I was so overwhelmed by the many things I needed to do to get healthy–eat healthy food, manage portion control, drink more water, exercise multiple times a week, generally be more active, get more sleep—the list goes on. After quitting I’d always feel guilty but I’d try to make myself feel better by reminding myself that I don’t smoke, rarely drink soda or alcohol, and don’t eat sweets or junk food (as if that was all it took to be truly healthy!). It has taken time to become aware of my habits but I’ve finally figured out two major Matrix mind blocks that have been tripping me up: 1. I suffer from the classic problem of the uber-perfectionist—I want to be perfect at something before moving on to the next step. When I joined NF back in November, after reading all the articles about the importance of a healthy diet, I became convinced that I had to have the “perfect” healthy food habits set up before I could move on to fitness. Only now have I come to the realization that will NEVER happen! I have finally accepted that the only way to stop the vicious cycle of guilt I’ve been experiencing is to take imperfect, constant baby-steps and not allow myself to get hung up on any one habit—I’ve decided to adopt the phrase “Imperfect Action” as my mantra. 2. In the most “successful” half-hearted attempt to date: About 9 months before my wedding, I decided that I would finally take charge of my health! I decided to do that by joining Nerd Fitness Academy; I was excited and gung-ho, ready to start… until I read that the most successful members engaged in the online community, through the message boards and Facebook. When I read that, I thought, “I can do this all by myself! I don’t need accountability from anyone, especially people I don’t know.” To no one’s surprise I’m sure, about a week later after buying academy membership, I gave up. My wedding has come and gone with no positive progress. Before you digitally throw rotten fruit at me, I’ve learned my lesson—I really DO need support and accountability partners to keep me on track; I want to be part of a community that values health, improvement, and adventure! If you’ve read this far, bless you! You’ve finally reached the point where I finally ask for your help. I had to build up the courage to come onto this message board today and share my embarrassments and failures with you. Here is my plea: NF community, I need you! I need you to be my support system; I need you to keep me accountable. Instead of beating myself up over past failures, I’ve finally decided to give myself some grace—my new goal is that throughout this lifelong journey, I just need to keep going, constantly adjusting and improving as I go; I just won’t stop. But I need some wingmen and wingwomen to help me along the way! Will you join me in my quest, Rebels?

Heya people. Muhammad Zaid here, can call me Zaid or babyzee(well nobody every called me that except for my ex) but anyway. Hi and I'm glad I find an awesome forum that isn't too serious like bodybuilding.com. Forums like that ends up demoralising me.Lol. I kind of forgot where can i read up on the different classes attributes and stats. I've always like magic based though. Anyone can send me a link. I can't find it since yesterday.

Hello, my name is Rafael or (online) WraithOwl. When I was a kid I was bullied for being overweight, a lover of books, and an all-around nerd/geek; which I still am to this day. This bullying stopped after the summer preceding 8th grade, when I finally took swimming (I had been in the sport since I was 5 years old) seriously and started eating like an athlete. Over that summer I lost fat, put on muscle, grew 3 inches to hit my current height f 5' 10" (thanks to general old puberty) and, frankly, became a bit too imposing a physical specimen for bully to bother with anymore. A year later I started including martial arts as part of my cross-training for swimming and later on joined the military. To make a long story short, I was in excellent physical condition until about 10 years ago. When I left the Navy's Officer Candidate School in 2001 I weighed 199 lbs and had a 8% body fat percentage. Afterwards I started slacking off and when I left the Navy Reserves in 2008 I was up to 230 lbs and had somewhere around 13% to 15% body fat. Fast forward to today after 8 years working in Higher Education and spending most of my days in a chair and I maxed out at 335 lbs with a whopping 30% body fat. Enough is enough. About a month ago I cut all candies, pastries, etc. out of my diet and have already gone down to 320 lbs. Two weeks ago I started Crossfit and did my first modified WoD yesterday. The goal is to get down to 205 lbs. and/or more importantly somewhere around 12% body fat.