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After lurking in the digital shadows for the past five weeks, I figure that I should introduce myself now before I start my first challenge. Heyo, I'm Kim. 24 year old Canadian living in Germany while studying ecology. What's up. This next bit is long (as intros often are), so there's a tl;dr at the bottom for those who are bereft of time ^^ I've always been fat (and I use the term fat because I'm body-positive and don't shy away from that label), but I can't honestly say that I am a healthy fat person. I've been classified as obese for a good 4 years now. I'm also really good as procrastinating, so while I knew that I should make the switch to a healthy, active lifestyle, I was able to put it off for legitimate reasons (injuries, car accident, school to a certain degree), as well as plenty of illegitimate reasons. I found NerdFitness at a time where I desperately needed a direction in terms of my own personal fitness and life choices. I was on my semester break, feeling like shit (mostly because I was eating crap and not moving), and was starting to feel depressed. Several things clicked at once to get me motivated to change my ways. My aunt, whom I've been told I bear a striking resemblance to, booked her gastric bypass. I found out at the doctor's office that I had reached my highest ever weight. My younger sister was losing weight while the pale reflection of my computer told me that I had never looked worse. My clothes weren't fitting. To say I ate my homesickness was an understatement. It's especially easy in Germany, where most things are fried, battered, and come with a starch. Don't get me started on the desserts. I knew that I needed to change aspects of my life for the better, for both my physical and mental health. One thing that's always prevented me having an active lifestyle (aside from my reduced mobility due to a car accident) was a fear of being judged in gyms. So when I googled "afraid of the gym" (or some variant of that), I found NerdFitness. Having gotten into DnD a few years ago and always describing myself as a geek, I could connect with Steve's articles and the values in the NerdFitness community. But, I was about a week late to the previous challenge, and still needed to figure out the basics. While I haven't gone paleo or primal (and don't want to), I've definitely improved my diet immensely with the help of NerdFitness (and MFP which I found through this site a few days later). I used my semester break to learn how to eat healthy and look forward to fitness instead of being afraid of it. However, classes are back on, and I'm under a huge amount of stress right now with my research, so I fear that I may be slipping. Even the 12 lbs I lost in 5 five weeks have regressed to a 9 after illness and a few too many beers at the student bar. So it's time to recommit. And that's why I'm here. I want to lose weight, yes. But not simply to be thinner, but to be able to get off my blood pressure meds. To be able to get to a point where I can train to run 5K. To be able to hike without running out of breath. And because yeah, I'm a bit vain, why lie. Most importantly for the here and now, I'm studying to be an ecologist and I need to be able to be out in the field. I love the outdoors. I don't want anything preventing me from enjoying nature to the fullest. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to my first challenge! tl;dr Hi, I'm Kim. I'm obese and don't want to be obese anymore. I'm afraid of slipping back into old habits, so I'm introducing myself before the next challenge starts, because every journey needs a proper beginning.