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I have lots of good reasons to go into the Navy: I want to see the world, I want to be able to call myself a veteran, I want to get an edge applying for federal jobs, and I want help paying for a masters of social work and to take spanish classes. I've been a retail pharmacy tech for 5 years and have grown to really, really, REALLY hate the field, mostly because of the poor pay and instability. Things will be running smoothly, then all of the sudden, I'll get cut to 10 hours a week and I have to job hop. I often work clopenings, so I get anywhere from only 2 to 12 hours a sleep in a night and I have a big belly because I live on fast food and comfort eat a lot. I've recently cut out sugary drinks from my orders, but I still have a fast-food diet because I never have the time or energy to cook. I'm 40 pounds overweight and am not sure where to start, but I know I need to meet all requirements for a medical waiver to even be considered for the military, especially a selective branch like the Navy or Air Force. Army isn't out of the question, but I am drawn to the Navy and Air Force first, and especially the Navy. My mother had me on ADHD medicine and antidepressants as a teenager, and I'm paranoid that if I lie about that, I'll be caught, but I also know I'll need approved for a waiver if I disclose that information about me. I'd really like to lose 40 pounds in 4 months, and be passing at least the minimums expected for Navy boot camp, but the better I can be, the better chance I'll have of getting a waiver. As for a class, I think either Ranger or Scout lends itself to the workouts I'll need to increase my strength and endurance, but moreso endurance. If there is any other information I left out, I'll be glad to fill you in if I ask. I'm glad to be here, and hopefully, I can get out of this career field I hate and into something better. (In case anybody is wondering, I am a man.)

Brace yourselves, graduation is coming. And I have no idea what I'm doing. If I can't get a civilian job I've pretty much settled that I will go into the Navy. I would probably do supply, because I'm an MBA. Boring! I want to do intelligence. Honestly, I think I would do well in either path. I have two big problems: 1) I hear the Navy relies heavily on BMI, but according to BMI I am obese. Everyone I told that do said "I don't believe you" Even when I tell people that I weigh 177lbs they're like "I don't believe you" because I'm not big. I'm quite muscular and therefore dense. But I honestly don't think that I can drop 30lbs at this point. At one point that was my goal but now that I'm powerlifting, I can see that dropping 30lbs isn't exactly in my best interest. What's a buff girl to do? problem #2) I won't be able to take my dog... but there's not much I can really do about that. Any current military or former military wanna give me some tips? Pros and cons of active duty vs reserve?

I have been meaning to post my challenge for a few days now, but I just keep pushing to the back burner. I guess that right there says a lot about me. I need to rearrange my priorities and make me #1. I wasn't always like that, I used to be at least in the top 3 on my priority list, but time and age change you. A little back story: I have always struggled with my weight. I was always a "big" kid. Not only was I taller than everyone, but I was overweight as well. My parents took me to nutrition classes, put me in sport, and did just about anything else they could think of to try and help me with my weight. My parents are GREAT! They tried, but I wouldn't have it. Even if they made healthy food I would each junk, in excess, when I went over to friends' houses. That's not to say I didn't have an amazing childhood, I couldn't have asked for a better time growing up, but my weight was always the thing lurking in the corner. I slimmed down a little in high school, but I was still overweight. It didn't help that I had a job working at Arby's all through high school. Can you say easy access to junk? I graduated and left home to go to a university about 6 hours from home. Far enough away to have freedom, but close enough to go home for breaks. I gained the Freshman 15 and then some. I was up to my highest weight at that point, 260lbs. I yo-yo dieted for the next few years while trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. At 22 I was still struggling trying to find a major while some of my friends were graduating. I soon was filled with wanderlust. I needed a change of scenery so I started trying to find places to move. Somewhere in the back of my head I heard 'What about the Navy? Haven't you always wanted to serve your country?' I started to really think about it. I was 60 lbs over the weight max for my height (I'm 5'10"), but I wanted to do it. I started telling my parents I was going to join the Navy. They both kind of thought I was kidding, as they knew I had to lose weight to do it. They didn't believe me at first, and I don't blame them based on my track record, but once I started getting motivated and actually losing weight they were VERY supportive. After contacting several recruiters who just laughed at my and told me to come back after I'd lost the weight I finally found one willing to help me. She is amazing, we're still friends to this day. Anywho, I worked my butt off for 9 months and lost 60lbs. This is Oct 2009, I left for Bootcamp in Jan 2010. I was in the best shape of my life and that continued through Bootcamp. When I got to my "A" (training) school, I did a little less. Once I got my duty station, I did even less. I worked 12s (which were more like 14 hour shifts), and I was sitting down for the majority of that time. I didn't have motivation to go train after work, so I started to get out of shape again. I got engaged and got in a little better shape, but when my marriage started to go south I went into a deep depression and completely gave up. I didn't care about my weight, my apperance, all I cared about was ending my marriage and moving on. I wanted to be done with the Navy and move back home and restart my life. Fast forward to today, 2 years after I left the Navy, I'm 28 and I'm at the heaviest I've ever been, 292lbs. I've had a rough 5 years, I'm not going to blame anyone but myself. I know now that I am in control, and I have to be in control in order to get where I want to be. Thankfully my family is happy and healthy and I've been in an amazing relationship for a year now with someone who is very supportive. He's a power lifter and he's gotten me into that and I absolutely LOVE it! I had wanted to lift for a long time, but I didn't have anyone willing to show me. He is my rock, and I am so thankful he's a great trainer. My goals: Ultimate goal: Become stronger! I think 160-180 once I'm more muscular. My main quest for this 6-week challenge: Lose 10lbs. I will achieve this by: 1. Adding cardio at least 30 mins/3 days a week 2. Drinking WATER 3. Bench pressing 180lbs. I'm currently stuck at 175lbs. Jeez, that was a lot of sharing, I feel really proud of myself! I hate disclosing my weight, but you guys are here for the same reason I am and you won't judge me. The bf and I are going to take starting pictures soon. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to keeping up with your accomplishments.

Hello! Been following Nerd Fitness for over a year and I've finally made an account. Anyways, my current employment is not the normal 9 to 5 desk job. I am a Logistics Specialist Seaman (LSSN) on board the USS Philippine Sea (CG58), which is at the moment in her last haul of a 9 month deployment and is stationed in Mayport, FL. As a LS, my physical activities range from paperwork to carrying 55 gal drums off the ship. But before striking that rate, I was a Deck Seaman for two years, which consists of work that made Pop Eye how he is, and before that I failed out of the Naval Nuclear program, where fitness was not a big concern for them. Stats: Age: 22 Weight: 180 lbs Height 5' 10" Build: Average Desired class: Ranger A few good things about my life; Big MMORPG player when I'm on shore. Mostly Guild Wars 2 on Tarnished Coast, the unofficial RP server.My job requires me to stay in shape, so if I lose motivation my boss will kick some into me.Rookie Heavy Fighter in the SCA. (Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.)I enjoy reading more than anything else, mostly fantasy and si-fi. (Wheel of Time, Sword of Truth, Star Wars, Dune, etc.)I love to cook. (For myself mostly.)I've been around the world. Mostly Europe, Middle East, and Africa.I've been told I remind some people of a young TIm Curry.A few bad things about my life; Tend to go off track if I get distracted, especially when it comes to fitness.My work currently controls my life, for example duty days, underways, and deployments.My shipboard diet is horrible. It literally has the words on the boxes, "Unfit for human consumption.", If the public schools and prisons don't want it, the Navy will take it!My long-term goals; To achieve Excellent on the Navy PFA. (I'm currently hitting Standard and brushing Good with my runs and crunches.)A beach body of a greek god. ("Dude, your ass is tanner than my face!" - Grandma's Boy)Get selected to become one of the SAR (Search and Rescue) Swimmers for my command.Win a Heavy Fighter Tourament.To live a overall healthly life style both in and out of the Navy.I'm currently doing the Beginner Body Weight Work Out to get things started; 15 to 30 minutes of cardio to get my HR up. 20 body weight squats 10 push ups 20 walking lunges 10 dumbbell rows (Working with 25lbs this week, going to 30lbs next week.) 15 second plank 30 jumping jacksI'm hitting 3 reps in about 15 mins at the moment, and will increase to 4 next week. I'm not sure if I'm going too slow with my work out plan, but I'm currently sticking to, "Slow and steady wins the race." At the moment, I can't really control my diet unless I'm an extremely picky eater and I use N.O.Explode as my pre work out.

Looking for other military nerds who can help each other keep in check. I'm an active duty Marine, so I believe in once and always, so it doesn't matter to me if you're a Poolee, Recruit, Active, Reserve, Retired, Spouse, Brat, whatever. This will give us a venue to complain about how our Unit's PT just isn't quite cutting it for us, how the 1st Sgt still has his head up his butt, and talk royal smack to each other for falling off our goals. I'll start even if there's no interest: Active Duty Marine Sergeant, been in for about 7 1/2 years. Currently stationed at Parris Island (no, not as a Drill Instructor, though I do have a story about that). Radio Technician, Deployed to Camp Fallujah 07-08. Have spent the past 7 1/2 years convincing my fellow Marines that you can be a nerd and a Marine, and be enthusiastic and efficient in both. PFT - 245-ish - 21:00 3-mile, 13 Pull-ups, 100 Crunches CFT - 298 - 2:55 1/2 Mile, 100+ Ammo Can Press, 2:02 MUF Eligible for promotion this year, and considering the draw down and the fact that I weigh in AT my max weight every time, I figure nows a good time to step up my PT and health game. Links for my 6-Week Challenge and other stuff are in my signature. A little food for thought (NSFW): Here's the List: CommMarine - Ranger Draken273 - Ranger Kalmar - Ranger dr3wcifer - Ranger Gllarso - Ranger I notice a class trend >.< Semper Fidelis

Looking for other military nerds who can help each other keep in check. I'm an active duty Marine, so I believe in once and always, so it doesn't matter to me if you're a Poolee, Recruit, Active, Reserve, Retired, Spouse, Brat, whatever. This will give us a venue to complain about how our Unit's PT just isn't quite cutting it for us, how the 1st Sgt still has his head up his butt, and talk royal smack to each other for falling off our goals. I'll start even if there's no interest: Active Duty Marine Sergeant, been in for about 7 1/2 years. Currently stationed at Parris Island (no, not as a Drill Instructor, though I do have a story about that). Radio Technician, Deployed to Camp Fallujah 07-08. Have spent the past 7 1/2 years convincing my fellow Marines that you can be a nerd and a Marine, and be enthusiastic and efficient in both. PFT - 245-ish - 21:00 3-mile, 13 Pull-ups, 100 Crunches CFT - 298 - 2:55 1/2 Mile, 100+ Ammo Can Press, 2:02 MUF Eligible for promotion this year, and considering the draw down and the fact that I weigh in AT my max weight every time, I figure nows a good time to step up my PT and health game. Links for my 6-Week Challenge and other stuff are in my signature. Here's the List: CommMarine - Ranger Draken273 - Ranger Kalmar - Ranger dr3wcifer - Ranger Gllarso - Ranger I notice a class trend >.< This is the second 6WC I've brought this group up in, looking forward to seeing everyones input here Semper Fidelis

Finally got my TRX Tactical Kit today in the mail and I'm pretty psyched (especially with the military discount I got)! Despite being fairly sedentary off work and command PT I can still rock out 70-80 pushups, 95~ situps, and hold planks and bridges for a few minutes at a time. So I decided I wanted a way to take my body weight training up a level to kick off my NF lifestyle. Now I've done a few workout sessions during command PT (turns out if a Navy SEAL develops something and gets famous for it the Navy likes to have us use it lol) but otherwise I haven't had any serious time logged using this system, though I have enjoyed the couple times I have done it. I was wondering if there was anyone out there who might have one or used one enough to recommend certain workouts or if they'd had exceptionally good results or fun routines with the system. Personally I'm just happy to have something I can take with me when I travel but outside opinions are always nice to listen to when getting something new. Thanks in advance! (If you've done a routine from the guide/app but can't remember it just describe it. I got both of those with my bundle so I'm sure I can find it if you tell me what you did!)

This is my first challenge folks, lets do this!!! Goal A: Complete Session 40 of cross fitters transition to military athlete. I'm currently on Session 10. Goal 2: Increase #of pull ups by 50%. I'm currently at 9 so 14ish. Goal III: Decrease body fat by 2.5% based on my ridiculously inaccurate electronic scale.

Whoops, I originally posted in the wrong challenge sub forum... I decided to migrate over to the Rangers side of the house as I think it’ll be good fit for this challenge! I am very excited about this one; the last one really motivated me and kept me focused (I’m an instant gratification kind of person, so that’s a big deal). Love this community! So, for a quick overview… I am active duty Navy and have been in South Carolina for several weeks for school and it’s been sort of a “vacationâ€, if you will, from my life and work(ship). It has been very easy to fit in workouts because my schedule is very cut and dry and I have no other distractions (i.e. boyfriend, dogs, roommate, beer. ..Skyrim doesn’t count.) . The overall idea here is, upon my return, to adapt working out to my constantly fluctuating ship schedule and to, in general, make better use of my time. I am the type of person who always wishes they had more hours in the day as I lay on the floor daydreaming for 2 hours after work. Enough of that! Here are my goals… 1. Pass the Navy Physical Readiness Test with an overall Excellent! The test is coming up May 20th. In order to pass with an Excellent I need to accomplish the following: Curl-ups- 87 w/in 2 minutes (Not my strong point…) Push-ups- 39 w/in 2 minutes (Definitely not my strong point but they set the bar pretty low…) 1.5 mile run- 13:15 (My strong point, hurray!) I will accomplish this by: A. Adding the “100 push-ups†sets at the beginning of my lift days (M,W,F). I will have to deal with the loss of gains I may have in OHP and Bench. B. On rest days (T, Th), I will time myself for 2 minutes and do sit-ups till failure and the P90X Ab Ripper X video. I would like to do the timed curl-ups every day, maybe every morning, but twice a week will suffice for now. C. At least one day every weekend I will run 1.5 miles. 2. Continue the SL 5x5 program! As I will be returning to my ship, I simply want to maintain consistency here. I will go to the gym even if it’s packed with giant meatheads that intimidate me. I will go to the gym even if I’m at work till its dark outside and I’ll get stuck in traffic. I will go to the gym even if I’ve been invited over to a friends house after work/have something “better†to do. Also, I will maintain proper form and ask for help if I feel like I’m slacking! 3. Fuel my body the right way! I will maintain a healthy weight by eating a balanced, clean diet full of variety! Specifics: A. Define “cleanâ€: Keep the majority of meals simple and with at least one meat/protein and one veggie/fruit per meal. I will stray away from anything frozen or boxed. B. Meal plan! I will make a flexible plan for meals for the entire week every Sunday, and buy groceries according to that. I’m going to set myself up for success by pre-marinating and freezing meats, pre-slicing frequently-used veggies, and divvying up snacks into baggies for grab-and-go. C. Juice during the weekdays! I am going to convince my bf to let me adopt his juicer and then make one green concoction every morning! I should pre-assort veggies and fruits according to recipe so I can do this quickly in the mornings. Also, I’d like to primarily use veggies/fruits that I don’t care to eat raw…i.e. ginger, pears, grapes, beets, kale. Since it’s his juicer, I should expect to be making 2 green concoctions every morning… 4. Less procrastination…more domination! A. Get my damn motorcycle license! Call and make the appt, get it approved through my command, go to said appt, pass…That’s all there is to it!! B. Make one piece of art per week. This can include drawing, painting or completing some kind of craft. Get those creative juices flowing! I’d like to post what I do here maybe for accountability…we’ll see. Overall: Juice each morning. Eat clean. Craft once a week. Get my bike license. M-Pushups/ Lift T-Curl-ups/Abs (along with divisional PT) W-Pushups/ Lift Th-Curl-ups/Abs (along with command PT) Fri-Pushups/ Lift Sa-Active rest (or run) Sun-Active rest/(or run)/ Meal planning & grocery shopping (Excluding duty days) Wish me luck and I am open to feedback!