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So sorry I disappeared last challenge you guys - it was a doozy of a time and I couldn't have been on here much anyway. Quick recap of what's happened since my last post/challenge I actually participated in: 1. I lost weight in the first trimester and worked hard to gain it (very nearly all the way) back by the end of the previous thread 2. Things went well for about a week, then I started having weird temperature issues where I'd be freezing cold, then sweating, then freezing cold again...back and forth with little to no ability to control it. Over a few days, these then turned into 3-4 full-blown fevers a day. My doctors were all concerned but we were trying to manage it at home via strong oral antibiotics and Tylenol 3. The fevers started breaking through and otherwise not responding to the max dose of Tylenol, sending me to the ER because I was getting too hot too routinely for the safety of the baby and my liver was getting pissed off at the amount of Tylenol I was consuming to try to control it 4. I ended up being admitted to the hospital for a little over 2 weeks while we tried to figure out what was causing the infection; while we never got a 100% answer, the "machine gun" of extremely broad and strong IV antibiotics did get the fevers to stop, so we're assuming we killed it before we could fully ID it. However, I also have Crohn's disease which is treated by suppressing my immune system, so we had to stop treating that while I was in the hospital in order to kill said mystery infection... 5. I got sent home on meds now for the Crohn's flare that started up because of missing my meds for approximately 19 days in total...but one of the most common symptoms of Crohn's flares that I (and many other people) get is...uncontrollable weight loss due to the inability to digest food properly! So guess who now weighs substantially less than she did even at her lowest point in first trimester despite now being 19 weeks along? 🤬 Amazingly, the Halfling appears to be chugging along more or less just fine. I actually have some muscle atrophy from where I wasn't able to get anywhere near enough calories into me while I was in the hospital and the baby started digesting my muscle to get what it needed, but besides that Halfling has never once measured more than one day behind expected (so far) and the heartbeat has stayed strong and healthy. I feel movement nearly every day, which has been a HUGE relief (though sometimes very difficult to tell apart from my Crohn's intestinal cramping) and overall it would appear that my body is finally more interested in keeping this baby alive than itself, which is honestly kinda awesome at this point. I would absolutely rather feel like complete shit and struggle every single day between now and December 15th than have to bury a 4th baby. And to be fair, my body has made some progress towards healing the Crohn's issues, it's just going a loooooooooooooot slower than usual because it is prioritizing baby and only trying to heal with whatever it has leftover. Tomorrow marks the two week point from my discharge and normally I would be back to 100% quite easily by now, but I'm like...70% at best. Most movements have become easier, my fatigue has improved, and I'm able to eat more food with less pain than before. But I am still having a lot of sleep issues, currently averaging about 5 hours a night; eating does still cause quite a lot of pain, especially certain food groups and certain times of day; despite cramming my stomach well past the pain point on purpose on a daily basis, I am still losing weight, just a lot more slowly than before; my heart rate still spikes just by walking casually around my house; and I still get stuck in any position where my butt is lower than my knees (I can get down but literally cannot get up at all without assistance), which includes all squats and sitting in some of our chairs. Therefore this challenge is dedicated to very literal growth - trying to grow muscles back to move properly and trying to gain weight, all while trying to grow a baby!

Hello. I have reached a point in my fitness journey were I don't know what to do. I have always been very slender (5'8", 115lbs) I have started my weight gain journey consuming weight gain shakes both Optimum Nutrition Mass and sometimes Boost Plus and eating a moderate protein based diet. I do weight training (occasionally) and natural cardio (walking, cycling and stairs) I have noticed some weight gain as I am now fluctuating around 120lbs. Problem I am having is that some of the weight went to my belly and waist. I'm sure it has alot to do with the sugar content in the shakes. I don't want to have to lose body weight just to get a flat stomach as I am already too slender (bmi 17.48) Are there any tips to get a flat stomach while gaining body weight? I'd like more weight everywhere but not my stomach. I've added a few photos for reference. Some days are worst than others (sorry for clarity)

I've heard a lot of women talking about hormonal birth control leading to weight gain, and I typically laughed it off. Calories = weight gain, I assumed perhaps it can slow your metabolism or make you crave more food but surely by watching your calories you would be fine. Clearly, those women complaining just don't count calories and secretly eat cake all day... or so I thought At my peak 2 years ago I weighed 8 stone 2 lbs, and went to the gym 2 / 3 times per week with a calorie intake between 1200 and 1600. I had a little "mishap" and ended up ignoring my diet and the gym and gained 1 stone. Totally my bad, I also went on depo at this time. I've been following the same diet and exercise route as I used to for the past 3 months to drop my extra stone, and I am not losing anything, nothing, nada, zilch. This is driving me crazy, how is this even possible?! The mad scientist in me now wishes to experiment. My depo is due today, and I'm not going ( I use it to control the pain only, mini pill didn't work for that, neither did an IUD ). No pain, much gain - the new motto for hormonal products Anyone else have experiences like this?

I am Arcelas, defender of all that is pixelated. At least, I used to be. Arcelas was the first character name I created for WoW all the way back to Vanilla. I mighty warrior with a will of steel and pants of twill. Death was something I was well acquainted with. Whether I was falling off something or being hunted by boars, I died so often I decided to fight naked, so my repair cost would be negligible. And that's where I am today. Fighting naked. I am Bi-polar and Manic with PTSD and anxiety disorders. When I started this grand Nerd adventure, I was 276 lbs. I am the jump-right-in-with-both-feet-head-first sort of guy. So I went cold turkey. In fact I think I mainly ate turkey for the first few weeks. Progress! I felt better, I looked better, and I needed suspenders to keep my pants around my shrinking waist. I now am 285 lbs. With almost no energy. To be honest, I do not know what to do to start again. Help me please?

Hi, I am 6foot (1.82m) and 168pounds (76kg). I live in the Southern hemisphere and just like game of thrones winter is coming. I have been training for roughly a year now and have grown quite stronger with basic equipment and body weight training (From benching 66pounds (30kg) to benching roughly 200pounds (90kg)) all thanks to nerd fitness! Now I am at a cross roads for you see, I am still quite small and lean, even though I have become stronger. The platform has been laid and I have decided to do my first ever BULK.... which in turn led to a LOT of questions. Most of these questions I searched on the internet, however in some cases the answer was a bit ambiguous. This leads me to why I am here: I am pleading to some of the bigger gentlemen (and ladies I suppose) of nerd fitness to help me with a few questions on eating big, eating clean and bulking up. So I am just going to jump right into my questions -Bulking obviously means eating a surplus of calories. I am not used to eating a lot. Is it normal to sometimes have to eat even if I am not hungry in order to meet my calorie needs for the day? -Is a clean bulk really THAT much better than a "dirty" bulk? -I want to put on roughly 26pounds (12kg) what is a healthy time in which to do this? How long does it usually take? -How much time will I need to "lean up" again after my bulk? -I do heavy lifting 6 days a week now (Chest & arms, Legs & Core, Shoulders & Back, rest, repeat) Is this a sufficient training regime? -I take whey protein with milk right after each session. Is any other supplements necessary? Would you recommend any other supps? And lastly ANY advice on bulking (and later cutting) would be much appreciated! Please, Share your wisdom with me! (Lastly lastly: I am very dedicated, so if someone told me I had to only drink raw eggs for the rest of my bulk I would be willing and able to do this... obviously this won't be necessary, but you get what I mean) Thanks for helping my skinny ass!

This is a neat section. It looks like a nice parrallel to the 4-week challenge areas. Today is a week shy of a full month on Ice Cream Fitness (with mods because I don't listen so well). Initially this was a 5x5 program, about 2 weeks ago after browsing a Greyskull subreddit I started using AMRAP for final worksets. I also added Chin Ups and Pull Ups later on because I'll be damned if a workout doesn't feel complete unless I do one or the other. Note: Warm up sets not listed. For the newbs in the crowd (like me): EVERY PROGRAM ASSUMES YOU ARE DOING WARM UP SETS, I wish that was something clearly stated in all "Beginner" programs but that is rarely the case. Having used Starting Strength a few years ago, I had some idea of how to determine my baseline already as well as how to do warmup sets. Starting point: Dec 19 - Ice Cream A (baseline day, lbs) Squat- 65 x5 Bench- 55 x5 Bent Over Row- 45 x5 Shrugs- 45 x5 Tri-Pushdown w/rope- 30 x8 EZ Curl- 45 x8 Hyperextension- 10 x10 Cable Crunch- 40 x10 Dec 21 - Ice Cream B (baseline pt2) Squat- 70 5x5 DL- 155 1x5 Press- 55 x5 BO Row- 45 5x5 Close-Grip Bench- 50 x8 EZ Curl- 45 8/7/8 (failed) Cable Crunch- 45 2x10 Estimated Starting weight is 178lbs, may have been slightly lower but since I'm trying to gain weight I'll err on the side of chocolate.

Greetings fellow Rebels... I've been on a vegan diet for four years, mainly for health reasons. I've always been skinny - I'm 5' 11" and topped out around 146 lbs on average before changing my diet. After switching to the vegan diet I lost about four pounds and hovered around 142 most of the time. Weight loss was never my goal, and I'd prefer not to lose any, really. I started Stronglifts seven weeks ago, and have lost four more pounds...so obviously I'm not eating enough. Is there anything out there you may have tried that's similar to drinking a gallon of milk a day (GOMAD) to gain weight? I saw one experimenter who tried a jar of peanut butter a day - not sure if I want to do that or not. But I'd like to gain some weight back fairly quickly... Part two: I need some suggestions for food to at least maintain weight, and if possible add weight over time (doesn't need to be fast, just slow and steady) that meet the following: - I can't spend a lot of time at home and so don't have a lot of kitchen access. It needs to be easy to prepare in a couple hours or less. Preferably something on the weekend that can last the entire week. - Large enough quantity to make several meals. - Fit into a $5-$7 a day budget. I know those are a lot of restrictions, but this is an area where I have very little experience. I can cook and know my way around a kitchen, I just don't know much about food. I'm hoping some of you folks have been in similar situations and have some suggestions! Stay on target!

Hi, This will be my first challenge as an Assassin! I’m excited I’ll be turning 40 at the end of November and am planning to have the greatest year yet. Here’s what I’ll be working on this challenge: Quest #1: Keep getting stronger and increase flexibility A - BBWW 3 times a week (2 STR, 1 STA) B - Yoga 2 times a week (2 DEX) 1 day per week BBWW can be replaced with another activity - cross-country skiing, biking, stacking firewood, dance, fitness mini-challenges, etc. (I want to encourage myself to get outside more and to do things with other people whenever I have the opportunity.) Grading: Quest #2: Gain weight and eat healthy A - Gain 1 pound per week (1 CON, 1 CHA) I will continue to eat 3000 calories or more per day to increase my weight, including at least 100g of protein. I’m adding in a stress-free day each week where I just get to eat when I’m hungry and not worry about calories. If this adversely affects my weight gain, I’ll revisit. Grading: B - Cook 3 meals a day and bake or prep freezer meals once a day (1 CON, 1 CHA) I will cook and bake daily to keep my refined sugar intake lower, my protein up, and my diet healthier. *Eating a homemade freezer meal counts as cooking that meal since I’m still eating healthy homemade food and that’s the point of prepping them - to keep me on track when I have an off day. Grading: Quest #3: Improve and maintain good mental health Do two things daily that are good for my mental health (1 CHA, 1 CON) This can be anything that improves/maintains my mental health - art, time in nature, counseling, sharing/vulnerability with trustworthy people, pushing myself to do things that I would rather put off/are scary, etc. Grading: Life Quest: Simplify and calm my surroundings A - Get rid of 10 things every day (1 WIS) Grading: B - Work on a house project each day, even if it’s only for a few minutes (1 WIS) Grading: *Birthday celebrations are special days, no penalties. *This leaves me 1 point to WIS for knowledge gained by completing this challenge and 1 point to assign where I think I really earned it over the 6 weeks.

Time to reset the high scores, lose the cheat codes, start the game anew. It's not the first respawn I've had in the 14 months I've been tracking and I imagine it won't be the last. Indeed, the respawns are probably a big part of my overall progress. I wish they weren't, but that's apparently how my personal mind-body connection works. The hardest and most necessary part of a respawn for me is assessing. Taking an honest look at where I am. How else can I measure progress? So this morning I did two things: I took a starting weight (which I'll use for the upcoming challenge), and I reset my "streak" in MyfitnessPal. I am quite proud of the 448 consecutive days I put together, but the last few weeks that accomplishment began to feel hollow. For a variety of (valid) reasons I let my health and fitness reside on the back burner the last couple of months. Fortunately, I've built some good food habits over this past year, and that undoubtedly saved me from any real setback. At any rate, the MFP streak is officially at "Day 1" and it feels good to be starting the game again.

Battle Log - Day 1: I am a fairly active 39 year old woman. I visited my Doc on Sept. 9th and she was concerned about my health, especially my bone health due to my being even more underweight than usual. I’ve tried to gain before, but it never stuck (or I never stuck with it). I never had a solid plan before and it is VERY hard to find good support and info online for women trying to gain weight. I was soooo excited to find this site and find posts on weight gain that went beyond drinking endless store-bought protein shakes. I live out in the country and so gym-based exercise routines are not for me. I do however, have great outdoor space and plenty of chores that need doing and heavy things that need lifting. My husband is very outdoor-oriented so cross-country skiing and backpacking are definitely in my future! To make things slightly more challenging, I am a vegetarian who can’t have any dairy and shouldn’t have much soy. I need to increase my protein and calcium intake as well as my calories. I started right after my doctor’s appointment, but only found this site recently, so here’s my catch-up. I already go to a community yoga class 1x a week so I will continue doing that. Week1 - learning, planning, tracking. I tracked my diet on myfitnesspal to find out exactly what I was eating and how many calories, protein, and calcium that was giving me. I found out I wasn’t eating as well as I thought I was and that I really didn’t have any idea about how to get more protein without dairy, meat, or soy. Week 2 - Researched protein and focused on increasing my daily calories without going overboard with nutritionally-empty and sugary foods. (calories went up!) Week 3- Found Nerd Fitness!!! Started the Beginner Bodyweight workout 2x/week, set a goal for 3,000 calories a day along with a diet plan for reaching it, and started increasing my protein at each meal. Also meeting with a nutritionist/counselor tomorrow to review my diet plan and review my protein needs. (Hit 3,000 cals yesterday!) Starting weight: 124# Week 3 weight: 128# Hips: 36 Waist: 28 Bicep: 10 Calf: 11.5 Slow and steady is hard for me...but I'm working on it! And I’m an Elf eyeing the Rangers Guild….

I am so tired of the up/down party my body is throwing... I don't know what I need, but maybe knowing it's not just me will help? Please share if you feel the same... Not only does my female body naturally avoid making the muscles happen, therefore using less stored fuel ("ESTROGEN!!!" read like Captain Kirk), but I also get to fight a battle with my will to go on every month when my body decides it needs to keep ALL OF THE WATER and that chocolate is the only way to avoid doing the murders to people. You could say "that is why you shouldn't focus solely on the scale", but yeah, but my body feels giant and my clothes fit tighter and my head wants to cry at ALL available times, so... those are all of the metrics I have been told to use and I can't find one thing to hold onto right now to remind myself of how far I have come and how I am capable of getting to the place I want to be... Mostly because all I can see is a pile of chips and candy bars and buffalo chicken wings... and I want them all in my face... Does anyone feel the same? Has anyone here overcome this pattern? Does anyone want to share? Men, feel free to chime in if you have a similar struggle...

So I've been here 10 days and I think I rushed my eating habits. I put on about 5 pounds. I'm bordering 190lbs again and I don't like it. I went from eating about 1500 calories a day, if that, to almost 2300 for the past week. 2300 is what fitnesspal gave me to work with and I don't think it's right for me. Not yet. I'm active and work out but I don't think I'm at the point to eat that much. Another factor may have been that I've been eating a LOT of carbs to reach that calorie range. I think my body was just shocked that it ate more than usual >.< So I'm respawning....after a week. I'll go back down to my 1500 calories or so and work my way up to more calories as my exercises intensifies. I'll be greatly reducing carbs as well and focusing on eating more fruits and veggies. I'm pretty upset with myself because it's not how i want to start off! Start off with a bang not a slump blah

Good Evening Rebels! So, I have been battling a General Anxiety Disorder for the past 15 years. About 5 years ago I started on a medication (Lexapro) which worked for about a year. Then I switched to Effexor XR. I noticed that there was a slow weight gain. I originally attributed the weight gain to the fact that I had also started back to work at a law firm and did not have as much time to work out. In 2012 I started running and training with a trainer. I ran several 5ks, completed a Warrior Dash and finished my first half-marathon (on a broken foot) in 2013. I felt great. Until the broken foot. I was still able to concentrate on upper body strength with my injury, but could not get in the cardio. I let my exercise really drop off. As well as my diet. I joined NF and the Academy about a year ago. I feel like I have found my people! About 2 years ago, my weight (which had lessened) plauteaued; nothing I tried helped. Cutting calories, more cardio, less cardio, more weights, less weights. Nothing. Helped. My primary care physician ran some bloodwork and nothing came back abnormal. My anxiety then began to get incredibly out of control since my poor body image contributes to my anxiety. Nine months ago I began seeing a new therapist who recommended I see a new doctor about my meds. The new doctor increased the effexor dosage. That took place at the very end of 2014, beginning of 2015. Since that time, I have gained 10 pounds. The only change was the meds. Two weeks ago my doc finally agreed to let me wean off the effexor because it was actually making me worse because of the weight gain issue. Thus, this seemed like a perfect time to respawn! The last two weeks have felt fantastic. I feel like a boulder has been lifted. I run and workout with renewed gusto (it's still wicked hard), but I feel like I can actually make a difference! My anxiety has been harder to tame, but I am working on it with my therapist. So yeah - here we go!

Should I have gained weight from using creatine after 4 days of taking it? Or is that just if you start out taking lots of it for loading? I haven't gained any water weight, taking 5g/day for 4 days. I read in the first 2-4 days you're supposed to gain some because of water retention. Am I not responding, or is it just because I started out taking 5 g/day instead of the recommended "loading"?

I am looking at starting to change my diet to something healthier and the paleo diet is something that interests me. However you see so much about how the paleo diet is supposed to help you lose weight. As I am already underweight by quite a bit, I am looking to pack on weight to help with muscle growth, and to just make me healthier. But I have read that with the paleo diet it is hard to over eat, and over eating is what you are supposed to do to pack on weight right? So what would I have to change in order to put on some weight while using the paleo diet? Or is the paleo diet even a viable option since I am underweight? Is there any suggestions you could give in order to help me add weight to help with my muscle growth? Any and all input is greatly appreciated, thanks again.

Hi All, I'm trying to work towards gaining some weight and building some muscle. I know diet & nutrition is the biggest part of that. I tend to skip breakfast, or just eat w/e I can find (tastykakes, cereal bars, etc), especially during the week. I see this as a prime opportunity to pack on the calories and protein, as well as provide more energy to drive me throughout the day (low energy is one of my biggest challenges in dealing with my anxiety, too). Unfortunately, most of the recommendations I see for these types of breakfasts focus on massive egg consumption. Don't get me wrong, eggs are great. And I do enjoy them...once in a while. However, they're not something I can eat frequently...at times the taste is overwhelming and makes me lose my appetite. Any recommendations for other great breakfasts to mix in so I don't have to make eggs each morning? Oh...and I'm lactose intolerant (though I can easily substitute Lactaid for milk in any situation). Thanks in advance!

Thought I'd start a topic for the hard-gainers (individuals with high metabolisms or other problems gaining mass). Although it may be difficult for those of trying to curb our caloric intakes to imagine, one of the biggest obstacles hard-gainers seem to face is A. Healthy, high-calorie variety in their diet, and B. Healthy, high-calorie affordable food. So let's go over a few rules for this thread, shall we? 1. No sarcastic posts, ie. suggestions like a "Blenderized Happy Meal" (<--- shameless Vlogbrother plug, and yes, SFW) 2. Try to post recipes that have both variety and lost-cost in mind. 3. Don't be afraid to post the obvious! If it's healthy, high-calorie and cheap to make, feel free to share. I'd like this thread to be something our veteran NFers can point newbie hard-gainers to as a resource for their fitness journey; there's an awful lot of available recipes and advice for those of us who need low-calorie recipes, but let's not forget our fellow NFers on the opposite end of the spectrum.

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has any advice about Weight Gain routines, or just some general advice? I'm tall, thin and underweight at the moment and struggle to put weight on. Reading more into it, I suspect the problem is down to my eating habits. I've just signed up to MyFitnessPal and will attempt to log my normal intake for a week in the hope that it will shed some light on my diet. In terms of routines though, I have no idea where to start! Is it better to build strength? Specific exercises? All-round exercises? What do you suggest?

Hi guys (and gals), I am new here, and I look forward to everything you all have to offer . Here is my story: About a year ago and some odd months ago I decided I was going to work out (having not worked out since high school, 5 years ago). I had P90X, so I began doing it. It went well, and I felt I was making progress. One of my friends had a gym membership and could take a guest. Having been working out at home, I went with. I ran 3 miles on the treadmill, and that was all. The next week my knee was aching. I had assumed it was due to not having ran in years. A few weeks later we went to Florida on vacation, where my knee starting giving out randomly, causing me to stop and regain my footing and continue to walk. Since then, I have attempted getting back into working out a couple times, with the same result of my knee. I recently had been doing an eliptical (just jogging) instead of running. This went great for a couple weeks, then the same thing, so I quit. A month or so ago, I went ice fishing and was hiking around and kicking around good amounts of snow. After the second lake, I could barely walk off of the lake and could hardly even bend my legs. This actually cut our trip short. After this I saw my nurse at work, and she said she thinks it is due to weak knees, having never strength trained them. I enjoyed my last routine, which was just short and simple. Divide body parts up (general, like chest, legs, back) into 3 different days, so everything is once a week, and then do about 2 workouts per part. Short 20-30 minute workouts. Being that I am skinny, this was effective for me. My question, is what should I do about warming up if I cannot run, strengthening my knee (most importantly), and leg workouts in general? Also, does anyone have suggested workouts per body part that are most effective to hit all aspects of that region? Thank you

Hi, I increased my calories intake and gained 4 pounds in the last month. I am following a strength training program. However, it seems that I am getting thicker around the belly, and as I am skinny, it will look really bad if I keep gaining belly fat. How do I bulk up without gaining belly fat?

Hi all! I've been looking around and thinking about this forum for a while now and I've decided to finally take the plunge! I'm 25, from the UK and hopeless when it comes to diet and exercise. I've started to actually have an interest in taking care of myself physically as well as mentally and have been eating better and actually started going to the gym! This all happened to a bit of unexpected weight loss. I'm only 5'5" and have always weighed pretty much 63 - 64kg throughout my adult life. However with a suddenly VERY busy schedule, new relationship that's taking a of time out and a lack of time for food in general, I suddenly dropped to 55kg in literally only 2 or 3 months. I want to change this as I just don't feel myself being very skinny and I feel physically weaker. However, I've figured out that what I really need is some direction in what I'm doing, so here it goes... My Main Goal To build muscle and increase my weight while also getting some measure of endurance! My three detailed quests Weight training (revolving around bench presses, squats and deadlifts) 3 x a week Interval sprint training 2 x a week (at least!) Eat at least 3k calories a day (I've been paleo for a while now so I'm going to continue that)Side Quest I want to spend at least 3 hours a week on myself doing things that I actually want to do! Motivation I want to get back to my original weight eventually, but this time rather than doing it through fat I want to actually have some defined muscle. I'm not confident at the moment in the way I look or the way I feel about myself and I want to bring some of that confidence back. Now's the time to do it! What do you guys think so far? Lets do this!

Alright this is my first ever challenge! First, I suppose I'll introduce myself: My name is Austen. I'm a 20yo college student majoring in IT and getting a minor (hopefully) in Computer Science. I'm ridiculously thin at 170# and 6'3". I'm a huge fan of all things Star Wars, Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. Sometime's I really struggle with staying motivated to work out - I feel like there's no point. But no longer!! Ultimately I would like to gain 30 pounds of muscle mass and lose about 5 pounds of fat from my belly region. So what's my first challenge going to be? Here we go: Gain 3 POUNDS over the next 6 WEEKS.Weight training at least 3 times a week for at least 45 minutesSit-ups and Push-ups at least 3 times a week right before bed (alternate days from gym)Eat at least 3 meals daily (This is going to be surprisingly hard)Life Quest: Pay $200 off debt in the next 6 weeks How does it look? I'm excited! Here's my current stats and a couple (rather unfortunate) photos of my starting point: 175 lbs | 6'3" Let's do this!

Well, I've been away for a while. In my defense, my day-job got REALLY hectic, busy, and almost out of control. A busy day-job coupled with my fat behind being just plain lazy caused me to fall off the motivated wagon and pop back up to a higher weight than I'd like. What brought me back you ask? Well, shameless self-promotion and the amazing success of my wife's weight loss. Early on I was highly motivated by everyone on this site to workout, lose weight, and had down the right path. Then I injured myself in body-weight workouts, twice. Then I got lazy. Then work picked up and my human nature kicked in. I made Excuses and didn't work out anymore. One of my goals during my one and only six week challenge has been WILDLY successful though, and it is that goal that has driven me back here. Everyone on this site has been fantastic with information, support, and encouragement. You will see this for the shameless plug it is, but I truly do intend to stick with it and carry through. What is this shamelessness of which I speak? My writing. I have successfully completed my novel, it has been edited, and our kickstarter is scheduled to begin November 1. Why is this good? Well, my deal was and is that if I wanted to spread the news here on Nerd Fitness about my book I had to workout again. So, this is my way of creating self accountability, by posting my intentions here. I figure if I stay active here posting my workouts I can earn my way out of shameless plug and into the world of something else that is not shameless plug. The plan is simple to start. Go slow, get back in the swing, don't injure myself. Eventually, I'll be back to doing full-on hardcore workouts again and dropping pounds AS WELL AS publishing books. I am open to your thoughts...

I'm really frustrated. I gained two pounds in five days. I think it's probably water and impending Time Of the Month, but I can't be sure. I've understood that one way to know if it's waterweight is to see if the seams on clothing make indentations in your skin. Anyone have any other ways to tell? I'd really like to know whether I've accidentally eaten too much or whether it's a problem that will seep out within the next week.

Hey guys I am a 25 year old female (woman? girl?). I quit smoking nearly a year ago and picked up some healthier habits. Among these are exercising 5 time a week, watching what I eat etc. Few months back I gave up on my guilty pleasure of diet soda. I have never been overweight (1.75 meters, 60 kg) but ever since I started eating Paleo i gained 2.5 Kg!!! in 2 weeks! I am truly horrified by this new change to my body, clothes don't fit quite as good and I find myself frustrated - I really don't deserve this after all the hard work I've put in What am I doing wrong? your advice and support will be much appreciated. Me. ***For those not using the metric system: 5.6 feet, 132 pounds + 5.5lb gain in 2 weeks (OMG)