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So I'm back again, I've started getting back into the habit and I'm a little embarrassed that I keep on falling off. BUT ALAS I am starting again. I have two goals I've been working on the first, which I have been doing pretty okay with is eating better and logging what I am eating. I've been working to cut out sodium because EVERY time i take in some salty goodness I blow up like a balloon. Next is the harder one for me, and (Like anything) once I ACTUALLY start it's a little easier. The Gym! I'm going to be lifting weights 2x a week. The challenge for me is finding the time to go right now. but honestly that's just an excuse. I gotta make the time. So those are my two biggies right now.Thanks for taking the time to read, I know this is late BUT I'm popping in when I've arrived.

So, I'm going to release my sob story unto you all. It's not as bad as others, but for me, it is. And I've hit the bottom point, I thought I had hit the bottom last year, and lo and behold it got lower (higher?). Note: This is super long. I just need to get it all out. I'll put a big bold spot where I get back to this current restart. TL;DR: Was active as child, got made fun of for smelling, downhill slide to gaining weight. Had gallbladder issue that lost 30lbs before surgery, tried losing weight, stopped, started last year, aunt passed away, another downhill to gain more weight. I was a cute kid. Around 10, my oldest sister took some photos of me in black and white, and I am the cutest little girl posing near a tree in a cemetery in a tiny Massachusetts town you ever did see. That tiny Massachusetts town? Also a downfall. As far back as I remember, I can't remember liking how I looked. In 2nd grade, a kid made fun of me by saying I smelled like a skunk. Normally, this ONE remark would be forgotten by the numerous people in any class of school. But not in this tiny town. There were probably a total of 50 kids in my grade, 15 probably in my classroom. Everyone remembered. I had no friends. I became reclusive and it has effected me to this day. I got into softball when I was a bit older. I'd already gained some weight, but I wasn't super huge. I was tall and it didn't completely show. Then I learned I had a knee condition. Osgood Schlatter's Disease. Doctor said to stop softball and hobbies with repetitive knee motion. A year later I was told I didn't have to stop riding my bicycle. Which by then had been under my younger sister's care and stolen. The food cooked at home wasn't healthy, I was overloaded on sugar, and nothing that was healthy tasted good. So I got heavier, and heavier. Had to move during High School just as I was making friends. So that didn't help. Then came the new school, then came college where I could eat anything I wanted at the cafeteria. I attempted to work out, but I didn't have my heart in it. Depression hit. I failed courses, I nearly got kicked out of college. After a year or two, my family convinced me to go to a psychiatrist who diagnosed me and gave me medication. So, that's well and good. But does nothing for my weight. So then I go down to work at Disney World. (Yeah, you heard me.) It was going fine, then I started to have incredible nausea and a pain that doubled me over. And they would be at the same time. I could handle one, but not both at the same time. So I often had to throw up anything I had in my stomach so I could deal with the pain. One bite too many of anything fried or dairy and I was out of the game for the rest of the day. Got to the point I had a roommate drive me to the hospital. Missed work because of that, and was told it seemed to be a gallbladder thing, and I had to see a specialist to see if it needed to get taken out. 30 lbs (13.6kg) later I got my gallbladder out. Had to leave the program. Back to Maryland, didn't go back to school. My mom joined a gym and added me on. We had a personal trainer even. But for some reason, again my heart was just not in it. Back to Florida, craziness ensued, got my first boyfriend. Went to Vermont with a job that paid more than I had ever seen (I mean, not A LOT, but more than I'd ever made) and closer to my siblings. Boyfriend moved up after a few months. Got our own place. NOW WE GET TO LAST YEAR... Last year in June, I started eating better. Mostly veggies, salads were my lunch every day. Mostly romaine, with some spinach added later, chicken, maybe some cheese, and a bit of balsamic vinaigrette. I started loosing weight! I added in the Couch to 5K program, for a week I stayed the same then I started loosing again. I lost about 25lbs (11.3kg). June to October, I'd lost half of what my goal was to get a tattoo for the weight loss journey. End of October I learned my Aunt was likely not going to make it, and probably within the week. Early November, she passed away. She was the first close family member I knew and loved who had passed away. I lost it. I couldn't keep it up, I fell to food, I stopped running, claiming it was getting too cold, even got a gym membership and then say I have no time for it. I've gone up to my now highest of weight of 325lbs (147.4kg). I had "tried" over that time to get back into it all. I bought a dress this past weekend and realized just how LARGE I was. Now much these extra pounds look like. It's hard to tell I weigh as much as I do. I tell my friends my weight, and they can't believe it. Which probably is another reason I never bothered. I don't care about the weight. I want to lose the inches. I want to be strong. So, I've signed up for a 5K in October. When I did my C25K stuff I could do 5K in just over 30 minutes. About 40. I'm doing it with a coworker, and today is the first day we're doing something. We both said "let me know any time I'll join you!" I decided yesterday we needed to decide days we're doing it together.

Hey guys, Posted in the introductions yesterday and someone suggested I take the post and make it a challenge, however after reading the challenge rules I feel that it would be more in place here! This will not be a daily log for me though, I may well update it every week, however the main reason is to keep track of my monthly progress pics, measurments and reviews! I was always a bit vague with my goals in the past, and to be perfectly honest I’m not entirely sure how to set realistic goals at the minute. Previously, I based them on the weight I was lifting, always striving to lift something heavier, however I don’t even know my starting weights for all exercises at the minute and it’s probably going to take a few weeks to get there. So setting short term goals, and even some long term goals, is going to be something I will be looking towards doing very soon. Saying that however, my goal at the minute is to attend the gym, and get back into the habit of cooking and preparing meals. My girlfriend and I did a monster shop at the weekend, filling the fridge with nothing but healthy ingredients, a rough meal plan will let us know what we’re having to eat on a daily basis and the ability to throw together shakes and homemade protein bars will mean that I’ve never short on calories! I’m going to take my goals on a week-by-week basis, like I said just starting the habit up again. This week I plan to: Take a lunch to work every day this week. Go to the gym on Wednesday and Friday. Go for a hike on Saturday. Obviously I’m doing more than this, but I also know the negative effect setting too many or unrealistic goals can have. I took my measurements and progress pics yesterday and they are as follows: Gut (belly button to belly button) - 33 inches Chest - 39 inches Arms - 13 inches Legs - 19 inches I’m looking to put a little bit of size on (through beginner gains) so hoping to see these increase over the next few months. DIET My diet is going to consist of a lot of whole foods along with supplementation. The majority of my meals will be home cooked using fresh ingredients, I will have some things from a packet purely for convenience but the ingredients of these will be closely monitored. I’ll be looking to have a diet high in protein (1g+ per lb of bodyweight), moderate carbohydrates (200g and below) and moderate to high fat intake (around 70 – 90g). Once I get it up and running on MyFitnessPal I will post up some macros. A sample day of eating will go along the lines of: Breakfast Shugart Shake (Whey, Peanut Butter, Banana, Almond Milk) 550 cal Lunch Chicken and rice 400 cal Pre-Workout Homemade protein bar (essentially oats, honey and whey in bar form) 300 cal Post Workout Whey shake 100 cal Dinner Chicken and white carbs (potatoes, rice etc) 450 cal Pre-bed snack Cashew Nuts 300 cal I will be looking to eat somewhere between 2100 - 2200 calories per day, I know this may seem quite low but I know from past experiences that this is roughly my maintenance window. On my rest days I will sub out the protein bar for nuts and the white carbs in dinner for something a little lower on the glycaemic index. I’m allowing myself one cheat meal per week, in fact an entire night off on a Friday. I know that this will obviously effect my overall progress, but I also know that this is paramount to my mental health (overprotective, I warned you!). But I’m not dumb, and any chance I can to take this in moderation, or skip over it entirely, I will. At the same time, I want to be able to enjoy a night out with my friends should the need arise. WORKOUTS As for the gym itself? I’m going to be doing a lot of big the big lifts, focusing mostly on compounds with some isolations that I enjoy (It’s got to be fun, right?!). I like to use progressive overload, constantly increasing the weight on the bar, however the rep range will be 8 – 10, which is quite high for this technique as it’s usually utilized to gain strength quickly. I’ll be doing 3 full-body workouts per week and I’m still in the process of working out the specifics, however it will look something like this? Cavehill is around 1 and a half hours hike. I mentioned earlier that I’m not overly fussed on the program I’m doing or the diet that I’m eating, I just want to get back into the habit of working out, eating well, tracking my macros, hydrating and just generally being awesome again. However I do believe that what I have in place at the minute will give me a solid base to work from and I will revise it in 3 months’ time and make changes as required. Well thank you for reading, that is me and that is what I plan to do. I hope to be active on the forums and I look forward to meeting you all Andy

I (previously known to the Rebel community as Sambie Wilkes) am back. It's been a year since I was last here, and more than that since I was last here to do serious work. So much has changed, I just don't even... I got divorced last year; that changes everything. One by one, all the things I thought I knew about myself disintegrated, until I was just a line drawing with no detail or substance. Then there was the grieving time when I did nothing but work, sleep, eat, and process my various losses. And now, a year later, I'm starting to pick up pieces of my identity out of the dust, one at a time, and see if they still fit. So far most things don't. Derby skating doesn't fit anymore. Running doesn't fit anymore. Buddhism and blogging don't fit in the same way; they've morphed into something totally unlike my previous experience of them. I'm a different person now and it's been a weird yet liberating process of starting over. I have a new relationship, a new job, a new house, a new cat. New friends, new family (on my partner's side). New hobbies like doing crosswords and hula-hooping and watching Supernatural, and new versions of old hobbies like hiking, birding, and cooking. New dreams and goals, like finally ditching social work for good and going back to school to pursue my lifelong dream of doing bee research. I have a tattoo now, you guys. And appointments scheduled to get two more. WHAT. I still love Keanu Reeves even though my profile picture here is now myself and no longer his beautiful face. I'm not jumping in to a challenge anytime soon. I'm still in the uncertain phase of figuring out what fits, which means I have gone back to the drawing board regarding modes of activity and dietary preferences. I don't know what my goals are yet. I still sometimes get disoriented by how different my whole world is but I believe in continuing to try and move forward toward feeling whole again. I'm getting there. It's good to be back. I am looking forward to reconnecting with old Rebel friends and making new ones. ~Winx

Well old Thom Ulfhedinn is back for another go. The title comes from an old GW orks phrase; "Orkes never lose, when we win we win. When we die, we iz dead and that don't count, and when we runs away, we can come back for annuver go see?" Well more or less. I haven't won my fitness battle, and I ain't dead, I stopped working out and eating right and getting on here, which is about the same as running away metaphorically speaking. But as Da Orks said it means I can come back for another go. My challenge is simple, start from the beginning and move forward. Goal One: Three workouts per week Back on the BBWW again, it worked when I first started and got me great results, so I am back to give it another go. Critical Hit: 18+ times per week 4 points, 'We wins again!' Hit: 12-17 times per week 3 points, 'Got him a good'un!' Block: 7-11 times per week 2 points 'He's a tuff'un!' Dodge: 3-6 times per week 1 point 'Oi that nearly got me!' Miss: 0-2 times per week 0 points, 'Let's scarper lads!' Strength and Stamina Goal Two: Reporting in on NF Three times per week. Let's be honest here, you guys motivate me. Getting my NF fix motivates me. Being told by some bloody awesome people that I am awesome motivates me. So I am back another go at getting motivation. Critical Hit: 18+ times per week 4 points, 'We wins again!' Hit: 12-17 times per week 3 points, 'Got him a good'un!' Block: 7-11 times per week 2 points, 'He's a tuff'un!' Dodge: 3-6 times per week 1 point, 'Oi that nearly got me!' Miss: 0-2 times per week 0 points, let's scarper lads! Charisma Goal Three: Strong soul, strong mind, strong body I need to get back to meditating again, Ultimate goal is 7 days per week, but I will be happy with three times per week to start. Time to give strengthening my soul another go. Critical Hit: 18+ times per week 4 points, 'We wins again!' Hit: 12-17 times per week 3 points, 'Got him a good'un!' Block: 7-11 times per week 2 points, 'He's a tuff'un!' Dodge: 3-6 times per week 1 point, 'Oi that nearly got me!' Miss: 0-2 times per week 0 points, let's scarper lads! Wisdom Not sure what to do with the remaining three points though, I will work it out later. Just noticed I put per week rather than per challenge for my scoring. D'oh. Even sadder none of you pointed it out to me. [emoji14]

I am a bit late on this one...but I am here and ready to jump into it! I am psyched and ready to learn how the quests work, and of course to make some changes! I started on this site a while ago, but fell off the wagon...So I am, really, still very new and figuring this all out! Main quest: To lose weight and build muscle Missions: 1 – Walk at lunch at least 4 times per week 2 – Do cardio at least 3 times per week and strength at least three times per week 3 – Create, get into, and stay in the habit of logging every meal, and by the end of this challenge I will be drinking 100 oz of water a day. Life Quest I want to be happy with my body and the progress I have made along my journeys Why am I here? (motivation) My motivation is that I want to be healthier and confidant. My family has a history of diabetes and I want to get fit and lose weight to try and avoid this myself. I also want to feel good in my clothes, and in my own skin; I believe building strength and fitness will help me with my confidence.