Hello!

[newcs]

Just wanted to say hi...coincidentally I'm another Danielle posting right after a new Danielle.

 

I'm 27, work in Boston, live in the suburbs.  I'm putting my whole story here but feel free to read the short version...or the long version if you're bored.

 

Short version:  I love food, I love good food and I support local food.  I like CSAs, farms and farmers markets.  I like cooking and baking my own food...especially baking.  I love veggies but I also love cookies.  Life goal:  own/operate a bakery/cafe.  I'm working to build a food co-op in the tiny town I live in.  I'm a CPA and work in tax.  I'm in what I consider average shape now but it's the best shape I've been in in my life.  I've lost 25lbs since March 2011 (and hover around my goal weight of 120 currently).  I started working out at home over the summer and in a gym in October where I now work out about 5x/week.  I have asthma and lung damage due to an illness/surgery but can now run for the first time since that illness/injury (about 12years).  My goals for this year are to do a pull up, get working on the Playground Workout when the weather warms up and tackle the Batman workout probably in 2014 (but hey, if I kick butt and get to that point in 2013, I'm all for it).  I'm planning on signing up for a 5K in July and actually running it for the first time (I walked it in 2011).

 

Now for the long version...

 

I'm a desk jockey (tax accounting) and after a few years of working 90hr weeks for many months out of the year, I realized the massive amounts of takeout, minimal sleep and total lack of exercise had caught up with me big time.  It's not normal for your pants to feel like they're amputating your legs when you sit, right?  Yeah.  I'm 5'2" and small framed but I had gotten up to about 145lbs and was ridiculously out of shape.  I've never been in great shape in my life but I knew I was cheating myself and that I could do better.  I was also pretty unhappy with the quality of food I was eating.  I grew up in an area with a lot of farms and know/appreciate real food.

 

I quit my job and went to work for a smaller company in March 2011 which gave me a lot more time to eat healthier (though I still moved practically never).  I lost about 10lbs but was still woefully out of shape.  I decided getting a bootcamp fitness package on a deal site was a good idea.  The bushes I found myself heaving behind may disagree.  It was too much too soon, the trainer didn't really know what she was doing and I temporarily wrecked my knees (I now know how to do squats properly).  I was so disappointed in myself that I kind of gave up and just focused on diet.  By March 2012 I had still only lost those 10lbs and finally decided to try calorie counting.  I did a couple days to get my baseline and I was eating healthy foods...about 3,000 calories worth of healthy foods.  I cut down to 1200 because that's what the program suggested, nearly passed out, wanted to punch people in the face for no good reason and decided that maybe 1200 was a little low.  I upped it and lost another 15lbs between March and June.

 

June 2012:  I came face to face with the dreaded skinny-fat.  I had hit my goal weight but my chest was getting creepy skinny and the rest of me was not.  I didn't even know where to start and my usual source of all info fitness-related was deployed overseas so I joined a challenge to do 30 days of 30 Day Shred DVD workouts.  My puppy thought my jumping jacks in the room above his crate were a super awesome wake up call!  I realized that the fact that jumping jacks were really hard was a wake up call that I needed to get my butt in gear.  I did about 27 days of it, got really sick and then switched to another workout out of boredom.  After that, I joined the gym next to my work.  I finally solved the issue of prioritzing other things over working out.  I get an hour for lunch but usually eat while I work and skip that so I decided to take back my lunch hour.  If it comes down to "do I want to tie out this M-3, roll this capital schedule, or go to the gym?" the gym will pretty much always win.  It also ruins any lame excuse of "it's cold out, it's raining, it's too dark" or whatever else I've try to justify before. 

 

Since October (a little over 3 months now), I've been to the gym or done a non-gym workout every day I've been at work except a handful of times.  My goal is to hit the gym or do an alternative workout every day that I'm not on vacation or working from home (which usually means 5x/week) for about 35-45min each time.

 

Currently, I still count calories Mon-Fri to keep myself on track but I take weekends and vacations off.  I still try to eat healthy but don't track.

 

Here's where I'm at (and where I want to be) for fitness:

# workouts per week: usually 5, 35-45min (maybe add flexibility training on a 6th)

cardio:  running 3x/week, 5mph for 30min at 3 incline on the treadmill (first 5K in July, goal is to be at 6mph at 3 incline for at least 35min by then)

strength:  mostly free weights and body weight exercises done in a circuit...

    Push ups - using a bench, 4 sets of 10 (no bench or even better, feet on an object, 4 sets of 10)

    Pull ups - able to do zero (goal for 2013 is to do at least 1 pull up.  I'm currently on step 2 of the Nerd Fitness plan from here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/04/25/do-a-pull-up/)

    Bench dips - 4 sets of 10, legs fully extended (add weight)

    Goblet squats - 4 sets of 10, 25lbs (up weight or switch to different squats)

    Dumbbell rows - 4 sets of 10, 25lbs (not sure where I want to go from here on this one)

    Hanging leg lifts/tucks - 4 sets of 5, lifting knees to where thighs are parallel with floor (4 sets of 10, full tucks - need more flexibility)

    Hammer curl to shoulder press - 4 sets of 10, 10lbs, 1 foot off ground (up the weight)

 

My plan is to switch up some of those, work my way up on weights or reps on some and add inverted rows.  I'm hoping that by the time the weather warms up here, I'll be up for the Playground Workout posted here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/04/12/playground-workout/ and work up to the Batman workout posted here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/08/23/batman-bodyweight-workout/

 

I'm really interested in bodyweight exercises because they just make sense to me and I like the practical uses.  I also cringe at gym fees in Boston so anything that could eventually make me less gym-dependent would be awesome.  I'd love to start lifting heavy but I have no idea what I'm doing, don't want to get hurt, know enough to know the trainers at my gym aren't much more knowledgeable than me and I don't have a gym buddy in Boston.  I'm open to feedback, criticism, support, suggestions, whatever.  I'm also on MyFitnessPal daily so if any Rebels want to friend me, I have the same username over there.

 

[Laureleye]

Wow, you've gotten a great start on your own.  I like doing body weight training as well.  There is a 6-week challenge starting on Monday.  I expect the information sheet to be posted later today, but you can look at the info sheet for the last one to get the idea and be thinking about what you want to accomplish over the next 6 weeks. 
 

[newcs]

Hi Laureleye - Thanks for the info on the challenge and the compliment   I signed up for the challenge (after a dizzying read through all the threads - tough to wrap your head around for a non-gamer!)  Hopefully this will be the kick in the butt I need to start making some of the changes I've been putting off and help me keep on track for my larger goals

 

Edited to add: I just read your profile and saw that you're a knitter/crocheter too!  I'm getting back into both recently after some time off from them.  I've decided to include some of my crafting projects in my goals here since it's something I do for me, gives me time to myself and I have a habit of starting them and never finishing them.  Hope you find yourself back on the crafting wagon soon

[DocKBar]

Wow -- just got a chance to read this .. it's inspiring how much you've worked through and even more so to see where you are now =)

[newcs]

Wow -- just got a chance to read this .. it's inspiring how much you've worked through and even more so to see where you are now =)

 

Thank you!!  I feel like I wrote this a lifetime ago so I gave it another read through.  I've been feeling kind of down on myself lately because I strayed a little with the working out and diet and am just now getting back to it.  This was a reality check that even when I feel like I'm straying, I'm still miles beyond where I was two years ago.  I hit my 2yr anniversary at work a few days ago and the difference is amazing (even down to how much thinner my face is compared to my work badge).  Now to educate myself on that playground workout again...snow is almost gone!

[DocKBar]

Thank you!!  I feel like I wrote this a lifetime ago so I gave it another read through.  I've been feeling kind of down on myself lately because I strayed a little with the working out and diet and am just now getting back to it.  This was a reality check that even when I feel like I'm straying, I'm still miles beyond where I was two years ago.  I hit my 2yr anniversary at work a few days ago and the difference is amazing (even down to how much thinner my face is compared to my work badge).  Now to educate myself on that playground workout again...snow is almost gone!

 

=D

[terrormortus]

Nice! Someone else who wants to open a bakery and likes being healthy!

[newcs]

Nice! Someone else who wants to open a bakery and likes being healthy!

 

Haha yep!  I'm healthy 90% of the time so I can eat my butter, sugar, flour and other tasty things the other 10% of the time.  I believe in moderation but I'm also not into messing up an amazing cookie/cake/pie/etc recipe to make it healthy when you can indulge every now and then without harm to your overall goals.

[terrormortus]

I'm the same way, I accept no substitutes. Unfortunately I eat to way to many of them when I make them. Lately when I've been making things I've just been making sure to give most of it away, which means I make more of it and get more practice. My current list of people is Family and Friends (depends on who I am seeing), my last job, my current job which has two locations, a girl I chat with at a general store, and my comic book shop.