"Hello, world!"

[mightykendar]

I discovered the Nerd Fitness website a few months back, and since then, I have enjoyed -- and found useful! -- the email updates from Steve's blog as well as the resources available on the site. I'd looked at the forum before, but I tend to be a bit reluctant as far as interjecting myself into an already-established internet community. I was a member of another internet forum (now-defunct, unfortunately) related to the band Genesis for nearly a year before I even made a post. However, everyone here seems really cool, and one of the things that I personally am working on is being more assertive/having more self-confidence, so I figured I might as well jump in.

 

I've been trying to lose weight for the last six-seven months or so. Hitting 30 and becoming increasingly more sedentary (I left a pretty physical retail job that I had been in for nearly a decade), as well as enjoying many a beer (and I tend to like the heavier, sometimes-hoppier, higher-ABV craft beers, which also generally have higher calorie counts than, say, their American Adjunct Lager counterparts), I started packing on a bit too much extra padding around my midsection. In 2009, I was a size 4. By this past fall (2012), I was a size 10, and all my t-shirts (I refused to buy bigger ones, haha) made it look like I was wearing an inflatable donut around my belly. I became extremely dissatisfied with my appearance. Growing up, I had always been ridiculously skinny (I worked at a McDonald's in high school, and I would pound three Double Cheeseburgers in one sitting, and never gain an ounce!) so it really snuck up on me; I didn't realize what was happening until the transformation took place. Aside from the aesthetic transformation, a more sinister internal one was occurring -- I would become extremely short of breath after climbing a couple flights of stairs; any sort of endurance was out of the question. I also had issues with my right knee that had manifested over the last few years, likely exacerbated by nearly a decade in retail. Around Christmastime, I finally decided I'd had enough, and I started to change my eating (and beer-drinking!) habits and make an effort to get more physical exercise. And slowly -- slowly! -- I began to lose weight.

 

In February, my husband decided to join a gym (a Planet Fitness -- I know, I know, but it's incredibly convenient for us), mainly to use the treadmills. I mainly focused on shedding some pounds and getting my knee stronger. I used the elliptical and most of the weight machines. Finally, in March, I ran on the treadmill for the first time -- and it sucked, but in a really good way. My knee didn't hurt, and I was feeling awesome.

 

A few weeks later, I ran in (and finished, with a little speed-walking, in 34 minutes) a 5k. I almost threw up three times.

 

It was totally worth it.

 

I've kept running (a little bit longer, a little bit faster) with the goal of building endurance and strength, shedding fat, and hopefully running a 5k *without* walking at all one of these days. I could barely run the mile growing up, so the fact that I now *can* run a mile -- and be comfortable doing it -- is amazing. When I'm not running, I'm doing the beginner bodyweight workout that Steve has on the site, with some extra stuff (some yoga positions to increase flexibility, kettlebell swings, and whatnot). I also like to randomly hang off stuff, at least when it's at least marginally appropriate.

 

When the new year began, after I had hit an all-time high of 155 lbs. during December (I'm 5'5"), I set a goal of losing twenty pounds. My husband did as well. This morning, I weighed in at 137.5 lbs., and I think he's only got a couple pounds to go as well. I was sidelined twice this summer (once by a pretty gnarly thumb-crushing injury that occurred during a flintknapping demonstration, and then by a horrible blistering sunburn that completely covered my knees and shins); I might have gotten to this point earlier had that not been the case. Nevertheless, I am almost to my goal, and that means it's time to set some new ones...I'd like to lose 5 more pounds, and...and!...be able to do a pull-up, which, like running, is another thing that I have traditionally sucked at. I couldn't even make it across the monkey bars when I was a kid.

 

Outside of the internet and the gym, I am an archaeologist with interests primarily in Northern New England and the Canadian Maritimes, and an MSc student at a research university in the United States. I also am an avid collector of music and classic video games (primarily the NES); I host an Internet radio show on Saturday nights, I have a strong interest in mid-century retail and consumer history, I play the drums (I have guitars and basses, too, but they've been neglected since I got the drums), I follow NHL hockey rabidly (particularly the Pittsburgh Penguins), even during the offseason, and, uh, I really like cats and I can't play any N64 games because they give me motion sickness.

Anything else you would like to know, just ask...I hope that I will find this forum as beneficial as others appear to!

 

 

[McGurgel]

Hey,

Sounds like you already did the most difficult step. The beginning.

 

If you cannot manage a full push up, you should try girl push-ups. (well at least in Ger we call them like this.)

Here is a really good explanation.

 

Wish you all the best for your upcoming journey!

[mightykendar]

Hey,

Sounds like you already did the most difficult step. The beginning.

 

If you cannot manage a full push up, you should try girl push-ups. (well at least in Ger we call them like this.)

Here is a really good explanation.

 

Wish you all the best for your upcoming journey!

 

Oh, I can do push-ups (some, anyway!), it's pull-ups that I need to work on! Thank you for the welcome and kind words!