South Carolinian here, reporting for duty

[MaD MaLKaV]

Good morning-ish,

 

Hi!  I'm Lewis. A 38 year old graduate student working on a PhD in computer science.  I'm about 6 foot, 237 pounds right now I think.  Three years ago I was at 270 but diet changes, medication changes, and walking everywhere plus using stairs on campus whenever my knee wasn't acting up have helped me drop around 30 pounds over the last few years. 

 

Main goal: Get moving so I don't hurt my back or anything getting out of bed. 

 

Secondary goal(s): Trim the waist and build some muscle. People already mention how I've lost weight, but I could afford to cut a few more pounds. I've plateau'd for the last bit, so it's probably a good time to shake things up a little.

 

I'm trying to get started again with exercise after a long break in activity (3 years) which followed shortly after an even longer break in activity (10 or so years with very little physical activity), while having to work around a knee injury (twisted it on the mat in an aikido class 3 years ago). The physical therapist verified I have full motion of the knee, and I have an awesome double hinged brace that I can work out in. Basically, I was trying to get active three previously since I was starting to feel back pain, easily pulled muscles, and other issues a little early in life thanks to my sedentary lifestyle. 

 

Three years ago I pulled something while the wife was tickling me and I was squirming around. This combined with other misc aches and pains was really wakeup call I needed to do something other than sit around all the time. I started with a bit if yoga. Although it felt a little weird being the one old sweaty guy there, it was actually pretty neat. I tried adding in aikido since I enjoyed it in high school and managed to mess up my knee. In both cases I was trying to do something a bit structured, since I knew I'ld get less bored that way and be more likely to stick with it. I think it was a solid plan before hurting myself. I still want to get active now, which is why I joined the Rebellion. 

 

I hope more physical activity will increase my overall energy level also. I have a terrible habit of falling asleep while studying or just sitting still not doing much no matter how much sleep I get at night, which is an awful problem for a grad student. 

 

Also, maintaining motivation, especially when I have down moods. I'm bipolar, so down moods happen. I know getting out and exercising offers some relief if I can do it...  I hope to start a habit now while I feel good and then just continue because it's habit.  Habits tend to carry me semi-functional through my off moods. In all but the absolute worst cases, I can normally convince myself that if I'm awake, then I might as well at least just do what I always do even if nothing seems terribly interesting at the time. 

 

Oh yeah..  I'm a bit weird with the gym. I just feel outta place. I have access to some really nice facilities at the university. I am sure I can get over that. Heck, I got over my fear of public speaking to teach classes and it was awful, so I should be able to get over any discomfort issues easily.  I will probably start with body weight exercises at home though, so I don't have an extra reason to want to slack off. 

 

On an unrelated note...  150 posts to change your display name.  No big.  I realized with the RP and guilds and such that I might want a more interesting handle that my real initials and last name, but just gives me a reason to post...  Umm...  149 more things.  Or just make the LL stand for something cool.  Lorenzo Llama. Llama Cat Wthorne... Eh, maybe I'll think of something to do with it (other than either of those!). 

 

I figure I'll ultimately be an Assassin (bodyweight training) or a Druid (yoga and meditation/mindfulness), even though I always used to call the guy that played druids a tree hugger back in my D&D days.  That was nothing compared to the flack I gave the pally.  I guess there's nothing wrong with hugging trees.  I really like plants and trees...  Not enough to hug them, but they're awesome to sit under or to just look at or to plant around the house.  But, yeah, Assassin sounds cooler, even if I'm scared of heights and have no plans to climb anything if I can help it (I'm aware that I don't officially have to even like trees or climb things (or like climbing trees) for either).

 

Not sure why my line spacing switched mid type up...  Also, my intro went a little long.  I don't write up stuff about myself that often.  I planned to switch on berserker mode and go 'Snickty snickty snoine!' for 20 seconds, but I got a bit carried away.  Hopefully it's a good sign for my future around here, because I'm generally not much for socializing online or off.

 

Anyway, looking forward to the upcoming six week challenge! 

 

Lewis

[MaD MaLKaV]

Umm...  Wow!  That was even longer than I thought!!!

[Nightside]

Welcome to Nerd Fitness.

Your 38 and feel old at a yoga class! Try 60 at high impact aerobics.

Good luck and don't forget the new challenges are coming up soon.

[MaD MaLKaV]

It was actually the combination of being ten years or so everyone's senior, the only person sweating 5 mins into class, and the only male in the room. All said though, I'm sure I was the only person that was paying attention to any of those facts.

While I'm not old, I am old enough to realize that anytime you feel like everyone in the room is looking at you, you're probably wrong. It was pretty classic "feeling out of place at the gym" with a few extra facts in my head to help aggravate it.

Thanks for the reply!

[Nightside]

The only male in the room, a mostly positive experience then lol.

When I was somewhat more overweight and out of condition I also worried that people were judging me in the gym, it passed and now that I am in the "normal" (whatever that is) body weight range I don't see myself judging others and I suspect not many do. I am to busy killing myself trying to bust my one hour running distance record.

[MaD MaLKaV]

Y'know. I just realized that I'm actually only 37. Guess I forgot what year it was in my original post.