Joining Up!

[Audevourahn]

Hey Everyone!

I'm 28 and work in IT in eastern Canada for a large multinational corporation. I've been with them for about a year, and the sedentary nature of this work, coupled with my experimentation in Home Brewing my own beer has led me to pack on 20 pounds since I got married 3 years ago. I always led a sedentary life too, playing PC games and just basically lounging around. I was 150 LB, but I was up to about 170 two months ago.

I've since begun walking on my lunch breaks. Then the same multinational corporation organized a presentation about getting in shape as part of a safety initiative. (said company is all about safety). One of my co-workers was a sprinter in the 80's and he actually went to the olympics for Canada! Wow! So his motivational talk, and the fact that my company will foot half of my gym bill motivated me to get off my ass, and into gear.

I've been wandering around the edges of the NF blog for a while, but found the forum, so I decided to join. I've had some pretty good success thus far, but knowing me, my zeal may flag over time. So joining here is part of my endeavour to stop the inevitable decline in my enthusiasm for working out.

So far, I've dropped from 170 to 163 LB (as of today). My body fat went from 20.3% to 18.8% so far. And the best news- I went to my endocrinologist today and was taken off a blood pressure pill that I've been taking for the past 9 years. She said it was all due to my exercising! Outstanding!

I'm a type 1 diabetic, so my doctor has been after me for a while to get exercise into my routine. I also had heart surgery when I was a baby that resulted in the subclavian artery to my left arm being cut off, so my left arm is a fair bit weaker than my right. Presents an issue when I work out, but they say secondary arteries will take up the slack as I work the arm. So with all the foregoing in mind, you can see why getting into better shape is UBER important for me.

My goals at this time are to drop to 15% body fat, and to get bigger muscles. I'd like to see my cardiovascular capacity increase so that I can run/jog for about 10 min straight, as opposed to the 2-3 minutes I can do now between walking before I get out of breath. We've recently had a baby girl, so I want to be able to keep up with her and set a good example as an active person.

Well after my million word rant, I want to say that I look forward to working with all'yall and hope to see my goals realized!

Audevourahn

[smurray]

Congrats on getting off of the blood pressure meds. My family has a serious case of hypertension running through the genes, but if I continue to work on the weight loss, I hope I can join you in dumping the pills. I have two girls (6 and 4) and I really had to shape up when they begin to get to the age of noticing "Daddy's big belly".

[Robzilla1983]

Whereabouts are you from? I'm in Fredericton. Nice to see another east coaster!

[Audevourahn]

I'm in Dieppe!

[Robzilla1983]

I'm in Dieppe!

That's awesome. Both dieppe and the success so far

How'd you stumble onto NF?

It's sweet that your work pays half the gym cost. I'm at UNB. I think we do get a pretty decent cost for the on campus facilities but I don't use that gym (though the new Currie Center is super nice). I've done goodlife on and off. Doing the home thing now and am actually seeing my best results yet.

[Audevourahn]

I actually came upon it as I was looking up how Daniel Craig got into shape for Casino Royale! LOL! The article on NF about it was probably one of the best written, so I decided to check out the site further. Being a bit of a Nerd, well, here I am!

I've been going to Goodlife for about a month now, so I'm enjoying that pretty well. I work for ExxonMobil/Esso, so they've got good benefits such as fitness reimbursement. They cover either 75% or $300 per year, whichever comes first. I'd be into doing the home thing, but I find the fact that I'm shelling out the dough to be pretty good motivation for me to keep up my regular routine of gym-going!

Nice to meet a fellow New Brunswicker!

[R-0-Dbl-L-O]

Hows the diet going?

Its gonna come down to what and how you eat.

Congrats on the baby and weight loss. You know what would be a cool challenge? Loose the weight as she gains it. I know nothing about kids, so it might not work.