words words words words. Oh, and "hi there!"

[EightDigit]

I've always hated these things, but introductions are rarely a bad thing. So here goes...

In July of 2010, I went to the wedding of a close friend. I had a lot of fun- I drank, I danced, I got to spend time with friends that I hadn't gotten a chance to see in ages. They all seemed somewhat surprised as they recognized me; I just chalked it up to the fact that I was living out of state and they weren't expecting me to actually be at the wedding.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and I start seeing the photos posted from the wedding. I was kind of shocked- I have always been kind of "pudgy" and soft, but I was larger than I had ever seen myself. I jumped off the computer, ran to the scale, and weighed myself. 215lbs, larger than I had ever been in my life. When I had moved to Seattle 10 years before, I was 130lbs at 5'7"... way underweight for my height. In the intervening years, I had gone from about 20lbs underweight to 65lbs over. I decided that it was time to make a change.

I started that week with C25K. I seriously curtailed my drinking. I quit smoking. This lasted for all of a month. I stopped seeing the quick results and got frustrated. Life hit me in the face with a few other things, and I started smoking and drinking again. I was eating anything that didn't try to eat me first. And I ended right back where I started. Perhaps somewhat worse for wear, because I had "tried" and failed miserably. Cue depression.

Fast forwarding to Jan of 2011, I'm not living in Seattle anymore- now I'm in Mississippi. I started practicing martial arts. I started going to the gym and using the machines (if I only knew then what I know now. meh). At this point I was in the dojang 1 hour in the evening and the cookie-cutter gym 1 hour in the morning, at *least* 5 days a week, usually 6.

Between January and June of 2011 I got myself down to 175lbs, but I couldn't seem to take it any further. I was busting my butt 5 days a week at the gym, and I just wasn't getting anywhere.

Work wasn't really happening in Mississippi, so I relo'd back to Seattle. Many of my bad habits returned- drinking, smoking, eating. I wasn't going to the gym, even though I *knew* that I needed it. I started working graveyards and pulling 12hour shifts four days a week. I put about 10lbs on again in the first month.

April 2012, I had enough of my own whining and excuses. I picked up a book with a title so embarrassing that I won't even mention it here, but it was kind of a life saver. Think the Body Weight routines here on the site, going from Basic to Advanced over a 7 week period. I do a body weight regimen 3 days a week and I run 4 to 4.5 miles/day on the three "off" days. I do nothing on my sundays except basic stretching exercises. I "graduated" from that book last week, so now I'm kind of building on those workouts.

I'm currently down to 170, but I just can't seem to shed the last 15lbs. Staying motivated is always my downfall. I was searching for some inspiration while surfing at work one night (looking for the Henry Rollins essay "Iron and the Soul"- read it if you haven't already, even if you're not into lifting) and I came across the NF site. Holy crap, this site is precisely what I've been looking for.

Going to the gym has always been painful for me. Meat heads abound, the music is terrible, and it just freaking *sucked*. And I thought that going to those hell-holes were the only way to seriously get fit.

In any event, since finding this site last week I've dropped the carbs out of the kitchen and am in the process of making a transition to paleo. I've incorporated free weights into my workout, after reading Saint's story I see that's the direction I should probably go.

My short term goals- (All due by Aug 15)

Run the Dirty Dash (5k mud run) August 4th

75 pushups without stopping (currently at 35)

35 pullups/50 chinups (currently 16/25)

3.5 minute plank (currently 1:45)

Cut my mile from 9 minutes to 7

I've already cut my booze and smoking completely, so no backsliding

And to stay motivated! (rawr or something)

[Ocelot]

Ooooo I love planks goals and mile goals they are SO satisfying to beat. RAWR. Have fun!

[EightDigit]

Ooooo I love planks goals and mile goals they are SO satisfying to beat. RAWR. Have fun!

It's honestly the *1* thing that I absolutely despise during my workout. At about 45 seconds I feel myself start to get flushed and then break into a sweat... or more of one, anyways. Also, I suppose I should amend that section of my goal... hold a 3.5 minute plank in good form.

[Raikas]

Sounds like you have a great set of goals!

Is your avatar your dog? I love the grin!

[Morrigainz]

Welcome! You've made great progress and you've got awesome goals I can't wait to see you progress!