Intro

[Scorpion1674]

Hey guys. Just joined today. Me, I'm a husband and father to 3, Staff Sergeant in the Army, die hard Alabama fan, and unabashed nerd. I've always been a nerd, with the intelligence, thirst for knowledge, and interest in the slightly odd (to non-nerds, that is). Favorite superhero is Batman, and favorite RPG is D&D by far.

My fitness story is that I was born light, thin, and fast. I was always the kid that could sprint and jump and eat the entire fridge without an ounce of fat. Joined the Army in 1997 weighing 134. Fast forward 8 years and suddenly my metabolism slowed. I was pretty fit, but my belly started to bulge a bit. My high point was in 2007 when I achieved my PT test personal best: 75 pushups, 80 situps, and 13:57 2-mile run for a total score of 288 out of 300. Low point: this past March when I weighed in at 195.

I strived to lose weight and worked to drop down to 177 as of last Tuesday. I weigh 180 now, but I still have 10 more lbs to my goal. I want to weigh 170 before I focus on building back up. Next goal: 18% BF. Ultimate goal: become the Bat.

My biggest challenge is motivation. I have a VERY hard time motivating myself, but once I start, I don't stop. So what I need is encouragement, challenge, and yes, a kick in the ass on occasion. What I bring to the table: years of fitness experience and training methods as well as accumulated nutrition knowledge. I hope I can be as helpful here, but mostly, I just want to have fun getting back into optimal shape and crushing my personal best.

[D_chelyst]

Welcome, Scorpion! Batman is totally awesome You'll probably want to get into parkour if you'd like to be like the Bat.

You've said your goals right now are to go down to 170, then reach 18% BF. What specifically are you planning on doing to reach that first goal? Sometimes you can give yourself the motivation you need by breaking down your goals into Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely things. Steve blogged more about that here, although I suspect you might know about that from your military background.

And I mean this very sincerely: thank you for your years of service to our military and for keeping us safe. *salutes* My father was in the Army during Vietnam, and I've had friends who went to Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank you.

[Scorpion1674]

My plan is simple: deliberate food choices using the MyFitnessPal app to track total calorie intake limiting my intake between 1360-1800/day and focusing on higher protein and lower carb intake. I'm currently averaging 47% carbs, 29% fat, and 24% protein. Supplement that with running 3x per week and I should see 170 within a month. One of my run days will be focusing on intervals and the other 2 days I'll lift.

Did the Angry Birds workout last night. Already beat Lv4 in squats and pushups. Failed Lv3 in back, so I'm dropping to Lv 2. And I beat Lv 2 in planks. This morning, ran a 5k in 27:18, which is plenty fast enough to pass my 2 mile run. Performance goals: drop my 2 mile run by 30 seconds intervals and max out pushups and sit-ups (already close on those). My 2 mile checkpoint was 17:35 at a leisurely pace, so I'm aiming to run it in 17:00. Ultimate goal in the run is 13:00.

So thanks for the welcome and the support! All of us in uniform appreciate it.