New-ish? Longtime lurker, finally jumping in!

[CyningaDena]

Hello, nerdfriends! I’ve been a reader of NF and the boards here for a little over a year now, but never really had the gumption to participate. I was skinny-fat and wheezy from some long-running health issues, and honestly a little intimidated to join the fray. So I just set goals by myself, worked out on my own, and lurked the boards.

But no more! Watching the last 6-week challenge made me realize how much I was missing out by not joining the community. That chit? Looked haaawt. I’m also reaching a point where I’ll probably need lots of advice, accountability, and motivation to push past my current level, and that seems like something this community’s been really good at.

It’s exciting to finally be on board with the rebellion! Looking forward to the battle.

[CarlosH]

welcome... i also new here and hope we can join next challenge..

good luck

[Dienekes]

Hi and welcome! I joined for the next challenge as well--any ideas on what your goals are going to be?

[CyningaDena]

I'm about 6 months into a vegan diet, so I think one of my goals will be to track down a sports nutritionist and assess what I've been doing with that new diet. My body says I feel great, but my body is a notorious liar, so I want to start a food journal and get a professional's take on it, and then fine-tune my diet. I also want to work my way into doing bodyweight exercises, so probably something entry-level there like handstands or a jillion pull-ups. How about you?

[Dienekes]

I'm trying to jump back in after a lengthy layoff. I've been on and off for the last month or so, so mine will be mainly focused on consistency. Trying to devote equal time between strength, endurance, and diet so right now my 6 wk goals look something like this:

Strength: Weight training at least 3 days/wk (probably use the starting strength program, but not sure)

Endurance: Run 90 miles (15mi/wk x 6 wks)

Diet: Eat clean for 6/7 days every week (still defining what "eat clean" means--don't plan on jumping into full paleo just yet; primary focus will be cutting out sugars)

Still working on a life goal, but my primary objective this go round is developing solid, healthy habits.

[CyningaDena]

Those are some pretty solid goals! You runners make my eyes bug...if I could run 15 miles each week, I'd hold a friggin parade and make my friends buy me presents.

I just noticed that you landed in South Korea from Georgia. That's quite a trek to take a U-Haul on. What brought you there?

[Dienekes]

Ha, that's the first time I've ever been accused of being a runner! I'm in the Army, so I've learned to tolerate it. Running is a necessary evil at this point, but I'd like to get to where I enjoy it, thus the goal. I'm hoping that if I do it enough, I'll start to have fun (hey, a man can dream). The Army would also be the answer as to why I'm here in Korea. I'm from Georgia originally, but I've been all over for the last several years.

How about you, if you don't mind my asking? What prompted you to go the vegan route? I'd be interested to hear what your sports nutritionist says, once you track one down.

[allirep]

have you developed any vegan powers yet? haha j/k

best of luck. also looking forward to the new challenge - it will be my first one as well. i can't figure out a life goal either. i was all set to make my life goal convincing my husband I really need VFFs - but he didn't put up a fight.

[CyningaDena]

have you developed any vegan powers yet?

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Just a low-level telekinesis for now. I might level it up later.

What prompted you to go the vegan route?

I have a couple friends who are vegan, one of whom is dating a gourmet chef who hates cooking without animal parts. The chef boyfriend sent us all

about how going vegan turns you into a tantric pr0nstar and was making fun of it, and so as a joke I said, "OMG I'm sold! I'm vegan now. Thank you for caring enough about my boner to send me this video." I've been running with that joke for six months.

I actually was ready for a healthy change in my diet. I grew up on a ranch and will never give up my cowboy boots, so I'm not doing it for ethical reasons -- it was just a workable, healthy diet I could pull off with little trouble where I live and with my budget, and I had friends for support and resources if I needed. That last part was pretty much the biggest deciding factor for me.

Sounds like the bunch of us need to start tossing around ideas for life goals! At some point I want to begin learning Russian, so I might try to track down some language software or something in time for the challenge. Although really, I should probably scale back and make my first non-fitness goal just Fall-cleaning the house. I don't want to know what it looks like behind my fridge. Or under the couch cushions. /shudder

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Sounds like the bunch of us need to start tossing around ideas for life goals! At some point I want to begin learning Russian, so I might try to track down some language software or something in time for the challenge. Although really, I should probably scale back and make my first non-fitness goal just Fall-cleaning the house. I don't want to know what it looks like behind my fridge. Or under the couch cushions. /shudder

In this past challenge I was working on practicing my Polish (rosetta stone). I pretty much failed that goal so I'll be refreshing/reformatting that goal in a few months or so, I need to focus on packing up my stuff to go back to university. If you want to team up and track language learning accountability, let me know. I could use some competition to keep me on track.

Also your profile pic is awesome, I love that game.

[CyningaDena]

In this past challenge I was working on practicing my Polish (rosetta stone). I pretty much failed that goal so I'll be refreshing/reformatting that goal in a few months or so, I need to focus on packing up my stuff to go back to university. If you want to team up and track language learning accountability, let me know. I could use some competition to keep me on track.

Also your profile pic is awesome, I love that game.

Ohh, that would be excellent. I don't know if I'll have everything in place to start hacking away at Russian by this next challenge, but I'd definitely be down for teaming up for the one after that. The last time I tried to learn a language was French in college, and I was not the awesomest at it. It would be very cool to have someone pushing me through any early-stage frustrations. Let me know when you're all settled at school and ready to start plugging away at Slavic languages!

And yeah, DA: Origins laid waste to a few weeks of my life. I'm a sucker for a good storyline.

[Rebel Pilot Gar]

Ohh, that would be excellent. I don't know if I'll have everything in place to start hacking away at Russian by this next challenge, but I'd definitely be down for teaming up for the one after that. The last time I tried to learn a language was French in college, and I was not the awesomest at it. It would be very cool to have someone pushing me through any early-stage frustrations. Let me know when you're all settled at school and ready to start plugging away at Slavic languages!

And yeah, DA: Origins laid waste to a few weeks of my life. I'm a sucker for a good storyline.

The challenge after this current one should work for me, that gives me about a month to settle in on campus.

I don't want to know how many hours I have put into that game I'm really picky about games and need a good storyline in order to play for longer than 30 min, so Dragon Age, Golden Sun and maybe a couple other titles are the only games that completely sucked me in so that I couldn't stop playing until I was done.