Hoping to roll a natural 20 for endurance...

[keix]

Hi everyone!

I'm Keighley, and I found this site tonight after coming home from the gym. I've been in the process of not just losing weight, but changing my life around to be as healthy as possible for the past two years. I've lost over 50 pounds so far, and 30 of those from this past November! I started eating waaaaay healthier (flexitarian style, similar to the Paleo diet-ish, I try to mainly eat lots of fruits and vegetables, but meats and other foods are a-ok [and often enjoyed]), and on November 13th of this past year I started running.

Now, I've done other athletic things in the past-- I was a fencer, I played rugby, I dove for a while in high school-- but I never found an exercise I could do by myself to fully commit to and love. However, once my household got Skyrim, I lost both my roommate and husband during any waking hours of either of them playing. Due to boredom, I decided to go ahead and start running after I read someone's blog about doing a 5k with free beer at the end. I thought, "I like free beer...I should do that! Of course, I'll have to be able to run a 5k first..."

The first week was painful. I hated running, I didn't get it, I wasn't good at it, etc. However, after that first week, I did a little more research, and discovered John The Penguin Bingham (advocator of long, slow runs) and it clicked for me. Although I discovered I don't really have the talent for fast miles, I can run on and on and on. At first, I thought I'd just do a 5k. After that, it turned to "well, maybe a half marathon?" which I did at the end of March, with my brother. Now, I'm signed up for the Chicago marathon (a whole 26.2!) in October.

Once I realized I could do something I had previously thought impossible for myself (run over a mile without stopping) I saw that most of the perceived roadblocks that kept me from doing what I wanted to were mental blocks I had put up.

Losing all of that weight inspired me to try my hand at theatre again after a sabbatical to go to school, and I ended up getting the role of Mimi in RENT. After that, I auditioned (only last week!) for another show, and got the role of Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors. I have an active (ly nerdy!) social life involving a group of friends who like to table top game as much as I do (we play D&D, and variations of it, all the time) and my life has only gotten better--all because running gave me the confidence and motivation I needed to get other stuff done in my life that I wanted to see happen.

I'm now down to 135 pounds, and I'm working on not only running the Chicago marathon, but toning up my body as well to get it lean and tight.

I'm excited to join this forum, and I look forward to continuing my journey and sharing in yours!

[keix]

Also!! If anyone has any tips on incorporating weight lifting into my routine, it's something I'm incredibly inexperienced in, but (after reading through posts on nerd fitness) something I definitely want to start doing! Any and all help is appreciated!

[Razor]

Welcome! Awesome to hear about your running progression. And all of my approval to your hobbies (theater geek D&D'er here.), except for the fact that you didn't join in on skyrim with your room-mate and SO. Shame on you!

Anyways, in terms of your weight lifting question, are you trying to build muscle or just make the muscles you already have stronger? Thing about building muscle is that it doesn't really go well with high amounts of cardio unless you can force yourself to eat a WHOLE LOT OF FOOD. ENOUGH TO PROBABLY MAKE YOU SICK (I do barely any cardio and it's a pain just for me to eat over 2,000 calories a day. Which I need to do to gain muscle). Just a tip, no matter what weight lifting stuff you do, stay away from isolation machines (they seem less scary to many people, but they often do more harm then good.)

[keix]

Hi Razor! Glad to meet another D&D and theatre geek! woo hoo!-- and really, both of them are more aggressive gamers than I am, so I had no chance to even jump in on it :/

I'm more looking to make the muscles I have stronger, I just have noooo idea how to navigate my way around free weights of any kind, and I'd rather do them correctly than attempt and mess up any part of my body. And I really loooove to eat, though I do have difficulty eating enough even with the cardio I'm doing (at least, eating on the more paleo/flexitarian side). I mean, I eat enough, but it's really tricky to consume a ton of roughage, I think. I just more of less want to really tone, and get all of my muscles more involved.

[Razor]

That's alright! You won't mess up your body as long as you keep your form proper. If you go to a commercial gym, you're going to see a lot of people use bad form so they can lift more weight. This is for their ego, and so they feel like they're progressing when they really aren't. Come check out the Warrior's Guild. Either building actual muscle or just getting stronger (the two aren't the same, believe it or not), they can help you for sure. Oh, and "toning" isn't real. How toned you are is dependent on your body fat percentage and your genetics. Some people accumulate less fat in arms and stomach than others, some got more fat in the donk, and some people are pretty slim but for some odd reason have a double chin.Just cut your overall bf% and every part of your body will look more toned. As for your roughage, besides vegetables I often eat triscuits and steal cut oats to get extra fiber. That goes against paleo though. Great sig quote by the way.

[keix]

I suppose what I meant by getting toned is just having that tighter look overall to my body, which I'm hoping to get by cutting out a lot of body fat. Well, not a LOT, but enough. I've got great abs, they're just hidden I'll definitely check out Warrior's Guild-- I don't want to a)hurt myself, or look like a fool, so any tips and pointers on how to have good form will be great for me to check out!

And thank you! I love your quote, as well