superhero in training

[wreckratz]

[ATTACH=CONFIG]5307[/ATTACH]

Hey all -- so I'm a 36-year old Seattle area fitness-minded geek.

I've been working out for a number of years, so I'm not brand new to it, but I recently my shoulders lifting (not seriously, but still), so I thought it was time to switch things up. I've only lifted once in the last few weeks, and plan to go in easy, but I decided to bite the bullet and try the Rebel Fitness Guide.

In the past, I've tried a number of different things - most recently lifting pretty heavy for an hour, about three days a week, with limited cardio, although more of that more recently.

I did make some progress in the last year, most notably dropping from 155 lbs to about 147 lbs (I'm 5'7"), and my waist size down from 30 to 29. Not huge changes, but I'm trying to get from slim/average to fit, and still have some work to do. I guess then goals would be increasing lean muscle and dropping that last bit of belly fat/love handles/all the typical stuff.

In other words, I'm okay with my body, but when I wear whatever spandex superhero costume I inevitably wear for Halloween (Green Lantern and Spiderman the last couple of years), I want to look as good as possible in it.

The plan: I'm going to start with the level 2 recruit area, but limit the weight for anything shoulder-related for a few more weeks as I'm still a bit nervous about it (since I injured one shoulder, and then the other when I went back). For the cardio-only days/30 mins of "anything you want," I'm hoping to get back into spinning, which I used to do regularly, or try kickboxing. Also a night at the dance clubs count. I have a bunch of friends who use Fitocracy, so I'm hoping to give that a try, and I already track calories on MyFitnessPal.

I'm especially excited to work on diet -- I eat fairly healthy as-is, but my weakness is not being much of a cook. I use my slow cooker from time to time, but more frequently get teriyaki takeout, and even with brown rice, I'm sure cooking for myself more regularly would be healthier.

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Nerd cred: So I just finished an insane PAX weekend. I'm part of a new-ish group called Queer Geek! (www.queergeek.org) which organizes community events and combats homophobia in the gaming/geek community. I helped put together a huge party called the PAX Pink Party, where we had about 200-300 GLBTQ folks and supporters show and had a blast.

I love SF/fantasy movies and books, board games, console/PC games. That's pretty much my wheelhouse. Lately an addiction to Ascension, and loving the Walking Dead games.

Outside of nerdity, I work as a media transcriber, spent 10 years pursuing a career as an actor/singer, and lately trying to ease into more community management/social media work (which I did part time for video game clients last year). I've done some project manager-type stuff as well.

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Anyway, say hello, and if you happen to be local and work out at Seattle Executive Fitness, would especially love to hear. But any fellow motivation would help, even if my goals aren't super-extreme.

(I have the "before" swimsuit photo, but not sure if this is the appropriate place to post such things. So I'll post me as Green Lantern.)

[DanielWallen]

I had a difficult time forcing myself to cook when I first got into this: my solution was picking 2 or 3 meals that were easy, and enjoyable enough for me to eat "over and over again." I look at food more as a "means to an end" for body composition purposes instead of a "pleasure" thing. Of course, this is alien to many people and it might not work, but something to consider. Changing my thought process towards food helped me stick on plan. I started cooking in bulk once a week on Sundays (I hate cooking), dumping it all in various containers, so all I have to do is warm it up. My favorite muscle-meal is brown rice with tuna, carrots, corn, and peas. I also add pepper and cinnamon for taste.

[wreckratz]

Thanks Daniel -- that probably falls within what would work for me, actually. I'm okay eating pretty much the same meals every day, for the most part -- I already basically do that with a breakfast smoothie and a reasonably healthy lunch (almonds, a turkey sausage and almond butter/fruit jam on Dave's Killer lo-carb bread), but dinner has been the culprit every time. For some reason the slow cooker meal (salsa chicken, replacing the sour cream with Greek yogurt, and brown rice) I've been making, although it's easy and works, hasn't been something I've been able to maintain just yet, but I'll keep trying and maybe try some new stuff. Yours sounds pretty good.

I had a difficult time forcing myself to cook when I first got into this: my solution was picking 2 or 3 meals that were easy, and enjoyable enough for me to eat "over and over again." I look at food more as a "means to an end" for body composition purposes instead of a "pleasure" thing. Of course, this is alien to many people and it might not work, but something to consider. Changing my thought process towards food helped me stick on plan. I started cooking in bulk once a week on Sundays (I hate cooking), dumping it all in various containers, so all I have to do is warm it up. My favorite muscle-meal is brown rice with tuna, carrots, corn, and peas. I also add pepper and cinnamon for taste.

[wreckratz]

Thanks! I have yet to cosplay actually at a con. I think it'd be fun to do one year though. Part of it is that while I enjoy comics a bit, it's not my main thing, so I worried about being grilled by the more knowledgeable out there. "Which Green Lantern are you? Aren't you the black Green Lantern based on your costume?" And so forth. One of these years.

I'll check out the Warrior guild and QUILTBAG!

Welcome!

You might want to stop by the QUILTBAG support thread, if you'd like to chat with NF's queer & ally community.

Sounds like you might like to check out the Warrior guild here on NF, with your focus on weights & muscle building, and fixing up your diet to support those goals.

Nice cosplay, BTW!

[DanielWallen]

I often fix an omelet for dinner. Takes approximately 10 minutes. I throw in spinach, tomato, mozzarella cheese. Just another suggestion for ya! Breakfast for dinner kicks ass.