Hai There! \(^▽^*)

[burnmybread]

WHAT'S UP GUYS?

I'm a 19 year old biology&history major who's trying to lose that dreaded freshman fifteen, haha. Pre-college, I was never all that in shape but after freshman year, I was definitely overweight. I managed to lose a few pounds from doing ellipticals constantly, but then stress from school kind of wrecked havoc with my motivation and I didn't feel like I was using my time in the gym all that wisely. However, this summer my friend Roaringsheep pointed this site out to me and it seems really awesome and the community super friendly & supportive, so I figured if I joined, I'd be more motivated!

SO SHORT TERM GOALS:

- Manage a proper push-up & chin-up!

- Be able to walk up a few flights of stairs without feeling winded

- Lose 10-15 pounds by March for Emerald City Comic Con! I would really like to cosplay and the primary factors blocking me from doing so is a) money and body-image issues.

- Join a sports club at school! I'm thinking about joining a martial arts club like Tae Kwon Do, because I would really like to get some muscle strength but I would rather ease into it then head straight to the weights section of the gym because it is kind of intimidating.

LONG TERM GOALS:

- Build upper body strength! Also, muscle strength in general, but upper body especially since I have the arm muscles of a noodle right now sigh.

- Switch to Paleo (hopefully by Christmas, but I have an insane addiction to muffins so that might take a while!)

- Learn parkour!

[DanielWallen]

Welcome! I had the same problem in college. It definitely can wreck one's progress. It was more like a "Freshmen Thirty" for me. I couldn't do a proper push-up or chin-up when I started either, but with hard work, you'll get there. If it's any motivation to you, I started with 0 push-ups/0 chins, and can now do around 30/8 respectively. Keep pushing yourself and those numbers will keep going up! Why don't you do some body-weight exercises in your room to work up some confidence before going to the gym? Steve has some great body-weight routines on here that could get you started.