My apologies, I haven't properly introduced myself

[jstanlick]

I started reading Steve's blog posts starting with this one, read Saint and Staci's stories, signed up the challenge and never actually stopped to say, "Hi! My name is Jeff." How rude of me. My apologies. This is how I got here:

Once upon a time there was this tall, skinny kid who played soccer and basketball. Wanting to stop getting his 6'3, 165 pound frame pushed around on the basketball court, he took to eating everything in sight and lifting heavy weights and still couldn't gain weight. As a freshmen in college he ripped his ACL and MCL, had his knee reconstructed and stopped any serious exercising. However, he still ate everything in sight and discovered beer. To make matters worse, he graduated and found a desk job as a software engineer. Working 16 hours a day and while eating Yoo-hoo! and Crunch-N-Munch by day and burgers and beer by night didn't help. Now at 230 pounds, the mirror was something to avoid. So, he changed employers to reduce the workload and decided it was time to exercise again. Reaching 200 pounds on his wedding day life was pretty good again. Until...

Until life continued on without direction. Another high stress job for the sake of chasing Benjamins, 3 kids, crazy diets and inconsistent exercise left him 12 years older with high cholesterol, 225 pounds and 29% body fat. Health needed to be a priority. So, he took up running again and started eating less processed food. Running was something that could be done anywhere, whenever time permitted. For 1 1/2 years it was working. Over that time he managed to drop his weight down to 210 and more importantly, his clothes fit and looked better. And, he could keep up with the kids. But, alas he hit a plateau and for 6 months failed to see any progress no matter how many more miles he added. Then someone pointed him to NerdFitness.com where people were doing something crazy -- they were making sense.

So, here I am. I just turned 40, I'd like to be here for another 40 and be able to keep up with grandkids then. Despite losing 15 pounds my body fat percentage only dropped to 24%. So, I'm toning down the running a bit and rebuilding my relationship with weightlifting. My top goal is to get to 15% body fat and keep it there. I want the energy to take my kids places and teach them to find what life has to offer. I want the energy to travel places with my lovely wife. The only way to do that is to be healthy. And so I shall.

[Thilde]

Welcome to NF, and welcome to the Rangers! Glad to have you. I relate to your story quite a bit, and it sounds like you've made some great progress for yourself already. Looking forward to seeing what kind of goals you can smash with your weightlifting. Look forward to seeing you around the forums!

[jstanlick]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm glad I found NF and glad to be here!