Reporting for awesome.

[Webster]

So I've been reading the blog for several months now, looked at the forum a few times, and just today decided this might be what I need to get me through this unfortunate bout of good-enough-itis that's beset me recently. A little public accountability to force me to get better.

Backstory: I'm in my early 30s and for the first 31 years of my life I was fat. Not just overweight. Fat. 6'1 and 300 pounds. Lied to myself saying all the normal things you say to yourself... not really THAT fat, I wouldn't look right at what they call "normal weight" and BMI is not scientifically valid anyway, and of course "big boned" came into play too. One week in March '11 I made up my mind to change, and I did. Workouts would come and go but I maintained consistent weight loss mostly through diet. I dropped 100 pounds in a year, and hover in the 175-180 range now. I discovered there's a thing called skinny-fat and I didn't much care for it.

Couch To 5K got me running, and Steve's beginner bodyweight circuit got me some strength I'd been lacking. I'm in markedly better shape than I was just back in June. Stress from classes and work have interrupted my progress again and it's time to stop making excuses. Real goals and real progress are going to happen. This whole roleplaying thing is sort of foreign to me but I'll give that a shot too. Why not.

tl;dr I'm not a total beginner but need a fresh start so let's get it done.

[german]

Welcome!, Seems like you have been doing great so far, here you will find a lot of helpful advice and encouragement, so it'll make it easier to keep on going, the next challenge starts in two weeks, so there is plenty of time to set your goals and join the fun! Hope to see you around often.

[Hiraedd]

Hey Webster! Congrats on already making such huge changes in your world -- can't wait to see what you accomplish next! Do you have some fitness or life goals that you are hoping to work towards?

[Webster]

Nothing set in stone, except one over-arching all-consuming life goal of finishing grad school in May. I completed C25K and then tweaked my knee so I had to stop jogging for a while... would like to work back up (slowly this time) to 5K and improve my time. There's a last bit of belly paunch here I'd like to eradicate. I've never done a full pull-up or chin-up in my life but am getting closer now. Seems like cheating to have just doing one as a goal though. Looking through challenge threads and talking to people here should help me get a clearer picture.

[Laureleye]

First, let me congratulate you on an impressive job of turning your health and fitness around. Look around on the challenge boards and see what other folks are doing, it will give you lots of ideas. Maybe you want to set a goal of 3?4?5? workouts per week. Maybe take your diet cleanup to the next level? Add a life goal too. Glad you joined & be seeing you for the next challenge.