Hello, Hello from a new Ranger

[TaiaHunter]

Hi everyone!

I'm Taia, a 24 year old Ranger (Yeah, totally jumping right in here). It's been a long interesting journey so far, which I won't quite bore you with in its entirety so let me begin with the good bits.

I've always been a bit on the heavy side - my mother started me on Weight Watchers when I was in middle school, and I've been with the program in some form or another for at least 10 years now. I was never an active child - needless to say I didn't try, sometimes. But it never stuck, and I was a spoiled brat (was), so the moment I complained about anything, it was mine for the taking, or dropping, whichever came first.

So that said, I pretty much ate whenever I wanted, spent too much time eating out, and spent too little time dealing with my emotions or anything that resembled feelings without the help of food. Gah! And we all know that leads to an extremely healthy lifestyle, right. I mean, that's why we're here.

It wasn't until college that I saw the light, and my Sophomore year I found myself an amazing personal trainer, and I never felt better. I began to lose a bit of weight bit by bit, but alas, I ended up falling off the bandwagon, gained all my weight back, and never lifted another weight .... until my senior year.

It took me 2 1/2 years to really get back to the gym with any dedication, find another personal trainer, and begin a running program. I ran like crazy, every day, twice a day, and I was feeling GREAT! I lifted weights, I gained muscle, lost fat, and I never looked or felt better. And then winter came, snow took over, and I lost the motivation to swim to the gym in -30F. Of course I lost all my fitness, gained my weight back, and moved South (which I had hoped would bring back my motivation to get back out and running). But it didn't.

For the past two years I've been searching for the motivation that I had to get back into shape, and I think I finally found it in the last month or so. Currently I'm doing about 2-3 hours of exercise a day. I always begin with weight lifting (Body Pump, it's a class at the YMCA), with at least an hour of running a day, and any other classes I can squeeze into my schedule (usually a dance, step, cycling, or yoga class). Now, that might seem impressive (and I <3 you for your encouragement/headnod) but I'm going to toot my own horn, or rather explain why this means so much to me - currently I am trying to support myself financially with 6 jobs. I honestly would not be able to survive right now if I weren't devoting my sparse, spare time to exercise. I wouldn't have the energy or the mindset to continue each day - at least that is my worry. And that is why I'm desperate to keep up with my motivation and Level Up with this quest of mine.

And that's my biggest need right now, and my biggest reason for finally joining the site - I really need the community, the push, and the continued motivation to help me stick with this.

But I also love the resources, I've ditched Weight Watchers for the Paleo Diet (3rd day and I'm loving it!), and I am so appreciative for the workout advice/programs that are posted (Steve, you are awesome!)! I know how to work out, but I swear I always end up letting my image and self consciousness get to me and blank out with a barbel in my hand.

So I want to set a specific quest - and I'll do that for the challenge too (even though I'm a bit late), but my specific goal is to move forward from just weight lifting class, and Level Up to power lifting. For those who love it, and have good advice/pointers/easy beginnings, I would LOVE to hear from you. It would make me happy <3. And a side quest, which is equally as important but not so in the forefront - I want to continued with the Paleo Diet for at least 30 days to see how I feel!

So, that's a bit about me. I ramble, if you didn't notice. But please, say hi, I don't bite. And you'll be seeing me around a bit now. I'll be posting my challenge thread soon (probably after work, is it bad that I'm doing this on the clock? LOL) and I'll be looking for an Accountabili-buddy group soon as well!

Thank you all in advance for the warm welcome. I have wonderful feelings about this <3

Taia

[Nuala]

Welcome! Glad to have you here

No need to say, you have a really inspiring story, good luck with the paleo diet, it's not for everyone but I wouldn't go back to a grain based diet for all the gold!

[Aly_Nicole]

Good luck with the diet and the goal of power lifting, that would be an awesome accomplishment!

[IRISHodabred]

Hi fellow Ranger! Welcome! I'm new to the Rebellion as well and I too am on Day 3 of Paleo! Feels awesome right? You have a very inspiring story. 6 jobs AND you make time to work out that much...you're a machine! In terms of lifting heavy. Look up Mark Ripptoe on YouTube. He is the man when it comes to lifting heavy and his videos really helped me feel comfy doing the big exercises (squats, deadlifts, bench, shoulder press) From there start LIGHT and focus on the proper form that you learn from the videos. Lastly, make sure you're trying to give your body time to rest and rebuild. Other than that, this site has all the resources you need. Now go show those goals who's boss and I hope to see you in the next challenge! Hoorah!

IRISHodabred