Quick introduction

[carbs5008]

Everyone has their long story but I'll try to sum mine up quickly. Used to be an athlete in high school, developed terrible eating habits with no exercise. 10 years after high school I was in graduate school pushing 320#. Graduated, started working and 8 months ago had terrible abdominal pain: gallbladder. Decided I wasn't going to an early grave and through diet alone (limited caloric intake) got down to 245#. Everything I've done has been rooted in science and then I stumbled on this site and lurked for a while. Currently I'm 215# (5'7) doing cardio 6 days a week (intervals on the elliptical to get a sustained 75-85% max HR) and lifting weights everyday to build more metabolically active muscle. I've read why machines are evil and am trying to incorporate free weights into my routine with a focus on compound exercises. I'm not quite there yet. A week ago I started to follow the paleo diet. My goals are to develop a solid free weight exercise plan that focuses on compound exercises such as squats, pull ups, dips, etc. I'm currently not strong enough to do dips or pull ups even with the weight support function. My end goal is to be back to a 150-160 lb. athlete and keep going with my new found lifestyle changes.

[Laureleye]

Wow. You've got great motivation to accomplish all of this. I know you're going to accomplish even more. Welcome.