Newbie Gee Gee.

[geegeemcgee]

Hi guys. =)

I found this site through another forum and I'm pretty excited; it's shown up at just the right time.
Reading Stacci's power lifting article a few days ago, I recognised some of her earlier experiences in myself. For years I spent hours each day either running all over town along the bike tracks, or spinning away on my cross trainer in my living room watching catwalk models on Fashion TV for motivation (thinspiration?). I practically starved myself. I was weak, tired, far too skinny and obsessed with the numbers on the scales. I punished myself for any food sins with even more cardio and figured I was in great shape since I could run over such great distances. I was a chef too, so I was ALWAYS on my feet and constantly moving. I completely neglected my health, I smoked, I barely ate, drank gallons of coffee and was in total denial.

Naughty! 

Three years ago I had to stop all forms of physical activity when I did some spectacular damage to my back. It never occurred to me that I had zero core strength to support my spine. I thought I was really fit! I ended up injuring myself and having to take 18 months out of my life to recover and rehabilitate. It majorly sucked, but it was a good wake up call. FINALLY 4 months ago I started yoga to begin building up my core strength. I love it, yoga has been brilliant. Since then I have gradually introduced free weights with a trainer, which I've never don't before.

I've been umming and erring over some new short term goals, which is why I'm super happy to of found this site. Since mid 2011 My long term goal has been to gradually improve my core and upper body strength to better support my spine. I've worked my way up to 4x yoga sessions a week of around 20 to 30 minutes each, and on 3 of those days I've started weights with Mr Trainer Man. It's all quite low intensity and I hope to start building on that.

Food is undeniably something else I need to address. It's a major mental barrier for me. The chef in me likes to think it's an expert on the matter, irrespective of the punishing diet I subjected myself to for so long! I do struggle paying heed to other people's nutritional advice, which is something I am really keen to work on. 

Cheers!

Gee
 

[Laureleye]

Well, you've already made a great turnaround.  The beginner's guide to healthy eating is a great resource; you'll find it on the NERD FITNESS tab, under free resources.  That same area has some body-weight workouts that are pretty basic.  Click on the CHALLENGE tab and look at the FAQ for joining a guild and (if you wish) creating a character - then you'll be all set for our next challenge.