Hey Nerds!

[Stef]

Hey everybody! I'm Stef, fairly new to Nerd Fitness, and brand new to the community. I've been following a paleo diet/fitness method for a while, but haven't found such great motivation until now! A little about myself:

I'm a junior in college, and have always been fairly active. My parents and grandparents are overweight, so I tried to keep myself as busy as possible growing up to prove I didn't have to be the same way. I also wanted to set a good example for my younger brother and sister. This drive led me to a competitive dance career for 15 years, and time spent on my high school's cheerleading and tennis teams on top of school and a part-time job. But by the time I graduated high school and started college, I wasn't happy with my health. So I started working out and eating what I thought at the time was better. I thought I was taking care of myself, but by my sophomore year I was

running myself into the ground working 30 hours a week, taking a full course load, and participating in other campus activities.

About that time I Stumbled upon Mark's Daily Apple, and I immediately thought “this makes perfect sense, why doesn't everyone do this?â€. After poking around the Internet some more, I discovered some other blogs devoted to a paleo lifestyle in college, which were more relevant to me. Then I found Nerd Fitness! I'm so impressed with

everything here, and I love being part of a community. Out here in corn-fed Nebraska, I kind of get scoffed at when I say I don't eat things like bread anymore, so it's great to have people to connect with who've already been through what I'm doing.

 

I've been eating paleo for a while now, and have definitely noticed a difference in my appearance, energy levels, and sleep quality. Even though I eat ALL THE TIME now, I never get that “I'm going to explode†feeling, which is awesome. I've gotten a few friends and now my sister to be shy rebels with me, but I have to admit it's difficult on a broke college student's budget. We make it work the best we can though, and I've even grown to enjoy the challenge the dining hall presents. I feel like a real cavewoman hunting for food!

As far as exercise goes, I've gotten really involved in CrossFit at my school, and I love the challenge of it. Being a fitness rebel has led me back to dance and gymnastics too, but I can devote more of myself to it now because I'm doing it for fun and exercise instead of a chore. I've even tried out intramural sports like water polo and broomball, and I really want to try out my gymnastics skills in parkour!

Basically I'm a bad-ass-in-training. I plan on joining the Navy after I graduate, so my goal in all this is to get to a point where I won't die mentally or physically at OCS. Leveling up my life means finding health in my previously chaotic and stressful life, and maintaining that state through whatever I decide to do. I used to think in terms

of how to change my life (exercise, diet, academic performance, etc.). But that was too hard. Leveling up, on the other hand, makes everything attainable, and to me creates checkpoints where I can look back and say “wow, look how far I've come. But I bet the view is even better the further I go.â€