Greetings and Salutations

[Schmopey]

Hello everyone,

 

I am ever so glad that I stumbled upon such a wondrous place as this during my time-wasting at work. I love nerds (being a huge one myself), and the ones around here seem to make themselves quite easy to love. I have been poking around the site for several weeks now and decided I should take the plunge and step out into the light and join the fun.

 

About me:

I am 37, have been married to my wonderful wife for 11 years, and have three fabulous children (two boys, 10 and 8, and a 3yo girl). I wrestled in high school, which was probably my pinnacle of fitness, though I did get in pretty good shape working with a trainer about 7 years ago. Since then, my desk job has gotten me into a shape that is predominately round.

 

On January 12, 2013, my wife and I were invited to a black-tie masquerade party to be held on March 9th. I decide that I would use this as motivation to fit back into the tuxedo in which I was married. It would mean dropping probably 3-4 inches from my waist (my expandable waist 40's were getting tight, and I believe my tux is a 38 waist). I figured I had two months, so it seemed a reasonable goal. On Tuesday , 1/15, I got out of bed at 4:30AM to head to the gym and use the membership that I had used maybe a handful of times in the previous 5 years. I  also found the MyFitnessPal app for the kindle and started tracking my food and calories burned. I cleaned up my diet and hit the gym 5-6 times a week. After a couple of weeks working like a crazy dude on the eliptical, I started looking for something else to do and stumbled across Nerd Fitness. Steve instantly grabbed my attention and imagination, which was good (I had started to mess around on the weight machines). I then came across Strong Lifts 5X5 and began barbell training, which I found I really enjoy.

 

So, I know you are wondering if I made it into my tux. I did. I dropped from 276lbs. on 1/15 to 239lbs. the morning of 3/9. Before I started this, I really must have been eating a bunch of crap without really thinking about it, because I really haven't been hungry.

 

Now, I am looking for some new goals to keep me motivated. I am looking at getting stronger as my next focus, so I am trying to decide at what point I should stop losing weight and start eating to gain muscle.

 

Anyway, I have to get back to work, but it feels good to be a visible member of the community.

 

-Schmopey (I'll be changing my display name once it lets me)