Salutations

[NerdDemigoddess]

Hallo everyone,

I am not sure how I stumbled across the site a few hours ago but I think it is great.  Being an out of shape overweight nerd I thought it was only befitting that I join up rather than lurk the forums.  Also I am pretty certain I need to bother other people about my fitness and health issues rather than filling up my friends' Google+ with me talking about it all of the time. Do not get me wrong I have a really wonderful group of friends.  Especially a handful of them that are always there for me when I need to vent or as for advice.  I just thought hanging out over here would give them a break.  

I am not a newb to fitness.  I was former military and was reasonably fit.  I grew up as a very thin child with a hyper active metabolism as well.  Five years ago I go out of the Army and was pregnant.  I had three other children when I was active duty.  This time around things were different because I did not have that fire under my butt to lose the weight post partum.  After I had my daughter I continued to gain weight.  At my highest I was at 238.  I was in a bad place emotionally due to a relationship I was in.  Last year I ended it.  It was a turning point in my life.  I began thinking more positively.  My emotional health improved.  I cut ties with negative friends.  Purged a lot of people from Facebook as well.  I had a life changing moment in January.  I found myself in the ER with neck pain and a headache.  I had no clue I had symptoms of a heart attack.  Lots of lab work and EKGs were done.  Blood work was fine.  Cholesterol was fine along with other results. I eat relatively healthy so no shock there.  It was my sedentary lifestyle that was causing me problems.  After I got out of the hospital I made up in my mind that I would have to make some serious changes in my life.

The past five months have been challenging.  I was 226 at the time of my ER visit.  I am now 206.  That's 20 pounds down.  It sucks but I think that slow and gradual weight loss was a good thing.  I did not rush into things.  I took my time taking baby steps.  Small changes. I knew for certain that running was completely out because after all those years of running in the Army I learned that I hated it.  I needed to find other ways to achieve my fitness goals.  I started with attending bellydance a few days a week was a starting point.  I had given it up.  I missed it so much.  I made more eating changes by eliminating soda. Eating pretzels instead of Doritos.  Less trips to fast food places.  Minor things.  A couple of months ago I started wanted to amp things up.  I needed to move more..  I know I had to do more cardio but had to find a way to squeeze into my day.  I hate exercise but it is necessary to achieve the results I desired.  The Firm Express was the way to go.  It was under 30 minutes so no major time commitment.  I decided I would not watch anime fan subs unless I did my workouts first.  Geek motivation LOL.  I did it for 8 weeks.  I started seeing slight changes in my body. But frankly I found the workouts a little boring.   Now I am weeks to into Hip Hop Abs.  I like it a lot.  it's fun and engaging.  I am not bored with it.  After that I will move on to a Focus T25 challenge group.  

Overall I am proud of myself.  I am very motivated.  I try to encourage my friends with similar weight issues.  I guess overall in the end I want to be healthier and not have to find myself in the hospital again.  I do not want to have to ever hear "Oh yeah look good for having four kids."  As if it is expected that being overweight is acceptable excuse for my body.  I am not cool with that.  I want to be a fit mom and wear all the things I used to wear and cosplay all of those mid driff bearing costumes confidently.  So that's pretty much it.