An Introduction

[lifteatteach]

I started my love affair with weightlifting approximately nine years ago during a rough period in college.  Overweight, struggling to come out, and in a relationship gone wrong, lifting heavy things kept me from losing my mind.  Unfortunately, at the time, I didn't really know what I was doing.  I got stronger, but I loaded up too much weight on the rack and experienced a squat gone wrong.  I kept lifting, but I was always bothered by my tweaky knee.

 

After college I joined the Peace Corps, where I lost 30 pounds due to an initial bout of almost starvation while adapting to the severly restricted diet of my new country.  I kept doing lifting with rocks I found in my village in Mongolia.  Between lifting rocks, hauling water, and chopping coal, I managed to keep the weight off.  If only I had known then what I know now about bodyweight training!  I could have developed some mad ninja skills with all of my free time.

 

Somewhat improbably, but totally wonderfully, I met my the love of my life, who joined the Peace Corps in Mongolia a year after me.  Bolstered by increased self-confidence, when I returned home, I returned to lifting.  I managed to lose 60 pounds in one year while doing a lost of supersets and circuit style training.  I still wasn't lifting very heavy and my knee went numb when I was sitting at work, but I was skinny now!  It felt great, except I continued to feel constantly stressed about what I was eating.  Frankly, I was constantly undercutting my calories and then making up the remainder at the end of the day by eating sugary foods.  It wasn't a pleasant cycle, but it was better than when I was overweight.

 

I then entered teaching as a Special Educator and just tried to survive for the first two years.  (The first two years of teaching are incredibly stressful.)  I kept lifting in my old style with supersets and circuits.  I kept undercutting calories and then binging on junk food.  I kept beating myself up about my eating and my weight.  I kept having my knee go numb when I sat for a long period of time.

 

A year and a half ago, I began to change all those things.  I did 6 months of bodyweight workouts which, in combination with physical therapy, completely rehabbed my knee.  I began to read from a ton of fitness experts, including Steve, and I drastically improved my form when lifting.  I adopted a 80/20 paleo diet.  I started to lift heavy things in a programmatic way. 

 

So now, I'm looking to start up Strong Lifts soon after switching from another system of programmed heavy lifts.  I'm increasing my quality calorie content by 300 calories a day in order to actually build the muscle that I need to start moving really heavy weights.  I'm getting ready to start my first Whole 30 in a series of experiments to determine the diet that is going to result in me feeling the best while enjoying my life as much as possible.

 

Finally, I'm going to try to make time in my day to participate in this community.  

[Guzzi]

Good to have you on board, sounds like you've got plenty of experience (good and bad) that will make you a valuable member of this community. Good luck with Stronglifts!