Clever Introduction Title here

[ElfiKay]

Hello everybody,

I'm not exactly new here - I've been lurking on the nerd fitness blog for a while, and get emails and such, but I've decided to join the community now too.

I'm a 21 year old female, 5'9", and with an average body; I guess that makes me a half-elf [taller than the average human woman, but bigger than the slender elves]. I really want to cut down my body fat (don't we all) to be in the 14-23% range. I'm currently 26.5%. I want to work towards being an Assassin - Monk hybrid. I have danced most all of my life, which I guess makes me more predisposed to being an Assassin, but I would like to train to have the skills of a Monk as well - partially because I want the pretty muscles, partly because I want to be stronger & more capable, & partly because I would like to know how to defend myself.

And from here, I have no idea where to go. I know I need to work on eating cleaner, & have started on that, but what about the community here? And my desired classes? Do I join both the Assassin & Monk guilds? How do I train for my classes? The 30-day Shred & C25K are good and all, but they aren't going to make me an Assassin-Monk. Halp?



As a last note - anybody have an idea for what an Assassin-Monk hybrid could be called? I'm drawing up a blank.

[BalianIronguard]

An official welcome to the write and respond portion of forum life here

It's good that you know where you want to head to. At the very least, people much more knowledgeable than I can start to help with the question since you've given them the answer. My two cents: Bodyweight work and Paleo eating have helped me immensely. The Beginner Bodyweight Workout floating around this site is a terrific exercise plan to get yourself started.

I'm a bit of a numbers guy, so I mathed out what I need food-wise to keep my body running for a day. I then prepped food to see what that looks like (this much chicken and spinach is this many calories for example). I then figured what I need to drop a pound a week, and stopped focusing on numbers and specifics completely. Once a month maybe I'll check to make sure I'm on track, but once I set my vector I just make sure I keep to it.

As always, your mileage may vary, but hopefully this helps!

[NightWatcher13]

Hi & awesome! I used to envy half-elves (I'm not short, but i'm pretty stocky) 
I'm here mostly as an assassin, but I leave it at that mostly because I figure the martial arts goals I have fit that class nicely, along with my other goals (languages, parcour, etc.). Dancing is awesome, but I'm afraid I've always had 2 left feet lol. A lot of articles are on these forums and the NF website on different workout types, and they have a lot of diet articles, suggestions and recipes, and keeping track of what you eat on something like SparkPeople might help a bit too so you see your input

[virtualmonkey]

Assassin Monk combo strikes me as pure ninja. 

 

I think the best way to reduce BF is clean, proper amounts etc, eating and strength training. 

[ElfiKay]

An official welcome to the write and respond portion of forum life here

It's good that you know where you want to head to. At the very least, people much more knowledgeable than I can start to help with the question since you've given them the answer. My two cents: Bodyweight work and Paleo eating have helped me immensely. The Beginner Bodyweight Workout floating around this site is a terrific exercise plan to get yourself started.

I'm a bit of a numbers guy, so I mathed out what I need food-wise to keep my body running for a day. I then prepped food to see what that looks like (this much chicken and spinach is this many calories for example). I then figured what I need to drop a pound a week, and stopped focusing on numbers and specifics completely. Once a month maybe I'll check to make sure I'm on track, but once I set my vector I just make sure I keep to it.

As always, your mileage may vary, but hopefully this helps!

 

I've always been a fan of the idea of bodyweight work - ballerinas get almost all their strength with nothing but body alone - but after having to quit dancing found myself without any exercises. I'll check out that article & solve my problem! Thanks

As for paleo... always been a bit skeptical of it, so I've not bothered to read any of the articles. The whole concept of, only eat what a caveman would, seems - to me - to throw away all the advances in food we've made, y'know, ever. But, in your honor, I'll give it honest consideration & read a few articles on it.

Do you prep meals at the beginning of the week? This is something I've always had trouble with... meal planning. I can never come up with solid meal plans without eating the same exact thing every day, & I always find myself with the wrong, or not enough groceries. >.<

[ElfiKay]

Hi & awesome! I used to envy half-elves (I'm not short, but i'm pretty stocky) 

I'm here mostly as an assassin, but I leave it at that mostly because I figure the martial arts goals I have fit that class nicely, along with my other goals (languages, parcour, etc.). Dancing is awesome, but I'm afraid I've always had 2 left feet lol. A lot of articles are on these forums and the NF website on different workout types, and they have a lot of diet articles, suggestions and recipes, and keeping track of what you eat on something like SparkPeople might help a bit too so you see your input

 

I guess we all envy somebody, right? I'm personally jealous of both the elves (dratted skinny people trotting around at my altitude, haha) & pixies (why does anybody get to be so tiny?)

Oh, I guess languages would fit into Assassin, huh? My predisposition grows, haha, I'm currently finishing up a study abroad semester in Brazil.

Thanks for the advice and the welcome

[BalianIronguard]

I imagine this is where a discussion about Paleo versus Primal comes in (honestly I've never been a fan of labels, I just roll with what works), but the big thing about it is removing highly processed food from your diet. I do a little prep at the beginning of the week, but what I really have are sets of Legos. I have these meats, these vegetables, fruits and so on, and I know I need this much today since it's a workout day. That's about it. I'll eat similar meals in a given week, not each day. And I definitely understand not enough groceries it takes some trial and error but I know for myself once I dialed in approximately where I needed to be, it was easy breazy.

[ElfiKay]

I do a little prep at the beginning of the week, but what I really have are sets of Legos.

 

Sorry... what? How do legos help you plan food?

[BalianIronguard]

Sorry, my analogies tend to be a bit muddled. I treat my food like Legos: I figure out what I want to "build" that day (what I need for nutrition), then pick out the "pieces" that get me there. It's how I keep from getting bored by eating the same food all the time. For my needs, meat is meat whether it's fish, chicken, burger, quinoa, etc as long as I'm getting the right pieces.

[BalianIronguard]

Protein is protein^... I AM in fact aware that Quinoa is a grain I swear >_>