28:06:42:12

[GreatWhiteAfro]

Hello Nerdom!  I've been lurking for about a week now, chatted with a few of you last week in the chat room and have decided that I am sticking around, you guys speak my language (going to college right now, mid-life carrer change so HTML/CSS and Visual Basic are my language right now). 

 

Now some background info.....I'm no stranger to fitness.  In high school I was on the swim team (I was a sprinter, freestyle and butterfly) kept me in great shape.  After highschool I joined the United States Marine Corps where I spent the next 6 years, running, rolling, hanging, and in general doing Marine things, I was probably at the peak of my fitness at that time in my life.  I was able to do 20 dead hang pull ups, 100 crunches in 2 minutes, and had a 19 minute 3 mile run time.  Well I guess the years of doing that took it's toll on my knees, I developed arthritis in my left knee at a young age (25) my surgeon (former Phoenix Cardinals team surgeon) very strongly urged me to no longer run, an activity I used to love.  After that surgery I started putting on more weight, I had a sedentry job and not being able to run really took it's toll on me mentally and physically.  So in around 2008 I decided to take my life back, I came across a book that I owned and actually used sucessfully to lose weight ( back in 2000 when I got out of the USMC),  Body for Life by Bill Phillips.  Over the next few years I participated in a group online and did back to back BFL challenges, after losing probably 30 or more pounds I started slacking off and trying different lifting programs like Chris Waterbury's Summer Program, I started putting on some mass and went from about 180ish to 190ish but with visible muscle mass added.  Now somewhere in there I somehow hurt my lower back.......this was a game killer....I've never expereinced so much pain in my  life.  I found out that I have severly herniated discs, L4,L5,S1.......I've been told the surgery is 50/50 on pain relief and that my best bet is to lose weight.  I have been dealing with this for about 3 years now, I just found out about 6 months ago that I have really bad venous reflux (vericose veins) in my legs with my right leg being the worst of the two. Needless to say I now have to wear the super cool medical style compression stockings, or have surgery, which even after I would have to wear the compression stockings.  With these health problems I'm limited in what exercises I can do, which is part of the reason I'm here. I need some accountability and some advice, because I am going to give 110% of my dedication to losing weight.  I absolutely need to start losing weight, it's impacting my life in more ways than one.  I have six kids, I can't do squat with them, because I'm either in pain or too tired because I'm in pain....make sense?  I don't feel like I'm guiding my kids into healthy decisions because I don't eat the best and I don't exercise.  Right now I'm the heaviest I've ever been in my life at 235 lbs, I carry it around my middle like a tractor tire.  My goals for right now are to change my eating habbits to become more Paleo like (sorry gotta have my coffee and kombucha).  I already drink a ton of water, at least 96 oz daily, if not more.  And just be more active, I am going to start doing the body weight exercises I saw in an article here, I'm pretty sure I can do most of them.  I want to start walking with my wife, but I don't know how far I can go without my legs killing me.  So that's another goal to get out and walk with my wife. 

 

**Sorry for the run-ons and wierdness, I was just trying to get the bulk of it down.**

[HaniHoney]

Welcome!

I too am new to the forums. I'm sorry to hear about all your injuries and what has happened to you, but it sounds like you have a lot of motivation and are really ready to work on getting back to where you were before, albeit the difficulties. I wonder if there are any exercises programs or groups you could attend for people with injuries like yourself where you could meet others and share things that work for you, don't work, etc.? Does this fall under physical therapy? I don't really know for sure - just curious! Best of luck!!!

[GreatWhiteAfro]

Thanks for the warm welcome!!  I'm waiting for my insurance to approve Physical Therapy, they will it just takes a little while.  I figured in the mean time I would try to lighten my load (HaHa pun intended)!  I'm really glad that I found this site, it's really what I've been looking for in a fitness community. Like minded Nerds that workout!!  Now if I could get someone to explain the classes and guilds to me........

[HaniHoney]

I'm still working all that out myself.Hopefully a moderator can point you in the right direction!

[GreatWhiteAfro]

I'm still working all that out myself.Hopefully a moderator can point you in the right direction!

From my reading.....I'm gonna say that Adventurers is where a newbie would start until they complete one challenge?

[Shello]

For your first challenge, you would be a part of the Level 1 Rebels (like me).  All you need to do is go to the forum for the Level 1s and post your own thread with your goals for this 6 weeks.  We are currently in the middle of week 2 but people start late all the time from what I can tell.  Once you complete your first challenge, then you can think about which guild to join and you can move around from 1 challenge to the next so it's a non-commital decision. 

 

You create a character based on yourself.  Your class is the type of person you want to be or the group you have the most similarities with.  I'm sure there's a post somewhere with the basics but here is a quick list

 

Warriors - Like to life heavy things and strength training in general

Scouts - Prefer endurance sports - running, biking, swimming, etc

Rangers - Considered jack of all trades partaking in some balance of endurance and strength training, also Crossfit tendencies

Monks - martial arts

Druids - yoga type activities

Adventures - for people who like all of these things or enough that they don't want to focus on 1 in particular, also for people who just don't know which guild, and I've heard that people will lots of weight to lose also like this guild. 

 

As you complete the challenges you get stat points to level up... 

[GreatWhiteAfro]

Thank you for the great information! I'm going to start a lvl 1 thread! Can't wait to get going!