Half-elf bard.... aiming for ranger!

[wanderbound]

Hi team!  Here’s my intro, sorry if it’s long, I want to have it posted for accountability so that I can look back on it and feel proud!  I’ve wanted a fitness forum for a while, but I find a lot of related subreddits etc intimidating, so I figured I’d give NF a try.

 

In case folks skip the tl;dr intro, my question -- for anyone who has paid the full fee for this site, is it worth the money?  Did it significantly improve your workout routine?  The cost is very reasonable but I haven't found many reviews of the services online, so I'm a little nervous about it.

 

 

OKAY.  Intro for real.

 

I’m 5â€4’, 30, female, and 150 pounds (68 kg), with a goal weight of 135 (61ish kg) by September 2015, when I will be moving to the UK to do postgraduate work (yay!).  My highest weight was 190 (86 kg) about 9 years ago, but I've been hovering between 150 - 160 for the last few years.  I’ve dropped ten pounds since the end of November, but I feel like my results would have been better if my workouts were more varied.

 

As for race, I'm short with a petite frame, so I'm going to be completely self-indulgent and go with my personal favorite race to play, the versatile and adaptable half-elf!  Half-elves are travel-prone wanderers, adaptable and diplomatic... perfect for me.  

 

In real life I would totally be a Bard, as I have all my skill points in social/language/musical/craft skills and only a few in physical skills..... in NF terms though I am aiming for ranger.  Right now all I do is run, but I want to build a more balanced routine.  I need to work on core strength as I've begun to have back pain if I sit for longer than two or three hours.  Hoping to improve on all of that this year.

 

I'm so happy to have found this community!  I've been thinking of my own hobbies as skill-point based for a while now, but I've never made the jump to applying that to fitness.

 

 

Running:

I’ve been running since 2012, mostly because running is something I can do anywhere.  I generally run three times a week and while I’m not particularly fast (10 – 12 minute miles) I can run seven or eight miles comfortably.  I hope to run a marathon next spring and so at present I’m using the Galloway method (run/walk intervals) and just trying to maintain reasonable level of endurance from which to begin proper marathon training this fall. 

 

 

Strength-training:

The whole reason I’m here!  I have zero experience in weight training (and unsurprisingly, zero upper body strength) beyond occasionally trying out the machines in hotel gyms.  The pushups were by far the toughest part of my first beginner circuit... I miss my marching bands days when I had arms of STEEL.

 

 

Food:

I live out of hotels six-seven months of the year for work, so I rarely cook.  It also makes changing my diet difficult, since I don’t have access to the same foods regularly.  I also have a history of disordered eating, which means I have to be cautious when restricting my diet.

 

That being said I eat pretty clean anyway – I’ve been gluten-free since 2009, I don’t drink soda or eat fast food/processed food, I don't eat much red meat, and the only grain I eat regularly is rice.  I'm not really a dessert person, but I love salty snacks -- popcorn and potato chips are tough to turn down at parties etc, though I rarely buy them.  The only major changes I want to make to my diet are cutting back on salt, alcohol and dairy (cheese... mmm).  I believe my goal weight and diet are 100% compatible if I mind my portion sizes.

 

 

Personal Challenges:

I have never really enjoyed exercise (got through high school using marching band as a PE credit...), though I fell in love with running a few years back.  I’m hoping this community will help make weight training fun, too. 

 

I have limited control of my diet, since I work out of hotels.  I tend to add salt to everything I eat (I’ll sometimes catch myself adding salt before even tasting the meal…), so that’s on the chopping block first, followed by cheese. 

 

I have a routine in the evenings of buying a bottle of wine and sipping on it as I do paperwork/read/chill out with my DS.... and I can knock back a bottle in one evening if I put my mind to it.  As of this week I’m going to stop drinking inside my hotel room and go down to the bar if I want to bother with a drink.  If nothing else, bar drinks are expensive so that should help me cut back...

 

 

Nerdery:

I am a total history nerd, a bookworm, and I always travel with my DS.  I love renaissance festivals and make my own garb -- the last few years I've been attending as renfaire-lady-Captain-America.  I also love tabletop roleplay, though these days I don't have a group.  Hoping to make a few friends as I drop the last of this dead weight!

[Noname123]

Welcome welcome  

 

Awesome goals and it looks like you'll fit right in with the Rangers. The beginner body-weight workout is a great place to start for strength based on what others posted and perfect for your nomad-like lifestyle with all the hotels and moving! 

 

Also, as a huuuuuuge beer lover and alcohol aficionado who is giving up the sauce until Memorial Day I can totally see how going down to the bar would help cut down.

 

I haven't paid the fee for the site but find a ton of information and plenty of people to answer my questions on this site. However I'm not afraid to sit down and research something for a few hours if I'm curious enough, the site may have a lot of tools that would cut this down. I'm interested to see what the response to that is

 

If you have any questions feel free to ask everyone here is super friendly  

[wanderbound]

Thanks for the great reply, Slates!   I've really enjoyed what I've read while lurking on the boards -- I lurk a lot on reddit too, but the weight loss and fitness subreddits are intimidating enough that I never post.  I definitely do better in a proper community.

 

No booze till Memorial day -- I'm impressed! I'll still be drinking at work-related events where it's an expectation, but I'm limiting myself to two drinks a night at that type of event... I just need to stop holing up and hitting the sauce when I'm doing paperwork etc.   I need to find a guilty pleasure that doesn't add so many calories to my totals at the end of the day.