Finally introducing myself.

[spockgrrl]

Greetings, HQ!

I am Spockgrrl, a 21 year old female in the middle of my junior year of college. I signed on to the Rebellion in August, but I wasn't ready. Now I'm back, and after a horrible semester and a thirty pound weight gain in 5 months, I'm serious.

I've never been athletic . . . ever. I have always led a fairly sedentary lifestyle, with short periods of regular exercise and dieting. I'm still looking to find an exercise that I truly enjoy. I am passionate about writing and cooking, literature, film, and food. I enjoy high quality gourmet food, but I also eat a lot of junk food when I'm at school.

I feel a bit sea whenever I approach a change in lifestyle. I have a bit of a complicated relationship with food, but am committed to switching to a processed food free eating plan with fruits and veg representing the majority of my caloric intake. My plan is to take advantage of the high quality fresh ingredients available to me instead of late night runs to the drive through, which I truly believe I will be able to do.

I would love any suggestions you guys might have regarding setting up an exercise regimen, as I still don't really know where to start. As far as cardio goes, I'm fairly open to try anything, and though I have horrible coordination, I like aerobic and dance-y things and am really interested in boxing and kickboxing. I'm also cool with hopping on the elliptical for a bit.

I have no experience at all with lifting free weights, I have always used machines. So that's what I'm most nervous about, but I see the wisdom in the use of free weights, and I'm ready to give it a shot.

My goal is feeling healthy, not reaching a number. Right now I am 5'6" and yo-yo between 185 and 190 pounds, and I was happiest and most comfortable at about 145-150. So I guess my goal is comfortable, happy, and strong. I'm tired of feeling the way I do; tired, sluggish, out of control.

Any advice or support would be really appreciated! I look forward to plugging in to this community and leveling up my life - I want to help others do the same

Thanks for reading if you made it this far, live long and prosper.

[Durandal]

Welcome to the rebellion. Thanks for sharing your story - I agree with you 100% that feeling better is much more important than reaching a target weight or a BF%. As far as exercise goes, find something you like and stick with it! If you aren't sure what you like, try as many new things as possible. One nice thing about college are all the groups & clubs on campus that you could join. See what's around - I'm sure there's something you'll really enjoy out there, even if it's something you may not expect. Case in point: when I was an undergrad I dressed up in armor and whacked people with padded sticks every Thursday evening. Wouldn't have thought I'd ever do something like that until I actually tried it and saw how much fun it was.

[Sco]

Welcome Spockgrrl! Congrats on deciding to make a change. If you're uneasy about starting with free weights right away, you could also look into some of the body weight routines around on the site, like the Beginner Body Weight Workout or something similar. You can scale things down or up as needed, which is quite nice.

But I totally agree with Durandal - Try something new and random that you've never done before; you're at a great place to do that! When I was a freshman, my friends dragged me along to a karate class (I had never done martial arts before), and I liked it so much that I wound up sticking with it and getting my brown belt before I graduated.

So really, just go for it. One day at a time!

P.S. Durandal, how I wish that had been an option at my school...