Lex Gives His Salutations

[Lex Lutheran]

Greetings my new brothers and sisters,

 

So my story. I am a Pastor and currently trying to finish up my paper work to accession as a Chaplain in the US Army Reserve. My gamertag/name was given to me by my battle buddy at basic. I've used it for everything ever since.

 

How I got into my mess, as a bunch of you probably know Children can greatly blow up well set routines. We recently celebrated the first year of our son. In that year though has been a growing heep of sadness. My motivation to work out had all but disappeared. I went from being a nice trim 195 lbs up to 215lbs of almost failing army height and weight; tick one for depression and self loathing. Likewise the kid had also set me behind in my duties as a pastor, as I tried to also lend more and more support to my overwhelmed wife, more guilt and shame, and further heeps onto the depression pile. I straight up hated myself, and I hid behind self mocking, and an ever growing sweet tooth (stupid ass coping mechanism). My self loathing only grew with each thing I ate.

 

I've always loved lifting, ever since College at least when I was working out to impress my soon to be wife come wedding night (greatest motivation ever right?). And I loved it, I had further reason to when I later joined the military as a chaplain candidate; there in lies when I fell in love with running too. tacking on miles, quickening the pace, self made gravy train to esteem ville. and then baby boy happened, and I let it all go. I was lucky to even get 3 workouts/runs in a month, and those were the good ones.

 

I've been getting back onto the horse the last three months, fitness wise, but still never really saw my weight drop below 210 (Screw you sweet tooth, seriously worst coping mechanism ever!). And then everything changed when a pastor friend of mine showed me nerdfitness, and, because I've always loved RPGs (Paladin... go figure), I figured I would give it a shot, the carrot on a stick lvling system is what sold me. So far it has been awesome, I've finally broken the 210 barrier, 206 as of April 9, thanks to a more stabilized, less time needy routine (good bye time guilt), and with focusing again on nutrition (calorie/nutrient tracking; used to do it while at grad school) I've avoided unnecessary calories. my confidence has been ballooning again with it all. And as my self-image grows I've also shoved the bloody sweet tooth back into the box, The compulsion has ended. So I am hoping to cascade this wave of awesome feels to regain control of other areas of my life as well: family, ministry, military, etc. I will be epic.

 

What I bring to the table? A very sweet mustache. In all seriousness, I've always loved running, I help my soldiers all the time with their form and breathing technique, although I was never scout worthy (yet). I enjoy lifting although I need to double down on my knowledge base, and nutrition has been a hobby of mine going on half a decade now (I love to learn new things and share).

 

What do I hope to achieve? Retake my life, finally achieve my Captain America Body (with the fitness prowess that comes with it), destroy the APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test), and become a source of motivation for my soldiers around me.

 

P.S. In case you got a wrong impression, I love my kiddo to pieces, couldn't be prouder of this calling

[AaHa]

No wrong impressions lol. I to usually puck a Paladin or Preist of sorts when gaming. Good to see another newbie on board. Good luck on becoming a Chaplin. Youll be a real life Paladin then.

[Chesterton]

Welcome to the forum! I think you will find this is a great community filled with lots of support and advice.

 

LCMS or ELCA?