Hi everyone

[JoeBlade]

First day on the boards here, thought i'd introduce myself.

I'm a 36 year old programmer. during my teens and 20's I felt I could eat anything and not gain weight. (to some degree this was true) but once my late 20s hit I started packing on gradual weight. after several failed attempts at going to the gym, for some reason 6 months ago I really got into it, but still wasn't losing any weight. I use machines (I know, I know) mostly but am easing into using free weights. It takes me a while to feel comfortable in new places so I figured I'd stay safe and then move up. anyways, 3 days a week now and feeling pretty decent.

I started tracking every calory I eat (well as many as I can, some are hard like how much cooking oil gets absorbed, etc) using fatsecret. the site looks a little daggy but it works wonders. I was rather baffled by the enormous range of opinion there exists on what is healthy and what is not. I came to the conclusion that science just doesn't know. Right now i'm just eating what feels right, not shying away from fats but also not cutting out carbs like crazy. middle of the road sort of thing. so far I've lost 10 kilos. My number 1 goal is to lose my gut (which is finally started to slim down a bit, it really seems to be the last spot) but that goal will be reached in under half a year. The main reason I joined this site was because I've been asking myself lately, what's next. In NF terms, what's my level 10 and what'll be my level 20. (assuming I finally reached the dreaded level 3 where you start to suck a little less ).

So yeah my plan for this year is to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I have a good amount of willpower, one of my secret hobbies is to cut out potentially addictive substances or behaviours and see if I can handle it. (coffee, sugar, nicoteen, alcohol, gaming). I generally don't let myself use something I've identified as addictive until after i've confirmed for myself who I am without it. (strongest addiction is gaming, nastiest cold turkey is caffein). However I do my best not to be 'one of those guys who pushes himself until he vomits' but it is a kick to know you can make yourself do something you thought you'd never manage.

anyways now I'm just rambling. what I wanted to say was hello

[Deeper Blue]

Hi Joeblade,

I feel you regarding the addictive gaming thing. I got so bad with Guildwars a few years back I would easily skip meals without even noticing and racked up hours and hours on there! I often wonder what I could of achieved in real life if I'd put that amount of effort into something tangible!

Welcome to the boards and hope to see you around

D.B.