Well, here goes nothing!

[Emma Joy]

Hey guys, I'm Emma and my parents tease me (in a gentle sort of way) for being a fangirl and loving cats. And that's basically me. I love Asian culture (especially Chinese), cats, baking, sewing, scrapbooking, Lord of the Rings (the book!), Star Trek, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. Especially the last. I used to run around a lot until I turned ten, and then I stopped being active - except the time I joined cross country and quite halfway through the season without ever having finished a workout or ran in a race. Yup.

 

Anyways, I just started college. After failing my first semester (like, literally failing O.o) due to severe depression and anxiety along with other health problems, I realized I have to get in shape right now. My psychiatrist has been pushing me to go to the gym but I've always been too embarrassed about my weight and very weak body. I'm not severely overweight, per say, but I need to lose about 20-25 pounds of fat and get my cholesterol under control. I also need to get stronger, especially my core, so I can actually get up a flight of stairs without getting out of breath; flexibility and balance are also a huge issue for me and honestly, I'm sick of spraining my wrists and ankles, nearly falling over when I bend to pick something up, pulling muscles just by reaching to get something off of a high shelf, and tendonitis in general. I'd also like to stop binge eating and cut out all but a very little processed sugar in my diet. I know tons of sugar is terrible for my depression and is pushing me way too close to the edge of being pre-diabetic. 

 

So what happened is, my parents just got me a three month membership at our local gym and ten sessions with a personal trainer. I did not like that at all until I started researching Shaolin Kung Fu (which I have wanted to do ever since watching Avatar: The Last Airbender as a child) and realized that there is a school very close to my college with good reviews. And I kind of freaked out about the awesomeness of that and the possibility of taking classes at some point in the future. So all of a sudden, I have a goal in mind, and I'm willing to get to the gym. My goals for now are as follows:

 

• Go to the gym every day for an hour
• Eat dessert once a week and dark chocolate when I feel like I can't control my cravings
• Be able to do sets of ten real, honest-to-goodness push ups and sit ups
• Get to the point of doing sets of twenty deep squats
• And finally, be able to extend my legs fully in the air while lying on my back. It's a pilates thing that I can never do!

[Thrima]

Hi Emma! You have very solid goals, and it's awesome that you found something that inspires you. It sound like beginning of great journey.