Hello!

[MTLWordsmith]

Well happy Thursday, Fit Nerds.

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

A little about me:

Living in Montreal, I have work I really enjoy, a bubbling social life and a loving ,supportive family.

I'm recently 25, I am engaged to be married in just under two months to my gorgeous, bright and funny fiancee, after which point we intend to try and produce an infant.

Now, when it comes to my personal appearance, that I am attractive is not in debate (that fiancee of mine glories in reminding me he thinks I'm cute - bless him), but in total honesty - I've gotten pretty chubby since we got together.

I am past mistress in the art of excuses.

"well tomorrow, well after that party, I have plenty of time, well a glass of wine won't hurt, let's just order in dinner, well, I'm too busy."

Blah blah blah. Not even original.

Oh, and I'm still a damn dirty smoker too.

I'm also freaked right the heck out about things like calorie counting, and any type of strict dieting.

I don't say this out loud a lot, and have certainly never confessed it in a public forum, but it has not been all that long since I allowed myself to submit to some very dangerous and unhealthy habits. When I was in my early 20s I was quite thin, and had the most unhealthy lifestyle imaginable. Some habits I acquired then, and others that had hung on as stubborn vestiges of my earlier teenage years reared their ugly heads. Think of any ridiculous and pitiable young-woman cliche - you name it - I was probably dumb enough to do it.

I'm afraid of taking unhealthy actions and if I'm being totally honest here - I've been using that as yet another excuse to avoid engaging in healthy ones. (I told you I was good at excuses!)

But if I'm going to be a mom, I want to go into it as a strong, healthy vessel.

I want to be able to look into a mirror and trust that what I see is at least based in reality.

While I have no illusions about being a rail-thin bride, I want to feel confident in my floaty blue dress.

All of this means starting now. And while the idea of making and sticking with this these kind of lifestyle changes gives me the screaming mimi's -I'm excited about it too.

I've poked around the site, settled on the beginner body weight guide, and the gym across the street for intervals on an elliptical (I tried actually running around outside but found the jarring and jolting to be incredibly unpleasant) Then I've got my eye on the damnable cancer-sticks.

I would welcome any help or advice from any community member (and oh, how I generally detest asking for help!) - and would also like to be of what help I may to anyone else - if there's another guy or gal starting out from ground zero here - let's get to know each other and kick stupidity's and laziness's butts!

Whew - sorry about lengthy missive. I'm looking forward to getting to know you all.

[Ryan Sannar]

Welcome. Lets get to work. Can you document what you eat in a journal for a week then post it here?

If sounds like your looking to be more healthy. Do you have any more specific goals (stronger/faster/weight loss/etc...) and what are you willing to do to meet them?

We're here for you. Just post when you need help/motivation.

[MTLWordsmith]

Hi Ryan, Thank you for the welcome.

Yes, I can do a food diary for a week - it should be interesting.

More healthy, definitely.

In terms of specific goals:

For the time being my goal is to establish a workout routine, say, strength training(30 min) and interval training (30 min) twice each weekly, and stick with it for 30 days.

I think that would be a good start.

Thank you.

[Ryan Sannar]

I'd suggest checking out one of steve's books. Do you have an idea of what to do with diet?