I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread where people could introduce themselves, explain their goals and get that first post over with.

I've seen a lot of new members do this on the boards and not only do I enjoy reading their posts but I think its a great idea because its always good to communicate to people your Mission Statement, to define your goals and use it as motivation. You can also include some general info about yourself as to what kind of person you are.

I'll Start:

My Name is Marcus (duh :) )

I'm at Uni Studying Development Studies (eg. developing countries and poverty etc.) I also work part time in Security.

I've always worked out and played competitive sport but I always had a little bit of flab because my diet was terrible. Even though I was not ripped I was always very fit and active. I represented my state in Rugby and was a terrible cricketer. In 2003 I spent a year studying part time to get my personal training certification. Although I may have learnt a lot of valuable info about Anatomy etc, this forum has provided me with much more practical, tried and true information.

After seeing John's site I realised the main attribute I lacked was dedication and once armed with that anything is possible.

My goals are to first get down to about 9-10% BodyFat and then bulk up a bit. I dont want to be massive, I just want a fit looking physique and more importantly I want to be healthy. I've lost about 7kgs so far. I've gone off track a few times but my fitness has improved enourmously and I feel so much better.

This forum is slowly transforming into a thriving community, allowing the free flow of information that can enrich peoples lives and its a credit to John and everyone who contributes. I look foward to seeing everyone around the boards. :tucool:

Marcus :cool:

Was just about to post a thread of my own, but I'll do this first because it's a great idea :D

First off, I'm Mike, and I'm Welsh; hence the incredibly original and off-the-wall handle I use here.

I've previous played football (soccer to the American majority :) ) and boxed, up until the age of 16; since then I finished playing football as I couldn't find another team and a lack of motivation mean that boxing fell by the wayside too. Before I started getting unfit I weighed about 161lb; by the time I started getting fit I'd weighed between 190 and 196 for about 2/3 years.
I wasn't considered fat, but I was well aware that my waistline had grown and I was getting a little bit too much padding around my neck, I also couldn't run short distances without sweating and getting extremely tired and out of breath; I forgot to mention, in school I also ran middle-distance races and the occasional sprint.

I'm currently studying a computing degree and on a year-long work placement, it's this structured day that means I've finally been able to start and stick to a routine at a gym; I began at the end of summer 2003 and so far my weight has gone from 86.9KG down to (weighing last night) 77.5KG, the best part of this for me is that I've lost slowly and as a result I've sacrificed almost no muscle whatsoever, I believe I might even have gained some.

I don't have a mission statement, more a determination to see how good I could make my body look; then maybe take a photo or 200.

The hardest part of this whole "project" if you like, was when I dreaded going to the gym 3 nights a week because I was getting sick of spending 2.5-3 hours doing weights and then doing cardio; I was considering not bothering because the amount of time I spent in the gym on these days left me bored of the place; and sometimes extremely tired.
Since about February I've completely altered how I train, I spend not much more than an hour a day in the gym (6 days a week) and I enjoy going; I feel fresh the next day instead of drained, so that keeps me motivated, this renewed motivation has meant I've lost almost as much in the last 2 months as I did in the previous 5.

The pictures in this thread (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=3190) are from the middle/end of January and from 3 days ago (left-to-right of course!); they are NOT from the beginning of my fitness program to present, I looked a fair bit worse a few months ago, I'll scan one of those pics when I can get hold of them.

:gl: to everyone!

My name is Tim.

I work at the same college where I got my degree (BA International Studies/French Language & Culture) back in 1994. I started as a security guard, but I am now a state certified Police Officer. Not exactly the career I was planning for, but the lord works in mysterious ways.

I've never been a "sports" type. I slowly gained weight over about the last fifteen years after getting out of the US Navy. Never really noticed it. About six months ago a lot of little things began to bother me. Back pain, dizzyness when standing up too fast, blood pressure in my face while tying shoes, etc. I decided my weight was to blame and it was time to do something about it. Imagine my surprise to find out that I was technically considered to be "obese" at 5'9 and 206 pounds. Three months later I am down to about 175, and I feel much better.

My goal is to get to about 10% body fat and see what I look like. If I like it, I may stay there. If I REALLY like it, I may become an amatuer body builder. If I don't care one way or the other, I may go back up to about 13-15% body fat. In any case, I plan to stay in shape, as a ball in motion requires less energy to continue than starting a ball from a dead stop. (Pretty sure of the physics, but don't know who to credit).

I am happy to be part of this community, and I feel that John has done himself and all the other members a great service by doing what he has done. I have never met John and do not have any plans to do so (FL is a long ways from CO), but he is high on the list of people I WISH I was friends with, and I would not pass up a chance to meet him, that inspirational son-of-a-gun.

Hi everyone.

My story is in the Media Gallery under A Lifetime of Gains and Losses (http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?t=3015)

I'm thirty years old and have two kids.

I love to eat, and I love to cook, but I love to eat and cook healthy things. I discovered that I LOVE salmon and I love bean salad (Whatever the question is, Kerry's Beanie Salad is the answer), and tuna isn't horrible after all. I discovered that I don't need to eat chocolate every week, and that Diet Coke tastes better than regular once you get used to it.

I've never looked slim, but I've got a good sturdy frame. So I'm giving up in trying to look like a supermodel, and I'm now trying to look like an athlete. I refuse to track my calories, but, in sheer quantity, I'm eating more than I used to, but probably the same or fewer calories than I did before.

I don't have a scale, but I'm getting smaller, and I can lift things that just a few months ago I wouldn't have been able to budge. :db:

I'm Andrew, and I was born and raised in Virginia. I gave notice at my current job for July, and after that my life is up in the air. I might want to make movies, work in videogames, or study criminal justice. In other words, I'm 26 and have no idea what I want to do with my life. But for once it feels ok. I'm quitting because living in my hometown working a job I don't like (software crap) just isn't healthy mentally. The one thing I won't change is getting healthy.

I started trying to be healthier a few years ago. It was tiny things at first, like not putting mayo on sandwiches. I started exercise programs that would end a few months later when I saw no change and got tired of it. I even quit eating dessert for an entire 6 month period once, only to start back up again. The few things I stuck to from this time are no mayo and no added salt.

That all changed in November. I was 267 lbs, and looked and felt like crap. A friend of mine at work kept trying to get me to go to the gym with him, because as he said "Dude, if you lift, you'll be huge." One day in mid November I simply said "OK. I'll go." That Saturday, November 15th, I went, signed up for a year contract, and I've been going since. I immediately dumped desserts and soda. I've slowly gotten the nutrition under control, mostly thanks to this site, which I found in the beginning of January.

At my Saturday weigh-in I was 218 lbs. My only goal right now is to be an even 200 by July 15th. At that point I will have to make a new goal, probably to be 180 lbs by some point late in the year. Since I don't know where I'll be living, it will be interesting to see how I deal with the newfound freedom. I'm confident that I will be able to drive around the country, see the world, and still continue to be healthy.

Great Idea!!! I'll do mine later, I have to go to work...

Here I go...

My name is Junier. I'm cuban and moved to the U.S. about 7 years ago. When I came here I weight 94Lbs but that didnt last very long, after being here for a month I had gained 25lbs and continued to gain weight every year up to last december when I found John's site.

I've never been the type to stay home so I would still go out to night clubs and stuff even though I wasnt happy with my appearance.... I would try on like 5 different outfit before going out and would just get pissed off because I didnt like how my clothes fit.

I'm currently in college, but I'm not sure of what I want to major in yet so I'm just taking general classes....

My name is Emily and I'm addicted to these forums :) I check in every day and I've learned so much through John's site. I am a junior in college majoring in English. I plan to volunteer in Human Resources this summer to see if I enjoy that work. I live in the midwest and hate the winters so I will be heading south in a year or so and I can't wait!
I have been working on my body and eating habits since the end of '03 and finally have everything under control. The next thing I would like to understand more about is the high and low GIs in foods and why that's so important. Little weight background on me: I was thin growing up - 5'8 and 115-130 in highschool. After I met my b/f I stopped modeling, mimicked his lifestyle and ballooned up to 160 lbs two years ago. Now I am 5'8, 135 lbs and really am beginning to love how my body looks. I still have about 1 inch of flab I'd like to melt away from my stomach and thighs. Losing weight, working out and eating healthy was the beginning of the new me - I finally decided to put myself first and to force myself out of depression. I will be buying a bike tonight and that will be my first hobby besides the internet and working out! I thought it would be a good idea to start a thread where people could introduce themselves, explain their goals and get that first post over with.

I've seen a lot of new members do this on the boards and not only do I enjoy reading their posts but I think its a great idea because its always good to communicate to people your Mission Statement, to define your goals and use it as motivation. You can also include some general info about yourself as to what kind of person you are.

I'll Start:

My Name is Marcus (duh :) )

I'm at Uni Studying Development Studies (eg. developing countries and poverty etc.) I also work part time in Security.

I've always worked out and played competitive sport but I always had a little bit of flab because my diet was terrible. Even though I was not ripped I was always very fit and active. I represented my state in Rugby and was a terrible cricketer. In 2003 I spent a year studying part time to get my personal training certification. Although I may have learnt a lot of valuable info about Anatomy etc, this forum has provided me with much more practical, tried and true information.

After seeing John's site I realised the main attribute I lacked was dedication and once armed with that anything is possible.

My goals are to first get down to about 9-10% BodyFat and then bulk up a bit. I dont want to be massive, I just want a fit looking physique and more importantly I want to be healthy. I've lost about 7kgs so far. I've gone off track a few times but my fitness has improved enourmously and I feel so much better.

This forum is slowly transforming into a thriving community, allowing the free flow of information that can enrich peoples lives and its a credit to John and everyone who contributes. I look foward to seeing everyone around the boards. :tucool:

Marcus :cool:

Great idea :tu:. My name is Luke Suggett, i'm 15 and currently am doing my GCSE's. I always was a very athloetic, muscular child most of my free time was spent downhilling with my mates, I think it helped me to grow in to a very muscular body. Anyway when i was about 12/13 i stoped doing most physical activity and played my computer most days, my weight soared to 14stone, i was geting pretty fat as you can imagine. It wasn't till boxing day when i steped on the scales and saw that i was 14.7 stone i realised somthing had to be done. So i stared to alter my diet and become more active, since that day i have lost 2stone and i'm still loosing weight, also i have gained half an inch on my biceps an inch on my forearms and i'm only 4% off my goal :claphigh:. Sorry about the spelling and punctuation guys, it's not realy my strong point. Just tell my if you can't read it and i'll put it through the spell checker.

My name's Ben.

I live in Millbrook, AL (near Montgomery)

I'm 25 years old (till next week)

I was pretty fit growing up. I spent lots of time outside, playing soccer and lifting weights in highschool. Then I went to college and got fat. I'm 5' 6" tall and over the course of 5 years went pretty steadily from 155lbs to 195lbs. I lost 30lbs right before I got married in 2002, but have since gained back up to 185. Anyway, I've been weight training and tracking my diet fairly consistently since November 2003. My problem is that I have a hard time losing fat. Well, losing it very quickly. Anyway, over the last few weeks, I've gotten much stronger and a little more defined, but my weight hasn't moved from 185. Oh well :)

I work for Parsons Engineering as a Mechanical Enigneer at Maxwell AFB here in Montgomery.

Hi! My name is Jeremy Likness. I used to have hair on my head, now I'm bald. I used to be obese, now I'm fit (although since I don't have my six pack right now, some are accusing me of back-sliding). My wife and I together have lost over 100 pounds. I live in Atlanta, but am moving to the midwest (a small mining town in the Black Hills of South Dakota). I used to work for corporate America, now I am joining the ranks of free enterprise. And my passion and mission in life is to help others achieve their HEALTH goals (read: health, not necessarily weight - I don't spend time helping people lose weight in ways that might compromise their health, but rather focus on healthy habits that tend to have the side effect of achieving a more ideal weight).

Nice to meet everyone!

Jeremy

I'm 26, I work as a web developer / system admin, etc for a wine store in nj
my goals are 10% bf
I was into taekwondo for many years (my sister has her own school) and aggressive inline skating for a while
good times

I used to work for corporate America, now I am joining the ranks of free enterprise.

I am extremely jealous of you for this. Best of luck! :gl:

Hello all.

My name's Andrew (surname starts with.......)

I've been a regular follower of these boards since they began (I remember when there were less than 20 members), and was following John's progress since just before Christmas.

I have (nearly) always taken part in some form of exercise. I was in a swimming club from 8-12, but then my parents moved house. I played basketball all through school, and represented Ulster and Belfast at various ages. I even got onto a short US tour to Rhode Island when I was 16. Sadly, however, I was lacking in talent, and when I reached university, there were plenty of people who were my height who had talent, so I stopped playing. In university, I did a bit of general fitness training (a bit of weights, the odd run), but nothing regular until my second year. I moved in with some friends to a house in the crappy student area, and that place was the coldest house I have ever been in. It was regularly colder than outside, no matter what the weather. The bloke in the top room (in the eaves) regularly woke to find his metal pen frozen to his desk in the winter. We started going to the gym every night simply to warm up, and then started Ju-Jitsu in 3rd year. I had reached purple belt by finals time, but training times are early in the day, and I haven't been at ju-jitsu for some time now. I have been an irregular gym goer for the past 6 years.

I graduated in 97, and have been a doctor since. I'm currently in a 2 year research post (finishes July 2005), and after that go back to the job I was doing previously, Cardiothoracic surgery. I will be finished my medical training in around 2010 or so.

I began university at 18, 192cm and 92kg. Things have slowly go worse over the years, and my worst was 125.4kg 4 years ago. (I'm 195cm now). To make matters worse, I had dropped to 93kg 2 years ago after a load of hard work, and now, nearly all the weight has gone back on. I was 121.9 kg on New Year's Day.

I have been constantly amazed at John's absolute dedication, especially his first six months.

My goals are pretty simple:-


100kg by age 30 (August), and stay there
Be able to do 3x10 chins and dips
Be able to bench 3x10 my bodyweight
Possibly a six-pack
Don't put it all back on again in the future
My wife and I are planning to start our family in 2005, so I need to be in shape to give them the best possible start in life.

Andrew.

Hi, my names Julian and im a fit-a-holic, i live in melbourne, australia

im a music student right now, with little idea of what a really wanna do in my life, i play bass, play computer and workout!

when i was very young, i was athletic (at least i think i was, this is what my mum tells me) but i just put on weight my being inactive as a child, but overeating was of course a problem too, i did play basketball, but that wasnt enough

all through high school i was overweight, and towards the end i really wanted to lose some weight, but had no idea how!

mid-late last year, i wanted to do something about it, even though i was very uneducated, and had taken some bad advice (i thought it was good at the time) which was simply to "fill up" on water and eat less, and i did eat alot less! but when ever i ate, it was crappy food, or whatever was around, or subway :) while i did exercise a little more, i went on walks in a pretty fasted state! i lost weight, but looking back now, it probly wasnt good weight :\ i couldnt really stay on this kind of thing, being hungry all the time just wasnt me! and since i didnt know how to eat healthy i would just eat a pack of chips and some pasta for dinner!

then...my life changed, for a christmas present, my mum got me a gym membership, and at the same time i stumbled upon forums.bodybuilding.com, i read, and read, then i found johns's website though one of the stickies, and i learnt how to actually lose weight! so from then on i made a diet, i went to the gym every second day, and after about a month i was pretty educated on fitness, by feburary, i had learnt soooo much! and i realised the huge mistakes i had made in the past, i still made mistakes but they werent as big (like not fully understanding what GI was, didnt really matter at that point because i was only eating 1500cal a day, still building!)

anyways now i've got to a point where i can help other, i've learnt everything i know about nutrition online, with only the help of people online! now im passing on healthy habbits to my family and friends, i've have just finished writing a diet for my friend (probly better than my diet now!) and im going to help my brother in his fitness goals too, also my mum has high colesterol, so i can help her too!

while i may not know what i wanna do with my life, i know i will be at the gym every morning (except sundays ;) ) no matter what!

i do have a confession to make, i did take a week off from my diet and fitness to goto the beach in summer, however this didnt make me gain weight as i did TONS of activity (swimming, beach cricket, etc...)

anyway thats my story! *phew*

Hi, my name is Jon,

I'm 35 and I have a degree in photography and I work as a web designer for a large IT services firm. I get to maintain the public web site for one of the world's largest employee owned corporations.

If you want to grow lots of fat just sit in front of computers all the time.

When I passed 300Lbs the health effects of my obesity started kicking in... sleep apnea was preventing me from getting any sleep at all... It was so bad I was dozing off on the freeway when driving. I knew heart problems, stroke, sudden death was right around the corner if I didn't do something..

I also knew that I had hit a glass ceiling in my career. There were no fatties up on the executive floors... only skinny, nice lookin' folks.

It was time to get serious and learn about fitness and change my ways.

I'm lucky to have some friends in the "fitness scene" here in Houston... They were a great help getting started. I also started doing research on the web.

Then one day a forum goon (http://forums.somethingawful.com/) from Something Awful posted a link to johnstonefitness.com (http://www.johnstonefitness.com/). I knew the minute I saw the site that this was the program I was looking for.

I wasn't looking for a fad diet or miracle pill ... I wanted information to help me change my lifestyle in a way that I could use for the rest of my life.

Been month or so now and I'm on my way. I've invested a chunk of cash from my income tax return on a home gym and I'm working out and eating smart. I've still got a lot to learn but my body is beginning to change. I had to tighten my belt a notch to keep my pants from falling down. :-)

Thanks to everyone here for all your knowledge, advice and encouragement.

Hi, I'm Alex, from Cali. I'm 21, and I'm currently "in between schools" as they say.

When I started school, I started out as an engineer (comp sci) and was in army ROTC. After a year of literally getting an hr or two of sleep every weekday, I got sick of them both and decided to go to business. Business was a trip, but not really the thing for me. I think now, I'm psychology...or sociology. Either one really. I'm trying to get into the UC system now but california's budget is on crack now.

I got into lifting sophomore year of college. I'm an ectomorph/hardgainer. I went from 130-185 (less then 3-4% bf gain too) in a little over a year's time, so that's where I put on most of my weight. Currently, I'm maintaining at 160 at a little less then 10% bf. My goal is to be at 175 with 8% bf. I like all sorts of alternative stuff and body mods and the like. I went to the A Perfect Circle concert in SF like 4 days ago and it kicked ass. Anyways, lifting to me is like the ultimate body mod, and its one that you actually have to work your butt off for.

I spent a year working for GNC, but quit a couple months ago because it was getting pretty tiresome. Anyways, that's me in a nutshell.

My name is Katy and I'm 23 years old. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada where I go to school at Algonquin College. I'm studying Business Administration with a major in Marketing. When I graduate I'd love to design marketing campaigns or manage a well known brand. On the weekends I work as a security guard at federal government buildings.

I've have always been a .. large person (putting it mildly). I used to think that my weight limited me in what I could do with my life, and I often used it as an excuse as to why I couldn't do things. It wasn't until I lost a whole bunch of weight that I realized that it wasn't the weight that was setting me back, it was my own attitude.

My goals are to maintain my weight loss, continue to learn more about healthy living and do all of the things I thought I could never do.

I love this website. I think it's a fantastic place where people with common goals can get together for support. I know I've learned quite a lot from some of the threads on here.

:spaz:

My name is Patrick, i'm 19. I'm a Real Estate Investor working with my father. I'm 6'5 yep yep i'm tall, n e way heres my story.

I used to be in shape, I played basketball from 8th to 11th grade and then quit because we moved and I refused to play for the new school, basically cause i was mad for moving...really was hard to do in the middle of high school and if i ever have kids i will never make them go through moving like i did, even though in the end fortunatly it worked out for me.

But after movie i slowly got outa shape. And i'm tired of bein outa shape so I'm gonna lose the pounds and get back to my old self, so look for my before and after pictures here in a month or so.

The start was hard but i have the motivation and time now to accomplish my goal. When i started i weighted around 278, its been about 3 weeks and im down to 263, so not a bad start i would say. But i found this site and it was the main spark of my will to get back into shape, ive been there once and im gonna be there again.

Don't give up anyone, keep workin at it, cause in the end its worth all the hard work! :gl:

My Name is Crystal and I am 21. I have a beautiful little one year old boy. Before I got pregnant I never really worked out on a regular basis, I did power lifting and was on the dance team only 1 year before I got pregnant, but I threw all that out of the window and sat on my butt in an office for the entire 8 mths. After I had Seth I was 20 pounds over weight and miserable so I started working out :db: . I have really learned so much since then and now I enjoy it.

Besides that I work as a secretary :p and I am going to school for my BA in Human Resource :tu: .

Thats about it :whistle: - Crystal

Hello Everybody!.

I´m Simon, a 19 year old business student.
My overweight, started when I a few years ago moved into a very sedetary life. I don´t really know why, but I assume moving back to Sweden from living abroad (Bangladesh, Zambia, Kenya) made me kinda depressed. Alot of movies, beers and pizzas later I found a little article about John Stone in the magazine `Internet World´. I checked the site up and here I am. So far I´ve lost 9 kg /19,84 lb, but still have another 10 kg /20 lb to loose. Can´t wait til the summer, then I´m gonna get a tan over thoose strechmarks and love handles that keep haunting me :o

I am very facinated by John Stone, and all other people on the forum that have done incredible progress. The forum motivate me to get up and run in the mornings.I meassure my body and take a picture every thursday, unfortunately I wasn´t at home this morning so I´ll do it tomorrow morning. I also realized I´ve been skipping alot of workouts this week :( I might get disappointed tomorrow, but it´s just to move on.

I want to wish everyone good luck in their healt improvements, and cred to John for starting all this :claplow:

My name is David (woah!) and I'm a JSF-a-holic.

I'm 23 years old and live in sunny San Diego, California, USA. I attend SDSU ('http://www.sdsu.edu'), majoring in Computer Science ('http://cs.sdsu.edu'). This is my last semester, it's taken me a total of 6 years with 1 semester off. You might think "wow, 6 years for a BS" and I'd agree. I think it's pretty impressive. The fact that I've stuck with it this long is the exact reason I know I'll be ripped up eventually. Time does not matter, only life matters. I will have what I want, I don't care how long it takes.

I work for a local company that creates a web filtering product, among other things. You can find us on the web, but I won't say where. There's two in San Diego (woof). If you can guess which one, PM me so I can have you shot ;)

My job/career/whatever is part of why education has taken so long -- I've been working full time since my second semester. I've also been living "out in the wild" for that long. At 23 I'm making more money, have more experience (5 years in IT, 3 in UNIX admin, 3 in software development), and am better motivated than most people I know that are my age.

At this point I really value my education. Once you realize you're going to take longer than 4 years, you start to really give everything you've got to your classes. All of the pressure evaporates, leaving you free to study and do well. Accordingly, my last 2 years have been phenomenal with a 3.8GPA while working full time.

I've got a marine (salt water) aquarium with a few critters in it. They like it when I feed them, which I try to make a regular habit.

I've never been horribly fit. I grew up eating McDonalds 4/7 nights for years, I kid you not. It's amazing I'm not 300lbs with a heart condition. That, combined with a lack of friends (and thus, outdoor play) led to a very sedentary lifestyle at a young age. I got pretty good playing video games and breaking computers, so you can see how that fits in.

I did used to swim once the water was warm enough though. I used to swim a lot. Once it was warm, it was a daily thing. As such I'm still a very strong swimmer, even though it's been a few years. Swimming was my only real exercise growing up. One summer (between Jr & Sr year of high school) I swam 2hrs/day 5days/week. I had a 34" waist at the end of that summer, and I'll have one by the end of this one gawdarnit!

I found John's site on Fark. He get's the http://img.fark.com/images/2001/topics/hero.gif tag. I saw this pudgy network admin who made himself rip-roarin' hot using his wits and sheer determinism. I decided that if John could do it, there's absolutely NO reason I couldn't as well. I showed the site (especially the "melting" movie) to everybody who'd look. A few days later I got a spreadsheet going and started eating right. A few days after that I got a gym membership ('http://arc.sdsu.edu') and I've been working out seven days a week ever since.

I haven't felt this good in my recent life, and I owe a lot of that to John. I get some of the credit too, and so does my wonderful girlfriend for putting up with all my insanity in the beginning.

Now it's time for fun with Fark tags.

John, a http://img.fark.com/images/2001/topics/hero.gif from http://img.fark.com/images/2002/topics/florida.gif, which is http://img.fark.com/images/topics/spiffy.gif and http://img.fark.com/images/topics/ironic.gif but still great. If you read through this whole thing you get a prize, PM me to collect.

<stands up>
I'm Dave, and I'm an alc... oh wait, wrong place... :D

I'm Dave. I was born and raised in Southern California. For those that know the area, I grew up in the 626 (originally was the 213, then became the 818, then 626 was added), currently reside in the 909 (not DEEP into the 909, just right on the border), and work in the 310 - accross the street from LAX in fact. I'm currently 28 years old. I'm not married, but probably should be. We have a 3.5 year old son (hence the reason we probably should be married).

During the day I'm a software engineer, a title I've held for over 4 years now. I started out in programming as an HTML/PERL developer in 1997. I first started in the internet business in general in 1996 as a tech support rep for Earthlink. That was back when a room of 50 of us was more then enough to handle they typical call volume (they now have something like 10 call centers all over the country, if I'm not mistaken). I never went to school for any of it, so it can be rather difficult finding jobs without a degree - even though we all know a 6 year old computer degree isn't worth the paper its printed on). I've had good luck though and never been out of work too long.

As long as I can remember, I've thought of myself as overweight (I can't remember much before 8th grade though). Of course way back then I wasn't. Perhaps I could have been 10lbs lighter, but that is hardly overweight. I suppose it was my justification after high school, when I really did start to gain a significant amount of weight. I peaked at 260 sometime around 1999. I finally decided at the beginning of this year that I was going to try to lose some weight. It wasn't really a conscious decision, or a new years resolution, it was more subconscious. Somehow I did manage to lose 10 lbs in that first month. I stumbled on this site in February, following a link posted on one of my web sites, j-body.org (there are often weight loss/lean mass gain questions in the off topic forum). At that point is where it became more of a real conscious decision. Since then I've lost an additional 20 lbs - a decent start, but lots more to go. Now that I know how to do it, I've got no excuses left. So with props to Kevin Spacy, I'll look good naked by the end of this year.

Oh yeah, and thanks to everyone here, props to John for starting this site, etc.

Hey everybody..... just posted some information here: http://forums.johnstonefitness.com/showthread.php?p=28603

Hi, I'm Will.

I'm a 24-yr-old computer systems analyst (big word for a Mr. Fixit type of techie) and I found this site after someone told be about in January. I'm getting married next year to, in my opinion, the greatest person in the world. I want to do the best for her and for me, and one part is to get into a shape where I'll live a lot longer so we can have a happy life together.

A little about my past - I have genetics working for and against me. My dad's side of the family has been able to gain muscle and body mass easily, but they have been on the small side of the scale (5'6" and under). My mother's side has a long line of tall Scandinavian men, with the tallest being 6'2", but they stay fairly muscle free and then pack on some extra around the middle. I got the best parts of both sides, with my dad's build wrapped around a tall frame. The bad part of it is that I'm enormous by normal standards. I started out at 11 lbs, 6 oz at birth, was a year ahead of most of the kids in size, entered high school at 220 (and promptly joined the football team), and left high school at 270. I'm sure I was around 30% bodyfat for most of that, but luckily I didn't go much higher.

After school, I went into the computer business, and started buying my food for myself. Bad idea 1: letting my stomach decide the menu. I was eating fast food and junk for two years. I never measured my self then, but I maxed out at a size 48 waist pants and that was only if I let it sink below my then expanding stomach. I didn't think much of
it as I didn't have to do much physically and just sat at the computer a lot (like I currently am doing - need to go on the elliptical in a bit).

I started taking Shaolin kung fu about 2 years ago, and it started getting me ready to get into some real shape. My strength and speed increased a lot, but I stayed around 340 lbs. I didn't worry too much, as I was still improving. Then I started plateauing, and started wondering if I'd ever do any better than where I was at.

I found John's site and decided I'd take stock of what I was eating and see what I could improve. I made a few changes, and here I am!

Since I'm posting so much tonight (for me), I might as well go ahead
and give a formal intro.

I turned the big three oh this past January. It wasn't as traumatic
as I'd expected. In fact, my car insurance dropped by 25%. How's
that for a birthday present?

I don't remember how, but I stumbled across John's site last month.
I was completely blown away by his transformation. I had already
lost my excess weight about two years ago. I'm 5'9" and back in
January 2002 I weighed 196 lbs. I had been running off and on
(mostly off) for about a year, but no real change given my diet
of Burger King and Wendy's. In fact, 6 months prior a doctor
had done some bloodwork and noticed my cholesterol was 292! She
said she'd give me 4 months and if there wasn't an improvement,
it was meds for me. Needless to say, I wasn't down with that.

Skip back to January when I still hadn't done anything about my
diet or weight. I was always telling myself that I had to start
eating healthy and lose weight, but it never took. But one week
before my birthday, I was out running and suddenly a switch
flipped in my head. I knew I was ready to make the lifestyle
change. I wasn't making myself do it, it just happened, like
falling in love: you can't force it or prevent it.

So that day I went to a local, very nice, gym, signed a year
contract, and arranged to meet with a personal trainer on Feb 3.
He did a bf test and it was 28%. I started working out 7 days
a week (5 cardio, 2 lifting), though that changed over the
months. I also knew of a Whole Foods Market a few miles away,
so I started shopping there. I also started meeting with an
EXCELLENT dietitian who helped me learn how to eat healthy.

By June I was down in the 150s and my cholesterol was down to 180
(last October the chol was 156), and my pants went from size 38
down to 30. My weight fluctuated for a while as I tried to lose
some fat then build muscle and so on. My lowest weight was 148
in January. I'm with my third trainer now (at a different gym),
who is fantastic. He tells me that my strength gains have been
phenomenal. I'm now in a bulking phase, with an eventual goal
of about 170 at 8% bf. It's at about 13% now, so it will be a
while before I can see my abs. :P Going for the Jean-Claude
Van Damme look. Hey, I can dream! :)

Whew! Ok I've blathered long enough. Glad to meet you all,
thanks for all of the advice and here's to a thinner, stronger,
healthier future for all! :tu:

Hi, im Andrea.

Most of my life I have been somewhat chubby (not really fat) After I got out of highschool in my early 20's I did Nutrisystem and lost 30 lbs and I looked hot. Trouble was, you had to eat so much of that pre-packaged crap I couldnt handle it. And needless to say I gained it back plus some. In the early 90's I met my fiance (now ex) He was the total ooposite of me 5'9" and like I think the most he ever weighed was like 137. So when we were together I gained 50-60 lbs over the course of 6 years. And I am still that weight to this day.

Im of German/Irish decent. I have a large frame so I'll never be what you'd call "skinny". But thats ok, I dont want to be skinny, I want the curves and the fullness a woman should have. Just not in the excess amounts I carry around now.

Bottom line...I really like working out, I like the way it makes me feel. Why then cant I stick with it? My problem is that im lazy, mentally and physically. Maybe I need counselling to fix this. Hell, maybe I need prozac. Who knows.

I found this site back in January. I vowed this site will change my life, and I know it will. Just not yet. But soon. Its so inspiring to see all the changes taking place here and eventually Im going to post progress pics myself. (once I start the progress) I guess I just havent hit that rock bottom point to make me change my life. And no Im not going to wait til I get there either. I will do it....I just gotta get moving again thats all. Thanks for listening.....

I'm "Liam19" and I'm 20 today! :o

Hbd!!!!!!!

I'm Adam, almost 17, an ectomorph, and a Junior in highschool.

I started lifting the September of my Sophmore year and continued until June of the next. After last summer break, I lifted from September to November of the beginning of this Junior year.

At this point -- last November -- I was in peak aesthetic condition, great muscle definition and sub 5 BF% (due to cross-country) but still able to gorge myself with food; I was known for having one of the best bodies in school. Then swim season started and I stopped lifting, slowly losing muscle, focusing on functional strength and swimming my best instead of aesthetics. I also began to fill out, getting close to the end of my teens

I found JSF in January of this year, after swim season, at a point when I was four pounds heavier with some muscle loss. Since February 15th I've been lifting for serious, charting progress and eating cleaner reduced amounts of food.

I have a guilty pleasure for feats of strength and balance as well as the different variations of push-ups, including: one-hand, hand-stand, diamond, and clap. I took gymnastics for three weeks over the summer but didn't stay long enough to progress farther than a back limber and to know the steps for a back tuck and back handspring. I dumbbell press more than my body weight and leg press almost 4.5 times it, which is nice as I'm still a relatively small guy. At the moment I'm trying to perfect a planche (http://www.dragondoor.com/images/articles/8C-Josh.jpg) and the form for behind the back clap push-ups as well as holding myself horizontal by grasping a vertical bar.

I've ran cross-country for three years at my school and swam for another three. This last winter I lettered for the first-time in swimming. (I should have lettered last year, but I quit Varsity right at the beginning of taper, if I would have stayed for two more weeks, I would now have lettered twice. :d_frown: Any swimmer reading this should know how stupid a decision like that would be. )

My secret wish is to be a gymnast.

my name is bill im a drywall taper i am 6ft 3 289 i started at 320 i will be 40 in june i started at 10 min on stationary bike now im up to 45 -60 min my goal is to get healthy