#which a few hours seems unrealistically fast but my body had closed up Years old piercings overnight

[trans-xianxian]

did you get the earring in?

sort of 😭 I don't have any studs but I do have hoops with straight posts, but I had to sort of bend one to be able to get it at an angle where I could get it through the back of my ear, so right now I have a hoop earing sticking backwards in my ear w an earring back on it so it doesn't fall out.... I'm going to wait for my ear to calm down a little bit before taking it out and Immediately putting the other one in

[yandearest]

May The Odds Be Ever in Your Favor (Hoseok x Reader Hunger Games AU) Chapter 3: The Assessment

Summary - Living in District 4 you never thought you would have to worry about being selected for the Hunger Games. With a training centre right near the dock of the houseboat you lived and fished from, your district was known for volunteers who trained their whole lives for a shot at glory and riches. But at age 18, your name is called and no girls volunteer to take your place. Your devastation is answered when Kim Namjoon volunteers for the males shortly after. Tall, muscular, highly intelligent and charming, the years of diligent preparation have bestowed Namjoon with the expectation of being the next District 4 champion after Finnick Odair last won 3 years ago.

Fishing for a living has granted you skills with a knife but, as your mentor Finnick is quick to describe, your beautiful face may well be your best asset.

Upon arrival in the Capitol you are quickly faced with the reality that Namjoon may not even be the biggest danger inside the Arena. Especially when you capture the obsessive attention of District 2′s own volunteer, and killing machine, Jung Hoseok. Hope soon fades from ‘survival’ to ‘the mercy of a painless death’ but Hoseok certainly has other plans.

Pairing - Hoseok x (fem)Reader

Genre - thriller, angst, yandere

Word Count 7K

Warnings - [in later chapters] major character death, graphic depictions of violence, swearing, obsession, dubcon-smut (smut will be marked so reading is optional), gore, unrealistically beautiful oc because I’m a sucker for that shitty trope and want to live vicariously through my writing (sue me)

The following is a dark fic featuring a yandere character, violence, obsession, and coercion. By no means does writing about this in a fictional setting condone any of those behaviours, much like Stephen King writing horror doesn’t mean he approves of psychotic killers in reality. Please avoid reading if any of these warnings makes you uncomfortable.

Previous Chapter: 1, 2

Cross posted on A03 so people can subscribe for updates/notifications

Throughout the course of your life you had found that the more you dreaded something, the faster it arrived. As you sat in the waiting room, waiting for the call to go into the training center alone for your final assessment, you couldn’t help but think of just how fast the training process had gone by, and that in less than twenty-four hours you would be inside the dreaded arena.

During your knot tying session after your incident the on the first day, you had formed a slight friendship with Krystal, who had asked if everything was okay. You had lied, saying you were fine, too afraid of telling her the truth after Namjoon had just blown up on you, and she simply had nodded in acceptance. But you could tell she didn’t buy that answer from the way she seemed to treat you with a little extra kindness. You stuck to her like glue for the rest of the training period, refusing to separate within the career pack without Krystal by your side. It was an odd dependency given she was the smallest of the lot of you, but she had taken to it rather well. She never asked you about it, but immediately went along, making sure you were always by her side during any activity. You could tell Hoseok was furious – constantly shooting glares in Krystal’s direction – but there was nothing he could do without disrupting the whole alliance, and proving that he was indeed the psychopath he had revealed only to you in private.

You had spoken briefly to Finnick about things the night after the incident with Hoseok. As a mentor he wasn’t happy, but his hands were also tied as there was nothing he could do to interfere with another district. He had suggested he could speak to District 2’s mentor to try and get more information on Hoseok’s background but you had immediately shut that down, terrified that it would somehow get back to Hoseok and he would think you were reciprocating his own interest. The idea was also dangerous because it would expose just how threatened you were to their mentor, who could easily use that to their advantage when coming up with game tactics. Finnick had reluctantly agreed not to do anything, but turned the topic of conversation onto your remaining training time. He had suggested a focus on weapons, particularly knives given you already had some experience with them.

“Focus on what you already know,” he had said “Don’t waste time trying to learn new things that others are already experts with. You cannot hope to beat a master with only a few days of training. Hone the skills you already have.”

So that’s largely what you had spent the rest of your training time doing. By her own admission Krystal’s report card had suggested training with a weapon that could compliment her own agility, which worked out well with knives too, so you spent a lot of your time training together. You found out that despite being a District 1 tribute, she was also reaped, and not a volunteer, like yourself. But unlike you she had been trained at an academy, which was standard practice in 1. A far more interesting detail you had learned was she was Yoongi’s younger sister, and he had volunteered after her reaping. You filed that detail away in the back of your mind for future reference, grateful that some sort of partnership already existing in the alliance could potentially lessen the target on yourself later when it came to splitting.

You played off each other, regarding your knowledge of knives. Krystal was far more skilled in close range combat, and she gave you pointers when you trained in sparring using a prop version (made from a material of the same weight, which still caused some bruises, but wouldn’t actually cause stab wounds). She also helped you improve your skills in countering attacks and using a larger opponents’ body weight against them. Looking at Hoseok and Namjoon respectively you were terrified to know her lesson would very much be a life or death skill you needed to learn. In return you talked to her about your experiences with spear fishing and occasionally using a knife instead in shallow waters, passing on what you could about how to throw a knife. It was a skill you had picked up when you much younger, after being taught by your father when you were seven. Your mother had been furious when she found out and immediately banned you from knives until you were old enough to be working on the boat, but your father had still snuck in training sessions whenever the two of you were alone. It was never something you thought you would be using to potentially kill a human, rather than a salmon or tuna. You hadn’t even thought of it then, but it was likely his way of trying to prepare you for if your name was ever drawn from the reaping. Even though it was essentially impossible, a part of you desperately hoped you would survive in order to be able to thank your father in person.

You and Krystal worked well together, you had a natural chemistry, and both of you didn’t feel a need for wasting oxygen with meaningless small talk or chit chat. Your skills both complimented one another and you found yourself learning a lot. It wasn’t much of a bond from merely a couple of days, but you hoped whatever you had worked to build would translate into some sort of partnership in the arena.

The remaining of your training had passed as well as you could have hoped for right up until the final moments of the last day. You and Krystal had taken a bathroom break. Afterwards, when you were about to walk out of the washroom and back into the hallway outside, you could hear familiar voices beyond the door. Frowning, you opened the door just a crack to hear Namjoon talking to Yoongi, Hoseok and Athena.

“Seriously, she thinks you’re in love with her,” Namjoon laughed, clasping his hand on Hoseok’s shoulder. You felt the blood immediately drain from your face and a stone cold chill run throughout your body. You had seen Namjoon and Hoseok getting on better within the last day, but you weren’t expecting Namjoon to be at a level of already throwing you under the bus.

“Really? When did she say that?” you could hear Hoseok ask, although you couldn’t see him from the crack in the doorway.

“First day, back when she was in tears over that pathetic report,” Namjoon replied with a scoff. “Asked her what happened and she went on some crazed rant that you were going to save her. Honestly lost her mind on day one, why the hell we’re supposed to drag her around the arena is beyond me.”

“She’s not that bad, have you seen her throwing the knives with Krystal? Could be useful,” the only female voice had to have been Athena, and you made a mental note to thank her later.

“Please, she’s a baby. Wouldn’t be able to hurt a fly,” Namjoon scoffed. You wanted to storm out and show him how willing you would be to hurt him, but remembering a warning from Finnick held you back, ‘play along and act dumb so they think you trust them and are too stupid to make plans for yourself'. You couldn’t wait for the chance to stab Namjoon in the back at this rate.

“So why are we keeping her around then?” A bored voice you had rarely heard asked. That had to have been Yoongi.

“Her brains may be non-existent, but the empty head that carries her around isn’t too bad to look at. I say we keep her for the sponsors, get us some supplies from her capital fans. Maybe if we can get her to flash those perfect tits she’s covering up we can get extra out of them. Plus, if the arena gets cold I’m sure she can also make herself useful as a bed warmer too.” Your jaw dropped open at the vulgar way your supposed teammate was talking about you. You hadn’t even spoken to Namjoon since the incident on the first day, ignoring him whenever you were in the same living quarters and spending your training time with Krystal. Like hell you would be going anywhere near his ‘bed’ in the arena. Krystal looked equally as disgusted.

“Gross,” Athena deadpanned.

“What? It’s not like what I’m saying isn’t true, and it’s better her than you, right? Beautiful face, hot body, but not the sharpest tool in the shed. Throwing knives from a distance isn’t much of a threat in close combat so we can easily take her out at the end. Hey, Hoseok seeing she acts like you’re going to be her precious Romeo you can be the one to take care of our dear Juliet when the time co-” before you could snap and storm out to attack Namjoon yourself, Hoseok beat you to it. Like a viper, his hand shot out in lightning speed to grasp Namjoon by the throat and slam him into the nearest wall.

“Or how about I take care of you?” he practically purred, springing a jackknife he had somehow slipped into his clothing out and holding it against Namjoon’s throat, until you heard a scuffle of someone trying to pull him off. Yanking the bathroom door open you rushed out into the hallway, Krystal following quickly behind, to see Namjoon leaning against the wall rubbing his throat, as Athena and Yoongi restrained a livid Hoseok.

“What the hell is going on?” Krystal asked, looking between everyone. Even if you had overheard everything, you just stood there next to her, wanting to play up the ignorance they dismissed you as having.

Nobody answered, looking between each other as if waiting for them to be the first to talk. Of all people, it was surprisingly Yoongi to be the one to break the silence.

“Put that thing away,” Yoongi snapped, nodding at Hoseok’s flat knife. “Do you want us to all get beaten to a pulp by the guards before we even get to the arena?” Hoseok complied without any words, smoothly placing the knife back into a hidden pocket in the front of his pants.

“What the hell do we do now?” you asked, staring at the others. “A day before the games and a fight breaks out? How are we meant to work together in there?”

“Nothing changes,” Hoseok spoke. You frowned back, like hell nothing had changed.

“You just pulled a knife on my district partner,” you replied. You weren’t complaining but he didn’t need to know that.

“Nothing changes,” Namjoon repeated to your surprise.

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously. We’re men. Men fight. Shit happens but we get it out of our system. Logically we’re still each others best bet in the arena.” Namjoon continued. You had to physically restrain yourself from rolling his eyes at the ‘men’ declaration.

“He’s right,” Hoseok agreed and all you could do was stare dumbly, wondering how the hell the two of them had gone from pulling a knife a second ago, to now suddenly agreeing.

“Like hell I’m leaving you, Athena isn’t leaving me, your district mate isn’t interested in leaving you either, and I assume Krystal has interests in working with you from all that training you’ve done together. Yoongi’s not going to leave his sister, so we’re all stuck together.”

“What if I don’t want to work with any of you?” you challenged.

Namjoon scoffed.

“If you really had the balls to walk away, you would’ve done it on day one. Especially given how I treated you when you were telling the truth.” You glared back at him for blatantly exposing you.

“If you split, you’re the easiest target for all the other tributes.” Hoseok stepped away from Yoongi and Athena to walk towards you. “That’s 18 other people trying to kill you, so you know I’m not going to let that happen. As I just told you, I’m not leaving you.”

You hadn’t heard much from Hoseok since that moment in the hallway on day one. A part of you had managed to convince yourself it was all a stunt, just like Namjoon had said, to psych you out and cause division in your alliance. Hearing him bluntly announce his intentions to the whole alliance, as he came to stand directly before you, caused the delusion to shatter.

“Leave her alone.” You were becoming so entranced by Hoseok’s presence that it took you a moment to process Krystal’s voice as she moved herself closer to you, standing so her shoulder was slightly in front of yours. Your heart momentarily warmed at the gesture before it was doused in the cold ice of your conscious as you remembered his sickening threats from the last time you and Hoseok were alone ‘I don’t care about the others… I’ll slaughter every one of them in cold blood… I’m going to kill them all for you baby and I’ll make you watch so you can see just how far I’ll go for you’

“No Krystal, don’t!” you cried in a panic as you reached out for Krystal and pulled her into a protective hug, putting your body in front of hers before Hoseok. “You don’t understand,” you whispered in a rush to try and explain. “He’s crazy, he said he was going to kill all of you. I tried to tell Namjoon and he didn’t believe me so I was too scared to tell anyone else, because I was scared you’d think I was crazy.”

You were trying not to cry, you couldn’t panic, you couldn’t be weak again like the state they had found you in last time, but it was so fucking hard. Why did you have to be reaped? Why did one of the tributes have to form an obsession with you? Why was your own district mate an asshole who had invalidated you when trying to protect the alliance? All you had wanted was to not be alone in the arena, and now you had a hope of someone you could trust and she was in danger because of you.

“It’s ok, I’m ok,” Krystal whispered back, patting your lower back reassuringly. But a sudden grasp on your waist from behind pulled you away, causing you to lose your hold on Krystal as you slammed backwards into a hard chest with a cry.

“Yoongi take care of your sister unless you want me taking care of her in the arena,” Hoseok’s voice hissed from behind your ears, making your blood run cold.

“No, don’t hurt her, please, please don’t hurt her,” you begged, twisting in Hoseok’s hold but his arms were locked around you tightly. Yoongi didn’t say a word, walking over to Krystal and putting his hand on her shoulder to lead her away. She initially moved to shake him off but you vigorously shook your head and mouthed ‘go’ to get her to leave.

“We’ll see you at the cornucopia tomorrow,” Yoongi turned back to say, before you exhaled in temporary relief as Krystal reluctantly left with her brother.

“Whatever you do with her, I don’t want any part of it. We’re aligned until six and then that’s it,” Athena sneered, drawing your attention over to her as she glared between Namjoon and Hoseok.

“Fine with me,” Hoseok shrugged. Namjoon who was now leaning casually against the wall merely nodded. You could swear you saw a torn look of sympathy from Athena in your direction, but it was gone in a second as she shook her head in disgust and walked off to re-join Krystal and Yoongi.

With Athena gone the tension that hung in the air was so thick it was suffocating. Namjoon continued to rest against the wall, his arms crossed over his wide chest watching as Hoseok still held you by the waist. With Krystal now safe with her brother away from him you realized there was no longer a need to stay compliant in his grip.

“Namjoon, help,” you hissed, trying to move your arms to shove Hoseok off but they were both pinned to your sides by his hold. Hoseok merely chuckled, instead flexing his muscles and causing his grip to tighten.

“No can do little dove,” Namjoon mocked with a pout, moving off from the wall to stand to his full height. “Your boyfriend here’s the one with the knife in his pocket, and I’m unarmed.”

Namjoon raised his hands in mock surrender, his long legs taking lazy steps to walk around the two of you. Hoseok turned, forcing you to turn with him, to avoid his back being left open. Namjoon ignored him, keeping his eyes on you.

“But don’t worry, because in that arena I’ll be armed, and I’ll take really good care of you then.”

“Like hell,” Hoseok scoffed causing Namjoon to laugh.

“Oh, would you look at the time?” Namjoon was now further down the corridor that separated the bathrooms from the training center, where he could see the large clock on the wall.

“Only five minutes left until end of training before they start preparing for our grading. I’ll leave you two alone for now, but don’t expect this generosity again from me in the arena, 2. I trust you won’t harm our little dove until then…”

And with that lingering comment, Namjoon was gone, abandoning you when you needed him.

You felt Hoseok’s arms beginning to loosen, briefly you thought he was going to release you. But instead you found yourself being turned around to face him and backed against the wall. Any thoughts of pushing him off vanished upon feeling the hard metal of the folded pocket knife pushing against your hip as he caged you in.

“What are you doi-” your question was cut off by Hoseok raising his hand to the side of your face and pushing his thumb over your mouth in warning.

For a moment Hoseok was still. He relished the feeling of your plump lips falling silent beneath his thumb, so pliant, like a kiss against his finger. He watched the rise and fall of your chest as you tried to regulate your breathing, inhaling deep breaths in through your nose causing your lungs to expand and your full breasts to push against his chest. Every little detail about you was so soft, so warm and inviting, like you had been designed purely for him. He was absolutely enamored by you and could spend the rest of his life in this exact moment, feeling you against him, but time was not on his side.

“Look at how they all just left you,” he maliciously purred, his eyes narrowing into a focused glare, “you know they’re going to do the same thing in the arena, darling.”

“That’s not true,” you hissed back, “Krystal tried to stay.”

“And yet all it took for her to leave was a simple pocket knife and her brother. And really, when it comes down to it, who do you think she will choose, Her brother or you?”

You tried to swallow the growing lump in your throat and stayed quiet… he’s just trying to psych you out.

“Meet us in the cornucopia tomorrow, you’ll be much safer with us six than left to fend off eighteen others on your own. You’re smart, you have to know they will chase down any career left alone.”

You frowned but nodded, you had already agreed on this, so you didn’t know why he was bringing it up again.

“Good girl, then you know you have to stay with me once we’re all together. Yoongi sees you as a threat to his sister. Your friendship makes her judgment weak so he will take you out if you’re alone with him. And like I just said, do you really want to side with Krystal when she would choose her brother over you at the end anyway? Athena is threatened by you; thinks you’re distracting me from protecting her in the game as part of our district alliance. I don’t blame her for that though, she is right. I would choose you over her. You know I’d choose you over any of them. And then of course there’s your own district partner, who I’m sure you just heard before… would you trust a man who wants to use your body to sell you to fans from the capital for supplies? The one who didn’t believe you when you tried to warn him about me? The one who just walked away and left you to me now?”

An aching wave of hopelessness washed over your body as you slumped back against the wall. If it wasn’t for Hoseok’s arm holding you upright, you would have just let yourself fall to the ground.

“Please stop,” you whispered, the lump in your throat felt like a golf ball choking you inside.

“I can’t, darling,” Hoseok murmured, his fingers over your lips moving to smooth the faint hairs that had come loose from training back behind your ear.

“Not until you understand that you need me in that arena.” His hand came to rest on the side of your cheek, cradling your face in his palm.

“I’ve trained for this my whole life, I’m the only one you can trust to protect you.”

“But how can I trust you? Like you just said you spent your whole life training for these games, training to kill people like me. It’s all hopeless, no matter who I choose.”

“Don’t say that,” He scolded, shaking you by the hold on your waist.

“You saw me pull that knife on Namjoon before, and I didn’t even know you were there. It’s exactly like I told you on the first day of training, I’ll kill anyone who tries to harm you. No one in that arena matters to me, only you. You’re mine.”

“How can you keep saying that!? We don’t even know each other. I don’t understand how you could possibly feel this way about me. It all just sounds like a cruel way for you to take me to the e-”

Hoseok’s mouth silenced your protests, his lips pushing against yours and hands holding you in place. His kiss was searing and dominant, offering no chance for refusal, though as you felt the shivers running down your spine, you didn’t know if you would have been capable if a chance were provided. You had found him physically attractive the moment you had met, and somehow it was like the passion you had seen in his eyes was magnified a hundredfold through his kiss. He was strong and powerful, yet simultaneously gentle. His arm supporting your waist held your body impossibly close to his, whilst the fingertips from his hand on your face were tenderly stroking the skin on your cheek.

Your eyes had unconsciously closed when his face had moved in to meet yours, which only seemed to heighten your other senses. The places where his body made contact with yours were tingling as if flames from a nearby fire were licking against your skin. Everything about Jung Hoseok was warm; his sun kissed skin, copper hair and the heat radiating from his body into yours. You were stunned, and in your frozen state Hoseok moved his lips against your pliant ones to deepen the kiss, the tip of his tongue dancing along the line of your mouth before sliding inside to meet your own tongue and try to coax it to return with his.

What somehow felt like an eternity was in reality a mere few seconds before an announcement echoed through speakers throughout the training center, instructing tributes to cease everything and make your way to a designated area for the mandatory final assessments to shortly begin. Hoseok broke the kiss, leaving you breathless as he whispered upon your lips,

“If you can’t believe my words, then believe that.”

Pressing his lips back to yours quickly once more, he finally pulled back.

“Come on, we have to go.”

You mutely allowed Hoseok to lead you out of the corridor and back into the training center where a Capitol representative with a clipboard was lining everyone up to be taken to the waiting area. There was no talking from anyone as you were all put into your lines and made to follow the representative into a smaller room, whilst the training center was to be rearranged. The waiting room was small and cold with metallic coloring. Black chairs were organized by districts and you were told that one by one you would be brought before the judges to present your chosen skill, where you would then be graded on a score out of twelve. The scores would be announced later in the afternoon, before your final interviews with Caesar Flickerman in the evening.

You wordlessly sat beside Namjoon, not even looking in his direction even though you could occasionally feel him trying to catch your eye. No doubt he would want to dissect your conversation with Hoseok but you had no interest in telling him about anything that had happened. Especially not after how he had treated you the last time you had tried to warn him. Instead you kept your eyes solely on the ground, nervously bouncing your leg as you worried about your upcoming grading.

Everything was happening so fast. It felt like only moments ago when your name had been reaped, since then you had already travelled by train, appeared in the parade and completed your three days of training. You felt sick in your stomach at the thought that the short time that had passed between your reaping and this very moment could possibly be longer than the time you had between now and when you would meet your end in the arena. You immediately tried to stamp that thought out, trying to hold back the overwhelming wave of grief threatening to crash over you. You couldn’t let yourself go down without a fight and giving in to the misery would only reduce you to a walking corpse.

“District 1, female.”

The man with the clipboard had returned to the room to officially begin the assessments. You noted how he didn’t even call for Krystal by her name, just a district number and her assigned gender. How cold and clinical, much like the room they were keeping you in. You wondered if reducing tributes to numbers without names made it possible for the man to sleep at night, knowing he was part of a system that sent innocent children to the slaughter every year.

“District 1, male.”

As Yoongi left with the clipboard man you couldn’t help but notice Krystal didn’t come back into the room with him. So you would be allowed to return to the dorm and prepare for the interviews as soon as you were done. You were grateful this would at least mean a few hours’ break from Hoseok, you would just have to lock yourself in your room quickly before Namjoon would finish after you, and try to interrogate you in your living quarters.

“District 2, female.”

No one had spoken since the line up. All too focused on mentally preparing for the assessment. You felt for the younger tributes who had never picked up a weapon before a week ago, now having to present themselves as fighters before a panel with only 3 days of training. Once again you were grateful for your father for his insistence on training you with a knife, which at least gave you somewhat of a starting point to work with.

“District 2, male.”

You kept your head down and eyes on the floor, watching as two pairs of shoes walked directly past you on their way out of the room.

“No kiss good luck?” Namjoon snickered next to you, deliberately keeping his voice quiet enough that only you could hear him.

You ignored him.

“What’s the matter, trouble in paradise?” he mocked again.

You continued to ignore him, making sure your eyes were pointed on the exact same spot you had been staring at on the ground since you had sat down. Your knee continued to bounce at the exact same pace. You didn’t want to give him a single flinch, not even a minute sign of a reaction, given that was exactly what he was trying to get. You wondered what he was trying to achieve by riling you up. Did he want you to snap back at him and get in trouble? There had been no specific instruction not to talk, the weight of the occasion had instead resulted in the silence, so you doubted it. Most probably, he wanted to get in your head and psych you out before your assessment, likely trying to lower your score. Internally you scoffed, it’s not like you were a major threat to him anyway. You both knew you weren’t a trained career like he was. He was already going to outscore you anyway.

“District 3, female.”

Namjoon had gone from dictating your alliance, to spitting in the face of your concerns, to now mocking you. You wondered if he would’ve treated an actual trained career better if someone had volunteered for the females of 4. Perhaps it was to do with his ego that Hoseok had singled you out and wanted to work with you, even though he was clearly the more powerful tribute between you. He had taken it as a threat. A threat to his chances if you did side with Hoseok given Hoseok and Namjoon were on near equal footing, and the thought you had chosen Hoseok could have been seen as some act of betrayal. Never mind the fact you had done everything you could to try and avoid Hoseok, including telling Namjoon himself and asking for his help. Was he really that stupid enough to be mad you didn’t continue to beg him after his rejection?

“District 3, male.”

You supposed if he hypothetically succeeded and did psych you out into getting a terrible score it would be his own way of re-establishing himself as the desired tribute from 4. A reminder over your head that you weren’t a real career, and being brought into their alliance was an act of charity. A mercy killing to grace you with their presence before taking you out later in the game as an easy option. You longed to prove him wrong. Not just him but Hoseok also, the both of them for thinking you were pathetic and in need of their protection. His mockery and attempted sabotage was only acting as fuel to your fire.

“District 4, female.”

Your head snapped up to see the clipboard man standing in front of you. Wordlessly you nodded and got to your feet. You ignored the feeling of the eyes from the other tributes in the room staring at you as you had to walk past them to the exit. You were lead back down the same pathway you had taken from the training complex to the waiting room, only this time when you re-entered the training center you were the only person inside. Clipboard man hung back in the corridor and the only other people you could see were the game makers through the window in their viewing room. The center layout had been rearranged, with dummies and targets placed in optimum viewing range from the game makers’ vantage point.

“L/N, F/N, District 4, Female, 18 years of age” a voice crackled through the speakers overhead by means of introduction, as you walked over to the marked spot on the floor you had been instructed to stand.

It was a strange feeling looking up at the pompous judges dressed in their flamboyant outfits with pretentiously fluorescent dyed hair and beards. It was as if they were dressed up for an expensive night on the town and you, and the other twenty-three, were their performers for the evening. It was weirdly easy to put the judges in the back of your mind, despite being able to clearly see the room of around twenty people intently staring at you with interest. The all looked so fictional and outlandish that it was easy to dismiss them as some sort of strange figment of your imagination. They didn’t look like real people, which somehow made it possible for you compartmentalize them as imaginary, and instead focus on the task at hand.

Looking at the assortment of weapons on display, you mostly ignored the large range on offer and went straight for the knives. Running your fingertips along the handles you picked out a hunting knife with a blade that would have been around 8 inches long. There were smaller, thinner, knives specifically made for throwing on offer, however the ones you had practiced with back at home were the larger kind on your boat. Gingerly you bounced the handle in your palm, trying to get a quick feel for the weight. Looking up you examined the range of targets that were on display – some quite close and others much further.

You went for the closest target, that was five meters away, as a warm up.

Thwack

The blade sailed easily through the air landing in the yellow zone, on the first circle outside of the bulls-eye. You shrugged your shoulders and rolled your neck with an exhale, not a bad start and a good way to get the nerves under control.

You retrieved a second knife from weapons trolley and took your aim for the next target that was ten meters away.

Thwack

Another yellow circle, except this time your knife landed in the second circle outside from the bulls-eye. Your pursed your lips with a shake of your head. It was still in a decent range but you were hoping to improve on your last throw rather than getting further from the bulls-eye.

You went back for another knife, choosing another one like the last two you had thrown, and lined up for the fifteen-meter target.

Thwack

Red zone, just outside the yellow. If you were aiming at a person, rather than a circle, that would have been lucky to connect. You let out a sharp exhale with a sigh, you weren’t doing bad – you’d made contact with all three targets so far – but you weren’t establishing yourself as a threat either. Not on the level that you knew the other careers were going to be scoring.

Returning to the weapons rack you found there to be one knife left that was in the same size range as the others you had used so far. You turned the knife over in your hand weighing up your final options. There was a final target twenty meters away, but with the rate you were throwing, you’d highly likely just continue to move further away from the bulls-eye. You could always try to throw on one of the other targets again and work to improve your existing result, but it would be difficult to improve much on the first impression of being ‘good, but not great’. Your last option would be the dummies. The dummies were situated on the opposite side of the targets and provided a more human edge to demonstrations. You had elected to use targets in the hope of showcasing solid aim through a bulls-eye, but that hadn’t exactly worked out. With one knife left you decided to try and showcase something a little more realistic.

The dummies were grey and faceless, just human shapes of rubber, which was a lot different from what you would be facing in real life within the arena. If you couldn’t land a shot on a stationary figure you were practically as good as dead. Not only did you need to prove a score to the judges, but you wanted this for your own confidence. With a frown, you turned and launched your blade ten meters across the room into the head of a dummy with a satisfying Thwack.

You didn’t bother to look up to the balcony and see their whispers and nods of approval, instead walking straight over to the dummy and pulling the knife out from the rubber. You weren’t finished yet; you were going to show them what a fishing district knew how to do best…

Grasping the handle, you plunged the blade into the sternum, deep enough to reach what would be the back bone of a human, and dragged the blade down to the pelvis. Pulling the knife out you made horizontal slashes along the chest and the hip where your line down the body had began and ended. Tossing the knife aside, you reached your hands inside of the dummy, pulling it open.

Granted the physical anatomies between a fish and a human were quite different, but the concept of gutting was quite easy to get across.

x

Once the assessment was over you were lead back to your living quarters. With the pressure subsiding and adrenaline wearing off, you found your hands beginning to tremble. You were thankful to have your water bottle as some sort of distraction, shakily taking sips to try and calm yourself down. By the time you finally arrived back to the dorm you were only able to answer Finnick’s “How did you go?” with a quick “fine” as you hurriedly rushed to your bedroom, not wanting to stick around and see Namjoon again until you absolutely had to.

The assessments were scheduled to run until 4:00pm, with the results being broadcast at 4:30pm, before tributes were due to report at the auditorium at 5:00pm to begin preparing for interviews. You were grateful to be from one of the earlier districts, which left you with more free time between the conclusion of your assessment and your next schedule. Your bedroom contained its own en suite bathroom so the first thing you did upon entering was strip off your clothes and head for the shower.

You spent a long time under the hot running water, sitting on the tiles and letting the shower cover up the sound of your crying. It had become somewhat of a routine for you to return from training and cry under the safety of your showerhead where no one else could see or judge you for it. The emotional toll it took to bury your feelings and avoid crying in the training center, in front of the career pack, in front of the judges, or out of fear every waking moment of your life now was strenuous. The shower was your haven, a place where you could wash away the sweat and grime from your day, and allow some form of pent up release. Today’s shower would be the longest one you had taken since entering the capital.

A knock and Finnicks’ muffled voice through the door told you it was after 4:00pm and the results would be broadcast soon, so you reluctantly turned off the taps and began to dry off. You were told that hair, make up and styling would take place in the auditorium later, so you dressed in the most comfortable clothing that you had been provided with; a cashmere sweater and matching sweatpants. You waited in your room as long as possible, before putting on a pair of slippers and walking out to the lounge room at 4:30pm.

Finnick, Periwinkle and Namjoon were all seated on the sofa facing the giant television, which was currently displaying Caesar Flickerman and a co-host you didn’t recognize behind a desk. Wordlessly you joined them, choosing a spot next to Periwinkle on the lounge, the opposite side of where Namjoon was sitting.

“And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the scores!”

You frowned at how enthusiastic Caesar seemed to be over his job. His mouth was spread into a wide grin, showing off his artificially white teeth, and his emerald green eyes (that had to be contact lenses) were practically glowing with excitement. You all sat in dead silence, if it weren’t for Caesar’s voice reading out District 1 you would have been able to hear a pin drop. The results weren’t surprising to you in the least. Krystal and Yoongi both scored 9s, Athena a 9 too and Hoseok 11. The girl from District 3 who had fallen in front of you on the monkey bars only managed a dismal score, the same as her district number. Her male partner only fared slightly better with a 5.

“District 4, F/N, L/N! Oh, she certainly captured many people’s attention at the parade, but is she as deadly as she is beautiful?”

You rolled your eyes with a scoff.

“You better not do that when he talks to you on stage,” Finnick warned.

You sarcastically put on an overly fake smile and fluttered your eye lashes back at him, until your expression was wiped blank by Caesar’s next words.

“Miss L/N, 10.”

Your jaw dropped as Periwinkle burst into enthusiastic applause, Finnick cocked an eyebrow with an impressed nod and Namjoon let out a low whistle.

“Someone’s been hiding something~,” Namjoon sing-songed as you closed your open mouth and took in a deep breath. You shook your head.

“Just the same knife throwing I’ve been practicing,” you replied.

Technically that was not a lie, just an omission of the gutting part. You wondered what it was about your little stunt that had pleased the judges so much. You were hoping to bump yourself to an 8 or 9 to at least try and blend in with the careers, instead you had somehow managed to establish yourself as a threat amongst them. With how much you had been pushed around so far you were glad to at least have one moment of impact. But now you had to be worried about the extra target being a threat could potentially put on your back.

Namjoon didn’t reply further as Caesar read his name and announced his score of 9.

You blanched. There was no way in hell you were more skilled than Namjoon was with a weapon. You looked over, expecting him to be furious, but he merely sat there with a content expression on his face nodding at the TV.

“Someone’s been hiding something,” you repeated Namjoon’s words back to him.

Namjoon’s only response was a smirk.

You didn’t like the way he looked like he knew far more than what he was sharing.

I'm a bit annoyed because I planned to combine the final training day and interviews into one chapter. But I found it was starting to get too long, as this part was already hitting 7000 words.

Next chapter will be the interviews and fallout from certain things the characters say in them

Chapter after will FINALLY be what everyone here wants (especially me) - the actual Hunger Games in the arena

Sorry to keep dragging it out, my brain hates me.

[snehabeniwal]

Like the flowing river

I was sitting by the river bank with my sister Hannah, shielding away from people, contemplating life, creating a world in my imagination in which I would want to live in. This is my favorite part of the day, watching the free-flowing water; the sound of the waves soothe my soul and have a therapeutic effect on my mind. With nothing to worry about and spending time ranting about things with Hannah, life feels bearable. Hannah, my sister, is like my human diary, I can vent whatever I want to in front of her, and I know she will be my confidant. 

I live in a small town with my family, and a five-year-old golden retriever who's name is Max. He is my favorite person in the family. No matter how my day is going, cuddles with him set everything right. My friends think that I have everything a person could want from his/her life, a loving family, a house, and a dog. But according to me, I live the most ordinary life. "What's the point of living a life that everybody does?" I asked Hannah, sitting by the river edge. My life is worth so much more, outside this town, there's a whole world waiting to welcome me with open arms. "Sometimes, we do not have control over things. We have to accept life as it comes," Hannah replied. "No, I think you're wrong. We can change our life if we want to. Even at this moment, we can chose to change it," I said. "How?" She asks me. "We can run away, far away, to a place no one knows about. I know it sounds unrealistic and childish, but I'm sick of living like this. What's the point of living the same day again and again? We will be the Masters of our fate; there will be no one to stop us from whatever we want to do. Let's explore and see what the world has to offer us” I exclaimed. She seemed a little baffled with my idea and was giving me weird looks for some time. But at that moment, we both knew we are never going back home. We had some bucks in our pockets, and we decided to leave for the main city. It was a 5 hours ride via bus. We immediately bought the tickets, and soon the bus arrived at the stop. We had excitement and zeal filled in our hearts with a pinch of nervousness and anxiety. We both didn't have any plans about how we are going to survive. (2 years later) I've found a group of junkies which I call my family now. Our conversations are the usual ones about dope and sex for sale and the calamity of our young existence. It is the desperate nights of hunger and money that make the memories brighter and reminds us of our good olden times when things used to be simple, and we were internally happy. This is an easy life to get into, but a hard one can I get out of. Hannah has become a chain-smoker, and all we dream about is nothing more than a warm sleeping shelter at night. Sometimes I wonder how my mom would be living without us. Doesn't she miss me?

Home Sweet Home

No matter where I go, I can’t find a place like home.

Where all the pain and grief is over, 

And I can find a comfort zone of my own.

Our hearts today are longing to be,

Back in a paradise of rest and security.

Far from city’s dust and heat, with fast-moving cars and open bars,

There is a place called home, where tranquility resides.

I gaze at the moon as I pass the dreary wild places,

Wondering about how my mom would be missing me,

She had longed for motherhood so innocently and purely,

Little did she know the pain she would endure.

We were safe in her arms and cured of all the pain we hold.

The home was a place of peace, understanding, and compassion,

With cozy rooms and all windows illuminated by sunshine and positivity.

Love songs are playing on the caravan, and birds chirping in the lawn.

Another cold winter night has come and gone away,

In either Vegas or Rome, 

A million people surround me, but I still feel all alone,

Bewildered small-town girl.

Our home is our haven, a place where we find hope;

Somewhere we gather strength when it's difficult to cope.

It’s a place of joyous laughter, and sometimes one of the tears;

A treasure chest of memories collected over the years.

When angels talk in heaven above,

I’m sure they have no words sweeter than home and love.

Faded walls, things scattered all over the floor,

With goodnight kisses and bear hugs all day,

I would want it any other way.

Some days I wish I could go back in life.

Not to change anything, just to feel a few things twice.

I will remember the smell of an evening night with a light breeze,

The taste of hot chocolate mil swirling around,

The love and blessings of my parents and everything they’ve offered me.

I reminisce playing, shouting, quarreling and bounding with my pals,

Our laughter echoing in the lanes and rebounding off the walls,

It is the bittersweet memories of the past,

That will undoubtedly carry on till the last.

No matter where we choose to roam,

We live, and we learn, but we always return;

To this place we call, our home sweet home.

The dearest gift that heaven holds,

Is of a home, sweet home.

Dear home:

I have thought my entire life: I need seas or mountains or magnificent city lights to be happy.The truth is: I don’t care where I am as long as I have you.

My tiny town with tiny people stuffing their dreams living in small homes with a hundred-acre heart.

Dear diary,

My life has become a lot better as compared to before since I've found a decent part-time job. I want to confess today. So here's a new update from my life:

I was fed up with men, and I have plenty of reasons to be. I've been manhandled a lot of times since I've started my career as a drug dealer and a sex worker. It's 2019 already, and I still feel unsafe whenever I'm alone on the streets at night. 

But there's this guy I met through a mutual friend of ours. His name is Zach, and I think I have a thing for him. It all started when I first met him, and I felt a kind of an unexplainable adrenaline rush in my body. We both just clicked immediately, and I knew something was going to happen between us since then.

After that, it was impossible to stop us from talking to each other. We started talking every day on the phone, and I guess it's the little things he does for me, like showing up at my place whenever I'm feeling upset, making morning breakfast for me, being there for me even when. I needed somebody to talk to. He is the kind of a guy every girl wants; he is tall, has dark brown shabby hair, eyes as green as emerald, and a perfect smile. I feel that even he likes me and is serious for me.

I remember telling myself back then that I would never let someone close enough to break me again. I said to myself that I would never give someone the power to destroy me. I told myself that I would never fall in love again because I know how badly it hurts when the only person you love mistreats and disregards you. It's like I had made an imaginary wall inside my head and I didn't want to let anyone in because I was afraid to fall in love again, form emotional attachments, and afraid of falling for the wrong person because every guy I have ever had in my life left leaving me all alone by myself. 

He knows everything about me, how I ran away from my house, never looked back, became a druggist, and a prostitute, but all he says is that he is proud of the person I have become after all that I've seen in my life. He encourages me to become a better version of myself every day. He feels like sunshine on a dark rainy day. Earlier, I used to feel homesick to the extent that it had started to affect my mental health. But since I've found him, I feel at home in between his arms and tender kisses. And his whispers of 'It will be alright,' cure all my pain. 

Home is not where you are from; it is where you belong.

Some of us travel the whole world to find it.

Others find it in a person.

[fitnetpro]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). Or, we try new things specifically because we’re told we can’t!

We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing….” We just DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy (you heard me) in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started with weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

  Success looks different to every single person

  You can’t get where you need to go if you don’t take that first step, so why not take your first step today?

Make ONE healthier food decision (it’s 90% of the battle)

Try our beginner bodyweight workout (you can do at home)

Go for a walk. Just 10 minutes. Right now.

I’m proud to be able to share these stories, because they show you can be any size, be any age, fall in love with any type of activity, and become a superhero in a way that brings you to life.

Every superhero has a different superpower, and that’s what makes them interesting. They also have insecurities and flaws and obstacles to overcome, and that’s what makes them relatable.

Above, we have 6 real life superheroes from all walks of life, who have found a path to their own superpower that fits THEIR life.

Some people love the gym, while others will never set foot in one. That’s great.

We’re all on a journey, just like the six people above, and we are all writing our own story. OWN IT.

Yes, I’m proud to share that these are stories from our 1-on-1 coaching program, but they’re also people who live and breathe the Nerd Fitness lifestyle:

Having fun.

Developing functional strength.

Trying and finding new activities.

I know how tough it is to figure this stuff out on your own (I’ve actually had my own online coach for the past 4 years!), and it’s tough trying to figure out which activities to try (or how to start!).

That’s where a coaching program can really come in handy.

We speak on the phone with every potential client to learn their story and make sure we’re a great fit for each other, and you can schedule your call by clicking on the image below!

Regardless of whether or not you check out the program, I want Nerd Fitness to be the community that helps you realize:

You’re capable of more than you realize.

Trying new things is amazing.

If you don’t get to be done, you gotta enjoy the journey.

I’d love to hear from you below:

What’s something you currently think you’d NEVER be able to do, but it would be cool if you could?

What does success mean for you BESIDES just weight loss?

I can’t wait to hear your answers!

-Steve

PS: I remember talking to Narayan (the 2nd story above) back in January when he called to learn about the Coaching Program. It was really fun to hear his story and it makes me so damn happy to be able to share his story in this article.

If you’re looking to build your own hero’s journey, want to learn how to become a real life superhero, I’d be honored if you scheduled a free call with us to see if our coaching program is a good fit to help you reach those goals!

###

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

you can read my thoughts on that study = don’t give up hope!

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community! published first on http://fitnetpro.tumblr.com/

[lindafrancois]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). Or, we try new things specifically because we’re told we can’t!

We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing….” We just DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy (you heard me) in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started weight weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

  Success looks different to every single person

  You can’t get where you need to go if you don’t take that first step, so why not take your first step today?

Make ONE healthier food decision (it’s 90% of the battle)

Try our beginner bodyweight workout (you can do at home)

Go for a walk. Just 10 minutes. Right now.

I’m proud to be able to share these stories, because they show you can be any size, be any age, fall in love with any type of activity, and become a superhero in a way that brings you to life.

Every superhero has a different superpower, and that’s what makes them interesting. They also have insecurities and flaws and obstacles to overcome, and that’s what makes them relatable.

Above, we have 6 real life superheroes from all walks of life, who have found a path to their own superpower that fits THEIR life.

Some people love the gym, while others will never set foot in one. That’s great.

We’re all on a journey, just like the six people above, and we are all writing our own story. OWN IT.

Yes, I’m proud to share that these are stories from our 1-on-1 coaching program, but they’re also people who live and breathe the Nerd Fitness lifestyle:

Having fun.

Developing functional strength.

Trying and finding new activities.

I know how tough it is to figure this stuff out on your own (I’ve actually had my own online coach for the past 4 years!), and it’s tough trying to figure out which activities to try (or how to start!).

That’s where a coaching program can really come in handy.

We speak on the phone with every potential client to learn their story and make sure we’re a great fit for each other, and you can schedule your call by clicking on the image below!

Regardless of whether or not you check out the program, I want Nerd Fitness to be the community that helps you realize:

You’re capable of more than you realize.

Trying new things is amazing.

If you don’t get to be done, you gotta enjoy the journey.

I’d love to hear from you below:

What’s something you currently think you’d NEVER be able to do, but it would be cool if you could?

What does success mean for you BESIDES just weight loss?

I can’t wait to hear your answers!

-Steve

PS: I remember talking to Narayan (the 2nd story above) back in January when he called to learn about the Coaching Program. It was really fun to hear his story and it makes me so damn happy to be able to share his story in this article.

If you’re looking to build your own hero’s journey, want to learn how to become a real life superhero, I’d be honored if you scheduled a free call with us to see if our coaching program is a good fit to help you reach those goals!

###

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

you can read my thoughts on that study = don’t give up hope!

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community! published first on https://dietariouspage.tumblr.com/

[neilmillerne]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing.” We just…DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.

But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started weight weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

Like a superpower laying dormant in somebody until they discovered they were were “the chosen one,” these people all discovered they had the power within them all along that just needed to be unlocked.

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

Instead, I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

Success looks different to every single person

https://ift.tt/2MxKF76

[albertcaldwellne]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing.” We just…DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.

But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started weight weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

Like a superpower laying dormant in somebody until they discovered they were were “the chosen one,” these people all discovered they had the power within them all along that just needed to be unlocked.

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

Instead, I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

Success looks different to every single person

https://ift.tt/2MxKF76

[ruthellisneda]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing.” We just…DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.

But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started weight weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

Like a superpower laying dormant in somebody until they discovered they were were “the chosen one,” these people all discovered they had the power within them all along that just needed to be unlocked.

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

Instead, I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

Success looks different to every single person

https://ift.tt/2MxKF76

[johnclapperne]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing.” We just…DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.

But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started weight weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

Like a superpower laying dormant in somebody until they discovered they were were “the chosen one,” these people all discovered they had the power within them all along that just needed to be unlocked.

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

Instead, I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

Success looks different to every single person

https://ift.tt/2MxKF76

[almajonesnjna]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing.” We just…DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.

But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started weight weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

Like a superpower laying dormant in somebody until they discovered they were were “the chosen one,” these people all discovered they had the power within them all along that just needed to be unlocked.

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

Instead, I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

Success looks different to every single person

https://ift.tt/2MxKF76

[joshuabradleyn]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing.” We just…DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.

But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started weight weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

Like a superpower laying dormant in somebody until they discovered they were were “the chosen one,” these people all discovered they had the power within them all along that just needed to be unlocked.

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

Instead, I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

Success looks different to every single person

https://ift.tt/2MxKF76

[furiousconnoisseurcomputer-blog]

Car Insurance..6 Points..(read on)?

"Car Insurance..6 Points..(read on)?

I got 6 points back in 2009 for speeding with a drink drive ban the same night! I don't need any lectures. I can easily say biggest mistake of my life! I done my time and still paying for it.    I done a insurance quote without the 6 points and it was 600, with them it is 1300! (the drink drive ban included in both quotes)    It is comming up to the 4 year mark where I can now get them removed from my licence, but I have to still declare it to my insurance even though there not on my licence any more..? (rehabilation offenders act..?)     I have changed my ways and I drive very sensibly in low litre cars! Never want a fast car! (I am 23) I just use it for work my annual mileage is around 10k.     These 6 points have raised it dramatically! Are there any insurance companies out there where I can only declare it for the 3 or 4 years?     Or do I have to even declare it atall insurance companies are asking for 5 years, but they are completely off my licence after 4..I would of thought under the rehabilitation act I served my 4 year sentence now a 3rd party company (the insurer) is asking for 5..?    Help on this will be greatly appreciated.    Thanks

BEST ANSWER:  Try this site where you can compare quotes: : http://freeautoinsurance.xyz/index.html?src=tumblr 

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So here how it goes. I want to get a new insurance for my Mom's car. She is 52 years old women who drives a Honda civic 2002 Sendan that was totaled and repair before. She is paying 1,600 a year and I think that's a lot for liability . She used to have a car before that was in an accident(my brother hit somebody else car) and we had to drop that insurance(progressive). Two years after my brother broke another car that my mother bought but this time the insurance company(state farm) did not find out. Right now we are back to progressive and a car hit me while driving and I did call the insurance. It was not my fault and I don't think anything changed because we are still paying 1,600 but I still think its a lot. It is the best I can explain the situation , so should I go out and try to find a better deal? Any advice is appreciated""

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I live in California. The quote I got was $150K dwelling, $5K personal property. The deductible is $22,500 and the annual premium is $370. Is this worth it?""

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If my 16 year old gets in an acident after 11 pm, curfew, is my auto insurance policy still in effect?""

""My car insurance was voided in the past, and now I can't get a quote anywhere, can anyone help?!?""

When I started learning to drive at 17, I decided to buy my self a cheap car so that I'd be able to get more experience behind the wheel, pass my test quicker and have a car as soon as I passed my test. I was insured on my provisional license with an insurance company which specialised in learner drivers. However, I ended up getting 3 points on my license the week before I passed my test, in what I still think were pretty unfair circumstances. My house doesn't have a drive or a garage and so I had to park my car on the road in front of my house, or on a street round the corner when there were no spaces. As it was my first car I was really excited, and without understanding that I could get in trouble for it, I used to sometimes sit in my car and listen to music with my friends. The week before I passed my test we were sat chatting when a police car came down the road and pulled up behind us. Someone had broken into some allotments nearby and they were questioning us as to if we had seen anything. They searched my car- for tools that could suggest we had done it I presume, and when they found nothing they ran my license and obviously realised I only had a provisional license. I still at this point didn't realise I had done anything wrong, I wasn't driving the car, simply sat in it so I didn't realise I had committed an offence. The police informed me that because the engine was running, I could have been driving or about to drive and on that basis they convicted me for driving without a license. I only got 3 points and a 60 fine due to the fact I wasn't actually driving and at the time I accepted that with relief, I was terrified I'd get a ban or lose my license or get a massively unaffordable fine. I could have appealed but that would have meant going to court and I was only 17 and that terrified me. I declared the points to my insurance company straght away, but due to the nature of the offence my insurance was invalidated and void. I've only just now realised how serious having insurance voided in the past is. I'm supposed to be moving a 5 hours away in a few months for a job, and I have plenty of money saved for car insurance and a car, as without a car, the move is completely unrealistic. Without a car I won't be able to get to work as the hours are unsocial and my job isn't very well connected with public transport at all and so relying on public transport or taxis is simply not an option. I found a car, went to get an insurance quote, and found out that getting insurance is practically impossible when you've had insurance voided in the past. The points don't seem to be a problem, when I tell companies about my points but not about my insurance voided in the past they happily give me a quote. They're expensive, but affordable and it's what I was expecting. However, as soon as I tell them that my insurance was voided in the past they refuse to even give me a quote. I'm completely out of options and I don't know what to do. I need a car, but I can't get insurance as much as I try. I know I was in the wrong, but it seems like the voided insurance is more of a punishment than the points are and surely that isn't right? And the voided insurance will stay with me for the rest of my life, so does that mean that driving will never be an option for me? I'm sorry for the essay, I just really don't know what to do! If anyone's been in a similar situation with voided insurance or know of a company that would insure me then please let me know! Just anything that would help, let me know! Thank you so much in advance and sorry again for the babbling!""

How much is approx. insurance costs for a 125cc road bike with 23 years L driver. Can any one plz ans me?

How much is approx. insurance costs for a 125cc road bike with 23 years L driver. Can any one plz ans me?

How much do car rental agencies typically charge for insurance?

How much do car rental agencies typically charge for insurance?

How soon does actors get their health insurance?

How soon does production company offer health insurance for their workers? And, what other insurance does the production company offer their workers; and, how soon?""

Can't pay my insurance?

I paid my tickets and was going to renew my license but was told I was suspended from paying insurance till next year, is there really anything I can do?""

Motorcycle or Scooter Insurance in London?

How much would the insurance be for a motorcycle or scooter worth less than 4,000GBP in London? I'm hoping that it would be a lot less than a 50cc scooter in Dublin worth about 400GBP costing 200GBP for insurance per year.""

I'm going to look at a used car today. When should I buy Insurance?

I've seen pictures and know a lot about it's history. They have asssured me they have reciepts for all the work done to it. I'm pretty certain i'll be buying the car as I am taking money. Do i ring my insurance to get an idea of price and then ask them to start the insurance immediately when I buy the car? Or do they have a delay to when i'll actually be insured/ to when the police can tell if a car is insured or not? So should i change my insurance now or later? Thanks

I NEED A CHEAP AUTO INSURANCE ONTARIO?

I have my g2, i am 19 years old, and i am trying to find a cheap insurance to quote me on a cheap car....its only a 99 cavalier 4 door. I have done a lot of online quotes and i have basically gotten the same quote around $430. I would like a quote more around the $200 range!! Help! Anyone know of any cheap auto insurances?? Thanks!! Carley.xo""

How often Can You make a Windscreen Insurance Claim for one Vehicle in One year (UK car insurance)?

Ive just had a replacement Windscreen fitted as an insurance claim with the Norwich union. Three days later after the local Council Resurfaced a local road the Windscreen got hit by a stone thrown up by a car be driven way to fast for the newly surfaced road...the Question is How many such Windscreen Claims is you Car Insurance Company likely to Honour in any given year of fully Comprehensive Insurance. I feel a bit of a pratt Making a claim only 3 days after the first claim, but Neither of these Incidents were my fault but just accidental damage. as it is the first Claim cost me a 60 Excess payment and the next one will cost 60 just thec same...""

""What are the monthly/weekly costs of running a car? (insurance, registration, petrol)?""

im looking at buying a car, im 17 i have had my licence for about 3 months and i want to know how much i should be expecting to pay for insurance, registration, petrol etc, for a 4 cylinder proberly auto and ranging from 1990 to 2000 year. thanks :)""

Car Insurance..6 Points..(read on)?

I got 6 points back in 2009 for speeding with a drink drive ban the same night! I don't need any lectures. I can easily say biggest mistake of my life! I done my time and still paying for it.    I done a insurance quote without the 6 points and it was 600, with them it is 1300! (the drink drive ban included in both quotes)    It is comming up to the 4 year mark where I can now get them removed from my licence, but I have to still declare it to my insurance even though there not on my licence any more..? (rehabilation offenders act..?)     I have changed my ways and I drive very sensibly in low litre cars! Never want a fast car! (I am 23) I just use it for work my annual mileage is around 10k.     These 6 points have raised it dramatically! Are there any insurance companies out there where I can only declare it for the 3 or 4 years?     Or do I have to even declare it atall insurance companies are asking for 5 years, but they are completely off my licence after 4..I would of thought under the rehabilitation act I served my 4 year sentence now a 3rd party company (the insurer) is asking for 5..?    Help on this will be greatly appreciated.    Thanks

What is the difference between home insurance and buildings and contents insurance?

hi. I will soon be moving into my first house with my girlfriend and its all new to me. We have been told we need a few insurances. Is there a difference between home insurance and building and contents insurance? or are they both the same thing? will they cover leaks, fire, structural damage, theft, boiler etc The house is in Newcastle UK. I would appreciate any help thank you

I haven't received my national insurance?

I'm 16, going to turn 17 this year. I am from Bolivia (south america) I have live in the UK for 7 years and I don't received any benefits ... I haven't received my national insurance and i don't know why if any one knows why or how i can get? then please tell me thank you""

I'm getting sued from an old car accident? will my insurance pay?

two years ago i was involved in an accident with another vehicle. we filed a police report and we each reported the accident to our insurance companies. i filed a claim with my company, but the insurance companies had us each pay our own damages. we both walked away from the accident. two years later, i receive a certified letter that i'm being sued for $10,000 (within my liability limits) for medical damages and other losses. i need to appear in court or have a lawyer. it's been two years, will my insurance company still cover this after such a long time? and, do i have to find my own lawyer, or will the insurance company help me? (they're a very good company) i just found out and i contacted them, but they can't get back to me til monday while they find the old adjuster's files.""

Is it cheaper on insurance to make payments on a car or buy it straight out?

Is it cheaper on insurance to make payments on a car or buy it straight out?

Insurance on a used car verses a new car?

My dad says that if I buy a new car my insurance will double or even more than my insurance on my used car. Is that true?

How much is car insurance for a range rover sport 2010?

I have a friend how is looking to get a 2st hand range rover sport 2010 but Is worried about the insurance. What is the range of car insurance prices for the basic driver

Was Obama's health care/college system comparison valid?

Tonight President Obama compared the public health care option to the public system of Universities and colleges. He said the public option will work the same way public colleges and Universities without inhibiting a vibrant system of private colleges and Universities. This is a fool's argument and a total apples to oranges comparison. Let me explain, first almost all private universities receive funding from the federal government. The federal government is not going to provide funding for private insurance. The second reason is it's common knowledge that the best Universities in the U.S. are private schools such as Duke, Stanford, and the Ivy League. These universities fill most of the highest paying jobs in the country. Some jobs even go as far as to require a degree from one of these schools (Stock Brokers on NYC Stock Exchange.) These highly paid graduates can donate larger amounts of money back to their respective colleges than the average Joe who graduated from a generic state funded university. No one is going to donate money to the private insurance companies. We can't even get all the people who qualify for insurance to sign up and that's the problem! Look, I have no way of knowing whether the public option will work or won't but when faulty logic is used to support it I become concerned. When most of the people supporting the public option are from California (a state where the middle class is few and far between) I become more concerned. When most of the Senators and Representatives who support the public option say they would prefer the U.S. had a single payer system (that's total government control of health care if you didn't know) I become very concerned. The reality is no one knows what the effects of public option will be. Also, the success of FedEx is not any proof that public option won't hurt private companies because an independent council regulates the mail industry. No independent council is mentioned in any of the plans in the House or Senate. yes or no""

""How much would car insurance be if i'm 18 years old, own an audi A5?""

I live in Ontario, i never been in an accident and do not have a criminal record. i am just looking for an estimate number of how much it would cost.""

""What would be cheaper, insurance wise (car title)?""

Have the car title in my own name and have my own insurance, or have the car title in one of my parents name and be under their policy as a driver to the car?""

Whats a low insurance rate for 18 year old for a 1991 honda civic?

I shopped around for low insurance and the lowest i got was about $300 per month for 1991 4 door honda civic. is there any other lower insurance for this car ? its kind of old but i heard that hondas are heavy on insurance. if it is, what car is low on insurance for a first timer car and insurance. im 18 years old, i got my g2 in april, i took driving school, and i never had auto insurance. can someone help me out""

""I need to find how much insurance would cost for a dodge charger, tune-up, tires etc including coupons?""

What site should i go to , to figure out this stuff?""

What happens to rest of my insurance after a write off?

I had a accident today in my fiesta, hit some ice, lost control round a bend ended up in the ditch, car looks f****d admiral picking it up 2mo I am only 11 months into the policy I have been told by a few people that it is defo a write off so I take it i will be paid out for the car (how long would this take) I am also getting a courtesy car by the garage picking the car up to repair it now will i have this till i get paid out? and due to having 11 months on my insurance and i paid in full can i freeze the insurance till i get a new car (ill be getting the same car infact i hope its not a write off) or will i get something back on the insurance due to only using 1 of the 12 months i paid for?""

Is there good deals at Insurance Auction Auto Sales?

Im interested in going to insurance auto sale for wrecked and salvage vehicles. My question is are the prices low enough to fix the cars to profit money on! What are the popular cars to buy, fix and resale...I was thinking like civics and mustangs because u see them everywhere you go. Im just wanting to try and new route to make some money, I have experience in body work, welding and painting and can usually find good deals on parts...really i just wanna know how cheap the cars sell for....Note I just bought a Lexus rx 300 from a person who bought it from a insurance auction I paid 1900 for it! Anything Helps, Thanks""

What is the best online source for shopping for health insurance?

My son is 20, full time college student in a different state (PA.) Home state is Ohio. I am on disability so my insurance (and my husbands') is through Medicare.. I am shopping for an individual plan for my son, and there are so many sites which offer so many choices...Not only do I need to get the insurance plan, I need to find the best web site for the query. (tried einsurance, etc..)""

Finding cheap classic car insurance?

I have a 1979 chevy malibu and i want to be able to have it and my winter car on the road. I want to find like a cheap classic car insurance for it so i can pay for both insurances. a friend of mine was telling me you can get it really cheap ccause its a clasic. Anyone know of any?

What insurance plan is most affordable and supports therapy?

Hi, I've been seeking good therapy since I was 17, I'm just wondering, what insurance plan is the most affordable as well as obviously covers therapy? Thank you""

Is there a way I can lower my car insurance rate with Progressive?

I'm 21 years old, and have been driving for about 3 years now, and I am wondering if there's a way for Progressive to lower my insurance rate. How do I about doing this with them? What do I say? Thank you!""

Broad estimate how much do people think motorcycle insurance would be for a 16 year old?

I live in California

""Ex has name on log book for car but i own it, it was put in their name for cheaper insurance, but now i want ?

The car back can I just take it

Obama waives auto insurance?

Obama waives auto insurance?

Is there affordable health insurance for pregnant teen girls?

i need any kind of reliable resources. please help.

Cheap car insurance...who are you with?

i am looking for cheap car insurance for my two cars. i had my license since i was 18 and now im 20. i have no tickets and i need to find insurance please help me....who do u have and how much do u pay?

How To Create An Insurance Plan?

This family of four consists of a mom, dad, a twelve-year-old girl, and a sixteen-year-old boy. The family is about to move into a new house. They also own two cars. Help the Martin family create an insurance plan. An insurance plan simply lists the types of insurance they have or will be purchasing. The plan may also include some details about the insurance. For example, it may list life insurance worth $500,000 or health insurance with ABC Agency. For your assignment, create an insurance plan for the Martins. Create an insurance plan. As you create the plan, think about all of the risks this family faces and how they can protect themselves from financial loss. Next to each type of insurance that you list in the plan, write one to two sentences about why you think they need this insurance. I'm not sure how to create an insurance plan, can someone give me some guidance? Thank you.""

Car insurance for a 17 year old?

what is the cheapest car insurance company for a 17 year old. (people with recent experience would be very help full) also what car would be cheapest to insure. (would an old car e.g 1980s early 90s be cheaper than a newer car) i am looking at third party insurance and not comprehensive

I'm 20 with no diploma: How do I get health insurance?

I'm a 20 year old male in Austin, Texas, and I was homeschooled and have 2 courses to complete until I get my highschool diploma. I have very little work experience (worked for HEB for 3 months). How do I get health insurance? Any suggestions on who would hire me that has insurance, or any government help I could be eligible for health wise?""

Car Insurance..6 Points..(read on)?

I got 6 points back in 2009 for speeding with a drink drive ban the same night! I don't need any lectures. I can easily say biggest mistake of my life! I done my time and still paying for it.    I done a insurance quote without the 6 points and it was 600, with them it is 1300! (the drink drive ban included in both quotes)    It is comming up to the 4 year mark where I can now get them removed from my licence, but I have to still declare it to my insurance even though there not on my licence any more..? (rehabilation offenders act..?)     I have changed my ways and I drive very sensibly in low litre cars! Never want a fast car! (I am 23) I just use it for work my annual mileage is around 10k.     These 6 points have raised it dramatically! Are there any insurance companies out there where I can only declare it for the 3 or 4 years?     Or do I have to even declare it atall insurance companies are asking for 5 years, but they are completely off my licence after 4..I would of thought under the rehabilitation act I served my 4 year sentence now a 3rd party company (the insurer) is asking for 5..?    Help on this will be greatly appreciated.    Thanks

Insurance Claim Question?

So i got hit by someone the other day and i have a question before i put a claim on it. I saw the truck that hit me but i didn't get the lincence plate number. I saw the guy pulling out after he backed into me and he didn't stop. I saw him pullin away from my car, so i know he hit me. The bumper is screwed so i had it rivited by my friend cuz it wouldn't stay up. So my question is where i did not get the guys plates and i have the basic (i think liabilty) insurnce, can i call and put a claim on it and get money from my insurance company, without my rate going up and having to pay more a month for my insurance.. Thanks..""

Motorcycle insurance in ontario?

How much would Motorcycle insurance be for 16 year old male liveing in Ontario? I was thinking of getting an older ninja between the years of 1987 - 96. Just wondering how much it would be around . I tried an insurance quote online, but it didnt really turn out right. Thanks""

Is moped insurance cheaper than car insurance?

i need an easier way to get around town but until i can afford a car i was thinking if i learned to ride a scooter instead it might make things more simple but are they cheaper to run than cars

What is the difference in Medicaid/Medicare and state insurance?

What is the difference in Medicaid/Medicare and state insurance?

Maternity Insurance...Anyone have it?

My husband and I are trying for another baby. And most insurance companies in TN say you have to wait 9 months for the insurance to take effect. So is there any insurance out there that will help without having a time limit and not Tenncare or WIC. We will not qualify for that due to our income.

Is this how liability car insurance works in general and when you grant someone permission to drive your car?

This coverage pays for damage you (or someone driving the car with your permission) may cause to someone else's property. Usually, this means damage to someone else?s car. I called my car insurance and asked them and they said that insurance follows the car rather than a person. So no matter who would be driving it, it would basically be their responsibility. Now, would this also include letting your kid or a family member drive your car? even if they're not in the actual policy? It seems like when that is the case, things get somewhat confusing. I'd love to hear any input from anyone who ever has or currently does work in the car insurance world.""

Will lawmakers eventually create a national health insurance exchange instead of the state based exchanges?

Also, is it possible still for health insurance companies to be given the freedom to sell their policies across state lines?""

""My car was towed, I still owe payments, No insurance...Now what?

Okay...so first things first.... My car was towed without insurance. I do still make monthly payments. I was in a wreck 2days ago :/ and my car finally died today (Radiator gave out) ...show more

Sued by insurance company?

i'm 25 and get health insurance through my work. But just recently, they've upped the fee for it: from $4/paycheck to $8/paycheck (that's weekly, not biweekly). I'm technically still able to use my dad's insurance till i'm 26 and i figure, if i can save $8 a week, then why bother using it through my work at all? But my supervisor is trying to tell me that if my dad's insurance company finds out that i'm eligible to get insurance through my work and don't use it, then they could sue me. Is this true? It shouldn't be up to them which insurance i use. I shouldn't have to pay for something i can get free somewhere else.""

What is the average of insurance cost for a 19 year old?

I've been looking around online to research costs and from what I've seen it averages around $150. $200 at the worst. But my mom tells me I have to pay $440 dollars? Like wtf. Even four of my friends, who are still 18, pay around $170 or so. Is she just bullshitting me? I have never incited any tickets and drove safely when I was 18 and still now at 19. I'm not sure what to say to my mom. I told her about how others are paying wayyyyyyy less. I'm thinking the insurance is just cheating my mom or something. Anyone have any idea what I should do? I remember my mom asking me to give her my transcript to show I have a GPA above 3.0 to lower costs. And now she tells oh it's $440 .. I don't know what's going on. I'm not very well spoken in my native language so there's some issues talking about this.""

CAR INSURANCE for a17 year old??

i just passed my test and have the old ford fiesta waiting for me to drive but atm the quotes i'm getting for insurance is around 2000 What are the cheapest sites for car insurance? Should i do Pass Plus?

How much will insurance cost after 2 duis?

I am 24 years old and live in Michigan and I received my 2nd offense DUI in April of last year. I've been sober ever since and have AA signatures to prove it to the board for license evaluation. If I get it back I will automatically have a Breathalyzer in the car for a minimum of when year. It won't start if it blows alcohol. You know how they work. lol. I was wondering if anyone knows approx. how much I will pay for insurance. Thank you in advance for answers.

What is the cheapest way to get insurance with a friends car?

I'm already practising my driving lessons and theory. Once I pass what's the best and cheap way to be insured.

17 cheap car insurance??

i live in the u.k im searching for car insurance for when i get my car does anyone no any car insurance companys that do cheap car insurance for my age or comparing sites. iv already tried compare the market and confussed.com links would be amazing thanks guys X

The course of insurance and risk management deals with what?

Works as who?

How much is it to get painting and remodeling permit and insurance in seattle WA?

How much is it to get painting and remodeling permit and insurance in seattle WA?

I don't no where to pay my insurance or how to pay it?

telling me how do i pay my insurance and where do i pay it

""If I report an auto insurance claim under my comprehensive, does it count against me?

Not sure whether to report an damage to my vehicle. I estimate the cost to be about $ 500.00 +. My deductable is $ 500.00. Any info will help :)

Can my insurance drop me?

Hi, i took a urine test with my doctor the other day. I asked what h was testing for and he said everything , so Im not sure what hes testing. He said he was gonna check for diabetes and what not. I was wondering, in the case he drug tests me can he tel my insurance? Can I get dropped from the insurance for this? I smoked weed about 5 weeks ago. I live in California amd hnet is my insurance. Thanks!""

Is there a really cheap insurance for people on a fixed income?

my dad is legally blind and my mother is the only driver, they cannot afford to pay 150-200$ a month for insurance.""

How hard is it to start your own insurance company?

how much capital do you need or are there companysthat will front the money

About how much would my USAA auto insurance cost?

I am 16 and I will be getting my license... I passed drivers ed and get good grades I wanted to get a quote but the USAA website wanted me to give info such as social security and etc, and I do not feel comfortable giving that info. Can anyone tell me a rough estimate of what my auto insurance might cost per month?""

Convertible car higher insurance?

lets say there is a 350z Coupe and a 350z Convertible, is the 350z Convertible insurance cost more than the 350z Coupe?""

How to convince parents to let me have auto insurance?

I've had my license for a little over three months now. However, I have no insurance, and therefore cannot drive (in California). Their reasoning is that I am an unsafe driver which I disagree with because I quite easily passed my driving test at the DMV and always think before I do anything when I drive. However, they seem firm on their decision... It's a bit frustrating having my license for so long but still being unable to drive. I'm tired of having to always ask friends for a ride or my parents; I just want a taste of independence. Of course, I'm not trying to be too arrogant or stubborn, I've respected my parent's decision, it's just bugging me a bit now haha. I offered to do a six-month plan instead of a year plan since I'm heading off to college in Septemberish. I'm about to turn 18 in a couple weeks also. Does anyone have any advice?""

Am I paying too much for my health insurance?

I'm 23 year old and non smoker, I got my health insurance from my company's employee benefit, and I'm pay $29 a week for this coverage: $20 office visit $115 ER They pay 80% I pay 20% Deductible $470 Out of Pocket Max $3500 Am I paying too much? How much would I be paying if I get this benefit by my own and not from my company?""

Car Insurance..6 Points..(read on)?

I got 6 points back in 2009 for speeding with a drink drive ban the same night! I don't need any lectures. I can easily say biggest mistake of my life! I done my time and still paying for it.    I done a insurance quote without the 6 points and it was 600, with them it is 1300! (the drink drive ban included in both quotes)    It is comming up to the 4 year mark where I can now get them removed from my licence, but I have to still declare it to my insurance even though there not on my licence any more..? (rehabilation offenders act..?)     I have changed my ways and I drive very sensibly in low litre cars! Never want a fast car! (I am 23) I just use it for work my annual mileage is around 10k.     These 6 points have raised it dramatically! Are there any insurance companies out there where I can only declare it for the 3 or 4 years?     Or do I have to even declare it atall insurance companies are asking for 5 years, but they are completely off my licence after 4..I would of thought under the rehabilitation act I served my 4 year sentence now a 3rd party company (the insurer) is asking for 5..?    Help on this will be greatly appreciated.    Thanks

How much will insurance go up? ?

How much will insurance go up if you are 18 and just got into an accident with a park car and only hurt there bumper?

How often does Geico lower their insurance rates after you have been with them?

i have been with Geico for almost a year and right at the 6 months my insurance went down from $90 a month to $77 a month... I think they do what some other companies do and lower every 6 months for not getting involved in an accident but i want to know for sure. if someone has the information for me that would be great... thank you:)

""So what would you suggest for my 1st car? has 2 b 5 door,cheap 2 run yet reliable & cheap on insurance??""

So what would you suggest for my 1st car? has 2 b 5 door,cheap 2 run yet reliable & cheap on insurance??""

Where can i get cheap car insurance? (young drivers)?

Im 17 and need cheap car insurance, any companies anyone would recommend? Thanks! :)""

Classic Car As A Daily Driver In Michigan?

I'm a hot rod & kustom guy, have building and restoring old cars for awhile now..love the looks of em and the feeling I get driving them, I'm opening up my own shop soon too. I drive a 2001 Grand Am GT and it's about to die 190,000 miles needs tires, brakes, bearings, engines making noises but for the price I paid and miles I put on it, it worked well. Now I need a new daily drive to school 72 miles round trip 2-3 times a week. I live in Michigan, was wondering what it would be like to drive an classic car as a daily...say a 1958 Chevy Bel Air with a 283 motor...the insurance is cheaper, easier to fix and find parts..but may be more in gas...just wondering if anyone drives a classic everyday and how is it in the winter...I'd have to figure out heat some how. I have many cars 1968 Caddy Deville on air bags, 1930 Model A Coupe hot rod, 1951 Mercury custom, 1956 Cadillac Deville...etc""

Cheapest car under 1000 to insure?

I'm 17, male and want the cheapest insurance possible.""

How much is State Farm Car Insurance per month?

How much is State Farm Car Insurance per month?

Is Nissan 240sx expensive to insure?

Is 89-93 240sx (S13) expensive to insure? I am 16. I would put this car under my mom's insurance. She never had an accident, ticket, etc. Also I never took drugs or any stuff like that, never been pulled over or something if it matters insuring a car.""

Is a 93' mustang hatchback cheap on insurance cause its a hatchback?

hello I'm 17 and i'm looking to get a car. I have always loved the 93 mustang.Its my favorite car ever.It is a hatchback so would that make it cheaper on insurance?? my parents always helped my brothers by putting there name on the tittle along with my brothers.I'm pretty sure it made it cheaper.There are only 2 cars that i really want either the mustang or a older honda civic hatchback.i like the way both the cars look.please help. leave you comments/opinions Thanks!

What are the Cheapest Veichles to insure in Ontario? or in general?

What are the cheapest to insure? or the cheapest to fix?

""If I am added as an added driver to a car, how much will the insurance be? Please see details:?""

If my parents were to get a mini 2004 for example, and they both have no claims and no license points, (so their insurance is about 350 each) how much would it cost to add me (a new driver aged 17) to their car. If one of parents was to be insured, and I was added as a named driver I mean. Roughly speaking. And yes, it would be a new car that my parents hadn't driven before. I am the UK by the way, so I am talking about  not $. Thank you for all contributions!""

Average teen car insurance?

I have a '98 pontiac grand am thats in nice condition. can someone just give me a rough estimate, or what their insurance is or was as a teen""

How much would insurance cost for a subaru impreza?

I was wondering how much insurance would cost on a 2004-2006 subaru impress 2.5 RS. Not the wrx sti just the RS with the 2.5l 4 cyl. Without a turbo. How much would it cost for a new driver (between 16 and 18 years old) for full coverage on one of these cars. I would like number answers if possible. Thanks.

How much does car insurance cost.?

I am 18 and ready to get my drivers license but how much does car insurance cost per month on average.?

Total lost car INSURANCE?

I own a 1997 dodge intrepid std 4 dr sedan 6cyl gasoline 3.3 liter 4 speed in fair conditions cd player no rust with 197,242 miles. My car was was in a hail and tornado damage where the hood has a dent and the driver and passanger side have dent and the trunk. I have full coverage insurance and they telling me that my car was total last i love my car and i spent alot of money fixing it and it drives great no problem. So I was trying to get some help from some one that could tell me how much is my car worth so they wont give me less money and if they offer me less what could I do. I am not trying to bew greedy but i do love my car and spent alot of money on it. I would rather get it fix . PLEASEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HELP ME""

What factors affect car insurance premiums?

My mom is going to give me her old car once she gets a new one, and she said insurance is about $100/mo. My friend asked what insurance would be and I told her, and she thought that was really low The car is a 1999 saturn SL1 and it's standard, is the insurance cheap for this car? My mom has a great driving record I'm now wondering what affects car insurance premiums? I know age, gender, driving records, and other stuff.. but what else?""

Where's the best and the cheapest insurance for a moped?

Where's the best and the cheapest insurance for a moped?

How do I find the cheapest car insurance?

My rates always go up even tho my wife and myself have clean driving records, we drive a 2012 Chevy Traverse and an old 1998 Dodge Ram, how can I find more affordable insurance rates? Thanks!""

Pittsburgh car (auto) insurance?

Where can I get auto insurance in Pittsburgh? What do you recommend? I bought a car recently and I'd like to find a cheap way to insure it.

Car Insurance?

anybody know what the Uk cheapest car insurance for somebody with 15 years no claims discount car engine size 2.8cc?

Seriously...How do you really understand your car insurance coverage?

It's certain things that the company doesn't make very known about how much is paid if an accident occurs. Can someone help me? I recently purchased a policy with Geico. 500 deductible on comp and colli. Still owe 14,500 on car and it's only worth 10,000 per blue book. My goodness. This world is not fair. Father save us. So many people out to get over on consumers.""

Would zero demerit points mean that my insurance rates wont be effected?

In terms of my driving record, etc?""

""Someone hit my car, do I have to report to my insurance company risking the rate increase?""

Few months ago somebody hit my rental car in their rental car during vacation. Other party's fault, he admitted, police report confirms this is his fault. Both me and the other party were insured. The other party seems to be reasonable. Now I have a repair bill, few thousands. I am reluctant to report this to my insurance company, since I heard over and over again that even though it's not my fault my rate can and probably will still go up (read here if you don't believe http://www.carinsurancecomparison.com/does-your-auto-insurance-go-up-if-someone-hits-your-car). I think this is ridiculous, but that's the way how things are. So is it possible, and is it a good idea that I contact the other party insurance myself without involving my insurance since my case is a clear cut case? Are there any pitfalls that I should be aware of?""

Why insurance companies charge more simply on your car color?

I bought a 1991 Ford Mustang and the color of it is Red. My best friend has the same car, we both have same company, same age, same ticket-free record. And on our insurance bill we got showing the coverage, my payments were $28.50 more than his. I called them and they said it was because of the color of my car. His is blue. Why is this?""

Is home insurance quote negotiable?

Just got a new quote on home owner insurance. It is slightly better than my last insurance company, but not by much. Is this quote negotiable? Or it is what it is, take it or leave it?""

Car Insurance..6 Points..(read on)?

I got 6 points back in 2009 for speeding with a drink drive ban the same night! I don't need any lectures. I can easily say biggest mistake of my life! I done my time and still paying for it.    I done a insurance quote without the 6 points and it was 600, with them it is 1300! (the drink drive ban included in both quotes)    It is comming up to the 4 year mark where I can now get them removed from my licence, but I have to still declare it to my insurance even though there not on my licence any more..? (rehabilation offenders act..?)     I have changed my ways and I drive very sensibly in low litre cars! Never want a fast car! (I am 23) I just use it for work my annual mileage is around 10k.     These 6 points have raised it dramatically! Are there any insurance companies out there where I can only declare it for the 3 or 4 years?     Or do I have to even declare it atall insurance companies are asking for 5 years, but they are completely off my licence after 4..I would of thought under the rehabilitation act I served my 4 year sentence now a 3rd party company (the insurer) is asking for 5..?    Help on this will be greatly appreciated.    Thanks

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/does-compare-meerkat-do-cheap-car-insurance-william-golden/"

[survey1000]

76. Your life isn’t yours if you constantly care about what others think.

What’s the latest you’ve woken up? How about the earliest? The latest I think was almost noon, and the earliest was a bit after midnight I think.

In general, what has the weather been like? Is this good or bad for you? It’s been pretty muggy lately, which sucks because I work in a coffee shop that doesn’t have a working AC ...

Have you been out for a meal? Where did you go and what did you eat? Not for a bit, but I think the last time was Subway.

Have you been under the influence of alcohol/drugs? Yup.

Have you spent more of your time indoors or outdoors? Indoors.

What’s the most interesting day you’ve had? How about the most boring? Good question, I think the most interesting was my high school graduation, and the most boring would have to be any slow day at work.

What’s the earliest you’ve gone to bed? How about the latest? The earliest I would say was around 7pm and the latest was a bit after 2am.

Have you gone shopping for anything aside from groceries in the past week? Yeah, Thursday I went to the mall and got a few different makeup things, and then I went to Staples to buy more instax film.

Have you discovered any new bands or TV shows that you like? No not lately.

Have you finished a book, or are you currently reading one? I just finished one a few days ago, and I have quite a few on the go still lol.

What’s the most interesting thing that’s happened to you? Not many things really.

Who have you spoken to most on the phone/online/by text? My mom I would think lol.

Do you actually think it’s gross to talk about body functions? If you’re not my friend lol.

Would you rather sleep alone or next to your SO? Well I can really only say alone lol.

Are you trying to forget about something? Always.

Have you ever sent a love letter? Nope.

When you look up at the sky do you ever NOT see a plane or vapor trail? Rarely lol.

Have you dated someone of another race? No, but to be fair I’ve only been in one relationship before.

Do you wear any shoes with holes because you can’t give them up? Not at the moment, but I have done this plenty of times before lol.

When you go out to breakfast, what do you order? Depends on where I go, but something with eggs.

Have you ever had a job that required a uniform? Yeah, that’s where I work now lol.

What are you most envious of? People who can find happiness wherever they go.

Would you rather have coffee, cocoa, tea, or soda? Pop, and I’m not much of a pop drinker either lol.

When you walk into your best friend’s room, what do you smell? Idk, them I guess? Lol.

Have you ever purposely broken something that belonged to a sibling? I don’t think so, but I wouldn’t put it past me though lol.

Do you have any hipster friends? Nope.

Have you ever worked at the same place as your best friend? No.

Do you take days off from shaving when you can get away with it? Always lol.

Has anyone ever baked you cookies? Yeah.

Do you ever wear socks with holes in them? I have, but I throw them out as soon as I realize the hole.

Is there anything hanging on your bathroom walls? I don’t think so.

If your SO agreed, would you want an open relationship? Oh fuck no.

Have you ever slept with three people in the same bed? When? Why? Yes, it was at a sleepover when I was younger, when we could all fit on the same bed haha.

Does your family regularly eat sit down meals together? No, the only time is when we plan a supper for an event, like Christmas, Easter, a birthday, etc.

Have you ever used the change counting machine at a store or mall? I have no idea what that is lol.

How do you dress when you’re not at work Usually in a t-shirt or a tank top, with leggings.

Tell me about the shirt you’re wearing? Its black with the Superman logo on it, and its from the men’s section from Warehouse One lol.

What was the first thing you thought this morning? Fuck... I don’t wanna go to work lol.

Are you wearing shorts? Nope.

Ever had a boy best friend? Yeah when I was little.

Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you baby? If I’m in a relationship with him, then yes.

Do your parents actually knock on your door before entering your room? No lol.

Do you ‘dress to impress’? Sometimes, depending on where I’m going.

Have you ever thought a man over 40 was attractive? Yeah.

Would you rather get cash or a gift card? Depending on what store the gift card is from, if its from the bookstore, then I’d rather have the gift card lol.

Would you prefer to date someone taller, shorter, or the same height as you? Same height or taller.

Can you honestly say you’re okay right now? No.

What time did you get up today? A little bit before 5:30am.

Where does most of your family live? Nova Scotia, Canada.

What can’t you wait for? Tomorrow at 2pm, so I can go to the gym, and not have to worry about work the next day.

Are you ticklish? Some places.

What brand of digital camera do you own? I don’t have one. The only actual camera I have is the Instax mini 9.

Have you ever seen a Broadway show in New York? Nope.

How long is your hair? Maybe an inch and a half past my shoulders.

Do you like facial hair on a guy? If it’s not long, I like scruff better than an actual beard lol.

Have you ever tried the cinnamon challenge? Nope, and never plan to lol.

How long would it take to walk to the nearest McDonald’s? Less than 20 minutes.

Do you get drunk every weekend? No, I wouldn’t be able to afford that lol.

What did you do today? I worked for eight hours, and planned to go to the gym after until I realized I had left my gym sneakers and pants at home ...

Are you listening to music right now? No surprisingly, I have the TV on in the background.

Your last ex died today, how would you feel? I mean I’m not heartless, I would feel upset, but we were only going out for less than a week, and it was five years ago so I’m definitely not close to him.

Do you like maxi dresses? Yeah, I have one but that’s the only one I’ve seen that I like on me.

Have any organic makeup? I don’t think I do.

Do you worry about guys thinking you’re hot? No, I know that they don’t think that way lol.

Are you healthy? Not as healthy as I should be lol.

Do you know anyone that used to be or is homeless? Not that I know of.

Does it always seem like you’re always buying stuff for friends? Not really.

Did you wear sunglasses today? No, its been cloudy all day.

What’s the next movie you’ll watch in theaters? Not sure.

If you straighten your hair, how long does it take? Anywhere between 15 to 25 minutes.

Does it annoy you when people can’t think of their own answers to questions on surveys and use yours? No lol, I don’t pay attention really.

How many people are you talking to online right now? None lol.

Are you currently wearing anything containing polyester? Probably.

Have you ever been to Comic-Con? No, but I would like to.

Do you have a commercial jingle stuck in your head? Nope.

Would you date someone 8 years older than you? He would have to treat me right, and we would both have to care about each other a lot. The oldest that I plan to go for is five years, but you never know.

Do you have a friend of the opposite sex you can talk to? Not really. I have guys that I consider friends, but not that close to talk about personal things.

Do you have a friend of the same sex you can talk to? Yeah.

Did you go out or stay in last night? Stayed in.

What does your last received text message say? ‘I’m here at Tim’s now’.

How old is the last person you texted? 37, she’s my Momma lol.

What do you want to get accomplished today/tonight? To get some good sleep.

You’re single, right? Yup lol.

Are you easy to make mad? If I’m in a cranky mood already, yes lol.

Have you ever punched a hole in the wall? Yeah like roughly seven years ago lol.

What are you doing right now? This and watching Forensic Files.

Do you smoke weed everyday? I had only smoked it twice and that was almost six years ago I think.

Are you wearing jeans, shorts, sweatpants, or pajamas? Leggings.

Do you like the dentist? Not really lol.

Do you like the snow? Yeah, as long as its not too much lol.

Where is your phone Beside me.

Would you rather date someone older than you or younger? Same age or older.

When was the last time you were told you were cute? I don’t really remember, maybe a few weeks ago?

Would you ever smile at a stranger? I do it all the time at work. The privileges of working in a coffee shop lol.

Do you button your shirt from the top or the bottom? Top.

Do you make collages often? No, its been a few years since I’ve made one.

How much have you changed in the last year or so? Not that much I don’t think.

Have you ever wished to erase something from your memory? What? A lot of things that I rather not speak of.

Do you keep things that most people would throw away? I don’t think so.

What is your favourite thing to wear when you feel like crap? Comfy clothes.

Do you look forward to going to sleep at night? Usually.

What was the last song you listened to? Nowhere Fast - Eminem.

Do you own an Etch-A-Sketch? I did when I was a kid!

What does your bedspread look like? Leopard print.

What colour is your suitcase? I don’t own one.

Are you any good at tongue twisters? Not really lo.

Do you wrap up warm in the cold weather? Always.

Do you care overly about other people? If I like them lol.

Do you still live with your parents? When are you planning to move out? Yeah, and I’m 20 and single so I can’t really afford to live on my own, and I at least want to be able to drive legally and have a car before I move out.

If you’ve moved out already, what age were you? -

Have you ever been told your aspirations are unrealistic? I don’t think so.

[alamkhatoon]

Thunder thighs. Mum tum. Tuckshop lady arms. Far from a biological predisposition, our modern tendency to criticise parts of our own body is instead an ugly by-product of a media-saturated world. Something that the October 2018 cover models and founders of body-love movement, AnyBODY, are on a mission to change.

West-Aussie models and body confidence activists Georgia Gibbs and Kate Wasley sat down with us to talk the impact of social media, health at any size and beauty with no boundaries. Because – in the words of WH&F – it’s not a look, it’s a lifestyle. Katelyn Swallow and David Goding tell their story.

  On the 23rd of January 2017, 22-year-old Aussie model Georgia Gibbs posted an innocent Instagram photo of herself and fellow model and friend Kate Wasley, 23, posed in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A few minutes later, the image was bombarded with negative comments about their differing body sizes, along with accusations of image tampering.

“People were calling me anorexic and Kate fat, and assuming I had Photoshopped my friend bigger to make me look ‘better’. It was really upsetting for us both and so against everything we believe in,” says Gibbs, who started modelling at the age of 16 in her home city of Perth.

“And so our brand, AnyBODY, was born shortly after.”

Launched on the 8th of March 2017 – appropriately, International Women’s Day – the @any.body_co Instagram account had over 5000 followers by close of business day one, and clocked over 20,000 followers after the first 10 days. Today, more than 206,000 follow Gibbs and Wasley, who post professional images of themselves, selfies of women with varied body shapes, inspirational quotes about self-love, and healthy living and beauty tips. AnyBODY has also provided the girls with a host of dual modelling contracts for big brands such as Cotton On Body and Cooper Street.

Wasley attributes the brand’s rapid success to a public and industry that craved body diversity – and a marketable icon to represent it.

“I can’t believe how fast AnyBODY blew up! Although [Georgia] and I are really only two people of different sizes, I truly believe that incorporating a range of sizes, races and genders in advertising and across social media will help thousands of women worldwide when it comes to feeling comfortable in their own skin,” says Wasley, who began her modeling career in 2015 after being discovered by a local model search.

“We decided to preach to people that healthy can come in a range of sizes. Because of the way social media is these days, I think a lot of women lose perspective on what body diversity is. I think a lot of people get sucked into believing that you should look a certain way, be a certain size, and have no cellulite or stretch marks. It’s unrealistic and we want that to change.”

The media’s negative influence on people’s – particularly women’s – body image isn’t a recent concern. According to psychotherapist Natajsa Wagner, media influence can be traced back to illustrations from the 1930s that depicted women with curves, while the ’40s and ’50s saw the female bust and glutes become the focus.

“Mattel created the Barbie doll with unachievable and disproportionate body parts, and in 1966, in the environment of an emerging super-media, we had the world’s first supermodel in Twiggy. She was a sharp contrast to Marilyn Monroe, and over time we learnt that thin was the new ‘ideal’ body image. So, although women come in all shapes and sizes, the overarching truth is that only one type of body is [portrayed as] ‘ideal’,” says Wagner.

By the age of 17, women have experienced a quarter of a million beauty- and body-oriented advertisements, and continue to be exposed to an average of 400 to 600 depictions of ‘beauty’ every day. The emergence of the smartphone and social media platforms puts these images in our pockets, and the way we engage with social media makes these often digitally altered and filtered depictions seem all the more ‘real’. According to research by Trilogy, six out of 10 women believe that people expect online photos to have been retouched or have a filter applied, yet 61 per cent of Australian women do not see the use of a filter as a form of retouching. Additionally, one 2014 study published in Body Image found a direct correlation between poor self-image and the number of hours spent trawling Facebook, due to body comparisons with peers and celebrities alike.

Dr John Demartini, author of The Gratitude Effect, believes our tendency to compare and judge our own body based on individuals who we deem more ‘attractive’ is the primary cause of negative self-perception. “In today’s social media-obsessed world, many people feel pressured to pursue a physical, one-sided, false perfection that is simply unattainable,” he says.

In other words, it’s not a biologically determined position to think of our body negatively; rather, our body image is influenced by a range of outside factors, fuelled by a visually obsessed (and self-obsessed) society. For Wasley, this tendency to compare herself to others led to a host of mental and physical issues in her younger – and leaner – years. While now sitting happily at a comfortable size 16, at her thinnest (size 10/12) she was mentally exhausted.

“For me, my biggest barriers [to a positive body image] were comparing myself to others, whether that be my friends or ‘fitspo’ girls I followed on social media. I had such an unrealistic idea of what I should look like and that resulted in not feeling good enough or worthy of love,” she says.

“I stopped going out with friends because I had such bad anxiety about food and alcohol. I didn’t want to be seen as the ‘fat’ friend – although, looking back now, I was very fit and toned. It’s amazing how you see yourself when you feel insecure; my view of my own body was totally warped. If I can help even one person work their way out of that mindset, I’ll feel accomplished.”

Gibbs expresses a similar memory of juvenile body dysmorphia.

“I remember being 16 and being unsure of who I was, being unhappy with how I looked and spending so much time comparing myself to other people. It really ruined my ability to love myself for all my other talents outside of physical appearance. Barriers to my own self-love definitely came from setting unachievable goals – such as wanting to look like a celebrity who was the complete opposite to me, therefore setting myself up to fail – and comparing myself to others on social media,” she says.

An extension of the same debate is the complex interplay of health, genetics and lifestyle on how the body appears – especially considering Australia’s worsening obesity epidemic, not to mention the ever-increasing occurrence of eating disorders. Gibbs’ mother was a personal trainer and her father a CrossFit instructor, so healthy food and exercise were integrated into her life from an early age – but both were seen as tools for optimal performance rather than to create a particular body shape. Early in her modelling career, however, Gibbs’ naturally curvaceous silhouette and muscular lower body were often criticised by an industry set on slim.

“I’m predisposed to having a small waist, bigger quads and broad shoulders. But through training, these features are definitely exaggerated and other areas built on and changed too,” says Gibbs.

“I’ve always had to overcome hurdles about my appearance. But over the last few years – as I’ve built a brand around myself of wellness and self-acceptance – it’s been amazing to see clients accept me for who I am and now embrace the ‘love AnyBODY’ message.”

Wasley, on the other hand, comes from a paternal line of tall and built physiques, and first became conscious of her health at age 17.

“I was never self-conscious [growing up]. I knew I was on the bigger side, but I honestly didn’t have a problem with it until I started to compare myself to other girls. Maybe it was about the same time I became interested in boys…who knows. But I remember not having a clue where to start,” she says.

“I feel like I’ve finally reached a place of contentment and balance, which I’m truly grateful for! I eat healthy and exercise, and I’m a size 16, and I feel if I were to stop [exercising and eating well] completely, I’d maybe sit at a size 16/18 naturally – but my body would look different, if that makes sense.”

The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” – a sentiment the AnyBODY team echo. Gibbs and Wasley encourage women to see good health as encompassing the physical, the mental and the spiritual. It’s about balance, the ability to move freely and think clearly, and it’s highly individual.

“Health is so much more than your physical fitness,” says Wasley. “To an extent, I don’t believe you can judge how healthy a person is based on their weight and physical being. For example, when I was at my thinnest, people were asking me left right and centre for fitness advice; I suddenly became the ‘fit friend’, running 10km multiple times a week and avoiding alcohol. If you looked at me, I was the picture of health. But what no one knew was that I was dealing with disordered eating, I was isolating myself from social events and my friends, and I was so miserable and hated how I looked. I wasn’t healthy at all.”

WH&F head trainer and Creating Curves founder, Alexa Towersey, agrees.

“As a society, we need to redefine what we think ‘healthy’ looks like. The reality of the situation is that body dysmorphia exists at both ends of the spectrum. We naively live under the assumption that a size 10 is making healthier choices than a size 16 based solely on their appearance, and without even taking into consideration age, ethnicity, genetic makeup or hormonal profile.  It’s the underlying relationship with food and exercise – whether it’s positive or negative – that we should be paying attention to,” she says.

Toeing the line between adopting a positive body image and striving to reach your health and fitness goals is not always easy. But for the AnyBODY brand and for a fair chunk of body image experts, striving for physical change isn’t necessarily a negative thing; wanting to create a healthier, fitter body that exudes confidence can be a noble goal and set you on a journey that invigorates, rather than sabotages, your self-esteem. The important thing is to understand why you are wanting to change, says Wagner.

“We’ve all experienced feeling uncomfortable in our bodies: we know when we feel physically fit, healthy and comfortable in our clothes and we know when we don’t. Wanting to make changes to positively impact our health isn’t wrong,” she says.

“However, when you start to define your level of self-worth and value by how you believe your body should look, the desire to improve your body or work towards a better level of health has gone too far. Do it for the endorphins; do it because you’re looking after your body and challenging yourself. There is a huge amount of research now that shows exercise to be one of the most uplifting tools we have and makes us feel good about our current body shape.

“A positive body image means a person is able to accept their body as it is with respect and admiration. Living with a positive body image means you have the ability to utilise your own self-esteem, maintain a positive attitude and are emotionally stable. Because of this, you’re able to filter through the messages from the media, your peers and family, and remain steadfast in how you feel about your body.”

While Wasley and Gibbs admit they’ve had to work hard to become body-positive, the duo hope the AnyBODY brand can help more women accept their appearance and feel empowered in their journey to good health; and, for them, this starts with a greater diversity of body shapes and sizes being represented on the catwalk, in advertising, in clothing sizes and in the media. Already, key brands have taken their cue, with Cooper Street releasing their ‘curve range’ inspired by the movement. Future plans for AnyBODY centre on launching their Skype for Schools program, tackling teenagers’ self-esteem, body confidence and personal development issues, while Wasley is looking to one day complete her Health Promotion degree to further advance the cause. But, in the interim, both Gibbs and Wasley offer one piece of solid advice: quit the comparisons and learn to love you – for you.

“Today I feel fantastic about my body the majority of the time. I still have my bad days because, well, I’m human – but they’re now few and far between. I think it’s the way I deal with it now that has been my biggest achievement. I focus on things I love about myself instead of dwelling on what I dislike. I have health and fitness goals now rather than weight or size goals,” says Wasley.

“Loving your body is an individual journey that’s completely different for everyone. But my top tip is not to compare yourself to anyone – especially on social media – because often you’ll be comparing yourself at your worst to someone at their best. Just remember you are worthy of love, no matter what you look like. There are people out there that love you for you, and don’t give a crap about what you look like. Those are the people worth keeping around.”

ALL FEATURE photography: Cotton ON Body

    {nomultithumb}

  from Lifestyle http://ift.tt/2BRkJhE

[fitnetpro]

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community!

“I wanna be a strong princess, like Wonder Woman!”

“I wanna be able to run really fast, like the Flash!”

“I wanna climb all the monkey bars like Tarzan! ”

“I should lose a few pounds off my love handles.”

One of these things is not like the others…

When we’re little kids, we swing from monkey bars and run up multiple flights of stairs and climb trees and chase imaginary bad guys and crawl through mud and we love every second of it.

We try new things because they seem fun (and nobody is telling us that we can’t). We never once think “oh I wonder if my body is capable of such a thing.” We just…DO. We fall down and pick ourselves back up and laugh it off and each day learn more and more about how we interact with the world around us. It’s awesome. And fun.

But then…over the next 15-20 years, life happens.

Schoolwork. A job. Chores. Bills. Mortgage. Responsibilities. Kids! Late nights at the office. More and more meals from a drive through window.

As our responsibilities (and the scale) goes higher and higher, we set our sights lower and lower:

Instead of wanting to run fast like the Flash, we just want to not get winded going up the stairs.

Instead of being strong like Wonder Woman, we just want to not be sore after don’t want our arms to hurt from carrying in the groceries.

Instead of swinging like Tarzan, we avoid activities that are new because we don’t think we can, and we don’t want to look foolish.

Instead of wanting to climb mountain or run a 5k, we instead set the goal of “winning a solo Fortnite battle” or getting more instagram followers because the first goal seems entirely unrealistic.

It’s no wonder our expectations continue to wither as we age: growing up can suck. Sure we had dreams and goals and hobbies as a kid, but now that we’re adults, our goal has been minimized into a single sentence:

“Lose weight and don’t hate what I see in the mirror.”

Brutal? Yup.

Honest? Yup.

And that’s okay.

Not liking what I saw in the mirror is why I started exercising, and the reason I started Nerd Fitness 10 years ago. After all, wanting to look better and feel better is a powerful motivator, and that usually involves weight loss.

All of these thoughts above sprung from a conversation I had recently with our head of Coaching, Lauren – who I’ve known for like 13 years and I was a bridesboy in her wedding, but that’s besides the point.

I asked her about success stories we’ve had from people who have been in our NF Coaching program for 6, 9, or 12+ months and actually kept the weight off, and I started to see a pattern:

They all set out to lose weight as an initial goal, and many of them DID lose weight.

But a recent study showed: “The chance of returning to a normal weight after becoming obese is only one in 210 for men and one in 124 for women over a year.” [1]

So what was different with these clients?

Why are they having success with losing weight and KEEPING it off!?

Although they all succeeded in their own unique way, they did have a common element to each of their origin stories:

It started weight weight loss, but as they started to lose the weight, they got back to trying new activities they could do and feel as a result of that weight loss:

Doing pull-ups.

Going on hikes.

Getting back to martial arts.

Dunking a basketball (video proof below)!

In other words, these people reclaimed a childhood sense of joy and wonder that comes from asking “what can I try to learn today?” and “what can I do today that I couldn’t do yesterday?”

And in many instances, they all had activities they thought they could NEVER do. And six months later, they had already done it and were setting even bigger goals!

Like a superpower laying dormant in somebody until they discovered they were were “the chosen one,” these people all discovered they had the power within them all along that just needed to be unlocked.

You’re damn straight I’m proud these people are all coaching clients of Nerd Fitness, but I don’t care if you ever spend a dollar with us.

Instead, I want you to learn from their stories and remind yourself WHY you’re here working hard to better yourself!

If you can shift your mentality from “when I lose the weight, then I’m done” to “I’ve been building this new body, what is it capable of? Let’s find out,” that’s how you find long term, permanently improved healthy success.

And that’s when you become a superhero.

Mark loses 50 pounds and Falls in love with Gymnastic Rings.

No, Mark isn’t levitating in that second photo, he’s jumping rope.

But damn that would be really cool if he discovered his hidden superpower was levitation.

In his words, here’s how Mark’s mentality shifted over the past 6 months and 50 pounds of weight loss:

“Success to me was just about losing weight when I started. I also wanted to get to a place where just standing wasn’t painful. I joined the Coaching program because I needed to be held accountable, to make sure I didn’t lose momentum and slip back into my bad habits.

Since I started losing weight (now down 50 pounds and showing no signs of slowing down), there are so many things I’m capable of now: Deadlifting over 200 lbs (90kg), farmer walks of 80 pounds (36kg), PUSH UPS!

I NEVER thought I would be so consistent in going to the gym and eating healthy food. I’m also really enjoying using the gymnastic rings in my workouts.

They add so much variety to workouts, which brings new challenges all the time and keeps things interesting.”

Narayan lost 50 pounds and Now crushes pull-ups

Narayan has overcome some mental hang-ups he’s had since a kid about both the gym and exercise. It only took 44 years, but it’s ALWAYS better late than never.

In his words, success to him started with weight loss: 

“I was really into the Nerd Fitness Academy and had great success with it, but I knew I needed something extra and additional 1-on-1 help to maintain my weight loss and get stronger.

I was thinking of hiring a trainer in my local area but I loved Nerd Fitness and wanted to stay active with that community. So I was really excited when I learned about the coaching program.

I have very vivid memories in grade school and on up of never being able to do a chin up.

I just sort of assumed it was something I was not capable of, like running a 4 minute mile.

And yet, after a few weeks in the Coaching program, I was able to do my first chin up with decent form.

It was exhilarating.

I was 49 years old and doing something I never thought I could do. When I got home from the gym that night I thought maybe I should keep working and try to do 5 chin ups in a row.

Coach Jim reviewed my videos of gave me some tips and was very encouraging.

Eventually I was able to do 5 chin ups in a row in 2 sets!”

And now Narayan LOVES the gym. How the HELL did that happen!?

“Another mental hurdle I overcame: I never imagined myself as a regular visitor to the gym. Ever.

I thought that was for other people who had the physiques of bodybuilders. Now I go 3 times week and it’s something I really look forward to.

I was invited this week to go out for Happy Hour but it was when I had planned on going to the gym so I declined the invite. I didn’t really reflect on it until the next morning when I realized that was something I never would have done just a few months ago.

There are definitely times where I am not feeling it but I go to workout anyway just because it is so ingrained. I have never left the gym regretting that I went.”

Heather earns her black belt And inspires her teenage sons.

When Heather started her hero’s journey, she wasn’t even sure what success looked like:

“I really liked the idea of being a person who makes good choices when nutritionally and rarely misses a gym day. And getting in shape would help with that.

I grew up here in the South and now I’m raising boys here: It’s pretty old fashioned in a lot of ways and gender roles are a few decades behind.

It’s important to me that my kids see women as strong and capable all by themselves and that women have every right to be where they damned well please: the weight room, or the office, or the home, or in the great outdoors.”

Like many superheroes, Heather has learned to embrace the great responsibility that comes with her great superpowers, inspiring those around her: 

“I get to be a role model to all the girls where I teach karate.

I’m the only female instructor at our location and I want those girls to see a grown woman who can be a black belt and be strong. It’s also a good lesson for mouthy teenaged boys from time to time. The best compliment ever was when one of my teenage boys said that he joins me at the gym because he wants to be strong like his mom.”

And she’s still uncovering more super powers every week:

“What superpowers have I discovered? Hitting a 200 lb. deadlift is up there. Chin up progress – it’s slower than I had hoped, but there was also a part of me that never thought I’d get this close.”

Oh, and she’s proven the adage “appearance is a consequence of fitness:”

“Here’s a interesting side effect I hadn’t even considered until it happened: buying a size Medium shirt AND wearing it in public without feeling self conscious.”

Chris lost 50+ pounds and can now dunk a basketball!

Chris came to the program with a vague goal of wanting to dunk a basketball but wasn’t quite sure how to get there. He was a big guy and moving around that much weight makes many bodyweight achievements difficult:

“When I joined coaching, success was achieving my specific goals that I was unable to achieve by myself (one chin-up, one pull-up, and dunk a basketball which I hadn’t been able to do since high school). If I could meet those goals, then I would consider coaching a success.”

As he started losing weight, his vague dreams became concrete realities:

“I am now capable of doing a chin-up and a pull-up. Honestly, I never thought I would reach it, even when I was a teenager I couldn’t do a chin-up or a pull-up. Now I can. I love that I can.

Oh, and now I can dunk a basketball:

As he lost the weight, Chris’s mentality changed about prioritizing his own development as a real life superhero:

“I love taking the time to work on myself. With having a wife, kids, family, work, etc. it’s hard to take the time to work on yourself. It is awesome to set personalized goals that I wanted and work with my coach to get there.”

Henry Completes a Tough Mudder Like a Badass

Henry started out wanting to actually enjoy the outdoors, something he didn’t do at all at the beginning:

“For me success was just the ability to be more active and have fun outside without getting too winded very easily. The goal was to obviously lose weight which I have done, and I’m comfortable with where I’m at right now.

I’m more active and far more knowledgeable about what I put in my body.”

He then discovered something interesting about himself through the journey:

“I never thought I would be capable of managing my diet so well in terms of what I ate, when I ate, and how much I ate.

I have a self discipline I never knew I had, especially when it comes to eating out and not giving in to every single craving.

What makes me so happy: Henry discovered a mental fortitude and confidence inside himself that that led to one of the most difficult obstacle races out there:

“I never ever thought I would be capable of doing an event such as the Tough Mudder but I did it and saying it was awesome is pretty much an understatement and now I want to do more OCRs. What a feeling!”

Sandra Summited Kilimanjaro

Sandra spent months building her new superhero physique and then set out to conquer one of the tallest mountains in the world, Kilimanjaro!

It started with overcoming some mental hurdles too:

“I had been working my way through the NF Academy bodyweight workouts for about 5 months. I was pretty consistent about doing the body weight work outs 3 days a week.

As for my goals, my expectations were low: I thought being able to do more than a couple of push ups with good form and not on my knees was great. My pie in the sky goal was an unassisted chin up.

The problem was that I was afraid to start REALLY strength training: I had a squat rack still in boxes in my garage for someday.  I wanted to learn to lift, eventually, but had no idea where to start. I had been in coaching for 6 months, gotten a lot stronger and more confident, before I actually told my coach about this! She helped me overcome that fear, finally build the rack, and get started.”

As she became more confident, she started setting her sights on a goal that still seemed far fetched but plausible: summiting Mount Kilimanjaro:

“I like to challenge myself to big things when I am in the mood to try to get myself out of whatever rut I invariably find myself when I take stock after going through weeks, months, years of default living. Years ago, I biked 100 miles, and ran a marathon.

Then life happened, and I was back to being VERY sedentary and just trying to get through the day.

Over my time with Nerd Fitness, Kilimanjaro became less and less “outrageous” and more “possible.” I believed I could do it because at the time I signed up I had been consistently training for a year I had seen myself become a lot stronger and I knew I could continue to be consistent.

I looked at the recommended training schedule and it was stuff that I could already do, just more of it. I also knew that my awesome coach (Staci!) would help me work it into the training I was already doing and it was a goal we could reach together.”

3 Lessons you Can Learn from These Real Life SuperHeroes.

#1 YOU’RE CAPABLE OF MORE THAN YOU REALIZE

Whatever got you here to Nerd Fitness and this article, GREAT!

Weight loss as a goal is a fantastic place to start.

Now, what’s going to help you succeed and stay successful is having a good reason why you’re doing all of this.

Every success story above features people who end up doing wayyyy more than they ever thought they could. From dunking basketballs to completing Tough Mudders and even climbing mountains.

Some of these goals were unexpected, or seemed so far off that they didn’t even seem realistic for the people above. But with each tiny victory, a small amount of confidence and momentum gets built.

And amazing things can happen.

I promise you, regardless of your thoughts on exercise or certain activities right NOW, if you can stick with this journey you will be capable of amazing things.

The weight loss is a goal, but it’s what you get to DO with your new body after the weight loss that will drive permanent progress.

#2 QUESTION YOUR ASSUMPTIONS

Narayan thought that gyms were just for bodybuilders and not people like him. Then he got over his insecurities, acknowledged how to make the gym work for him, and now says no to happy hours to make sure he doesn’t miss his workouts

Heather loves martial arts and is teaching young women that they can be strong badasses.

Mark fell in love with gymnastic rings and deadlifts.

When you build a frame that’s capable of anything, it gives you a chance to try everything!

You no longer have to say no due to your size or lack of fitness: you get to say “yes” and try new activities.

It’s time to question the long held beliefs you had as a kid about exercise. Or the self-imposed limitations you’ve put on yourself for the past decade.

Go back and reread the words of these super heroes. Every single one of them has a thing that they “never ever thought” they could do.

And 6 months later, they blew past that limitation and had to set new goals!

Once you start doing things you never thought you were capable of, this attitude becomes contagious and you start to question every other assumption in your life too.

#3 ENJOY YOUR HERO’S JOURNEY

Our goal with Nerd Fitness is to not help you lose weight as fast as possible.

Our goal is to get you healthy and happy in a sustainable way, and make sure you have fun along the way.

That’s the ONLY way this progress you make will stick.

I have no doubt every story above will succeed in the long term, because they have the right mentality: it’s about more than just a number on a scale for each of them.

These 6 superheroes know they don’t get to be done, and they never get to go back to how they used to live. And none of them would WANT to.

For the first time in a long time, they have come back to life.

Ben Franklin said it best: Most people die at 25, but aren’t buried until 75.

As the heroes above started to lose weight, they started exploring and asking the question “what am I capable of?” They picked activities that seemed challenging and exciting, not just because it would shred another pound of body fat.

Counterintuitively, by focusing on getting better at these activities, it actually helped them lose more weight and do so in a sustainable fashion. WIN.

  Success looks different to every single person

  You can’t get where you need to go if you don’t take that first step, so why not take your first step today?

Make ONE healthier food decision (it’s 90% of the battle)

Try our beginner bodyweight workout (you can do at home)

Go for a walk. Just 10 minutes. Right now.

I’m proud to be able to share these stories, because they show you can be any size, be any age, fall in love with any type of activity, and become a superhero in a way that brings you to life.

Every superhero has a different superpower, and that’s what makes them interesting. They also have insecurities and flaws and obstacles to overcome, and that’s what makes them relatable.

Above, we have 6 real life superheroes from all walks of life, who have found a path to their own superpower that fits THEIR life.

Some people love the gym, while others will never set foot in one. That’s great.

We’re all on a journey, just like the six people above, and we are all writing our own story. OWN IT.

Yes, I’m proud to share that these are stories from our 1-on-1 coaching program, but they’re also people who live and breathe the Nerd Fitness lifestyle:

Having fun.

Developing functional strength.

Trying and finding new activities.

I know how tough it is to figure this stuff out on your own (I’ve actually had my own online coach for the past 4 years!), and it’s tough trying to figure out which activities to try (or how to start!).

That’s where a coaching program can really come in handy.

We speak on the phone with every potential client to learn their story and make sure we’re a great fit for each other, and you can schedule your call by clicking on the image below!

Regardless of whether or not you check out the program, I want Nerd Fitness to be the community that helps you realize:

You’re capable of more than you realize.

Trying new things is amazing.

If you don’t get to be done, you gotta enjoy the journey.

I’d love to hear from you below:

What’s something you currently think you’d NEVER be able to do, but it would be cool if you could?

What does success mean for you BESIDES just weight loss?

I can’t wait to hear your answers!

-Steve

PS: I remember talking to Narayan (the 2nd story above) back in January when he called to learn about the Coaching Program. It was really fun to hear his story and it makes me so damn happy to be able to share his story in this article.

If you’re looking to build your own hero’s journey, want to learn how to become a real life superhero, I’d be honored if you scheduled a free call with us to see if our coaching program is a good fit to help you reach those goals!

###

Footnotes    ( returns to text)

you can read my thoughts on that study = don’t give up hope!

6 Real Life Superhero Origin Stories from Our Community! published first on http://fitnetpro.tumblr.com/

[ramoswomensgym0]

Full story: talking body confidence with cover models Georgia Gibbs and Kate Wasley

Thunder thighs. Mum tum. Tuckshop lady arms. Far from a biological predisposition, our modern tendency to criticise parts of our own body is instead an ugly by-product of a media-saturated world. Something that the October 2018 cover models and founders of body-love movement, AnyBODY, are on a mission to change.

West-Aussie models and body confidence activists Georgia Gibbs and Kate Wasley sat down with us to talk the impact of social media, health at any size and beauty with no boundaries. Because – in the words of WH&F – it’s not a look, it’s a lifestyle. Katelyn Swallow and David Goding tell their story.

  On the 23rd of January 2017, 22-year-old Aussie model Georgia Gibbs posted an innocent Instagram photo of herself and fellow model and friend Kate Wasley, 23, posed in front of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. A few minutes later, the image was bombarded with negative comments about their differing body sizes, along with accusations of image tampering.

“People were calling me anorexic and Kate fat, and assuming I had Photoshopped my friend bigger to make me look ‘better’. It was really upsetting for us both and so against everything we believe in,” says Gibbs, who started modelling at the age of 16 in her home city of Perth.

“And so our brand, AnyBODY, was born shortly after.”

Launched on the 8th of March 2017 – appropriately, International Women’s Day – the @any.body_co Instagram account had over 5000 followers by close of business day one, and clocked over 20,000 followers after the first 10 days. Today, more than 206,000 follow Gibbs and Wasley, who post professional images of themselves, selfies of women with varied body shapes, inspirational quotes about self-love, and healthy living and beauty tips. AnyBODY has also provided the girls with a host of dual modelling contracts for big brands such as Cotton On Body and Cooper Street.

Wasley attributes the brand’s rapid success to a public and industry that craved body diversity – and a marketable icon to represent it.

“I can’t believe how fast AnyBODY blew up! Although [Georgia] and I are really only two people of different sizes, I truly believe that incorporating a range of sizes, races and genders in advertising and across social media will help thousands of women worldwide when it comes to feeling comfortable in their own skin,” says Wasley, who began her modeling career in 2015 after being discovered by a local model search.

“We decided to preach to people that healthy can come in a range of sizes. Because of the way social media is these days, I think a lot of women lose perspective on what body diversity is. I think a lot of people get sucked into believing that you should look a certain way, be a certain size, and have no cellulite or stretch marks. It’s unrealistic and we want that to change.”

The media’s negative influence on people’s – particularly women’s – body image isn’t a recent concern. According to psychotherapist Natajsa Wagner, media influence can be traced back to illustrations from the 1930s that depicted women with curves, while the ’40s and ’50s saw the female bust and glutes become the focus.

“Mattel created the Barbie doll with unachievable and disproportionate body parts, and in 1966, in the environment of an emerging super-media, we had the world’s first supermodel in Twiggy. She was a sharp contrast to Marilyn Monroe, and over time we learnt that thin was the new ‘ideal’ body image. So, although women come in all shapes and sizes, the overarching truth is that only one type of body is [portrayed as] ‘ideal’,” says Wagner.

By the age of 17, women have experienced a quarter of a million beauty- and body-oriented advertisements, and continue to be exposed to an average of 400 to 600 depictions of ‘beauty’ every day. The emergence of the smartphone and social media platforms puts these images in our pockets, and the way we engage with social media makes these often digitally altered and filtered depictions seem all the more ‘real’. According to research by Trilogy, six out of 10 women believe that people expect online photos to have been retouched or have a filter applied, yet 61 per cent of Australian women do not see the use of a filter as a form of retouching. Additionally, one 2014 study published in Body Image found a direct correlation between poor self-image and the number of hours spent trawling Facebook, due to body comparisons with peers and celebrities alike.

Dr John Demartini, author of The Gratitude Effect, believes our tendency to compare and judge our own body based on individuals who we deem more ‘attractive’ is the primary cause of negative self-perception. “In today’s social media-obsessed world, many people feel pressured to pursue a physical, one-sided, false perfection that is simply unattainable,” he says.

In other words, it’s not a biologically determined position to think of our body negatively; rather, our body image is influenced by a range of outside factors, fuelled by a visually obsessed (and self-obsessed) society. For Wasley, this tendency to compare herself to others led to a host of mental and physical issues in her younger – and leaner – years. While now sitting happily at a comfortable size 16, at her thinnest (size 10/12) she was mentally exhausted.

“For me, my biggest barriers [to a positive body image] were comparing myself to others, whether that be my friends or ‘fitspo’ girls I followed on social media. I had such an unrealistic idea of what I should look like and that resulted in not feeling good enough or worthy of love,” she says.

“I stopped going out with friends because I had such bad anxiety about food and alcohol. I didn’t want to be seen as the ‘fat’ friend – although, looking back now, I was very fit and toned. It’s amazing how you see yourself when you feel insecure; my view of my own body was totally warped. If I can help even one person work their way out of that mindset, I’ll feel accomplished.”

Gibbs expresses a similar memory of juvenile body dysmorphia.

“I remember being 16 and being unsure of who I was, being unhappy with how I looked and spending so much time comparing myself to other people. It really ruined my ability to love myself for all my other talents outside of physical appearance. Barriers to my own self-love definitely came from setting unachievable goals – such as wanting to look like a celebrity who was the complete opposite to me, therefore setting myself up to fail – and comparing myself to others on social media,” she says.

An extension of the same debate is the complex interplay of health, genetics and lifestyle on how the body appears – especially considering Australia’s worsening obesity epidemic, not to mention the ever-increasing occurrence of eating disorders. Gibbs’ mother was a personal trainer and her father a CrossFit instructor, so healthy food and exercise were integrated into her life from an early age – but both were seen as tools for optimal performance rather than to create a particular body shape. Early in her modelling career, however, Gibbs’ naturally curvaceous silhouette and muscular lower body were often criticised by an industry set on slim.

“I’m predisposed to having a small waist, bigger quads and broad shoulders. But through training, these features are definitely exaggerated and other areas built on and changed too,” says Gibbs.

“I’ve always had to overcome hurdles about my appearance. But over the last few years – as I’ve built a brand around myself of wellness and self-acceptance – it’s been amazing to see clients accept me for who I am and now embrace the ‘love AnyBODY’ message.”

Wasley, on the other hand, comes from a paternal line of tall and built physiques, and first became conscious of her health at age 17.

“I was never self-conscious [growing up]. I knew I was on the bigger side, but I honestly didn’t have a problem with it until I started to compare myself to other girls. Maybe it was about the same time I became interested in boys…who knows. But I remember not having a clue where to start,” she says.

“I feel like I’ve finally reached a place of contentment and balance, which I’m truly grateful for! I eat healthy and exercise, and I’m a size 16, and I feel if I were to stop [exercising and eating well] completely, I’d maybe sit at a size 16/18 naturally – but my body would look different, if that makes sense.”

The World Health Organization defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity” – a sentiment the AnyBODY team echo. Gibbs and Wasley encourage women to see good health as encompassing the physical, the mental and the spiritual. It’s about balance, the ability to move freely and think clearly, and it’s highly individual.

“Health is so much more than your physical fitness,” says Wasley. “To an extent, I don’t believe you can judge how healthy a person is based on their weight and physical being. For example, when I was at my thinnest, people were asking me left right and centre for fitness advice; I suddenly became the ‘fit friend’, running 10km multiple times a week and avoiding alcohol. If you looked at me, I was the picture of health. But what no one knew was that I was dealing with disordered eating, I was isolating myself from social events and my friends, and I was so miserable and hated how I looked. I wasn’t healthy at all.”

WH&F head trainer and Creating Curves founder, Alexa Towersey, agrees.

“As a society, we need to redefine what we think ‘healthy’ looks like. The reality of the situation is that body dysmorphia exists at both ends of the spectrum. We naively live under the assumption that a size 10 is making healthier choices than a size 16 based solely on their appearance, and without even taking into consideration age, ethnicity, genetic makeup or hormonal profile.  It’s the underlying relationship with food and exercise – whether it’s positive or negative – that we should be paying attention to,” she says.

Toeing the line between adopting a positive body image and striving to reach your health and fitness goals is not always easy. But for the AnyBODY brand and for a fair chunk of body image experts, striving for physical change isn’t necessarily a negative thing; wanting to create a healthier, fitter body that exudes confidence can be a noble goal and set you on a journey that invigorates, rather than sabotages, your self-esteem. The important thing is to understand why you are wanting to change, says Wagner.

“We’ve all experienced feeling uncomfortable in our bodies: we know when we feel physically fit, healthy and comfortable in our clothes and we know when we don’t. Wanting to make changes to positively impact our health isn’t wrong,” she says.

“However, when you start to define your level of self-worth and value by how you believe your body should look, the desire to improve your body or work towards a better level of health has gone too far. Do it for the endorphins; do it because you’re looking after your body and challenging yourself. There is a huge amount of research now that shows exercise to be one of the most uplifting tools we have and makes us feel good about our current body shape.

“A positive body image means a person is able to accept their body as it is with respect and admiration. Living with a positive body image means you have the ability to utilise your own self-esteem, maintain a positive attitude and are emotionally stable. Because of this, you’re able to filter through the messages from the media, your peers and family, and remain steadfast in how you feel about your body.”

While Wasley and Gibbs admit they’ve had to work hard to become body-positive, the duo hope the AnyBODY brand can help more women accept their appearance and feel empowered in their journey to good health; and, for them, this starts with a greater diversity of body shapes and sizes being represented on the catwalk, in advertising, in clothing sizes and in the media. Already, key brands have taken their cue, with Cooper Street releasing their ‘curve range’ inspired by the movement. Future plans for AnyBODY centre on launching their Skype for Schools program, tackling teenagers’ self-esteem, body confidence and personal development issues, while Wasley is looking to one day complete her Health Promotion degree to further advance the cause. But, in the interim, both Gibbs and Wasley offer one piece of solid advice: quit the comparisons and learn to love you – for you.

“Today I feel fantastic about my body the majority of the time. I still have my bad days because, well, I’m human – but they’re now few and far between. I think it’s the way I deal with it now that has been my biggest achievement. I focus on things I love about myself instead of dwelling on what I dislike. I have health and fitness goals now rather than weight or size goals,” says Wasley.

“Loving your body is an individual journey that’s completely different for everyone. But my top tip is not to compare yourself to anyone – especially on social media – because often you’ll be comparing yourself at your worst to someone at their best. Just remember you are worthy of love, no matter what you look like. There are people out there that love you for you, and don’t give a crap about what you look like. Those are the people worth keeping around.”

ALL FEATURE photography: Cotton ON Body

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