I'm a dork now, but gonna be a diva!

[DORKtoDIVA]

OK, I stole my username from (a different website)* What can I say? I find it inspiring, and I think that's important!

I'm 32 years old and have never, ever been an athlete. I weaseled my way through sports in high school. The only thing I really did was crew, and I was at the stroke position of the dorkiest scull, yay!

In April 2008 I was hit with a virus that left me in poor health ever since. Last summer I was so fatigued that I found the most basic activities too tiring: folding a load of laundry (even sitting down), cooking dinner (too much time on my feet) and so on. On my worst days I did not even have enough energy to hold a conversation, sitting down. I kid you not.

After roughly a year of slow progress, I've been taking care of myself and eating much better - whole foods, cooked from scratch, mostly from local and organic sources. I am still fatigued but MUCH better than last summer, I have my life back! I am still much more tired than your average 32 year old, though, but I have enough energy now to take charge and get better!

So my goals are to be healthy, to be strong. I want to have the energy and stamina to run around with my 3 year old daughter. I want to FEEL GOOD. I want to increase my confidence in my body and walk like a real woman instead of just shuffling around. I want to improve my mood and feel even happier! I want to do this in a sustainable way that will help me for LIFE.

Anyway - hello! Now I'm off to post some questions...

[Trusylver]

Welcome to the forum

[Lazylifter]

Hiya Dorktodiva,

Look forward to chatting with you

[zakcat]

Sounds like you've had a tough time of it lately, glad to hear you're getting back on your feet, hopefully we'll all be able to help you, what are you going to start with?

[DORKtoDIVA]

I'm starting with a 3 week "mini-challenge" with strength training and cardio.

Goals are:

- Learn the exercises and gain some confidence with them
- Work out a general routine that works for me
- Increase stamina
- Increase energy

I'm about halfway through this short phase.

When this phase is done, I plan to do a 12 week challenge and ramp up the intensity (and hammer out the goals in more detail when I'm closer to being done with this phase).

The routine I'm working out now is:

Monday - Upper body routine
Tuesday - Cardio and light lower body
Wednesday - Core routine
Thursday - Cardio and light upper body
Friday - Lower body routine
Saturday - Cardio and light core
Sunday - Rest

[Miri]

Hi Dork to Diva, from a fellow newbie. Best wishes for achieving your goals for fitness and health!