Hi everyone

Whiskybelly

Just thought I'd pop in here and say "hey", and if anyone has any cardio tips for me please don't hesitate to post them.

I'm 25, just quit smoking about three weeks ago, 6 foot tall and weigh just over 17 stone. I don't drink alcohol unless it's someone's birthday, and even then we're only talking about 3 bottles of beer. I've jumped from exercising to sitting on my backside eating crisps for the past 12 years. I was a pretty chunky kid growing up and enjoyed spending Saturdays watching TV with friends instead than actually doing something that involved moving.

When I was 16 a mate and I joined up to a local gym, and I ended up going to it 3-4 times a week for a couple of hours. Weightlifting was what I usually ended up spending my whole time doing there - full body workouts going around every machine twice and finishing off with 30 minutes of free weights. It's impossible to remember what weights I was lifting on each machine because I was always too busy trying to look cool in front of all the women (9 years on, nothing has changed) but I remember always clutching a couple of 12kg dumbbells when it came to free weights. It's a modest weight, I know, but I felt it was enough at the end of a session when my biceps were at the point of giving up and everything else was fast approaching the same sentiment. Obviously for the first couple of months I wasn't doing anything like that at all, but once I got into the rhythm of it, I had my gym gear in my school bag and had no problem walking the two miles from school to the gym.

After about 4 months I started going to spin and body pump classes once a week, and added 20 minutes on one of those huge steppers (what are they called again?! Been too long since I've seen one) at the end of a session. My weight went down from 16 stone to 14 and stayed there steady for about 7 months.

I loved that place, but then I had to go and fall in love. I sadly reverted back into the lazy attitude I had built up for 16 years of my life. Pretty much since then I'll go the full year not doing much exercise before going to a gym for a month and then giving up again. It also doesn't help that the gym I used to be a member of was shut down a year after I left due to health and safety fears. The only gym I can now use is a body builders gym and I'd rather focus on cardio and do some free weights at home (although I spend a lot of time behind a desk at my work, I operate the lighting for events and always find myself carrying around 30kg Martin 550's. They're pretty handy for a few shoulder presses as well!), so I bought a cross trainer about a month ago and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Although, I think I may have mixed up some cables when I built it - apparently I'm running 10km in 27:30. If I could run it in that time, I doubt I'd be too worried about my weight. I'd probably be in Britain's Olympic team for that matter.

But now I'm 25. I've got a great job, smoke free, new loves and friends, and I've decided that now is as good a time as any to try and rekindle whatever it was I had when I was 16.

Anyway, if you managed to read all of that without wanting to punch me several times in the face - thank you. With any luck, I'll still be here in three months time saying that I've hit my target weight.