I live in Wisconsin I don't workout at a gym but I'm by Waukesha

I would be interested in reviving the local thread/group!

Thank you all for the inspiration! Things are...going. I'm still technically +2 lbs since I started logging, but I can't say I'm very concerned about that in the grand scheme of things.

I started at two workouts per week. After two weeks I increased to 4-5 times a week - most of the workouts are olympic lift / body building routines that I've adapted to a circuit so I can double cardio & weight training into one timespan. You may ask why heavy weights?

There are three primary reasons:
1) I have low testosterone. A very good friend of mine - Dr. J. Triemstra, Ph.D. - just earned her Doctorate in Neuroendocrinology; the first major focus of her doctoral research was the role of sex differences and hormones in cancer pain management; her Masters research was in the role of sex hormones (testosterone / estrogen) in physical development and performance of high-level female athletes. She found that elite female athletes actually have the same testosterone levels as elite male athletes during competition and for a short time afterward; after sevreal hours the testosterone levels in femal athletes fell precipitously to what is considered a normal range, but the testoserone levels remained elevated for men - this sustained leveation is laregely respnsible for secondary sex characteristics. She recommended heavy lifts in order to raise testosterone without the need for hormone replacement therapy.
2) I do know that it takes more caloric energy to sustain 1 lb of muscle than it does to sustain 1 lb of body fat. My theory is that instead of following the typical "starvation" and excess cardio route of dieting, I can focus on muscle growth. By making the weight lifting routines sufficiently intense (circuit-like) I can create a moderate calorie deficit without having to drastically reduce calorie intake. By increasing muscle mass, I will have a higher resting metabolic rate leading to secondary weight loss due to higher calorie requirement - provided I monitor my diet.
3) I *used* to be *very* in-shape through participation in group sports and outside training for said sports. I did a lot of body building through high school and college. I also did a lot of distance running in grade school and college. By my Junior year of college I had a resting heart rate of 39 - 43 bpm. As my Dr. fiend said, "You conditioned your body - adn most importantly your brain - to want testosterone...if you don't have sufficient levels of testosterone in your body, it's going to respond with all the negative effects that you're experiencing."

So the mildly annoying part is that at some level I intuitively knew all this to be true and necessary. The awesome part is that I have a couple of friends that care enough to help me get past my stubbornness. The additional excellent part is that there are positive people here such as yourselves that are willing to offer encouragement!

However it did take conventional medical intervention to get me going in the right direction. I was on testosterone replacement therapy for about 2.5 months before I felt good enough to attempt working out. My energy levels were completely awful! But the injections steadily helped improve my affect. And with the nagging encouragement of a co-worker, we began working out before work.

SO! After the first three weeks, I gained weight rapidly from the "olympic circuit training" as my muscles rebounded from their atrophied state. My staring weight was 280...I peaked at 292 - 295 during the first month of lifting. NOTE: I have no concrete evidence of body composition change other than my "feelings" and measurements I track on this site. I'm still a bit too cheap to buy one of the awesome body composition monitoring scales, and I've not undergone any body composition testing via multi-point caliper measurements or immersion testing.

Just today I dropped below my initial weight of 280 to 279. So I'm not breaking out the champagne yet. Bt I'm optimistic about my future!

Topics to keep us here???? Suggestions

How about the fact that it is warmer in Russia than Wisconsin right now lol

Actually the last few days haven't been so bad, but it looks quite short lived.