jsteffen80

That's a good question. My dad was very into fitness (marathon runner) when I was younger, but he never really taught me anything about it. When he was working out it was 'don't mess with daddy' time. Top that with the fact that I was never allowed in the workout room, and I grew up lazy. I think it's best to let kids…

I'm very interested in your story. I'm attempting to "prove 'em wrong" too. I have some questions... What were your calorie goals throughout the process? Were you aiming for 2 pounds per week loss, or something else? Do you have before and after bicep/chest measurements? They sure look bigger, but I'm a numbers guy. How…

The only thing that really bothers me is when people try to talk to me. Chances are good I'm out of breath from blasting some weights or killing a cardio machine... I don't want to talk. I've gotten a lot better about being unapproachable.

I have a propensity to try extremely hot foods. I've even gone as far as eating whole red savina and orange habanero peppers (I haven't had the opportunity to try any of the hotter peppers, but would). I have no problems killing my own meat, slaughtering pigs, field dressing deer, cutting intestines out of whatever and…

I did for a while. The local Y's pricing seemed really high for it's usefulness. First you had to pay the membership fee, which wasn't bad in and of itself ($80 I think it was for family). Then there was a $7 a month to use the weight room. Then there was a $15 a month to use the cardio room. On top of that they charged us…

While I step on the scale almost every day as I like to see my body weight fluctuate, I only log my Monday morning weight on the site. That is also the only one I put any sort of faith in. However, I find that the readout on my HRM, my belt, and my overall feeling are much more reliable measuring sticks.

I like to eat breakfast every day. It's been a habit my whole life, but I have cut waaaay back from the 5-10 servings of cereal every day to 1-1.5 servings every day. It's usually some sort of grainy cereal without too much sugar. I like to rotate between Cheerios, Grape Nuts, Raisin Bran, Wheaties, etc... Sometimes I'll…

I'm going to start this one first of the year. It seems simple, and there aren't any weird exercises on there... mostly stuff I already do. http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mike-ohearn/power-bodybuilding/12-week-program.html

A good level of personal accountability works wonders. Tell yourself you won't do it, and then don't do it. And Bobby is right... Cheat days or cheat meals are good to keep you motivated, and not worried about the day to day. You shouldn't put any food that you like completely off limits, but be smart about it.

I will continue to log it all. Even if I hit 5000 calories like I did on Thanksgiving. Better the devil you know...

I like feeling like a champ when I leave the gym. I want to stay one step ahead of the pizza monster.

Typically, I'm in the gym 45 minutes to an hour. On strength days I aim to lift for 40 minutes keeping my rest time to a minimum. Then I finish off my trip with 10 minutes of intervals on the stairmill (I'm ready to fall off the thing when I'm done with this one). I think that I could probably lift a bit longer, but I…

I'd like to chime in here because you sound like you are doing what I did the last time I lost a bunch of weight. I went from about 350 to 225 in a matter of 7-8 months. I was gung-ho. I hit the gym HARD twice a day EVERY DAY (once on Saturday and Sunday). I could often burn 1500-2000 calories between my two trips…

I'm constantly air-guitaring/drumming, mouthing the words, head banging, imaginary mosh-pitting. Anything to get my mind off of the pain. Mouthing the words has the added benefit of helping my breathing. The kids at the gym all give me dirty looks, but I don't care.

Right now 2-4. Today will be 1 banana, 1 gala apple, and 1 clementine orange.

I'm going to go against the grain here and say that I think it is a good target for people that aren't sure where their weight loss or fitness goals should be. That's not to say that I think it's a reasonable goal for everyone. It can be useful to start internal conversations for people that don't have any other…

New heart rate monitor. I'm going to try the polar transmitter with the nike+ ipod nano kit.

I picked a number 10 pounds under my highest healthy BMI. I figure with my large frame, it will be difficult to get to that point, but not unattainable. The lowest I've ever been (since high school) is 35 pounds heavier than that.

I knew I was missing a few, thanks.

They read your heart rate, and through calculations can figure out an approximation of how many calories you are burning based on your age/weight. Short of thousands of dollars of equipment, they are great for telling you how many calories you burn in a given time. You generally only wear them when you are working out. You…

my current favorite is the Stairmill... we call it 'the gauntlet' or 'the mean machine' I have really been wanting to try a jacob's ladder. But I agree with Ron, the best is the one you will do consistently.

Foot long oven roasted chicken breast, grilled, provolone, lettuce, tomato, red onion, green pepper, pickles, and a dash of salt and pepper. Not 100% good for you but damn is it tasty.

In the gym recently has been all about Clutch, Mastodon, and Machine Head. Can't go wrong with Pantera. I just made a new playlist of Lamb of God since downloading their latest 'Ghost Walking' over the weekend... going to destroy the gym with that today. Can't forget SLAYER!!! Edit: Meshuggah makes me forget all the pain.

Right around $80,000 9 years ago for selling my share of inherited farm land. If nothing else I come away from it with the knowledge of how NOT to handle money. At this point I have about $3000 worth of woodworking equipment, and an engine-less motorcycle to show for it.

Out of everything, I think I would have the most difficult time giving up coffee. I generally drink a whole pot every day. Black is the only way I'll drink it though, so the calories are low. Luckily, I have naturally low blood pressure, so I don't have to worry about caffeine too much.

My wife makes chicken tortilla soup very similar to this. I can verify that it is amazing. I think I like it more than chili. I like to add some crumbled up tortilla chips, fat free sour cream, and a bit of cheese. I can have a very large bowl (2 cups of soup) with all the fixins for about 500 calories.

There is no way my wife and I would think of doing that (wrapping our own presents -- that's just weird). But we do a mix of knowing what we're getting each other and not knowing. Usually I know some of what I'm getting, but I rarely let her know what she's getting... she can usually figure some of it out.

Of the three current systems I like the XBox 360 with Kinect the best. They pretty much all have the same games, but the Kinect doesn't require you to hold a controller.

She was probably trying to get a date... Seriously, it's a BMW key. It's not like you strolled in there decked out head to toe in gear screaming 'LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME!!!' (I assume that isn't what happened anyway) She had a motive outside of being a b***h.

What I do: I created an exercise called 'HRM Workout' where I just input my time, my calories burned (from the whole time at the gym), and hit go. As far as this site is concerned, there isn't much need to track individual weight lifting exercises, just the calories burned while lifting the weights.