Well today was an eventful day. Lately i've been having a lot of success on atkins, and yesterday I decided it was time I got a gym membership and started working out. So I went with my good friend today (who is 184lbs, 12% body fat, 6"2... in other words, good shape, but skinny as a board) and had an .... interesting time. I got a guest pass to Fitness World and he showed me some stuff. I was shocked at how poorly I performed. He gave me 90lbs to bench to start off with (keep in mind, i'm a big big guy and strong as a bull) but I could barely do it. After 4-5 reps I was shaking and needed to put it down, well meanwhile, he did 8 reps. He out-benched me. So anyways, he showed me other things, I dont know the names for them all, but they were all very hard for me. I couldn't keep up with him on any of the weights. I'm not entirely embarrassed, because this is the first time i've been to a gym in 5 years and I really don't exercise at all.

But anyways, after we had done 4-5 exercises, I said I was going to buy a bottled water and asked him if he wanted one (in other words, I was tired of working out already and wanted to get away). This is where things got a bit interesting. While paying for the water, I started to get dizzy, and my vision blurred. Then, my hearing started to go on me. I've never felt anything like this before. I was very close to blacking out, and I could barely hear anything. At the worst of it, I couldn't see at all, except black dots. It lasted a couple of minutes, and at one point I thought I was going to black out. I called my friend over before it got bad and he was all freaked out. It stopped after a bit, and I was fine again. I found out from my friend later that it was probably due to me not breathing properly when I was lifting the weights, which I forgot to do. But anyways, scared the shit out of me!

So after that, I went up and did 10 minutes on the bike and treadmill. Overall, it was a very pathetic workout, but my muscles really feel worked just sitting here as im typing this (2 hrs later) so it must have been enough for me. Anyways, went down and talked to the Ass. (haha) Manager, and she talked to me about memberships, ect. Then we got into talking about my goals and expectations... she offered to take my body fat % which I was excited about (I have never had it done before). Well, I guessed it would be around 40% before I got on. But when I got on it... it said 41%!!!! Yeah, I know I gussed it, but seeing it in #'s ... wow. Plus, I didn't realize how bad it was. Erm, she was a bit quiet after she saw that. Most people when they see me think i'm in good shape. My friend even said he thinks I look around 250lbs.

So anyways, that's my story. I am pretty scared now though about:

1. My body fat % being so high. 41% is VERY bad... I don't even know anyone on these whole forums with that high of a %

2. I couldn't bench even 100lbs. Heck, when I was 13 years old I could bench 120lbs! What's wrong!!!!!!

3. My main concern is that the 40lbs+ i've lost has been muscle.

But anyways, my post is mainly just me yapping. The one good thing about this interesting day is that I am now more motivated to start working out. I want to get my BF % down to the low 20's! So I am going to be signing up with a membership. I will most likely go 3 days a week and do 1 hour work outs (30 min weights / 30 min cardio). Then, the 4 days off, I will ride my Gazelle for 45 minutes, and do some weights up stairs or something, just to keep my muscles active.

Either way, I guess I will be using this forum a lot more often.

Hello

- Adam