My Background

I'm an electronic engineering professional with an interest in exercise and nutrition. So I guess I'm a computer nerd and exercise geek!

When I was in high school I was what is fondly refered to as a "pie boy". Which is funny, because I didn't even eat that many pies, it was more like chips, chocolate and ice cream for after school snacks. By the end of high school I had lost most of my extra weight, simply by abstaining from these junk foods (puberty didn't hurt either). Was I healthy? Far from it!

Pie Boy Leon

When I moved away from home to go to university I started exercising (between binge drinking sessions). However, I thought exercise consisted of upper body hypertrophy (3 sets of 10 reps) and jogging "long" distances really slowly for legs and cardio. My nutrition consited of bread, pasta, potato and all manner of deep fried "foods", pumped into my body on a daily basis. How times have changed!

In 2008 I moved to Canberra and met my lovely wife Liz, a personal trainer. She introduced me to the world of CrossFit training and The Zone diet. Oh, what an eye opener that turned out to be. Since then I've moved from CrossFit to powerlifting. This is mainly due to an unstable shoulder which often subluxates (not quite a dislocation) with overhead exercises like chin-ups and overhead pressing. Even jumping jacks are uncomfortable! I've also changed my nutrition from The Zone, to the metabolic diet, to the paleolithic diet. So many diets and exercise regimes to choose from and I'm not frightened to experiment.

CrossFit Leon, Wedding Day 2010

What prompted the creation of this blog?

• Firstly, I have met many people that tend to eat the same thing over and over again, simply because they don't know how to cook food that fits in with their lifestyle (I will refrain from using the word diet; a post on the reasons behind this to follow). If only they had a central place to go and find recipes, or at least point them in the right direction.
• Secondly, my wife and I were blessed with a baby girl almost two weeks ago. Over these past two weeks my diet has been horrendous; I'm eating milk chocolates as I type this. I want to use this blog as motivation to clean up my diet. Selfish, I know.
• Finally, there is a raw powerlifting competion in December and I want to lose a few kilograms of fat prior to competion. Currently I weigh around 72kg, which puts me in the 74kg weight class. However, I want to see if I can lift in the 66kg weight class; which means I need to drop about 3kg (the rest I can lose in water prior to weigh in). While this seems like a miniscule amount, I've spent the past year trying to gain weight to increase my strength. So, can I lose a few kilograms and maintain the strength I've gained over the past year? Let's find out!

Well, that's it for now. I hope you enjoy reading this blog, and maybe, just maybe, it will help you discover something new along your lifestyle journey.