Move over Optimus Prime: have a new favorite transformer.  His name is Joe, and he has the best Nerd Fitness success story I have EVER seen.  In 10 months of following Nerd Fitness, Joe has lost 128 pounds. If you are (really) overweight, out of shape, and worried that it’s too late to get started – stop.  It will take time, and it won’t be easy, but it IS possible.  Let’s meet Joe, my new hero.

Nerd Fitness rebels come in all shapes and sizes and from all walks of life. They also come in every type of “nerd” possible: book nerds, video game nerds, cosplay nerds, even Bible nerds!  Today, I want to introduce you to Ryan. He is pictured above in his “before” phase, and is studying to become a Catholic priest!  Ryan spent the past two years struggling to find a path to a healthy lifestyle that worked for him.  Somehow, that path lead him to Nerd Fitness and the our community, and an overall weight loss of 115 pounds (and counting!). Here is his story.

Meet my friend Saint, who has one of the most incredible success stories I have EVER seen. After graduating college, Saint took a desk job as a computer programmer and watched as his weight slowly started to creep up…like every other average American.  Over the past two years, he was able to slowly and steadily bring that down before having an incredible breakthrough that allowed him to transform drastically.  Here’s how he did it.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you have a clear goal in mind.  Six months ago, I received an email from a reader named Stephen who told me that he had a wedding coming up in May 2012, and that he hoped to get in shape for it. Since then, he’s become an absolute machine, day in day out, dominating his workouts and putting a huge focus on eating right.  Stephen got married weighing in at 213, a full 57 POUNDS lost since January.  This is his story.

Anne’s an actress, singer, and writer living in New York City. Not too long ago, Anne was a slave to games like World of Warcraft, playing them in ever spare moment she had. She was stuck in a cycle. She never realized she could apply the lessons learned in World of Warcraft and level up in real life, so she never did. Fortunately, Anne eventually discovered that the secret to getting healthy was right under her nose the entire time. Let’s learn how Anne did it!

Meet Ben, a 44-year-old fundraising and software consultant and father of two! Just earlier this year, Ben was living a sedentary life. At 280 lbs, classified as “morbidly obese,” Ben found he was unhappy with his current track, out of energy, and in need of a change. But then he decided he wanted to get healthy, found Nerd Fitness, and over the next 10 months lost over 100 lbs.

Check out this super couple, Josh and Leah. Josh has dropped over 100 pounds in six months, and Leah has dropped 60 pounds over eighteen months! They had a damn good reason to get healthy, leaned on each other for support, and were able to implement habits that suck.

Anthony is a 30 year old application developer out of Raleigh, NC, and one of the most amazing transformations I’ve ever seen.  He dropped 210 pounds in one year as part of the Nerd Fitness Rebellion, and documented the entire process along the way!

One day, Anthony realized that he needed to do something more than level up his World of Warcraft character – he needed to level up his real life too. Find out how!