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Wow am I glad to found this thread. In Feb of 2019 my wife and I started a medically supervised weight loss program run by our local hospital. I was 320lb and very unhappy. After consulting with my doctor, we set a weight loss goal of 100lbs. She told me this was very conservative and very doable in this program. She wanted me to shoot for 200lbs, but I haven't weight 200lbs since I freshmen in College, so I didn't think that was a realistic goal. By Jun of 2019 I was down 50lbs and very excited about what could happen. I saw that ATA was having an anniversary sale, and I bought 2 ANH TK kits from him, and decided it was time to join the 501st. (There is a longer story here, but I'll tell that another time). October 2019 came and I was down to 240lbs. I ran my first 5k at my son's college during the parent weekend. I came in 5th in my age group. It wasn't hard to beat the others as they walked the 5k. But I ran the whole thing and was amazed that I completed it. when we returned home I had 2 kits waiting for me. I was crazy excited. and figured my son and I would build them over Christmas break. I didn't have a clue, but I was just starting to read the forums and getting and idea. Nov and Dec I slipped a lot, We had a 10 vacation to Orlando where we did both Disney and Universal theme parks and then the holidays came. I gained about 20 lbs back and was a bit depressed, but was ready to work on my kit. My Garrison's Armorer lives near me and we spent every weekend in January together learning how to build my armor. I was back to 250lbs and fit the kit to me for my approval in Feb of 2020. I attended my first Convention as a 501st member and ran the both most of the weekend. I was so proud to wear my kit. Then Covid hit. Trooping stopped, the medical weight loss program stopped, my son's school went virtual so he has to come home. And the weight started to come back. So here I sit, June of 2022 and I'm back up to 300lbs. I hate how my armor looks on me, My second costume (my tie reserve) doesn't fit any more. So I'm miserable. Luckily the weight loss program is starting back up in July and my goal of getting to 220lbs is alive again. I don't have any pictures currently, but I'll update this post/thread later. I'm just happy to have found this thread so I can start participating and helping us all encourage one another! And hopefully by the time I lose the extra weight again, Dave's Darkside Depot (AM) or Troopermaster (TM) will have plastic again so I can order a new kit to build to at least EIB. Thanks in advance for the encouragement. I've seen some of the post and it make me thrilled to find another part of the FISD to participate with.

Wow Adam, you are a legend to keep that at bay under your own steam, that's impressive. I am positive you can get back on that horse and work yourself to wellness, you've championed it before so you are in control of your destiny here. Think of it like centurion Level, it's not easy to achieve, but it is possible, you just need the focus and drive. In your case, your body is centurion level, you managed it on your first build, now your onto a new build and you are hungry for it again. You got this.

Did some test fitting with the torso , arms and helmet today. Had trouble snapping on the shoulder bells because the snaps were very tight and then I couldn’t get them off. LOL. Still felt good to see some semblance of a storm trooper when I looked in the mirror. Then I snuck into my daughters room.

I also have continued working on the left forearm for the end with no return edge. Taping it together and sanding it as one piece worked well. I think I'm good on this one, but let me know if anyone disagrees. I still have to finish the top end return edge.

Enjoy ! About the Sniper Knee, If I may, consider what the CRL states. Sniper knee plate must be aligned with the ridges on the shin. Some reference Images.

Not much progress, but I did finish the left bicep and are ready to glue the right bicep together. More to come...

Excellent choice, Robert. I've been trooping in IB boots for 7 years and no issues. The only thing I would suggest is to order a half or full size larger than you normally wear as they run a bit small.

Hey everyone! So a few years back I built an AP that ended up being a sandy because frankly Im a big guy. I ended up selling it because it just flat out hurt to wear it. I'm 6'1" and about 260lbs and it just dug in in 100 places. I ended up building an AT-ST driver to wear instead. SO fast forward to now, I regret selling it because I miss the smiles from the kids when they see a Stormtrooper. No one but us cares about the AT-ST driver costumes lol. The way I explained it to my wife was that this is a bit of an addiction and the only one of the drugs strong enough is a TK or TD. So I got the wife permission to spend some money! Okay so I contacted Darkside Dave to get an AM. I have sent both deposit and payment now. Took 5.5 months between the two but that is fine with me. It looks like I now am building an extra helmet on top of my own. I'll be including all building activities on this page so hopefully it will help someone else down the road. TK-73337s Building service is open for business lol Here's the list of parts I have ordered or am in the process of ordering. Armour: -AM 5.0 ANH Stunt (Payment sent, waiting for BBB day) Soft Parts: -Undersuit (Have Old Undersuit) -Neck Seal (Contacted Pinkys) -Canvas belt (Contacted Pinkys) -Harness (Contacted Pinkys) -Holster (Bought Darmans off etsy) -Boots (Bought random boots from guy in California lol) -Gloves (Provided by dave) -Handplates (Provided by dave) Weapon: -E-11 (Bought Quest Design Canada E-11 off etsy) -Stand (Bought Quest Design Canada E-11 stand off etsy) Electronics: -Fans (I build my own 5v setup) I'm Basically doing a list from memory so if you see anything missing let me know. Build threads for me to learn from:

Many of us have previously discussed how we would like to lose weight in order to feel better about ourselves and look better in our armor. This thread is simply a way for us to cheer each other on in our pursuits of reaching a healthy weight, and to also offer tips and words of encouragement. How this thread works: 1. post a picture(s) of yourself at your starting height and weight in your armor. (Pics in street clothes are welcome too.) 2. pick a goal weight 3. explain what things you are going to do to lose weight 4. Report back with your weight loss on either a weekly or monthly basis. 5. Post progress pics, to show how well the armor is fitting as the weight comes off. So let's get started, we can do this and we'll hold each other accountable and encourage each other, plus once you hit your goal weight, I will send you one of my stormtrooper decal window stickers for your car! This thread is for anyone who wants to improve how they look in their armor: for some it will be losing weight, for others it will be gaining mass/muscle to fill in their armor better. All are welcome to participate. Congrats to Christaan Von Martin (naatsirhc) who earned his Stormtrooper car sticker by working hard and hitting his goal weight!

Dang. Sorry to read that you need this too James. However, I'm very glad there's a handful of us to participate and keep each other going! I made up something kinda quick to commemorate it. What do you think brothers? Weekly updates? @Order and Justice @jsilvius

@jsilvius you can do it again brother!! Go for it.

I learned a valuable lesson about not buying unless they do a shipping quote first. He produced the receipt and was a guy off of here so I trust he didn't take me for any money, just higher than either of us expected it would ever be lol. Yeah I'm pretty happy with both. I got the 8 ounce leather holster. It's built so well.

Someone got mad I used fair use by using a slither of their normal map texture for the body glove and with credit. Rest of the textures are custom or vanilla. Fair use doesn't seem to exist. Weird. All my mods are in my icedrive. Here's the link, again: https://icedrive.net/s/6xjGAG267W2yfgX6BA6jBjzfBf2h

I am going to send them back and get the ones off of Imperial boots https://www.imperialboots.com/product/stormtrooper_tk_boots/ Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi trooper, If you have an option to return or exchange them, you can certainly find better, more suitable boots as the originals did not have the stitching on the front. However, as Glen said, they will probably be okay at basic (check with your GML). My concern would be the size of the opening. It looks like it is very large and this might make it difficult to get a good fit for the shins.

What happened???? Disney strike?

This meant a lot. Thank you. I had a really good workout yesterday afternoon and another this morning. 4 days in a row. Gotta keep advancing!

This is a timely thread bump. I didn't realize we had something like this. So... I've got Crohn's disease. Currently I'm untreated with no meds. I've been diagnosed for over 14 years and have gone from a lot of drugs and immunosupressives to a few to none. Diet and obsessive exercise had me in complete remission. I've had maybe 3 flare ups in the 14 years and was never hospitalized beyond my original episode... wherein I almost died. COVID lock down has been extremely unkind. I *loved* going to the gym. I'm a social exerciser. I don't enjoy working out on my own and have a hard time motivating myself to do it. But if others are around, perhaps in a gym environment, I do well. If I'm in a class with others doing the daily workout board (WOD) I thrive. I haven't worked out much in the past 2.5 years since lockdown. I built a decent home gym in an unused room and have all the equipment I need... just no motivation to do it. How lame is that? A lovely home gym with a rack, plates, weights, and all I need yet it just sits. And because of Crohn's, I cannot exercise in a gym. At least currently while COVID is still rampant. I'm fully immunized, but it doesn't matter a whole lot in this condition. I started building my armor when I was working out all the time. I did the forearms and biceps back in 2019. They were TIGHT. And when I took my centurion photos in 2021, they were quite loose. Arguably, they needed (and still need) to be sized down. And I was still in "good shape" when I took these pix. Healthy without symptoms. I'm not in good shape now. Crohn's has been rearing it's ugly head and my health is quite poor. I likely need meds again, or I need to actually work out, or both. I've lost about 30 lbs of muscle. I can't eat much to help maintain my weight. I'm in danger of not being able to troop and being in the hospital again. So I need this Trooper Fit Club. Or something. Anything. A kick in the posterior armor. I've done small workouts the past 2 days. I just need to keep doing things. Keep moving. Keep lifting things. I need to do something today. It's so hard to find the motivation.

Greetings Troopers! I have wanted to post something here in the Trooper Fit Club ever since finding this topic in the forums some time ago, but haven’t worked up the nerve to do so. I think this whole thing is a great idea for Troopers like me who don’t feel as comfortable in their armor as they would like to, and who want to make changes to improve their Trooping experience. I joined the 501st back in the Summer of 2019, back then I weighed about 230lbs and had my armor custom made to fit a slightly smaller version of myself. When I tried my armor on for the first time, I LOVED the way I looked in it, it was a snug fit, but I had good intentions to lose a few pounds at the time, so that didn’t bother me at all. I was eager to start Trooping! The pandemic began at the end of that year and unfortunately, in my area, that meant no events for the foreseeable future. I spent that time doing photo shoots, adding electronics and other modifications to my armor, and earning my EXPERT INFANTRY BATTALION award (#996) to become one of the first 1000. Regrettably, since then, I’ve put on another 25 pounds, making my armor more and more uncomfortable to wear. I was going through the photos of my most recent Troop this morning and couldn’t help but feel ashamed of myself for letting it get this bad. I realized that if I don’t make some changes now, I may not even fit in my armor soon, and then I’ll have robbed myself of some great Trooping experiences that I’ll be sure to miss out on as a result. So, here I am. The purpose of this post is to hold myself accountable, because no one can do anything about any of this but me. This way however, I’m amongst other, likeminded individuals who understand exactly where I’m coming from and exactly what I’m aiming for, so thank you in advance for any support you offer me along the way. This will not be a short journey, but it will be worth it in the end. Height: 6ft 0in Current Weight: 255lbs Goal Weight: 215lbs My plan to lose weight starting right now is to begin jogging a mile in my neighborhood every night, an easy enough exercise goal for a beginner, and to cut sugary beverages completely out of my diet, a big issue for me, and drink only water in stead. These are certainly not the most drastic of changes and I’ll certainly add other exercise and diet goals as time goes on, but this will be the foundation that I intend to build on, as I do so I’ll post updates here. Thank you fellow Troopers for your invaluable support. With luck, and hard work, I’ll have good results to report back here with a month from now.

So not much progress, but I did finish trimming the left bicep and attached my first cover strip! More to come.

It is definitely exciting seeing it come together! Here I rough trimmed the arm pieces at the mold lines. I know the ends of the forearms should have no return edges, but the rest should be pretty close. Time to start test fitting...

As Glen mentioned, my door is always open and you can discuss whatever you need with me. If I can help, I certainly will. I do also speak with GML from all over the world if they have any issues or enquires, and I also do what ever I can to overcome problems for our memebrs. Troopers helping troopers.