Ready to Start For Real

[tooenthused]

Hi everyone, my name is Alex, I live in Ontario, Canada. I'm 30, a recently out trans guy and I've been overweight for most of my life. I'm going to be starting testosterone in the next little while, and with that will come puberty and a more than likely increased appetite. I'd like to get some healthy habits set in place before all that happens.

 

I think my biggest hurdle has always been motivation. I've tried losing weight countless times before, and each time I miss one day, then another, and the next thing I know it's several months later and I'm sitting on the couch eating an entire bag of chips. I'm hoping that having an actual goal this time, mixed with a community here behind me this time will help me reach my target and maintain my weight loss. Right now, I have terrible eating habits, and I never exercise. I was sticking to the free body weight workout about 6 months ago, and then that just kind of... stopped.

 

I've always been a huge nerd, since I can remember. I own over 25 gaming systems, my oldest being my Atari 2600, and the newest my PS4. I also play a lot of tabletop games. I go out to play board games once a week, and have two weekly RPGs. I run a game of Pathfinder and play a D&D 5th edition game. I started reading comics this year, and although I consider myself first and foremost a Marvel fanboy, I do read some DC and Image books as well.

 

I hope I can find a community here where I can fit in, find motivation, and maybe make some new friends along the way.

[HedgeMage]

Hey there, and welcome!

 

I'll throw out some general advice, but first a piece of very specific advice:  Make sure that you have an endocrinologist that is familiar with both trans issues *and* hormonal issues that impact fat gain/loss.  You're going to be throwing your endocrine system for a loop as it adjusts to transition, which can impact your metabolism, blood sugar management and so on, especially if you've had trouble maintaining a healthy weight before.  I know that transition is important, but it's also important that you come out HEALTHY in every possible way, so make sure your doc is paying attention to all the angles.

 

As for sticking to things:

 

I've found that the biggest factors for me in maintaining healthy habits are making those habits easy (e.g. if junk food requires no prep and real food requires prep, guess what I'm grabbing when I get home after a hard day?), and giving myself social support and social incentives.  Having family/friends/partner(s) who respect your goals and will help keep you motivated can be a game changer.  So is making trading/trying recipes and working out a social affair if you can.

 

Another thing that helped me was working with a good personal trainer.  The things that nuke my motivation fastest are 1) not seeing results for a while and 2) not knowing where/how to pick back up if life got in the way and my routine broke.  I have somebody really good who helps me keep my workout effective as my body changes, and does the thinking for me when I need to cope with setbacks.

 

Enjoy and stick around!

 

Susan

[tooenthused]

Thanks, Susan! I will definitely mention to my doctor that I've started a workout routine at my next visit. I also have access to a nutritionist at my clinic, I'm just not sure what questions to ask her as far as losing weight. I saw her last year, but then ended up not sticking to anything, as is my habit.

 

I've already talked to a couple friends who are going to check in with me daily to make sure I'm sticking to my plan, and I'm going to try to stop buying junk food when I go grocery shopping.

 

I love the idea of a personal trainer, and I'm sure I'd benefit from it, but that will probably be a little way down the road as I can't afford one at the moment. I'm hoping that just checkin in the the site regularly and speaking with friends about my goals will keep me motivated until then.

[originalpiratematerial]

Welcome Alex, I'm a newbie myself, the forthcoming challenge will be my first challenge too. I so agree that making your new workout habits easy to fit in your life, so they do become ingrained as habits, is the key. For me, about seven years ago now I realised that I could walk to work (5 miles) in not much more time than it took me on public transport so I started doing that - it fitted into my day, needed no kit other than decent shoes, and didn't make me feel horribly self conscious as running at that time would have done. I lost weight very slowly but lose it I did and have kept it off. Now I do a lot more than that - but that easy yet effective beginning made all the difference.

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