TheGuy

November has been the worst. It's been incredibly busy at work. And I have had some kind of cold for almost the entire month. The baby has also had a tough time the last 2-3 weeks. My wife is exhausted all the time and neither of us is getting much sleep. I have not been going to the gym and with no time for proper shopping my primal eating has gone right out the window. I am going to do my best to start back up but it's safe to say I am not going to "pass" this one.

Friday and weekend update: The less said about Friday the better. My foul mood continued and actually got worse. I cannot remember being in a worse mood in quite some time. I did not go to the gym. I had a panzerotto and a can of coke for lunch. Saturday was pumpkin carving day. My mother, brother, his wife and their two kids all came over to our house. I hollowed out 4 pumpkins and carved 3. Also made dinner for the whole crew, pork shoulder roast, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots. I had a glass of red wine and an ounce or two of 15 year old rum on the rocks. Other than the booze Saturday was good diet wise. No gym though. Sunday was a mixed day. Didn't eat breakfast and we went to a local park to enjoy a fantastic fall day. Got some pictures that I will upload when I can. Didn't walk as much as I planned, my son decided he had enough of being in the stroller and we had to leave. We ate out for lunch at a pub, I had bangers and mash, we seemed better than eating some of the other bar food that was available. But it had beans which are not paleo/primal and potatoes two days in a row is not good for me either. Dinner was just some of the sliced beef that I have been eating all week. I wasn't very hungry, must be all the starchy carbs. Today is nuts, my team is at half staff today and it's actually one of the busiest days we have had in a while. We have to install and configure a new netapp solution, plus get the computers and accounts set up for 11 new hires that started this morning. Our HR department thinks it is ok to give us one day (or less) notice for new hires. Fun times!

Thursday Another kinda blah day. Maybe it's partially the fact that it's been so gloomy this week, but I have been feeling pretty down this week. Food yesterday was again kind of a hodge podge of stuff. I have been sort of trying the IF thing, doing an approx 16/8 split on non workout days. So yesterday I didn't eat till about 12:30pm. Then I had a greek salad and 2 skewers of pork souvlaki. I had forgotten that I actually brought some baked chicken wings for lunch, so I ate those a while after the greek food. Dinner was a couple of burger patties and some cheese. Store bought burgers and I never read the box before it got thrown out. I have no idea whats in them. Not enough veggies again, and I even had some ice cream last night. No lifting yesterday, just my walk to and from the train station. And some walking at lunch too.

Yesterday was a weird day for me. Woke up at 4 am for no real good reason turned off my alarm and was late for work. I did want to try and get into the habit of hitting the gym before work in the mornings. But that was not happening yesterday. I went at 2:00 PM. My head was off all day though, I didn't really track my workout, and my food was ambiguous at best, though I stayed pretty much primal. I had a smoothie after the workout from Booster Juice. I doubt that is really all that primal. Gym: Seated leg extensions Shoulder press Seated rows Seated leg press Bicep curls - just a few of these 2 km on the bike, normally takes me about 5 mins to do a km on the bike, but I am usually being very casual about it as a general warm up before lifting. Yesterday I tried to be a little more serious about it and had completed the 2 kms in under 9 minutes, with a brief sprint at the end. Food - I am not even going to try for Wednesday. I had in no particular order: the same thin sliced beef again, I gotta get a sauce or something for this stuff. It's good and fairly cheap and easy to cook, but it can get a little boring. Tom Yum Chicken soup, I was feeling almost like I was getting the flu or something yesterday and actually wanted this other soup, but the place that has the one I wanted was lined up out the door. The tom yum soup is good too though and the hot and spicy'ness helped me get rid of the shitty feeling I had been having all day. 2 chicken satay skewers, I did not use the peanut sauce that came with these, even though I loooove me some spicy peanut sauce. Mango salad, I was expecting a mixed salad with some mango in it, but actually got a big pile of mango with some veggies added in. I ate all the veggies and didn't finish all the mango. Orange, cranberry, strawberry, banana and yogurt smoothie. The yogurt was fat free which I normally stay away from, and the girl at the store said it was unsweetened, but I am not sure I believe her. 3 scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese 2 slices of ham banana glass of milk Still need to up my veggies, I have not had the chance to go grocery shopping this week so I have been stuck with whatever I can rummage up at home. Which is tough because no one else at home is eating primal at all. My mother in law had fried up a ton of tempura stuff last night. The whole house smelled of fried food when I got home.

Thank you everyone for all the encouragement, I really appreciate it. Tuesday: Food: 2 eggs over easy 3 strips of bacon Clover brewed coffee from Starbucks with cream Regular brewed coffee from Starbucks with cream Approx 6 oz of thin sliced beef 170ish grams of snow peas Guacamole same as the one before 6oz of the same thin sliced beef, cooked in a little butter this time. 2 stewed chicken legs Daikon and cabbage kimchi Slice of cheddar cheese Banana glass of milk Yesterday was a rest day so no gym. But I have been walking to and from the train station for work each day. It's not too much, a little less than a km each way. Still no photos it's been raining here all week and I don't want to risk taking my camera out in the rain. There is sure to be a bunch of halloween activities this weekend so I am sure I will get a bunch of pics.

I am a first timer and would love to join the squad! edit - here is my challege thread: http://nerdfitness.com/community/showthread.php?5723-My-First-quot-I-don-t-have-a-witty-title-quot-Challenge

My log for yesterday: Food: 3 eggs scrambled with ham and a little cheddar cheese Clover brewed coffee from Starbucks with cream 8-10 baked chicken wings with just salt, pepper and granulated garlic bag of snow peas guacamole (store bought, but ingredients were all natural avocado, jalapeno, tomato and spices no preservatives or things I cannot pronounce) Second cup of coffee with cream 6 oz or so of thinly sliced beef, dry fried in a pan 3 kinds of kimchi, daikon, cucumber and cabbage small glass of 2% milk slice of cheddar cheese I was at the gym at 6:45 yesterday morning: 1 km warm up on a bike Leg extensions 3-4 warm ups 5 sets of 5 reps @ 90 lbs Chest press 3-4 warm ups 5 sets of 5 reps @ 105 lbs Seated Rows 3-4 warm ups 5 sets of 5 reps @ 90 lbs Yesterday was a good start, but obviously there is lots of improvements to make. I need more veggies throughout the day. I did get on the scale at the gym and was at 268 lbs which is the lowest I have been in years, I think I have lost 24 lbs since mid July. That is largely just cutting out soda, sugar, junk food and grains etc. I have only been to the gym 8 or 9 times since I signed up in September. I was completely bagged by the time I got home last night. I woke up at 3 AM and never really got back to sleep. Normally that would mean not getting up at 5 to go to the gym, and in fact I had changed my alarm time around 4:30. But I decided to stick to it and switched it back to 5 and got my ass outta bed! Thank you Theroberthogan I didn't even know a squad for 1st timers existed I am totally in!

I have been reading NF since for a long time now, well over a year. And I am finally going to stop just reading and start doing. This is going to be a simple challenge compared to some that I have read, but I am going to start small so I don't get discouraged. Fitness/Diet: 1. Get to the Gym 3 times (or more) a week. I am working towards "lifting heavy things" but I have been a desk jockey for so long now that I am basically starting in the weakest condition I can ever remember being in. 2. 25 consecutive pushups. Real, no knees on the ground pushups. I had to admit to myself recently that I cannot even do one right now. It was a very humbling experience. 3. Adopt a much more strict primal diet. I have been doing ok Mon-Fri and then the last few weeks going completely off the rails on Sat-Sun. So for the next 6 weeks I will allow myself one cheat meal a week, just one meal not a whole day or anything. Life: Photography. I got a nice DSLR camera for my birthday almost 2 years ago now and I want to become a better photographer. So for the next 6 weeks I want to take at least 5 different pictures a week. So no variations in lighting/exposure of the same shot, 5 different compositions.

I am signing up for the next 6 week challenge so its time to have an introduction. I am a 39 year old IT guy at a global hedge fund administration company based in Toronto. As a child and teenager I was incredibly active. Running, bike riding, playing sports including very competitive soccer up till the year I turned 17. Once I hit my 20s though things went downhill. Slowly at first, but my 30s have been a pretty steep decline. In past years I was able to at least stay somewhat physically active playing on softball and ball hockey teams with my buddies. But it seems everyone is settling down into married life and having kids and working on careers. The last 6 or 7 years I haven't really done too much other than work and socialize. The odd hike through a provinical park is not going to cut it! This left me about 100 lbs overweight as of July this year. I started following a primal diet about the middle of July this year. And I have lost about 25 lbs so far. But I had a few set backs. September was pretty much entirely a write off, my wife and I had our second child on the 12th, a son and with the time spent in the hospital and then being on leave to spend time with them I fell completely off the wagon. At work I am able to stay 90% or so primal/paleo, I seem to have no problem with dairy so I include yogourt and cheese and cream/milk in my coffee/tea. My problem these days is home time. On the weekends I get snack cravings, which then lead to more cravings. During the challenge I plan to be a lot more strict with my eating. And I am going to make an effort to get into the gym with a much higher frequency, at least 3 times a week. And I want to start measuring and recording my results. I have been fairly lax in keeping track of my progress so far.

I am going de-lurk and take part in this challenge. Still working out my goals though.