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Hello, i'm not new to NF per se, since i've been on my journey for four weeks now, but I recently fell off the wagon with school starting back up and falling back into my old ways. Mostly the latter has caused the falling off. So I thought I will start again...a restart. I won't to complete something in my life for once, and really feel proud and not care what is thought of me or who knows. That's why i'm here. to find my support and accountability and be the same to fellow rebels. I tried the facebook group, both the lbgtqiaa/male...didn't go to well. So ill try my hand with the forums and journaling. It's a please to meet everyone.

Hi there! No, I know that it normally is "One step at a time" but you will understand this not so brilliant pun.. This is my first try on a text like this and my first trys on thoughts like this. Normally I am the one to receive help, but I wanted to share this idea I had with you. So please look past my terrible writing and English skills, i am learning and living These are just thoughts, don't ruin your life because of some advice on the internet So now that I crashed your hopes, lets get started! Imagine taking a picture of your feet every day, to have a picture based diary, so you can remind yourself of the things that happend one day. But now, imagine your hole diary is consisting of pictures of your feet infront of the TV, in the kitchen and maybe in the shower - kind of lame, right? Looks comfortable, but boring! Days like these are necessary but not pretty interesting. Everyday is the same, you don't get things done and feel sore. But now imagine having a diary full of epic pictures, your feet in the snow, the sand, the mud, on top of a cliff, upside down while bungee jumping - your get the idea. Sounds pretty cool, right? Now that looks epic! Okay, in reality it is pretty unrealistic (and probably unhealthy) to have so extreme adventures everyday. But you understand the difference between these extremes. A lot of people (me included) think their life is missing something. That their life is not thrilling enough, that they are missing the adventures - in short they are missing awesomeness in their life.The problem is, that we wait for the perfect moment to happen or for someone coming into our life to 'wake us up' and guide us to the interesting life. The reality seems different, those times and people are most likely not there. You have to get up and take action Instead of climbing the next cliff (and probably falling down - stay safe!) I want you to think. You should start small - and work yourself up, day by day, adventure by adventure. If you are afraid now, by adventure I mean getting out of your comfort zone and doing something new, unknown and a bit scaring. On paper this sounds easy, and it can be easy in reality too! Start small. Maybe go and visit the small park near you. Or get up and explore the forest. You can take a different route to work today or explore your part of the city. Google sightseeings in your city and go there. Leave the big streets and 'get lost' while wandering. Enjoy the sunset while sitting on a bench. Take your old camera and shoot some pictures, no matter how bad they look. Try to cook something new. Try out a new sport. Just do something new, something interesting, something scary - something awesome! Do something you will be happy to remember. It does not have to be big. I think you get the idea I am not going to write to detailed about this process, Steve already did an amazing job with his guide to building habits ( http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/06/04/new-habits/ ). Now we have this awesome plan and are highly motivated. But what about next week? Or next month? This is where my idea takes action. Take a picture of your feet every time you do something interesting or something you find awesome - something on your way! Now upload it to facebook, twitter or instagram (or just save it on your pc if you want to have a private journey) and then write something about the activity! Maybe what you did, what scared you and most important what made you happy! Now you can come back and see what you already archieved and what you experienced! To motivate yourself, you need to do it as often as possible, maybe you don't want to break your chain of 10 days of beeing awesome so you just go out on the next day even if you don't want to at first and boom you experience the best adventure so far! Now you wonder "Why on earth should I take pictures of my shoes in the sunset when I could shoot the sunset itself??" - You are not wrong. Just do both! On the one hand, having the same motive in every picture makes it more recognizable. And at one point you can do a cool timelapse of your year and see the changing background You could take a selfie from the same angle too, but a lot of people (me!) don't like showing your face - but hey, do whatever pleases you most! To be honest, 100 pics of feet can be boring to people not interested in the story, but maybe they are interested in your story behind it! If you use Instagram, you can tag your pics with #onefootatatime (or is #onestepatatime better? Have to decide yet) and atleast I will check them out and be interested in your stories But lets be realistic. We are all humans, we have jobs, school, family and other things in our life that don't allow us to have hour long adventures every day. But don't get frustrated (especially in the beginning) and remember, you are doing this to have fun and to have a better life! Enjoy the way, don't do things you don't like to do! And on some days, the best we can to is to cuddle into a big pile of sheets and play Fallout for hours What are your plans for the future? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hope you liked this post! Any addidionally ideas ( I can add them with credits to this post) or feedback? Do you want to join? Thanks for reading! ~Gurkour

Well, I've read Nerd Fitness before and used some of the recipe's when I tried unsuccessfully to lose weight. However, I am a newbie and have been reading over the info and now I just need to get some things in my life back on track. I've been reading over the blogs and success stories and finally had to say, "If you're not happy with your life now, why wait? What can we do to start fixing it now?" As with any quest I will start with where I am at the beginning. My real name is Michael, I just turned 30 last week and life has been kicking me in the proverbial groin for the last couple of years. I was at a job I hated until I got fired, am the fattest I've ever been (363lbs, 50 waist) and as a result I don't fit my old clothes at all, and I'm having money troubles that make me thankful we don't have debtors prisons. I suffer from depression, but I'm at a very low point to a degree that I don't even bother with the one thing that has always brought me joy: writing. However, nothing good has come from my crying and worry and thus the first step begins today. Now, I have set some goals for where I want to be on my 31st birthday. I'm writing them all down here so I can reflect on them and give myself the motivation. As I move closer, I can look back on this and say, "Yes, we made some fine progress! But, the journey isn't over." To that end, I have three quests: Fit into my old, swanky clothes...buy nicer, skinny guy clothes. I used to be a fashionable fellow, the type who was Mad Men before the show. I know how to tie everything from a double windsor to a bow tie. I know how to fold a pocket square. However, I can't fit into any of my suits and the one that barely fit me ripped at a wedding this last weekend. I'm setting this as a goal rather than the generic "lose weight" because I know that's not enough. However, if I'm able to put on my old Tommy french-cuffed shirt and back into the stone grey suit, I know I'm back. Other reasons why I'm making this goal: 1) So I feel good when I wake up in the morning and because 2) I want to walk the streets of Rome on my next visit without being in pain and panting. Be financially Stable. Not rich, per se, but not having great anxiety about checking my mail as there is another overdue bill or constantly having overdraft charges because I really need food and to pay my rent. If I'm still making the same at 31, then I want to sell enough of my stuff and cut my expenses so that I don't do stupid things. Become a word smith extraordinaire. While this post is poorly-written, I'm actually quite the word smith when I work at it. I used to write all the time and it brought me so much joy. I can read a book, review it, and publish it in a respectable place. I used to dream and plan my own novel while writing short stories. I can do it again, and this time even better!I know that these goals are hard and I'm not going to be the Eager Beaver I was in the past who gets tired by trying everything at once. So, here's how I'm starting my quest: Cutting out all fast food. If I eat out, it's for a social reason not to shove carbs down my gullet. This will save money and help me drop the inches.Starting the Paleo diet, one step at a time. I've gotten rid of all sugar and I'm going to slowly eliminate all carbs from my eating that isn't from fruit or veggies. Soda, hard cider, and beer will be the hardest to go without, as I consume them every night. I'm mostly there now, but I can accomplish this.Start an exercise program. Right now, I'm committing myself to walking briskly for 15 minutes a day. Next week, I'll start the nerd fitness program in the mornings and slowly up the ante, asking myself each week, "Can I do more? If I do, won't I feel like Rocky at the Art Museum?"Start writing on the weekends. Write what I enjoy, as much as I can. My initial goal is to do just 100 words on Friday and another on Sunday. If I'm really enjoying it, I'll write more. Look for work in a more fulfilling place. Hear that, Chicago, I'm coming back!Visit this post, and the forum in general every Tuesday to see where I've come along and to encourage others. We will do this, boys and girls. I'm taking a picture of myself today, as soon as this post is done. I'll take a shirtless picture on the second of each month and check over my other goals. I can do this, and this will be the mind candy that gets me to the end. No more excuses, no more, "But I'm tired, but I'm poor, but I'm stressed and depressed and splurging money on junk when I should be exercising or writing makes me feel good." I know what self-indulgence does, and it doesn't lead to joy. Just more pain. So, to end this long post, I am hopeful! Writing this actually makes me feel better already and I think this time it will be different. I've failed, but I'm picking myself up and getting ready for round 3. If anyone else in the NF community is full of advice, let it come. I'm okay with harsh criticism if you need to tell me what's what. Also, if you want to message me here and be my accountability buddy and fitness pal, that would be great! Especially if you happen to be in New England and love comics, philosophy, HP Lovecraft, and old black and white flicks. Here we go, once more into the breach! Rah!