Overwhelmed Newbie

[Caeleth]

So... I'm a complete noob here - I am a university student and never been active or athletic as a kid or teen. As far as I can recall, I don't think I've ever completed a "workout" in my life. Always being the nerdy kid in school and always sucking at sports, I just never focused on my diet or body or my health. I'm looking to change that but have no idea where to begin.

 

I guess my first question is just that - where to begin? I have a great deal of anxiety about going to a gym, and I have always been a terrible runner (slow, poor form etc.), but I enjoy walking and feel like jogging/running may be an activity I could also enjoy doing. However, I would again be starting way down at level 0 for this (probably at minus levels if they existed!) so any tips, advice, websites etc. would be greatly appreciated. Has anybody any thoughts on the Couch to 5k plan?

 

I am also looking at slowly introducing a paleo-ish diet into my life - are there any threads on here or paleo websites I could get meal inspiration from?  

 

Right now I am just getting a feel for it all - my goals at the minute are to feel healthier, prove to myself that living healthily isn't as daunting a task as I have been telling myself it is, and lose a little weight in the process. Hopefully, with all the support and success stories I've seen in previous threads, these overall goals aren't too scary for starting out!

[Akura]

 

Welcome, Rebel!

 

Walk for 30 minutes every day and drink lots of water, and only(!) water, every day. The rest is bonus. At least, that was my impression when I started ny fitness journey two years ago.

 

For anything you (want to) do, do it incremently and start with something "trivial". Want to eat healthy/paleo-ish? Start repacing one unhealthy ingredient (fries, pasta) with one healthy (spinach, eggs). Want to be able to run for an hour? Run for 2 minute every morning. Want to get fit and strong? Do two push-ups and two bodyweight squats every morning directly after waking up.

And when you feel comfortable with this after two or three weeks, add la ittle bit more.

There are tons of neurological and psychological reasons, why this will lead to incredible results. But I'm too lazy right now to elaborate on them. Read every Nerd Fitness blog post that has the word "Beginner" in the title and you'll get it.

 

Concerning your concrete questions:

• As far as I know, everyone on Nerd Fitness loves C25K.
• Nom Nom Paleo is... just... the best. Period.
• If you have problems with going to the gym, do bodyweight exercises at home! (And join the Assassins, because we are awesome!) There are great resources like DAREBEE and startbodyweight.com. And, of course, the Nerd Fitness Academy.

 

Oh, and read Level Up Your Life. It's the perfect distillate of all the blog post.

[Caeleth]

Hi Akura! Thanks for the advice.

 

25 minutes ago, Akura said:

Walk for 30 minutes every day and drink lots of water, and only(!) water, every day.

 

As a student, I find myself walking quite often and drink only water (and the occasional tea!) everyday anyway - however I will definitely look at increasing these (I drink nowhere near enough water...) so thank you for highlighting this.

 

37 minutes ago, Akura said:

There are tons of neurological and psychological reasons, why this will lead to incredible results.

 

As a Psychology student, I also find these reasons interesting. If I understand what I have seen of the NF website so far, it is to do with habit-formation, no? I'll definitely take things steady and one at a time, so thanks! Any more advice on motivation for habit formation would be appreciated if anyone has any - I often find the "novelty" can wear off for me for this sort of thing but I am determined to improve my lifestyle!

 

I am currently looking around on the NF website, but I like the look of DAREBEE's exercise library and running section! I've definitely been a bit of an Underpants Gnome type from the NF - 15 Mistakes Profiles, so I really need to just get my teeth into something, anything, to get myself started now! 

[Akura]

10 hours ago, Caeleth said:

it is to do with habit-formation, no?

 

Exactly! The exact reason has something to do with our mind and body being super lazy, efficient and adaptive. So, when you introduce drastic changes -- like going to the gym five times a week because of New Year's resolutions -- you will fail almost surely, because every cell in your body will rebel against that. But adding small things slowly will ease your body into the change.

There is also an area of rewiring bad habits into good ones with either positive or negative reinforcment. E.g. give a friend 500 dollars and every time you miss a workout she donates 100 dollars to some bullshit cause like a political party you don't like. Or, every time you check facebook at work, do 2 push-ups.

 

10 hours ago, Caeleth said:

so I really need to just get my teeth into something, anything, to get myself started now! 

 

Did you the 2 push-ups this morning I mentioned in my last post? Why not? Seriously, just as you highlighted your yourself: Start with something, anything. It doesn't really matter. For me it was walking daily. For others it's to reduce the number of cups of soda they drink every day from 10 to 9. For others it's having dinner at a table instead of in front of the TV.  For others it's to practice the guitar for 2 minutes every day.

Pick something you want to do -- like running a marathon. And then do the most basic step in that direction -- like walking 2 minutes every morning. The important thing is, that you find something that is super easy so that you're not overwhelmed. And, even more important: Actually do it! No excuses, no bullshit. Just do it!

The 4-week challenges here are super effective and create a lot of accountability for these things, so you should check them out. One just started, but you can enter basically anytime.

[Caeleth]

12 minutes ago, Akura said:

Did you the 2 push-ups this morning I mentioned in my last post? 

I hadn't, but I have now!

 

14 minutes ago, Akura said:

The 4-week challenges here are super effective and create a lot of accountability for these things, so you should check them out. One just started, but you can enter basically anytime.

 

Until the next round starts, I think I'm going to focus on just being conscious of how much/little I already walk and drink water and try just doing more of those things naturally. When the next round comes up, I will turn these efforts into smart goals, add something new in there and use the techniques you've mentioned. The push ups from this morning might make it into my top three!

Any advice on recording my progress? I have seen battle logs but I'm not 100% sure about how I should use them or whether I should use something different for the challenges? Sorry for all the questions, I'm just eager to get started now! 

[Akura]

53 minutes ago, Caeleth said:

Any advice on recording my progress? I have seen battle logs but I'm not 100% sure about how I should use them or whether I should use something different for the challenges?

 

Find a smartphone app or just use a Google spreadsheet. Or an actual notebook and an actual pen. Tracking your current state of things (calories/macros, glasses of water, etc.) is usually a great way to find out what to change. (I forgot to write that earlier.) The important thing is, once again, not how you do it but THAT you do it.

 

Concerning the battle logs: Many people use them as a sort of daily/weekly journal. Mine is in hibernation because I use my challenge threads for these things and I'm fairly active in the Nerd Fitness Academy Facebook group. And writing the same thing three times every day is stupid.

 

Concerning... everything: Don't be afraid to try things out! Start a battle log and try to write every day or every week what you achieved. If you don't like it or it doesn't work for you, just quit and try something else. (The last part is important: Don't just quit.) It's the same for everything else: You want to run, but maybe you realise you enjoy biking or swimming or powerlifting or Yoga more. You want to eat healthy and go full keto, but maybe you realise you love carbs and intermittent fasting works better for you.

All the things on the Nerd Fitness blog (and on any other health/fitness website) are, at best, methods that work for many people. But no single method works for everyone. You will have to try out a lot of things and tinker with the exact implementation.

[Caeleth]

3 hours ago, Akura said:

Tracking your current state of things (calories/macros, glasses of water, etc.) is usually a great way to find out what to change.

 

I started counting calories when I bought a fitbit a few months ago, but found that I could maintain a calorie deficit but it was the convenience of junk food making up the calories that was the issue. That was what got me into researching healthier alternatives and how I found this amazing community!

 

I'm currently in the process of writing down all my goals, ideas and resources I've found so far. I already have a sort of habit tracker that I might develop with my four week challenges and post on here - being held accountable is going to have to be something I use, along with the conditioning and reinforcement you mentioned earlier! 

[Flora]

You can get a huge way with just walking- I've been doing that for the last  18 months and combined with a cleanish diet I've lost 84lb. And increased my endurance a lot. So if you enjoy walking, walk! Go hunt pokemon, take a leisure walk, listen to music. If you stick with it, it's good and you win. 

[Caeleth]

7 minutes ago, CombatMedic said:

You can get a huge way with just walking- I've been doing that for the last  18 months and combined with a cleanish diet I've lost 84lb. And increased my endurance a lot. So if you enjoy walking, walk! Go hunt pokemon, take a leisure walk, listen to music. If you stick with it, it's good and you win. 

Congrats on the accomplishments! I'm seriously impressed - I may have to use some of your suggestions, I tried out a couple of podcasts while walking but didn't find any I liked so music, or little adventures like pokemon go, may just give me extra motivation, thank you  

[SkyGirl]

Hi Caeleth! I'm just on my way out the door, so I only have a second - but I am also a university student and I was a band and orchestra geek growing up, who actually took pride in the fact that I never exercised ... so you sound a lot like me!!    I'm so glad you're here!

 

I'll come back a little later and check in again!

[Caeleth]

15 minutes ago, SkyGirl said:

I am also a university student and I was a band and orchestra geek growing up, who actually took pride in the fact that I never exercised ... so you sound a lot like me!!

Hi! I wasn't too sure as to whether there was much of a student demographic on here, but it's nice to know there's at least somebody else NFing as a student too!

 

I also took pride in never exercising - I was a fairly skinny kid, and beyond a "puppy fat" stage during puberty I've never been particularly unhappy with my weight/fitness so never thought I needed to work out. I'm happy to report that I am now seeing the negative effects of this mindset and hope to change them as I shift into adulthood (only by age, I'm still the childish nerd at heart )

 

So, hey fellow student!

[Loyster]

Sounds like you're on the right track! I may of missed it, but what kind of exercise are you interested in doing?

[Caeleth]

5 hours ago, Loyster said:

Sounds like you're on the right track! I may of missed it, but what kind of exercise are you interested in doing?

Thank you! I'm interested in eventually doing bodyweight exercises I think, for now I can't even do a proper push-up so it might take a while! I'm focusing on walking plenty and doing either knee push ups or squats every morning to get into the habit of exercising