Can I have your attention, please.

[Jaster]

Hello friends,

 

This is my post of introduction. I started Nerd Fitness about 4 months ago (I know this, because they sent me an email with that in the subject line). It's been going well, when I remember that I'm participating. I typically remember about once a week and then I frantically count calories and power-walk around the office until the memory passes. 

 

So, maybe it's not going well. But I'm having a really good time anyway.

 

A quick overview of my life:

I joined because I've gained 85 pounds since college (over about 10 years) and, good Christ, it has to stop somewhere. I don't want to go back to college-sized me, but losing about half of what I gained would be nice (or at least plateauing so I don't need to keep buying newer bigger clothes). Back in the day, I got most of my exercise through team sports (soccer, basketball, volleyball) or marching band (because I'm cool like that). I sort of gave up hope on ever having time for team sports when I tore my Achilles tendon playing basketball in 2013 and then hopped on the baby train in 2014. Since then, I've been trying to figure out what other kinds of exercise I can do.

 

I currently work as an IT trainer, so I spend half my time sitting at a desk, designing training environments and writing lesson plans, and the other half of my time prancing around a classroom and Vanna White-ing the projector screen.  At home, I have husband, two kids (4 and 3), and a black cat named Lemon. Oh, and a fish that I wanted to name Betta Ray Bill, but my son insists is just Fish.

 

I do pretty well with meal-prep and nutrition, since the whole family eats what I cook and I try to keep them healthy. My biggest challenges are a lack of time to put towards exercise (or sleep) and my love of craft beers. I'm hoping that joining the forums will keep me a little more motivated and more consistently remind me that I'm actually trying to better myself.

 

If anyone has any tips on making time for exercise (or incorporating exercise into work time, child-rearing, etc.), I'd love to hear them. Also, if you just want to say hi, that'd be nice too.

 

Thank you for your time!

 

Hugs and Kisses,

Jaster

[Elastigirl]

Hi and welcome!

[aramis]

Hi Jaster!

 

I'm new here as well, I don't even do Academy (I understand you do), but I'm good on my own terms with food and mobility. 

 

I'm sorry to put things this way, but if you keep gaining weight, the sentence

On 6/7/2019 at 5:12 PM, Jaster said:

I do pretty well with meal-prep and nutrition

isn't 100% true. 

As everybody here will tell, 80-90% of weight loss/gain is food, and the rest 10-20% is exercise. If you struggle to even stabilize your weight, you simply eat too much. Sounds harsh, but it's reality.  And (another catchword here) "You can't out-run your fork" - it means no amount of exercise will help without sorting your food intake first. 

Start with tracking your intake (every bit of it - even those two breadsticks from Karen's desk) for a week and see how much calories go in (craft beer IS a caloric bomb, sorry). Use a TDEE calculator to estimate how many calories you really need. Work towards balancing those numbers and your weight should stabilize. 

I purposely use term "estimate" with TDEE, because I just learned that calculator overshoots my theoretical needs for about 350kcal, or even more considering my activity level. 

 

But answering your question - first thing that comes to mind is family walks, where you and your hubby carry your kids piggyback style. Walking is low impact exercise good for start, it's family time, your kids won't whine their legs hurt after 50 yards. 

 

Cheers

 

P.S.

Say Hi from me to Lemon and Fish

[WhiteGhost]

On 6/7/2019 at 11:12 PM, Jaster said:

or marching band (because I'm cool like that)

Of course.  All the cool kids were in Marching Band (with the coolest playing the euphonium of course!)

[Haloquin]

Dance parties with the kidlings? I always loved that with my mum.

I saw Steve post about sitting in a squat whilst typing, with the laptop on the floor, could you write your lesson plans that way? Or sat on an exercise ball instead of a chair so you have to engage your core to keep your balance?

I have a standing desk (because my back hates sitting) and have been known to dance whilst studying...