New Member: Excuses & Goals

[DaygloNirvana]

Hello all.

I've been a reader of the Nerd Fitness blog for over a year now, and I've always found it inspiring. Unfortunately, I've never taken it's content truly to heart. I want to take the steps to change my life, my weight and my diet. When I first moved to Florida 4 years ago, I weight 165lbs. My weight soon shot up to 204lbs. (I'm 5'7"). Recently, my weight has dropped to 190lbs due to medication I'm taking (thyroid). My goal is to eventually drop to my previous weight of 145lbs, ideally.

My excuses:

- I'm lazy.

- I'm an insomniac, I can't sleep at night and only sleep a few hours during the day, so I'm always tired.

- In Florida, the weather is always hot and humid, so I never want to work out outdoors.

- I can't fit a gym membership into the budget.

- Ditto for home weights.

My goals:

- To lose circa 40lbs

- To change my diet, either Vegetarian or Paleo, with some Raw thrown in for good measure.

- To learn to exercise 4-5 days a week.

- To get over my fear of the heat and start running.

- To somehow get control of my sleep problems.

- To fit a gym membership into my budget somewhere.

One problem that really bugs me in my house is the diet thing. I've been very interested in vegetarianism and ra food - and recently interested in paleo - but I live in a household with a very limited budget, with two other family members that have no interest in changing their omnivorous diets. I've tried to offer alternatives but nothing seems agreeable to our primary cook/shopper. I'm left with little other options. Suggestions would be appreciated?

As it stands, I've bought a calendar, a few books on bodyweight exercises, and I'm ready to start with a goal of working out 3 days a week. I'll work up from there to 4 and then to 5. At this point, I'll be surprised if I get through the first week, but I guess one step at a time.

Wish me luck.

[Animal_Nerd]

Welcome fellow Newbie! If you can't afford a gym membership or weights, try the beginner body weight exercises Steve posted on the website. I can't find the link right now, but I'm starting there, so you can too! Best of luck to you!

[tigersheart]

Welcome aboard!

Your excuses:

- I'm lazy. (yup me too, make your workouts fun, PLAY, and it will be something you want to do..not have to do)

- I'm an insomniac, I can't sleep at night and only sleep a few hours during the day, so I'm always tired. (best time to exercise!)

- In Florida, the weather is always hot and humid, so I never want to work out outdoors. (just keep in mind that nice cold shower after its all over!)

- I can't fit a gym membership into the budget. (you don't need one)

- Ditto for home weights. (you don't need them)

All valid excuses, but no worries, we all have excuses, and you setting up your goals is the first step to blasting through them.

It won't be easy, but you can do it...I wish you the best of luck

[BeckyBuckeye]

Welcome! Could you maybe go to the store with the primary shopper/offer to cook? It might be helpful for them. Another observation: vegetarian and paleo are SIGNIFICANTLY different diets, and raw is pretty easy to fit into veggie but harder in paleo (meat likes to be cooked). Vegetarian paleo is possible, but takes some serious planning and usually supplements to get all the vitamins you need. It's a good idea to decide what direction you want to go with your diet before drastically changing things, especially buying staples that could be different between them. Just do your research and pick something you can stick to long term.

[DaygloNirvana]

Dietary changes interest me in general. I don't like what we're eating as of late. I had wanted to try vegetarianism for a long time, but never able to fit it into the household arrangements. I've offered to cook my own meals (even though I'm not a great cook) and to shop for my own food, but that got vetoed. I only recently read about the paleo diet, and found it interesting and worth a try. I don't eat beef as it is (it makes me feel ill).

As far as not having a gym membership or weights, I think what bothers me about that is I have a real interest in weight training and lifting. I think that it might be something that could really hold my interest. I have a few weights (2x2lb, 2x5lb, 2x10lb, 2x20lb) but no barbell or dumbbell to go with them. An investment I need to budget for.

Gyms, oh boy, do I wish I had a workout buddy! I think having someone to workout with would be awesome

[BeckyBuckeye]

That's a tricky situation. Could you sit him down and explain what and why you want to change your diet? Explain that it's important to you for your health/goals/values and then ask what concerns he has.

As for the gym, you can get started by acting interested for free trials. Most gyms give a free week or something for free to potential customers. Once you've run out of those though, you'll either have to invest in home weights or a membership of some kind if you want to continue with weights. There are a lot of other ways to get strength training in though, so like Animal_Nerd said, check out the beginner body weight circuit or the other free resources on the main site.