Changing My Fate

[TechAlyCat]

Ollo Rebels!

 

You can call me Aly and I'm 19 years old, 5' 8", and 165 pounds.

I'm a theatre, animation, Disney, and Harry Potter nerd.

Reading too much is my forte. I get very cranky when I'm interrupted

And I'm obsessed with several shows at the moment.

 

Here is my not short fitness tale:

 

Well, I've been overweight since around elementary school yet I've been able to skim by the fitness tests since forever (a lucky gal, I guess) I had my few athlete years: I played every sport possible in 5th grade: from baseball, flag football, basketball, and drill team. Funny enough, when I started doing sports when when I was at my heaviest: 207. This began my momentum into health. I jumped into 5 years of volleyball from 6th-11th grade. The first 2.5 years was learning the skills and game. Once I hit High School I became really competitive against my fellow teammates and wanted to become a starting player and...silently rub it in their faces. I have a very strong competitive streak, guys. This was really my greatest motivation ever for losing weight.

 

Freshman year, our family lived in a neighborhood on top of a hill and I ran up and down once every day to lose my first 10-15 pounds. I just started slow and tried to beat my running time every day. This was the only time it was fun to run because the streets were mostly clear and slopes are just fun. 

 

My sophomore year, I joined a volleyball club that really emphasized on plyometrics and fitness. The coach was one of the greatest guys I've met in the sport. I started going to go to the gym at this point and to reach my peak of fitness he made a specific routine to do at the gym 4-5 times a week and my endurance really increased and muscle grew. I also did beach volleyball with the club and let's just say it was the greatest fitness point of my life I've ever had and my vertical was beyond awesome. I was 156 pounds at the point.

 

Junior year I was at my peak of fitness but sadly the coaches and players also hit my peak of patience. The atmosphere and attitude of everyone was awful compared to my club, so I quit and vowed I would keep up my health because it took a lot to get to where I was and once I laid off, it would be really hard to get back. Of course, without motivation I slowly declined into a sedentary lifestyle. I focused on theatre, my future, and tons of thinking rather than doing and lost my strength, speed, and muscle turned into fat.

 

So here I am now, first year of community college, still questioning what I'm going to do in the future and being very dissatisfied with the American schooling system (I've been reading a lot of zenhabits, and self education is just trumping everything) I've been over thinking so much I eventually strayed towards NerdFitness (which I've been lurking for a while) and on a whim bought Rebel Fitness and Strength Guides. Lately my body has been gaining weight quicker than usual and I can't stand it anymore. Steve once said once everything hits bottom, you can still control your fitness and health and this will be all you need to be happy. I truly believe this because I've lived this at one point and I want to stand there again.

 

Well there it goes, guys and dolls! My unnecessarily long back story. Starting tomorrow, I'm beginning my journey to a new person and I believe I will kick some arse. Wish me luck!

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome to the rebellion. You have a great story, what is the next chapter going to look like? What are your long and short term fitness goals?

[TechAlyCat]

Thanks, tanktimus!

 

Short term goals:

 

Health

-I want to slither into Paleo, really limit my portions and eat to benefit my body instead of satisfying cravings.

- I'm completely getting rid of sugar drinks. During volleyball I let go of soda for a year so I know I can do this.

-Sleep early, rise early. I'll have more time to get everything I want done and make a real breakfast.

 

Fitness

-Be able to do 5 good pushups. In volleyball, pushups were like walking. I did them so often it was routine. I want to get back into this.

-Slightly long term, but be able to climb a tree easily.

 

Long term:

 

-Become a Ninja Warrior. An assassin's dream, right?

-Become accomplished at violin by playing Lord of the Ring's scores.

-Cosplay at Comic Con in my new bod ;D

 

I have a million plans running in my head but this is the gist right now. The more I accomplish the more I'll add.

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Those are good goals, now what do you need to do to accomplish those short term goals?

[DeathDealer]

Soda was always one of my major weaknesses.  I found the easiest way to get away from them, or sugary drinks in general, was just stop drinking them.  After about 2-3 days drinking nothing but water, it was the only drink I craved.  I'll sometimes have green tea to mix it up, but it's an indulgence rather than a craving.  Your body really does adapt to wanting what you put into it as long as you give it time.  Same principal applies to food (read: paleo).  Just drop yourself into it strictly for 2-3 days and then you'll lose most of the cravings for other stuff generally, then you can back off a bit if you're feeling it's too restrictive until you find the equilibrium you're comfortable with.

[TechAlyCat]

@DeathDealer: Too true! Its all about listening to the body because it knows what's good and bad. And yes, finding a comfortable equilibrium which I've learned in the last few days as I'm changing my diet. I don't think avoiding sugary drinks will be the hardest part. I think its skipping those awesome desserts my friends/family are eating together on the weekends and I'm the only one saying "nope".

 

@tanktimus: For fitness, I'm already hitting hard in the RF guide regime: body weight workouts, HIIT cardio, and I'm going to bribe my friend to go on runs with me. Once I get in a good workout momentum, Ill practice basic parkour movements and drills. Sometime after this I'll also mix in the NF Strength Guide, but this isn't for a while.

For extra motivation I'm also planning to join the next 6 week challenge so I'm pretty pumped on that note

 

For nutrition, I know this sounds vague, but listening to my body, mostly. I'll eat only when I'm hungry, not forcing any extra meals. I'm also tracking my calories and really lowering my carb intake.

 

And becoming a violin guru just requires practice every day. Its going to be a part of my morning routine, so hopefully I can stick to it and get into a good groove.