Can I get some help over here?

[brianne5]

I am feeling completely overwhelmed by all the new ideas presented by nerd fitness, and I am in need of some help!

 

Five years ago, I lost about 40 pounds without really trying, everything just kind of fell into place. Then, about a year and a half ago a serious relationship ended, and I took my first desk job. Gained 20 pounds of the weight back.

 

I tried to eat paleo for the first time today, but the afternoon came, I was crashing, and I ate some chips. It was all down hill from there. I went to the gym, but I didn't know where to start, so I just walked for a little bit.

 

So, here are my questions

 

1. Where do you turn when you need help turning down non-paleo foods?

 

2. How do you overcome afternoon crashing and work through the first few weeks where you still crave flour and sugar?

 

3. What did you do your first day of working out? I don't hate running, but I have weird feet problems and it's hard to run consistently

 

4. If any of you are trying to re-lose the weight, how do you feel motivated? Mostly it feels depressing that I let myself fall so off course.

 

5. Anyone want to be my guide to help me get started on this journey?! haha, I seriously feel so, so overwhelmed right now.

 

[marionette]

1) A properly armed snack drawer is your friend. It will take some thinking to figure out what snack is going to help with what craving. For example: Do you want potato chips for the salt, the fat or the crunch? What will work in place of that? If nothing will work can you take 3 chips and be done?

 

2) Did you give yourself any transition time? If you didn't then I would suggest you do. I eat a TON of fruit, primarily in the morning with a small snack of it in the afternoon. Paleo does not necessarily mean low carb.

 

3) I'm a cross training kinda girl. I run and I work with weights. For a start? If you want to run, and run consistently look at a Couch25K program. Do the beginner body weight workout once through, then work to twice through. Alternate your cardio/strength days when you begin. Remember it is small steps that lead to the best results

 

4) I have a pair of inspiration jeans, and motorcycle pants. I also just bought a bikini. Mostly though I just want to be better at being me.

 

5) You've got a whole forum full of people.

[sweetleaf5]

I really have all those questions too!  

 

Thanks marionette for those great answers

 

brianne5 - I got fed up with not being happy about the way I look in my clothes...my weakness is food...I'm not obese but I'm not "fit looking" either.

 

.  I gained 20 lbs when I quit almost 10 yrs ago 

 

I started by trying to do the Whole30 challenge which I did pretty good except for the alcohol part...I got my sugar fixes with fruit and when I wanted to cheat my motivation came from having quit smoking...I remembered how hard it was to quit and decided if I could do that, I could do anything.

 

I also do a cross training thing - exercise class 2x a week mostly with light weights/body weight exercises, cardio at least 2x a week about 2-3 miles of intervals, and at least 1 day of heavy lifting...I've only been doing this routine for a week or so - I got to a plateau so I needed to change it up.

 

Good luck to you!!  You can do it, and this community helps a lot!!

[leelynn]

I have been Paleo for 2 months now and let me tell you. The first week is hard. The hardest time for me was 2 weeks in because I really wanted to just stop cooking/prepping/making sure I had food and just eat a damn bagel! But I read It starts with Food. Totally helped me really understand what has happening when I hate the bad stuff. Motivated me to not go there. Also I found I LOVE Bananas and Almond butter. Watch intake but it is super good and makes any old chip, eh.  The other thing is willpower. That is if you are going cold turkey. If not. I say take it slowly till you are where you want to be with paleo. Let your body adjust to the changes. 

 

As for the crashing. After you change your diet, those "want to crash" moments go away. You will find you don't crave them as much. And I found eating things close to the foods I missed helped a lot. 

 

I got motivated to loose when I crept up to 180. I never wanted to be there and I am turning 30 in 11 months. I want to look and feel how I always wanted too by then. That is my big goal. Plus having hypothyroidism and hypoglycemia was also motivators. So far they are getting on track and it is wonderful!

 

As for a guide, NF, Marks Daily Apple, Whole9life, and my coworkers have been big helpers. I'm actually at a rut right now so I am here for the added support I need to get over this hump I am in. 

 

 

But you will do fine. Stick to it and just remember. EVERYONE who starts paleo and working out struggle. You are not failing, you are just going through the motions. 

[Wolfhorde]

1. Where do you turn when you need help turning down non-paleo foods?

There's talk around here about an accountability system which I think is a really good idea. Especially if you're someone who can thrive in such environments, I've noticed change to be a lot easier when someone 'constructively kicks some ass'.

 

 

2. How do you overcome afternoon crashing and work through the first few weeks where you still crave flour and sugar?

 

 

As for the first and what is also mentioned in a lot of NF articles: Take it slow. Don't try to overdo it on first approach depending on your diet before. As for the question: Try to substitute it, e.g. if you like chocolate you can switch from 'normal' chocolate to high cocoa percentages. Substitute sweets with fruits and nuts for example. Also depending on what's available to you/what's in your budget.

 

3. What did you do your first day of working out? I don't hate running, but I have weird feet problems and it's hard to run consistently

Do something you enjoy. If you don't know what you enjoy, try out some stuff. Maybe try different approaches to different things. For example, I always liked taking walks, hiking and climbing. So the "RPG"-inspired NF system has made that even more enjoyable the last few days when I went out.

 

 

 

5. Anyone want to be my guide to help me get started on this journey?! haha, I seriously feel so, so overwhelmed right now.

 

As Marionette said, you've got a whole forum and I think people are pretty open to answering questions! Otherwise: As I noted above, try to take it at a proper pace - establish gradually new habits if necessary or alter existing ones and something that articles also heavily emphasize: enjoy it. Don't force yourself to do an exercise you loathe. But also be open to possible signals about what you may enjoy if you give it a try. That's all I can say.

[cn3wton]

First off I wouldn't jump head first into this whole thing, its quite like jumping into water infested with sharks (at least it feels that way).

 

About a year and a half ago I decided to lose weight and go to the gym, and I am now down about 100 pounds.  The first thing that helps is having a true reason to start. I am not saying "I need to do it to be healthy" that is a pretty crappy reason.  You need something more tangible.  Like "I want to be able to hike up that mountain, or climb the stairs without getting winded" etc. My reason was a medical issue with my breathing, that rarely bothers me now thanks to the weight loss.

 

So set this goal.  Once you set that you can set another once you reach it.

 

Diet is tough, I still struggle with this.  The first thing I think helps is just to eat less.  Not anything different, just less.  I used to eat about 20-30 chicken wings for dinner on wing night.  Now I eat 7 when I go for wings.  So for 1-2 weeks just focus on eating less and slower.  Once you are no longer hungry stop.  Doesn't matter if you only eat half of what you have in front of you.  This will train you to only eat what you need.  Drinking 1-2 glasses of water before a meal helps, and make sure your getting enough water a day in general!

 

Once you feel this is getting easier slowly cut out things that you don't really care about that you know are bad for you.  For me this was sugar.  I really don't care for anything with sugar.  So I dropped soday completely and rarely had any sweets.  I made a conscious effort to eat bread only once a day. 

 

Once you do this start introducing healthier meals into your diet.  This is the final stage really.  There are tons of steps in it.  The easiest way to do this is to start cooking meals at home.  But whatever meals you start replacing make sure its the easiest ones you alter first.  For me it was lunch.  I was always busy so I would get mcdonalds.  I still ate mcdonalds at this point, but instead of getting something really bad for me with fries, I got a grilled chicken sandwich and took one of the buns off.  I now cook chicken to have for lunch a few days a week sunday night.  I take it with me so it is in a whole wheat wrap.  Whenever I go out to eat I try to get something like grilled chicken. I am also trying to introduce juiced vegetables as a meal into my diet. 

 

My advice about diets is this.  Think about it as the way you want to eat the rest of your life (at least when your first starting out).  If you want to eat 100% paleo the rest of your life fine, go ahead and try to transition to this.  But if not teach yourself how to control what you eat so that you can enjoy things like pasta,bread, etc responsibly.  Remember to eat to live not live to eat. 

 

Starting out in the gym can be intimidating.  What gym are you going to? If its not something like planet fitness then it may be even more intimidating.  Regardless of where your going they have to have employees.  Go up to them and say "I have no clue what the heck I am doing, do you guys offer any classes or have any trainers?"  Do you want to start lifting weights? Take whatever you want to do slow, and know that any exercises done in correct form are better than no exercise.

 

Finding someone you know to go with you can really help you.  Especially if they know more than you! 

 

As far as guidance goes. The whole "You've got a whole forum of people here"  is technically true. But I find that it can be difficult to find consistent advice from the same people at first. I believe there is an accountabilabuddy (I think that's spelled right) section you can post on looking for someone to group up with. You can also message me any time.  I am no expert, but I have the benefit of experience I guess. Id be happy to help and provide motivation when I can.

[Horsedog]

First off I wouldn't jump head first into this whole thing, its quite like jumping into water infested with sharks (at least it feels that way).

 

About a year and a half ago I decided to lose weight and go to the gym, and I am now down about 100 pounds.  The first thing that helps is having a true reason to start. I am not saying "I need to do it to be healthy" that is a pretty crappy reason.  You need something more tangible.  Like "I want to be able to hike up that mountain, or climb the stairs without getting winded" etc. My reason was a medical issue with my breathing, that rarely bothers me now thanks to the weight loss.

 

So set this goal.  Once you set that you can set another once you reach it.

 

Diet is tough, I still struggle with this.  The first thing I think helps is just to eat less.  Not anything different, just less.  I used to eat about 20-30 chicken wings for dinner on wing night.  Now I eat 7 when I go for wings.  So for 1-2 weeks just focus on eating less and slower.  Once you are no longer hungry stop.  Doesn't matter if you only eat half of what you have in front of you.  This will train you to only eat what you need.  Drinking 1-2 glasses of water before a meal helps, and make sure your getting enough water a day in general!

 

Once you feel this is getting easier slowly cut out things that you don't really care about that you know are bad for you.  For me this was sugar.  I really don't care for anything with sugar.  So I dropped soday completely and rarely had any sweets.  I made a conscious effort to eat bread only once a day. 

 

Once you do this start introducing healthier meals into your diet.  This is the final stage really.  There are tons of steps in it.  The easiest way to do this is to start cooking meals at home.  But whatever meals you start replacing make sure its the easiest ones you alter first.  For me it was lunch.  I was always busy so I would get mcdonalds.  I still ate mcdonalds at this point, but instead of getting something really bad for me with fries, I got a grilled chicken sandwich and took one of the buns off.  I now cook chicken to have for lunch a few days a week sunday night.  I take it with me so it is in a whole wheat wrap.  Whenever I go out to eat I try to get something like grilled chicken. I am also trying to introduce juiced vegetables as a meal into my diet. 

 

My advice about diets is this.  Think about it as the way you want to eat the rest of your life (at least when your first starting out).  If you want to eat 100% paleo the rest of your life fine, go ahead and try to transition to this.  But if not teach yourself how to control what you eat so that you can enjoy things like pasta,bread, etc responsibly.  Remember to eat to live not live to eat. 

 

Starting out in the gym can be intimidating.  What gym are you going to? If its not something like planet fitness then it may be even more intimidating.  Regardless of where your going they have to have employees.  Go up to them and say "I have no clue what the heck I am doing, do you guys offer any classes or have any trainers?"  Do you want to start lifting weights? Take whatever you want to do slow, and know that any exercises done in correct form are better than no exercise.

 

Finding someone you know to go with you can really help you.  Especially if they know more than you! 

 

As far as guidance goes. The whole "You've got a whole forum of people here"  is technically true. But I find that it can be difficult to find consistent advice from the same people at first. I believe there is an accountabilabuddy (I think that's spelled right) section you can post on looking for someone to group up with. You can also message me any time.  I am no expert, but I have the benefit of experience I guess. Id be happy to help and provide motivation when I can.

All. Of. This.  Best advice I've seen in ages.  Well said!