Time to make a gorram change

[Sometimes_gypsy]

Hi there, noob here!

 

(TL;DR at the end)

 

A little background on me: 28, F, struggled my entire life with my weight. I've always been bigger, even as a kid playing 3+ sports and eating relatively healthy. A few bouts of thinness in high school brought on by extremely bad "diet" ideas. Weight gain has gotten worse with age as I'm at a full on desk job and all my favorite hobbies (books, movies, drawing, etc) are also sitting down type activities. I'm at the biggest and worst I've even been and I'm just so sick of it.

 

What almost seems to make it worse is that I love my life. I really do have an embarassment of riches: great job, wonderful family, kick ass friends and I'm able to do the things I love like travel and ride my harley. But I hate myself so much its easy to suck all the joy out of my awesome life. On top of the copious amounts of self loathing comes a family history of depression, anxiety, and diabetes. I have the first two, but not the last...yet. I can't handle that. Diabetes terrifies me. Besides just wanting to like myself more, I absolutely refuse to get teh diabeetus. Its my number one motivator right now. I also want to be off the antidepressants by 2015 and I think its possible to do that by making the first changes now.

 

So a real life friend turned me on to this place and its day 2 and I'm already excited about it. I had success about 3 years ago on low carb/paleo diet after reading Gary Taubes "Why We Get Fat...". I also joined a low carb forum similar to this.I really believe in paleo and low carb as its the only thing that worked for me and actually makes me feel good inside and out. However over a year it rather turned into a place for middle aged women to snipe at each other and I lost interest and sapped my will power and fell off the wagon in spectacular form. I had lost 50 lbs and 3 sizes. Then gained them all back plus more which brings us up to date. This place seems way more my speed with age and interests I didnt share with the other board. Also, I've already got a built in friend who won't become a sniping middle aged lady at me, bonus!

 

Even though I've been dieting since I was 14 its always good to have a refersher and the newbie articles here gave me some great ideas. So from here on out, I'm setting small "bosses" to beat each month. I'm focusing on food and lifestyle changes through the end of 2014 with the idea that as I feel better from what I put in my body, I'll be better able to add in structured exercise after I'm already on a roll. Its harder for me to work out than eat better so, baby steps to save the will power/ health bar. Ultimately I'd like to get back into yoga however, if I do get back to a gym, I'm keeping my eye on lifting if I can get a proper coach. But thats a ways down the road.

 

I'm a notorious scale obsessor so I'm setting small goals by how my current clothes and old, smaller wardrobe fit. When I've made some real progress I may check the numbers later but for now its about how I feel and what I can do.

 

So that's me, I'll be lurking around here a lot more in the future. Good luck fellow newbies, and congrats to the old timers, you're our inspiration that it's possible.

 

TL; DR: 28/F. Alway been fat. Sick of it. Dont want teh diabeetus. Lurking here for inspo, ideas, quests, friends.

 

 

[starsapart]

 

(Sorry, with your topic title, I couldn't help myself...)

 

Welcome!  This is a great place.  The people are fantastic, all levels are welcome, no one is turned away.  I hope you will find everything you're seeking here!  You seem to be motivated to make a positive change in your life, which is the most important thing.  Once you're set in your course, no power in the verse can stop you!!!!!

 

You'll hear it said over and over here that diet is 80% of weightloss and you can't outrun your fork.  Figuring out what approach to eating works for you to keep you in a caloric deficit is huge - once the weight starts coming off, it feels sooooooooooooooooo good!

 

On the subject of exercise, however, I've found that lifting is frankly fabulous for helping that weight loss along, and I say this as a dancer/yogi/person who was terrified of the weight room less than 6 months ago.  So as you discover and explore and test your boundaries, I definitely encourage you to give lifting a try!!!

 

If you're interested in real-life roleplaying, you've come at the end of week 2 of a 6 week challenge cycle.  Since you need to complete 4 weeks to level up, I think you could benefit from hopping in here.  The support system is amazing!  And you can meet people who have been where you are now... or people who are in your same boat.  Everyone supports each other.  If you prefer to stick it out on your own and challenge your own "bosses" every month (which is a pretty nifty idea, btw!!!), may I suggest a battle log?  Basically, give the rebel army a place to cheer you on and we will come!!!

 

If you ever have any questions, you can feel free to PM me as well.  I'd love to help a fellow Browncoat out

[DerekP]

I am a leaf on the wind.   Ummm... of course that didn't work out very well. Maybe I'm a petal on the breeze.

 

There are a lot of good paleo conversations here:   http://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/index.php?/forum/84-paleoprimal/?sort_key=start_date&sort_by=Z-A  ... if you haven't checked it out yet. Which you probably have. There's a lot of good information and some great people. My wife and I have lost over 120 combined pounds in the last ten months doing paleo geared toward weight loss without having counted a single calorie. Healthy eating is our long-term lifestyle plan and and we've started getting to the gym and leveling up general fitness and health as well. I know that getting my diet in order has made an enormous difference in my depression and general mood quality and has completely taken me from the brink of diabetes.

You did it before, you can do it again!

 

See you around the forums,

 

D

[Sometimes_gypsy]

Ahahaha already this place is great. 2 Wash quotes off the bat is a good sign of intelligent and attractive people

 

Thanks for the encouragements.

 

Starsapart: I've just started a battle log. I agree with lifting being a great workout. I'm just so in the dark about it, I want to do it with a personal trainer or class so I have someone that can direct me on form. I've got a lot of research to do to find someplace. Loads of LA Fitness/Gold's Gyms around here which depress/intimidate me and the other option seems to be CrossFit. Which I am in no way capable of doing right now without causing grevious injury to myself and those around me. I plan to research though and see if I can find a place I like where they'll teach me.

 

I'll check out the challenges next time around from the start. I work well when someone gives me a plan. I've never role-played as a game or real life or any sort so I'm still catching up on the lingo! But I'll try to follow the challend this round so when the next one starts I'll have a clue.

 

Malcontent/D: thanks for that link. I hadn't found that forum yet so I'm following it now. Good to get back into it and read others' tips since it's been a while for me. Also great to hear about you and your wife's success. Those stories make me feel like goals are just a little bit more attainable.

[starsapart]

Hmmmmmmmm, you could see if a gym will give you a free/discounted personal training session when join and just get the trainer to teach you a base lifting routine... I did this early on when I started lifting, it really helped!  And of course, a lot of people here can help with programming/form checks too.  But in the meantime you can get a lot of bang out of bodyweight strength workouts!  And the best part is, no equipment required.

 

I'll go hunt down your battle log now~

[ChasingBoston]

Bodyweight exercises are a great option. Try googling "You are Your Own Gym".

Sent from my Moto X