Advice welcome! Also, hi!

[Captain Sam]

Hello all!

 

I didn't want to introduce myself until I was sure I was gonna stick around, and now, very nearly at the end of my first six week challenge, I'm confident that I'm a rebel for good!

 

So, hi! *waves*

 

I'm Sam, a 24-year-old from North Yorkshire, England. Work as a French tutor and live with my lovely partner of 5 years, whom I'm marrying this summer. I love birdwatching, Joss Whedon's entire oeuvre, spending as much time outside as possible, Harry Potter, craft, reading, and lately, getting fit.

 

I also love cheese and beer.

 

In terms of fitness, I was always a geeky child who came top in everything except sport, which I'd come bottom in, so instantly dismissed. As such, I never learnt sports, participated in PE or anything in school, or indeed thought about the fact that I have a physical body! I always felt like a mind trapped in a useless and limiting body; I'm guessing I'm not the only one...

 

Anyway, last year (in March), I realised that I was really really out of shape, with the true fact of the matter being that I'd never been in shape. I could hardly run ten paces without gasping, had no strength anywhere in my body, and was a couple of stone overweight.

 

Something sort of clicked in my head and I realised that I didn't want to be this completely useless lump forever, particularly given that I also hated how I looked. Also, being broke, I didn't want to pay any money to go to the gym or anything. So I started running. At first I couldn't even run 5 minutes without nearly chucking up, but after very very sloooooowly building up to it, I can now run 6 miles without stopping in a go.

 

I'm about a stone overweight (12 stone 4 (172lb), a BMI calculator reckons I should be no more than 11 stone 2 (156lb), but I am a wide person in terms of skeleton and have large hips/breasts so I'm taking it with a pinch of salt) and would now describe myself as reasonably fit, but I still want so much more.

 

I have really really terrible coordination. As in, I genuinely injure myself fairly frequently just by walking into things/misjudging distance etc, and the more exercise I do, the more I keep getting silly injuries. Both my knees are covered in scars and scabs from falling over so many times. I also have rubbish posture (spent my entire childhood being abnormally tall; thankfully stopped growing when I was about twelve but still stoop naturally) which not only makes me look unattractive but I think good posture would also help with the whole moving naturally thing.

 

So, my plans are generally to develop a routine to lose weight, and come up with some sort of a system to improve my coordination and posture as I definitely need it. Any advice would be very much welcome as I need to work out what to work on for my next 6 week challenge!

 

Also, does anyone know when the next 6 week challenge will start?

 

Thanks for reading if you got this far! Looking forward to meeting you all!

 

tldr: 24yo Brit wants to improve coordination, posture, general strength and fitness and lose a stone. Looking forward to joining in with the community. 

 

[Jett]

 

 

I always felt like a mind trapped in a useless and limiting body; I'm guessing I'm not the only one...

Certainly not the only one to feel this way! I feel like this, too.

 

I don't have any posture advice, and the only thing I can think of for improve coordination would be to tackle it head-on. I played tennis in high school, and it improved my coordination considerably - both hand/eye, and getting my body to go where I want it to. Maybe you can get your partner or a friend to play against you? If not, even just playing against the wall can be a good workout. (That bastard wall never misses a return, either!)

 

The next challenge starts on Feb 23. If you're interested in losing a bit of weight, how's your diet? It might be as simple as making a few corrections to your diet and continuing to be active.

[Captain Sam]

Certainly not the only one to feel this way! I feel like this, too.

 

I don't have any posture advice, and the only thing I can think of for improve coordination would be to tackle it head-on. I played tennis in high school, and it improved my coordination considerably - both hand/eye, and getting my body to go where I want it to. Maybe you can get your partner or a friend to play against you? If not, even just playing against the wall can be a good workout. (That bastard wall never misses a return, either!)

 

The next challenge starts on Feb 23. If you're interested in losing a bit of weight, how's your diet? It might be as simple as making a few corrections to your diet and continuing to be active.

Ah thanks for this, JMitch! It's good to know others have felt the same.

 

There is a tennis court in my city; I'll definitely have to face my fears and give it a try. It's something I was particularly dreadful at (unsurprising, given lack of coordination and lack of cardiovascular fitness) at school so I have lots of memories of watching balls bouncing past me. I'm sure my partner would be up for playing some tennis! And a wall has never let me down yet! 

 

Thanks for the date of the next challenge, too. My diet is pretty exemplary until about 9pm and then I tend to indulge in snacks and booze... I don't do paleo as I'm veggie but I make all my own food and have at least 5 portions of veg every day. I might make my next challenge nil by mouth by 8pm; I'm fairly sure that'd make a huge difference.

 

Thank you for all the advice! It's hard to know where to start when you're making up for a whole lifetime of bad habits and poor choices...

[Jett]

Yeah, just not eating and especially not drinking at night might help you lose the last of the weight you want to get rid of. But let me add, congrats on the success you've had so far. Go Sam! :3

 

I just learned a bit about how our bodies matabolize alcohol, and it was really interesting and informative. Because alcohol breaks down into a toxic substance in the bloodstream, our bodies stop processing any other sources of fuel and only works on getting rid of the alcohol. (We can actually use alcohol as a calorie source, to some degree.) The bad thing is, while it's using alcohol as the fuel source, it's not doing anything about carbs and protein and fat that we're eating at the same time. So those are more likely to get stored as fat instead of used as fuel. (This is the origin of the dreaded beer gut!) Therefore, the wisest thing might be to limit alcohol consumption to certain days of the week, and eat less on those days. Especially if you're drinking beer or rum or something like that, which has a fairly high calorie count on its own.

 

I know exactly how your feel about not being sure what bad habit to fix first, or even what would be a positive change. I've just started the same journey, myself! I've learned a ton in the last week that has really helped me to figure things out. Mostly, I poked through the NF blog, lurked around the forums, and googled anything and everything I didn't understand.

[Captain Sam]

Yeah, just not eating and especially not drinking at night might help you lose the last of the weight you want to get rid of. But let me add, congrats on the success you've had so far. Go Sam! :3

 

I just learned a bit about how our bodies matabolize alcohol, and it was really interesting and informative. Because alcohol breaks down into a toxic substance in the bloodstream, our bodies stop processing any other sources of fuel and only works on getting rid of the alcohol. (We can actually use alcohol as a calorie source, to some degree.) The bad thing is, while it's using alcohol as the fuel source, it's not doing anything about carbs and protein and fat that we're eating at the same time. So those are more likely to get stored as fat instead of used as fuel. (This is the origin of the dreaded beer gut!) Therefore, the wisest thing might be to limit alcohol consumption to certain days of the week, and eat less on those days. Especially if you're drinking beer or rum or something like that, which has a fairly high calorie count on its own.

 

I know exactly how your feel about not being sure what bad habit to fix first, or even what would be a positive change. I've just started the same journey, myself! I've learned a ton in the last week that has really helped me to figure things out. Mostly, I poked through the NF blog, lurked around the forums, and googled anything and everything I didn't understand.

 

You're totally right; I'll have to make less food and booze one of my next three challenges, particularly given the way we metabolise booze (that was news to me, so thanks)! 

 

I love the NF blog; I came across it just after I started running when I was looking for tips and have found it so motivational and inspirational! 

[Jett]

Before I forget, let me give you this link: "The Best Diet Plan"

The "best" diet plan is the one you make for yourself, tailor made to your goals and preferences. So that site walks you through, step-by-step, giving useful information and helping you decide what you need to do for your diet. I've found it immensely helpful, and I hope you will, too.

[lwow]

Welcome to NF!

It sounds like you are focusing on running for getting more active, but if you are looking for advice, based on your goals I would recommend you get yourself over to the warrior guild. 

Weight lifting, is going to help you to put on some muscle mass, which is more metabolically active, so it helps you to drop weight. Also, if posture is an issue, you can focus on things that will strengthen your core and make sitting up correctly easy.  From the way your describe your background, I suspect that weights might be a little intimidating, so maybe you could start with the nerd fitness beginner body weight workout, but I would encourage you to get to a gym where you can get some coaching to learn to lift, crossfit is a good option if it is available to you.

[Captain Sam]

Before I forget, let me give you this link: "The Best Diet Plan"

The "best" diet plan is the one you make for yourself, tailor made to your goals and preferences. So that site walks you through, step-by-step, giving useful information and helping you decide what you need to do for your diet. I've found it immensely helpful, and I hope you will, too.

 

Thank you; this is amazing! I never knew that being relatively tall had such a positive impact on the amount I can eat!  It's wonderfully in depth and I feel a lot more knowledgeable now 

Welcome to NF!

It sounds like you are focusing on running for getting more active, but if you are looking for advice, based on your goals I would recommend you get yourself over to the warrior guild. 

Weight lifting, is going to help you to put on some muscle mass, which is more metabolically active, so it helps you to drop weight. Also, if posture is an issue, you can focus on things that will strengthen your core and make sitting up correctly easy.  From the way your describe your background, I suspect that weights might be a little intimidating, so maybe you could start with the nerd fitness beginner body weight workout, but I would encourage you to get to a gym where you can get some coaching to learn to lift, crossfit is a good option if it is available to you.

Thanks for this! You're definitely right that weights sound intimidating, but I do have a sandbag at home I can use and I have been doing various core exercises with it (also planking, squats, sit ups) with a view to better strength. I'll have a go at the NF beginner bodyweight work out and see how that goes! I'd love to be strong but just kind of figured I was probably best dropping the spare weight first...

[LadyAern]

I have really really terrible coordination. As in, I genuinely injure myself fairly frequently just by walking into things/misjudging distance etc, and the more exercise I do, the more I keep getting silly injuries. Both my knees are covered in scars and scabs from falling over so many times. I also have rubbish posture (spent my entire childhood being abnormally tall; thankfully stopped growing when I was about twelve but still stoop naturally) which not only makes me look unattractive but I think good posture would also help with the whole moving naturally thing.

 

So, my plans are generally to develop a routine to lose weight, and come up with some sort of a system to improve my coordination and posture as I definitely need it. Any advice would be very much welcome as I need to work out what to work on for my next 6 week challenge!

Heya Cap'n Sam!

For co-ordination the best thing I found was playing stuff on the Wii, especially Wii Sports, Sports Resort, Just Dance 2 and 3, and Zumba. It sounds ridiculous, but the constant and immediate corrections and feedback from the remote and the screen really, really helped me. It basically reset my brain for both hand-eye coordination and general understanding of where my body was and in what position. (I've never used the Kinect but I'd assume it would have a similar effect). It's also nice that you can play it in such a controlled enviroment. It's kind of hard to crash into something, if there's nothing near you to crash into (I always clear the area of furniture first).

For posture I cannot recommend these stretches enough: http://www.thankyourbody.com/simple-stretches-for-better-posture/. They're simple, yet extraordinarily effective. Be really, really careful though! Do not go farther than you feel is comfortable. You should feel a stretch, not a burn. When I first started, the second stretch, which I do standing straight up, I could barely raise my hands even half a thumb-width above my butt. Similarly, the third stretch was almost like, ha ha, are you joking? But after two weeks I saw massive improvement in my overall posture, so I definitely recommend it. On that third stretch make sure you do not lock your arm, and be very careful to basically "respool yourself" the same way you went out. It looks like you're almost spinning back towards the wall, if that makes sense.

[Captain Sam]

Heya Cap'n Sam!

For co-ordination the best thing I found was playing stuff on the Wii, especially Wii Sports, Sports Resort, Just Dance 2 and 3, and Zumba. It sounds ridiculous, but the constant and immediate corrections and feedback from the remote and the screen really, really helped me. It basically reset my brain for both hand-eye coordination and general understanding of where my body was and in what position. (I've never used the Kinect but I'd assume it would have a similar effect). It's also nice that you can play it in such a controlled enviroment. It's kind of hard to crash into something, if there's nothing near you to crash into (I always clear the area of furniture first).

For posture I cannot recommend these stretches enough: http://www.thankyourbody.com/simple-stretches-for-better-posture/. They're simple, yet extraordinarily effective. Be really, really careful though! Do not go farther than you feel is comfortable. You should feel a stretch, not a burn. When I first started, the second stretch, which I do standing straight up, I could barely raise my hands even half a thumb-width above my butt. Similarly, the third stretch was almost like, ha ha, are you joking? But after two weeks I saw massive improvement in my overall posture, so I definitely recommend it. On that third stretch make sure you do not lock your arm, and be very careful to basically "respool yourself" the same way you went out. It looks like you're almost spinning back towards the wall, if that makes sense.

 

Hey LadyAern! Lovely to meet you, and thank you for all of the advice!

 

I really really wish I had a console of some sort, but I don't! Will remember to have a go on the Wii Sports stuff the next time I'm at my parents' house though! I always liked the Wii.

 

The stretches are absolutely brilliant and I'm gonna have them play a part in my next six week challenge! Great resource, so thanks for sharing.

[T2sarahconnor]

Can't wait to see what you come up with for your challenge!

[Captain Sam]

This is the plan!