Oh where to begin...

[Exodus]

Well,

 

I've been sitting here at my desk for the past hour or so trying to figure out where to start with all of this so I guess I'll go from the beginning since that would make the most sense.

 

Firstly, good morning/afternoon/evening to all you folks who might be reading and thanks for taking a look at lowly newb's first attempt at communicating with everyone. If I ramble or get long-winded I apologize ahead of time (I'm Canadian so apologies are a given with me).

 

I guess this all started about a little over a year and a half ago. Feeling that my health was starting to get worse and not being happy with myself anytime I looked in the mirror I took it upon myself to make a change. So, at the start of 2014 I signed up for a martial arts class. The first one I have ever done since I was 7 years old really. I wound up joining a class for Haidong Gumdo which specializes in sword training. I am well aware of the dubious history surrounding this particular martial art but I have a love of swords and don't subscribe to the history of it nor do I consider myself a Samurang/Samurai in any shape or form. Just someone wanting to get healthy and has found something that I'm drawn to and have a love for. My instructor is a patient and kind man from Korea and to be completely honest feels like the complete opposite of what I was expecting with the class. He points out similarities and origins of things from other martial arts, doesn't down talk them (even goes so far as to praise them for things) and just has an overall positive attitude all around which is incredibly infectious as it keeps making me want to push myself.

 

Which I guess brings me here.

 

I started out weighing in at 326 lbs and since then I have been able to get myself to a point where I keep hovering around 290-285. I'm 6 feet tall and sadly an endomorph for a body type. The weight loss came gradually over the first 6-7 months or so of me starting the classes. Obviously this is still not the ideal place I want to be. I've noticed a change in how clothes fit, flexibility and overall stamina and strength but being the stubborn mule of a nerd I am I want to get even better. I certainly don't have any expectation of looking like Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy (hell, I'd take early season Parks and Rec Chris Pratt if I could get that small) but I want to be healthy for not only my sake but my family. In a normal week I'm going 3-4 times in the evening for an hour class. Normal class consists of warm up (stretching, jumping jacks, leg raises, lunges, etc) and then we go into forms for a good chunk, then some paper cutting/candle extinguishing and then a few cutting/sparing drills to finish up class. I always get a great sweat going and my heart rate up (and I stay hydrated!). But I feel like I should be doing more. This fall I'll be going for my black belt and I still can't wrap my belt around me twice. I feel like I should be trying to do something else on off days or looking into how I should be working out.

 

Another problem I guess is my diet. I've slowly been trying to wean myself off of sugars and cutting way down on carbs and increasing my veggie/fruit intake and I of course love meat but I am absolutely horrid when it comes to portion sizing and calorie counting and I've got myfitnesspal installed on my phone and never use it consistently. As well, I've bought a small food scale that is sitting in my cupboard at home that I never seem to get up the drive to use. I'm sure I would see my plateau problem start to get rectified if I could get myself into a habit with my diet but I always seem to have the best of intentions with no follow through.

 

Which brings me here. I frequent another forum online (Penny-Arcade, hi everybody it's Gonmun finally taking some advice!). Many have suggested to me the nerd fitness workouts and I've taken a look at them and am very interested in starting to try and do them but have no sweet clue on how to go about setting up an sort of a workout plan, nor a diet. And the other thing I guess I'm looking for is to hold my butt accountable and having looked through this forums for a little bit I like that you are all very supportive of one another while trying to push each other to stick with it. I guess I'm looking to hopefully become a part of that and get myself healthy and happier with myself.

 

So, if anyone has any suggestions/advice/direction/etc to offer, please feel free. I'm all ears and open to doing what I can to continue working towards improving myself. So thank you in advance for anything you can provide and I look forward to being a part of the community and the rebellion.

[Shakeel_R]

Welcome!

 

About the fitnesspal thingie, I have it, I don't use it. I hate it. So I try, emphasis on try, to do it by heart. But cutting sugar, soda's stuff like that, helps a lot! And stay off the poutine (Which I madly love, I have it with steak O_O)

 

Well you are doing the right thing! Keep on going, watch the food and things will go good

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome aboard. You have a good situation, it sounds like you just need to tweak what you are eating and maybe add a few workouts in.  Check out the monks guild for info on what workouts are best to add in to days you're not training (you want to make sure that what you add in doesn't interfere with your recovery from training). Also, I highly reccommend going through old blog posts about nutrition. We have some sayings about eating: You can't outrun your fork, diet is 80% of weight loss. Steve highly reccommends the Paleo diet as it doesn't require calorie counting, it may be for you.

[Hyperion]

Don't feel bad for being endomorph. It might be good if you plan on packing muscle. And even endomorphic metabolism can be boosted to be quite fast. Ot makes eating easier if you plan today what you eat tomorrow and make meals ready. Put the scale next to the oven or fridge so that everytime you are about to eat something it pushes it's way to your vision and forces you to use it. Get a meal plan, you can get it from online, from me or hire a personal trainer. I can help you with some lifting advice or bodyweight training if you want. remember, we all started from somewhere.

[Exodus]

That's actually a great idea. I'll see about doing that this weekend actually.

 

I had already thought about maybe measuring out some things for meals over the course of the week once I had an idea on a meal plan. If you have one that you would suggest or had in mind vegito that would be a huge help.

 

And any bodyweight training you could suggest would also be greatly appreciated.

[MaybeAFirst]

You want a bodyweight training program? There's one for you right here! I do a slightly altered version of it and am seeing some improvements to strength after just a couple of weeks.

 

Also, if you do decide you want to give Myfitnesspal another go feel free to add me, JustAGal95, if you want some motivation to help you along! As you're at the high end of the 200lbs though, you might not need to rigourously count calories and just eating mindfully, being aware of your portion sizes and cutting out snack/sugary drinks should help enough. I don't follow a set meal plan, but trying to make the main part of the dish the vegetables (about a third to half the plate), followed by a lean meat and a smaller carb portion will generally keep you fuller for longer and make it seem like you are eating more than you actually are.

[Hyperion]

MaybeaFirst posted a good beginner set. then when you get hooked i can link you harder and harder sets. and when it starts feeling nice doing that, find harder or go harder! pain is weakness leaving the body my friend!

[Noname123]

Hi there! 3-4 times a week is pretty good workout regimen if you're pushing yourself and working up a sweat. 

 

The saying holds true though, you can't outrun (out workout out!) a bad diet. Even a vigorous workout for an hour will burn a couple hundred calories and make you feel wiped- you can easily undo all of that hard work with a Mountain Dew or a Snickers in less than 2 minutes. Kinda sucks. So focus on your diet and pick one that you think you could stick with (don't like numbers and know you'll do well with cutting things out of your diet completely? Check out keto and paleo. Want to still be able to eat some things you just CAN'T give up at the cost of sacrificing some other food/feeling a little hungry? Try calorie counting). 

 

Try a few different things but remember, stick with it. Trying it for just a week wont do anything, it takes time. 

 

Trust in the process, figure out a plan and attack it, you got this!

[BerBer]

Slates is spot on! Steve says it all the time, pick one small thing to change at a time. I know I've found that the easiest way to stick with the changes. So maybe choose one aspect of your diet to tweek at first; smaller portions or more veggies or less sweets. Then let yourself get used to it for a few weeks, then change something else. You can take the same approach with extra workouts. Start with one extra then one more and so on. You've already done some Really great work (congratulations on your loss ) and your mindset is perfect. There is no end to the help and support from the people here so check out threads, ask questions and welcome to The Rebellion!

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