msuroo Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 Hi gang,I just wanted to drop in and say hi. I've been lurking for a few weeks, and figure it's time to start participating.So...about me (and I apologize in advance for abundance of disjointed thoughts and parentheticals - that's just how I write):30 years old, had my first kid 6 months ago (he's awesome), house, dog, typical desk job - pretty good life actually. Getting there was pretty unhealthy though, basically starting in college. Smoking, drinking, crappy food, etc. Next up was public accounting, 70+ hour work weeks, super high stress, more smoking, take-out 4 nights a week in the conference room. Then consulting, road warrior style. Lots of frequent flier miles, hotel points, platinum statuses, and a lot of restaurant food (I'll shamefully admit - I very much enjoyed this time of my life). Anyway, gave that up when we found out my wife was pregnant and took a job in the private sector (less hours + more money = win). Somewhere between then and now, my son was born, I turned 30, and the scale tipped 190 for the first time (I'm pretty sure the sympathy milkshakes during my wife's pregnancy played a large part here), all of which served as a combined wake up call. Really not wanting to see 200 (I'm 5' 11", for reference), I started counting calories on myfitnesspal. Also, my boss was a big runner, and she recommended the couch-to-5k program, so I undertook that as well (and signed up for a 5k in February, to keep me honest). About a month in, it was actually going (what I thought was) pretty well when I stumbled across Nerd Fitness (guess whose story) via another forum I frequent. Obviously impressed, I started checking out the rest of the site, and couldn't get enough of it. There's just so much information here! It didn't take long to realize eating Healthy Choice frozen meals and run/walking 3 times a week was not the path to awesome (although it was certainly better than where I was).Somewhere during the holidays, I had one of those "click" moments. My brain just changed gears, and I decided I wanted to be healthy. Not just "I don't want to see 200 on the scale" healthy, but "for real" healthy (you know, like Andy Dufresne is "for real" innocent). I adopted a full paleo diet on January 3rd, and thus far I couldn't be happier with it (honestly, it hasn't even been hard - Damzie knows what I'm talking about). I don't have any delusions that I'll never eat anything non-paleo again (and I do love craft beer), but I'm trying to be strict about it for at least the first month. I still have this 5k coming up next month (and my dog is absolutely looooving the attention), so I'm still running 3 days a week, but have dumped C25K in favor of the Rebel Running Guide, and have concurrently started the Dumbbell Division in the Rebel Strength Guide (these are great, by the way). I'm still tracking my food in myfitnesspal, and amazingly, when I don't eat shit food, the calories just sort of work themselves out. Without even trying, I'm always right about where I want to be. I'm already back down to 179 lbs, and more importantly I feel great. I'll keep logging for a while, but mostly to watch the carb/fat/protein makeup of my diet, whereas before I only cared about the calorie number. (Side bonus - my wife has taken the stance of "if you keep cooking it, I'll keep eating it" and has lost 5 lbs herself).Anyway, there's always improvements to make, and that's what I'm here for. The 2 most immediate challenges for me are the following:Sleep - I suuuuck at getting enough sleep. The new diet has actually made this worse, as now I spend a lot of my evening in the kitchen, and then still veg out for a while before bed. Having a 6 month old kid certainly isn't helping the cause.Travel - I gave up the road warrior life, but even with my new gig I still travel about once a month, with my first trip since the paleo transition coming the first week of February. I noticed that catspaw has blogged a bit about traveling (as if her food porn wasn't inspirational enough), so I'll probably be looking for some tips there.So yeah, tl;dr. Long story short - this place kicks ass, and I'm looking forward to being a part of the community. Quote Challenge thread Link to comment
Lachy Posted January 17, 2012 Report Share Posted January 17, 2012 You know, I actually read all of that! It's a good story. Congratulations on your child and all the changes and progress you've made, welcome to the Rebellion! When you travel, how long are you away for? If your new gig is paying you well, hopefully they're putting you up in a nice place that has at least basic gym equipment that you could adapt your workout to. If not, look at Convict Conditioning or some other body weight workouts that you can use. A few days deviation from the plan won't be the end of you, so don't stress too hard, just make the effort to do something.Getting sleep with the bub in the house can be hard, just grab it where you can. Your body will let you know when it needs sleep, so listen to it, and crash out when it tells you to (if you can). Quote Battle Log - Facebook Link to comment
msuroo Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 You know, I actually read all of that! It's a good story. Congratulations on your child and all the changes and progress you've made, welcome to the Rebellion! When you travel, how long are you away for? If your new gig is paying you well, hopefully they're putting you up in a nice place that has at least basic gym equipment that you could adapt your workout to. If not, look at Convict Conditioning or some other body weight workouts that you can use. A few days deviation from the plan won't be the end of you, so don't stress too hard, just make the effort to do something.Getting sleep with the bub in the house can be hard, just grab it where you can. Your body will let you know when it needs sleep, so listen to it, and crash out when it tells you to (if you can).The travel isn't really that bad - usually 3 day/2 night trips approximately once a month. The company is pretty flexible about my hotel options, so finding a gym won't be a problem. I'm really more concerned about the food. Breakfast won't be bad (eggs/meat/fruit at the hotel). Likewise, dinner should be manageable (usually a steakhouse or similar upscale restaurant where ordering meat/vegetables will be possible), but lunch and snacks will be trickier. We usually go as a team to some crappy burger or burrito joint, and hit the vending machines in the afternoon. It's not a team I need to worry about offending, so not an impossible situation, it will just take some planning.About the sleep, there's a certain amount of getting up in the middle of the night that is just unavoidable with an infant, and I understand that. What I really need to work on is getting myself down earlier. By the time I get the little man down, clean up the kitchen, and get a workout or a run in, it is often 10:00. Watching TV (or surfing the interwebs, or whatever) until 12 when I need to be up at 5:30 is my real problem. Unfortunately, that's historically been my "me" time, and I have a hard time giving it back. Baby steps I guess. Quote Challenge thread Link to comment
Lachy Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Try taking a bag of nuts or jerky to snack on at work. Try steering the team to a better venue for lunch, or just tell 'em you'll catch them later. You'll manage, its not too often, so just get right back on the wagon when you get home.I too don't get my head to bed in quite a timely manner. Maybe just try cutting it back by half an hour or so. Set an alarm that tells you to finish up and go to bed. You will definetly appreciate the extra sleep. "Me" time is important but sacrafices have to be made, and a balance found. Quote Battle Log - Facebook Link to comment
Atalan Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Welcome to the Rebellion. Quote Link to comment
Guest guest4729 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Great story you've got there (and a beautiful baby and dog to boot)! It's wonderful to see people who are taking steps to turn their life around. I used to think eating pasta was healthy because I wasn't adding a bunch of crab to it and piling on sauces. I also thought it was healthy to eat those lean cuisines or healthy choice meals. Wrong again. Now I actually COOK for myself. I normally end up making one piece of meat (usually chicken) and then one veggie for dinner. I'm definitely fuller, longer, but I still have a lot of chocolate cravings which sucks. Trying to kick my cravings by having sugar in the forum of fruit. I could sit and eat fruit all day which gets pricey, but it's still probably much better than what I COULD be eating (cookies, brownies, cake...).Anyways, welcome aboard! You'll find yourself right at home! Quote Link to comment
msuroo Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Maybe just try cutting it back by half an hour or so.Hmm...that's now. Guess it's bedtime! Quote Challenge thread Link to comment
msuroo Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Welcome to the Rebellion.Great story you've got there (and a beautiful baby and dog to boot)! It's wonderful to see people who are taking steps to turn their life around. I used to think eating pasta was healthy because I wasn't adding a bunch of crab to it and piling on sauces. I also thought it was healthy to eat those lean cuisines or healthy choice meals. Wrong again. Now I actually COOK for myself. I normally end up making one piece of meat (usually chicken) and then one veggie for dinner. I'm definitely fuller, longer, but I still have a lot of chocolate cravings which sucks. Trying to kick my cravings by having sugar in the forum of fruit. I could sit and eat fruit all day which gets pricey, but it's still probably much better than what I COULD be eating (cookies, brownies, cake...).Anyways, welcome aboard! You'll find yourself right at home! Thanks for the welcome - I'm glad to be here! Quote Challenge thread Link to comment
Atalan Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Out of curiousity, since I see you're in Michigan, does the 'msu' in your name stand for Michigan State? I'm a Spartan and graduated in 2008. Quote Link to comment
msuroo Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Out of curiousity, since I see you're in Michigan, does the 'msu' in your name stand for Michigan State? I'm a Spartan and graduated in 2008.Michigan State indeed - undergrad in 2005 and masters in 2006.(and ugh, what a horrible basketball game) Quote Challenge thread Link to comment
Atalan Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Don't remind me Quote Link to comment
Sco Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Welcome! Best of luck with your goals and we're glad you're here! Quote "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit." - Aristotle If you have the inspiration, you have the talent. Strive to be happy. Link to comment
catspaw Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Welcome!Sleep is clutch. If I don't get at least 8 hours of sleep, I'm soooooooo crankypants... Quote You gotta experiment to find out what works for you.PM me with any questions about, well, anything! Current challenge: Catspaw Starts Strong Link to comment
msuroo Posted January 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Welcome!Sleep is clutch. If I don't get at least 8 hours of sleep, I'm soooooooo crankypants...Thanks! Right now, 6 hours of sleep for me is a win. I know I need more (and I am a pretty slow mover in the morning), but once I get settled in at work I feel fine.PS, thanks for your keeping up your food blog - I'm trying your honey mustard chicken breast and pork tenderloin this weekend . Quote Challenge thread Link to comment
abraspamlincoln Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Welcome! Quote Fitocracy Profile Link to comment
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