Fus ro dah!

[arynna]

Newbie here. Gamer, geek, you name it. MMO addict, Skyrim fan, I'm your run of the mill gamer girl. About...150 lbs overweight. *sigh* I've been overweight for a long time now. Started out on a good path, but had to move and lost a lot of progress. I'm trying to do Paleo or as close to it as I can. (I live with others, and they buy the food. If I want something specific I have to buy it myself. Right now, not really an option as I'm a broke college student.) I have access to the gym on campus for free, but I don't know where to start. I tried treadmills and that didn't seem to do anything for me. I've always been intimidated by free weights, but would like to learn.

I've cut out soda and am slooowly weaning myself off of coffee.

Where to go from here is the question...?

[ebm1224]

first off, welcome to the community!

now, onto the other stuff some advice (take it or leave it but it's helped me)

1) track what you eat for a couple weeks. i sometimes use sparkpeople.com but there are lots of websites out there. and even apps for your phone. look at how many calories you're eating on an average basis. depending on your particular body (assuming you're not working out much) you likely want to eat between 1200 to 2000 calories a day. don't go below 1200 with any regularity. look at the calories but also look at WHAT you're eating. how much of it is meat? veggies? fruit? breads? sweets? etc? healtheir foods will leave you feeling full for longer so, when you have the option of a healthy choice, try your best to take it.

2) look at not only what you're eating but WHEN and WHY. do you get hungry at 2pm everyday? do you eat when you're bored? these are things to keep an eye on because how you handle these two issues i really think can make or break you.

3) as for the roommates buying the food...perhaps you could ask for them to buy some specific things if you are willing to cook a meal for everyone? chicken breasts are easy. so are steamed veggies. salads and potatos are also good and easy to cook for a crowd. plus! if you make enough, you can have leftovers for lunches or dinners later in the week.

4) campus gyms are the best! mine had students in the fitness medicine or similiar degree program that did fitness assessments and training sessions for really cheap. if you can afford to pay for a few sessions so someone can show you some basic moves, go for it! if you can't afford that or it's not an option, go to the internet! (oh, hey, you're already here!) google "upper body exercises" or "exercise to tone thighs"...you get the idea. just start looking around. try new things. treadmills and other cardio equipment are good but, try and push yourself. intervals are great. walk for 3 minutes and jog for 2...or walk on a low incline and then go higher and then come back again.

5) classes! i bet your gym offers fitness classes (hopefully for free!). they are a great way to expose you to different types of exercise and to see what you enjoy. plus! you can use the moves you learn in those classes when working out on your own.

sounds like you're off to a good start and, again, welcome to the community - we're glad you're here! i'm kinda wordy today so sorry for the long post

[arynna]

Awesome thank you soooo much for the tips! I need to stock up on chicken breast and veggies. :3 I'll report back on the specs of the campus gym!

[Sco]

Welcome to the Rebellion! ebm 1224 pretty much nailed things. I'd just add that there will definitely be something that you enjoy doing (fitness wise), so keep trying different things until you find something that clicks. Definitely look into trying out the free weights if they've piqued your interest!

Also, you could sort of think of your workout progressions as leveling up your real-life "character," and maybe create some levels for yourself based on exercise difficulty, reps, or whatever you want, really. Just a random thought to perhaps spark some ideas.

Good luck!

[arynna]

That sounds like a great idea. Thanks so much!!

[ShortyX]

I HIGHLY recommend switching your lens of how you view workouts as a 'Leveling up'. That's helped me immensely. I used to mark days I worked out on my calendar, then at the end of the week if I worked out 3 days or more I gave myself a "point". Ten points equals 1 Level. I kept track of it in a notebook, but could do it easily on a computer (or HERE, blog about it!)

Also with treadmills I had the same problem. Seeing little/no result. But I changed that by changing what I was doing. I started pushing myself just that little bit extra every time I ran or walked. If I was scheduled to do thirty minutes of walking I'd do thirty-two. If I though I could run for one minute before cutting to a walk again, I'd run for a minute and ten seconds. Then, just keep increasing those things from work out to workout. Totally changed my mind about how effective treadmills are!

Hope some of that helps, and welcome! I'm a newbie too, and stoked about getting more involved in the Rebellion.