My clever post title has already been used :(

[Hardy]

HELLO REBELLION!!!!!!

I really wanted to use "I'm here because I suck", but what can you do.. It was taken.

My name is Hardy, I've been posting a bit here and there, starting to make my presence known, so I figured I might as well introduce myself!

My backstory -

Turning 41 years old in less than 2 weeks. The last couple years have been pretty tough on me. Family, job, health, etc. Recently family life improved drastically, my job improved immensely (finally ended a run of really crappy projects), and that left only one thing. My fat, beat-up, over-stressed body. For the past 15 years I've been a consistent 30lbs overweight, until the stresses piled up two years ago. Then I piled on another 20, and really started to feel it. Prior to that, I was fairly active, and kept my SAD diet partially at bay. Activity dropped, stress built, and the road was headed in a really dismal direction.....

January of this year, as everything else started coming together, I took a long, hard look at my health. It was the last thing I'd been ignoring. After some random Google searches, I tripped over Mark Sisson completely by accident (that's how google works, right?) So, as I started getting a handle on how the right foods fuel your body, and the others kill you, I started following links from there to see where it would lead. Next stop was Primal Toad. Plenty of dietary inspiration there also, but one piece of the puzzle was missing. Somewhere in Toads pages of wisdom, I wound up here!! Lurked for a bit, got a feel for things, and now I'm confident I found that last elusive piece of the puzzle. The one that will complete my journey back to awesome!! I shouldn't say "back", as I don't think I've visited awesome before, but it sounds cool!

So, in the 6ish weeks I've been starting over, I've dropped from 216lbs, to 189lbs. Seeing as the fitness thing is really just getting rolling, I'm really stoked at hows things are progressing!!

Now for my goals:

1. Finally quit smoking, for the last time (it'll be the 3rd attempt of 2012, and it's scheduled for March 13, after my birthday celebration extravaganza weekend)

2. Join the next 6 week challenge

3. Keep my head in the game each and every day

4. Not kick my own ass for little slip-ups along the way, just acknowledge it, and do better the next day.

5. BE SUPER AWESOME KICKASS by summertime!!!!!

I can tell this is an incredibly helpful and supportive community, and thanks for having me!!

Hardy

[Howlin' Moose]

Welcome!

Mark Sisson was how I got introduced to all of this as well. And your progress so far looks pretty darn good to me!

Good luck with the quitting smoking. I've been around trying-to-quit-smokers my whole life (also, I read John Cheese's vivid Cracked articles about quitting) so I can only imagine how tough it'll be. But if you can will yourself back into good health, you can kick the smoking habit as well (added plus: you've got a killer support group here at NF, on top of everything).

[Hardy]

Sorry, I just noticed I've mislead everyone. I started at 206lbs, down to 189lbs.. Damn typos... And to put it in perspective, I'm only 5'6", so that extra load doesn't have a lot of room to spread around..

Thanks for the boost on the smoking issue Moose, what I might need this time, is the Rebellion to come and physically kick my ass if my next quit attempt is fail. I'm sure there's a bunch of people around here that could smack some sense into me!! LOL (but really, please dont)

[HughMannity]

Welcome. I'm another person who got here via Mark Sissons.

I got serious this January too, and while my weight loss hasn't been as good as yours, my blood pressure and blood glucose have improved tremendously.

I've given up smoking several times -- I'm something of an expert at it However, this last time has held for well over a decade (not sure exactly how long). A couple of things that helped me were (1) Cleaning my teeth or at least using mouthwash after meals instead of the after-meal cigarette. That nice minty-fresh feeling made me feel less like smoking. (2) and this is the biggie: Creative Procrastination.

Creative Procrastination means that when you get a craving you tell yourself you'll have a cigarette (or candy bar or whatever else you're trying to cut back on) after $event, but only if you still want it then. $event can be whatever you choose, but it's best if it's something that's at least 30 minutes away -- an hour or 2 is even better. After lunch, when you're done with this report, when you get home from work, after folding the laundry... whatever works for your circumstances at the time. It's usually more effective if it's after something that will occupy your attention (like folding laundry) rather than "in 1/2 hour" which just leaves you watching the clock.

I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I suspect that giving yourself permission to have a cigarette later takes the psychological pressure off, while the activity takes your attention away from how much you "need" it.

I wish you every success.