Well, I'm here. Finally.

[Dyego]

I have been lurking on these forums for two months now, but with the new 4 Week Challenge coming up, I thought it was high time to finally introduce myself.

 

Hi! I’m a 31 year-old, married-for-11-years-this-month gamer geek and I have problems. I knew I had problems for quite awhile, but it wasn’t until about three years (or so) ago, when I hit 316 pounds, that I decided to do something about it. I managed to drop below 300 pretty quickly, but stayed in the 290 range until just last year. My private follow-the-12-week-mission has dropped me down to 259, but last week I got hit with another depression attack and ate 4 boxes of cookies in a week.

 

So, here I am, hitting the big, red RESET button and one of my goals is to interact on these forums!

 

For those of you who are curious, here is the list of issues I currently face. I’m putting this list here also as a reminder to myself that I can’t use these as excuses any more. Explanations for why I can’t do as much as I’d maybe like? Yes. Excuses? No. I’m very good at making up excuses for anything, and high on my list of things to do is to stop doing that.

 

Spoiler

 

• Severe clinical depression
• Anxiety (especially in crowds)
• Celiac Disease
• Blood markers (though not yet beginning stages) of 3 different types of arthritis. (I didn’t know there were more than 2. Did you?!)
• Asthma
• Severe allergies
• Sugar addiction (hence the 315 pounds)
• Yeast overgrowth that manifests as oral candida whenever I overdo it on the sugar
• I live in Phoenix and have suffered heat exhaustion, making my heat tolerance very low
• My right hip and knee never fully healed from a fracture
• My forearms are skinnier than I’d like because they were both in casts at various points in my youth

 

 

I’ll be adding to this as I remember excuses. Putting them all in one place is very therapeutic. Now! On to the more encouraging stuff: my goals!

 

I am an author, an artist, and a designer. I would really like to turn one of my many “Notebook of Ideas” into an actual game, so I am slowly learning C# and C++. I’ve self-published a few novels, but I have tendency to start things I don’t finish, so I need to publish the rest of my sci-fi trilogy and be done with it. Those are my “life goals.”

 

Fitness and health goals: kick my sugar addiction and start flirting with the 240-pound-range again.

 

Game plan: Do this 4 Week Challenge and then do another one after that!

 

[Novaurora]

Hello!  Welcome!  I'm a newbie too, but I still like to say hi!

 

I'm working on getting published (finishing my 1st draft is actually a part of this 4 week challenge for me) so I'm super impressed (and slightly jealous) that you're already published.  What's your book?  Is it on amazon?  I can also relate to mental health intermingling within your overall health goals, as I often let my anxiety and ADD run rampant in every facet of my life, but hopefully that ends here soon.  We all have our own personal excuses, and we're all human, so we fall back on them occasionally, but we can always improve.  I'll be around (procrastinating, more than likely) so I hope to see you kicking butt and killing your goals!

 

[Dyego]

Finishing that first draft is always the hardest goal, but always a good one! Procrastination is also a HUGE problem for me (working on it!).

 

Also, shameless self-promotion, but you DID ask! Here's my author page on Amazon.

 

Spoiler

https://www.amazon.com/Dyego-Alehandro/e/B007X18A38/

 

A side note: That "Frontier Archives" short story collection is supposed to be free, and you can nab the free version on smashwords here: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/432147

 

Thanks for the support! I'll be keeping an eye on your progress as well. Writing buddies are always needed!

[Novaurora]

There was talk of a writers thread in the accountabilibuddies section of the 4 week challenge...so be on the .look out!!  Your challenge looks good (yup, I'm that nosy, lol) Let's kill it for the next 4 weeks

[zeroh13]

Welcome to the land of posting! Congrats on hitting RESET, it's not an easy feat.

 

I like your list of excuses. And you're totally right, they can be good as explanations for why you have trouble with some things, but they shouldn't be used as excuses, especially when they so often stop us from even trying in the first place. I like to think of it as more like a puzzle. You might not have a clear path from A to B, maybe there's a long ass detour in the way, but eventually if you keep at it you'll get there.

 

Best of luck!