A Beard, a Kilt, and a Dream

[Riboflaven]

The dream is to not throw up during my upcoming 20k Spartan race. I have a beard because it is awesome and it lets me lather up my whole head in the shower. The Kilt is what I will be running the Spartan races in, also fashionable as hell.

For most of my life I have been very, very unhealthy and over weight. I originally gained weight because my doctor put me on steroids for my asthma, then never bothered to tell me to stop taking them (I was 7ish). At that time my life consisted of staying in the hospital for a week, then home for a week or two then back to the hospital again. There was little to no activity in my life, so I ballooned in weight. While I didn't really have any control over gaining the weight, I did have control over losing it. Turns out being lazy and using my asthma as an excuse to never do anything was "easier." While I was completely capable of getting in shape I never did.

Fast forward 20 years and two things happened in quick succession that woke me up. First was that I passed out "on the line" multiple 20+ hour days and an unhealthy cooks diet sent me to the floor. A bit after that I was outside playing on the rocks at a nearby beach with my Brother and Best friend. They both were able to run and jump up to a rock and pull themselves up onto it. I on the other hand could barely jump high enough to get my hands on top of the rock and couldn't pull myself up, let alone this "running" thing all you health nuts are talking about. It took both of them, with MUCH struggling, to get me up there. And my mom caught it all on film. They didn't think anything of it, because that was the way it had always been.

3 years later, tonnes of time at the gym, and (admittedly) still not so great a diet, I am in the best shape of most of my friends. I have turned into the man that I always made fun of. I used to say I didn't know why someone would workout so intensely that they couldn't lift their arms to wash their hair in the shower, now when that happens I giggle because it is awesome.

I bike commute now (most days depends on what Halifax decides the weather will be) 10k each way. I hug my bike as often as possible because it makes my life great. I focus more on body weight workouts now rather than lifting heavy at the gym. My Brother and I are both addicted to the idea of being able to move our body in the straightest line possible while going over/under/through anything in our way. My body controlled me for most of my life, so I sorta like telling it what to do!

My biggest weakness and biggest reason for joining the forums is my nutrition. Even though I eat much healthier I find I still eat like a fat guy. Cravings and binge eating are keeping me from seeing those abs I know I have. So I will be pouring over the nutrition forums with much vigour. Most of my friends and current roomie do not eat healthy at all, so I am surrounded by temptation so often. I often wonder how I can have everything so together exercise wise and completely miss the boat food wise.

Goals:

1) Eat like a man, not like Augustus Gloop.

2) Do a muscle up.

3) Pay off my credit card.

Right so I'll stop now, I have more stories I could tell, but this is already lengthy. Thank you for reading this, it is good to get some of this stuff out in the open.

Peace.

[ETFnerd]

welcome to the rebellion...

[leadchipmunk]

Welcome to the rebellion! You already have all 3 things you need to succeed. Yes, a kilt is necessary for success.

[SirEarl]

welcome! Good luck with your goals. Especially the spartan race!

[tekilla]

Awesome story! Keen to hear more love that you hug your bike.

Any ideas what you want to do, nutrition wise?

[ryanmercer]

Love it!

[Riboflaven]

I know that I am an emotional eater, so like Steve says I want to remove the emotional part from it. I am trying intermittent fasting for a month to see what I feel like (so far so good). I need to try and get my paleo on more. I am afraid to try too much at one time though, so I will focus on the paleo thing once I am more comfortable with the not eating the whole day long thing!

[Ocelot]

Welcome As for the first goal - your dream - I have some advice and hope it helps! My acquired wisdom is, that raw fruit/veg is all but impossible to throw up. So on the morning of your race... eat just bananas apples or carrots and then away you go!