Changing the plan of attack and trying...again.

[Tamora]

Hello everyone, I’m Tamora!

I’ve been “trying†to eat a healthy diet and establish a regular exercise routine to lose weight for about two years with almost no success at all. Apparently, I suck at getting healthy. Even after letting myself down dozens of times, I’m still want to keep trying. Hopefully I can manage to not suck, finally!

I’m a college student; I’ll be going into my final semester of undergrad studies this fall, majoring in English literature and the German language. I LOVE to read more than anything (SF and fantasy are my true loves) but also enjoy hiking, gardening, alto sax playing and friend-and-family visiting. I’d like to add strength training and maybe also sprinting to that list.

I started becoming interested in eating real, unprocessed food while taking a random elective class that focused on America’s food industry. We watched Food, Inc., did a project on the China Study and read Michael Pollan’s Food Rules, among many other eye-opening materials. I started reading healthy food and fitness blogs and began a cycle of starting to eat better and exercise, failing, trying again, failing again, etc. I recently discovered Nerd Fitness from a link on No Meat Athlete. Since, I’ve been thinking that maybe a supportive community, one aspect of this whole get-fit-and-healthy thing I’ve been missing so far, is something that can help me break out of the fail cycle. I’m hoping having others to help hold me accountable might be the tipping point in this cycle that I am SO TIRED of.

I struggle most with starting small and staying committed. I know how to eat a healthy, balanced diet. I know I need to exercise regularly. Every couple months, I tell myself, “I’m going to eat 100% healthy at every meal and do some form of exercise everyday and be completely awesome and perfect in a couple months!!†My methods and “goals†change every time I put myself through this, and every time I manage to convince myself that “this time will be different!†and that I can do it all at once and be successful.

In the past couple weeks, I’ve been reading several accounts on how building habits one or two at a time can help them actually stick. This has made me realize that expecting perfection immediately has been one of my bigger mistakes, that I’m not failing because I lack the ability to discipline myself but more likely because I’ve been overwhelming myself.

I think the upcoming 6-week challenge will be a great new tool to help keep me motivated and on-track. I hope that supporting others in their goals on here and having people to support me will make this time actually different! Some ideas for goals, to be narrowed down or hammered out before the challenge starts:

1 — Give strength (and/or?) interval training a try. Would probably be best to work in one at a time… Find or put together a realistic training plan. I really want to build muscle and be strong!

2 — Narrow down just a couple of specific goals to focus on to improve my diet long-term. Maybe focus on one small thing per week of the six week challenge? Possible examples: cutting out processed food (something I’m already pretty good at, except when I eat out!), avoiding added sugar and sweet treats, eating at least one serving of vegetables with at least two meals a day, etc.

3—Stop hiding from the reality of my out-of-shapeness and go to the my campus wellness center and find out my weight and body fat percentage and figure out a realistic goal for lowering that percentage in six weeks. Maybe knowing those numbers and working to lower them will be a goal tangible enough to keep me going!

Thanks for taking the time to read my story! I am cautiously excited to get started (again), and am really looking forward to getting to know the people here on Nerd Fitness.

[BadWolf]

Hello! Having a community to support you is fantastic. I love it here. Building healthy habits gradually is a great way to start, it's more sustainable for many people than just jumping in 100% right away. Also, changing up your workouts can help keep you interested. I haven't been feeling cycling so I just decided to try other stuff out until something felt right.

Good luck!

[CakeBanisher]

Welcome, Tamora! I've done the whole "this time will be different!" attack everything at once for a few weeks, fall off the wagon thing a few times. This last time, I went into it more slowly, and it's sticking better. You sound like you have a good list of the ways that don't work for you - that's good! You know what not to try again. I think your goals are good! Make sure you don't plow into exercise too fast, or you won't be able to walk the next day...don't be a total wimp, but don't kill yourself, either Best of luck to you!