Holy bananas Batman, another nerd!

[Sir Arbarac]

Greetings from Southern California everyone! I am Sir Arbarac and I’ve been lurking around nerd fitness for a little bit now and I thought I would introduce myself. I got out of college about a year and a half ago and while I’m grateful that I was able to get a desk job it’s brought on some bad habits that I’ve been trying to kick (as well as quite a few pounds).

What’s worse is that I’ve noticed this trend with a lot of my friends and family so my hope is that I can get back in shape so I can encourage them to try and be healthier as well. The problem is that while I do enjoy working out its difficult to keep doing it when people around you don’t seem that interested. So I came here .

And yes that handsome devil in the top left hand of this box is indeed me in a pirate hat trying to look as heroic as possible. It was taken during one of my friend’s Rogue Trader sessions (essentially Dungeons and Dragons in space for those who have never heard of Rogue Trader) where I played the heroic, if not accident prone Captain John McSlappywag. My other nerdy interests are video games (PC, 360 and PS3), Warhammer (miniatures game), board games and anything else that seems silly and strange.

I don’t have too many defined fitness goals at the moment but I would like to….

Be able to bench press my body weight (currently at 275 lbs and I can lift about 135)

Get to 5% body fat (I think I was around 30% last time I checked)

I know I need to create a schedule and routine on how/what to lift and when, but I’m not really sure where to begin, some someone point me in the right direction?

[The *Other* Green Fairy]

Welcome to the forums!

Finding motivated companions is always the trick, isn't it? But having the forum definitely helped me, so hopefully you also find it useful.

(Also, heya fellow SoCal-ian!)

Along with your defined fitness goals (would the Base Camp be a good place to ask about weight-lifting?) do you have any goals for making your food habits ones that help, rather than hinder, your progress towards being healthier?

[Sir Arbarac]

Hahaha SoCal-ian, I like that! My eating habits have been one of the things I’ve been working on for a while now when I came to the realization I needed to loose some weight a few months ago or so. However I’ve hit the proverbial wall it seems so I definitely need to step up my work out. As of right now my breakfast is usually just coffee in the morning when I get to work, lunch is Campbell’s Soup while snacking on fruit through the day, with probably a gallon of coffee to wash it down and dinner is kind of a wild card, because I’m usually with friends or family and it can range on anything from going out to having a home cooked meal, along with alcohol.

Things I know I need to work on diet wise are….

1. Eat a healthy breakfast

2. consume more lean protein

3. consume less alcohol

4. try to not make dinner the biggest meal of the day.

The hard part is trying to mix all of that with trying to stay social with people at the same time, because eating and drinking seem to be the norm activity when I’m hanging out with people.

I’ll look into the base camp, the posts seem to be oddly specific but I’m sure I could dig one up for an all around starters work out kind of thing.

[Laney]

SoCal... Jerks

Just so you know, many people have great results with not eating breakfast, especially if you don't like it. There is a thread on Intermittent Fasting in one of the nutrition guilds. Good luck!

[BenHo]

Hey Sir Arbarac!

I'm brand new, too. Congrats on the first post, I had put it off for a while as well.

I hear ya on the trying to be social with people while keeping your goals in mind. I feel like during the week, especially breakfast and lunch, it isn't too bad to keep on target with diet. But yeah, those dinners and weekends can get tricky. Stay tough! I've found that while trying to explain the new eating/drinking habits throws people off at first, it makes for good conversation. After awhile people will know and not even question it.

-BenHo

[Sir Arbarac]

Laney: lol, we’re actually quite nice once you get to know us . It’s not that I don’t like eating breakfast I just rarely seem to have time for it, thanks for the advice on the Intermittent Fasting though, I’ll look into it.

BenHo: Thanks for the encouragement! The weekends especially are killers but I’m certainly trying and I know it will be worth it in the end. I’ve never really vocalized eating habits before, but maybe that’s a key and if it worked for you I’m certainly willing to give it a shot. Hehe, I can’t wait to see what kind of spin my friends will put on this.

[Laney]

Laney: lol, we’re actually quite nice once you get to know us . It’s not that I don’t like eating breakfast I just rarely seem to have time for it, thanks for the advice on the Intermittent Fasting though, I’ll look into it.

BenHo: Thanks for the encouragement! The weekends especially are killers but I’m certainly trying and I know it will be worth it in the end. I’ve never really vocalized eating habits before, but maybe that’s a key and if it worked for you I’m certainly willing to give it a shot. Hehe, I can’t wait to see what kind of spin my friends will put on this.

I'm just super jelly, living in MN will do that to you :cries in corner:

[The *Other* Green Fairy]

*pats Laney* S'okay, we understand. XD At least you guys get seasons! We've got... let's see. Rainy season and Fire season. >_> And Rainy season is only relative... if it rains for more than 3 days, people freak out. XD

Sir Abarac, milord, I think you've hit upon something with "vocalized eating habits". Looking into various eating methods (Vegetarian, Vegan, Primal/Paleo, Raw foods, Portion watching) is a good thing to do, but just for kicks, also try to keep a daily food diary for a week. Sometimes just looking at what you eat (or thinking about looking at what you eat) can spark ideas for what else you can shift around in your daily noshing.

(Also also, if I may recommend trying the Paleo/Primal way for a month or so? I've done it and found it was really workable. After all, any diet that doesn't deny you bacon can't be a bad thing. ;D)

[Sir Arbarac]

Lol, you make it sound like California is something out of Avatar, the last air bender (it was a peaceful place until the fire nation attacked).

A diet that doesn’t deny you bacon?! My god…what has science done. The Paleo diet is something I’ve been looking into and I actually read about it here at nerd fitness. Doing that for a month would definitely start me off on the right track and maybe start to reinforce some of those good habits that can help me in the gym.