My struggle and how I found NF

[Briguy]

A few weeks ago I stepped on my scale and it said 308. I am 6'3" 31 and just moved into my parents travel trailer behind their house. I decided a couple of years ago to do something about my weight, at 260, and apparently it has only gotten worse. I have a membership at the YMCA and started doing a strict cardio workout, treadmill, bike and elliptical for 30 minutes each, sometime in 2010, I got bored with it and quit going after a few weeks, I also was doing some yoga classes there.

I moved, lived about the same distance from a different Y but didn't go, my work schedule changed to mornings, after a month or so I was planning on going back and trying something different, I didn't know what yet, and I was trying to work on a blog was geared to people that lived a sedimentary lifestyle in call centers. Then I started having trouble focusing and ended up taking medical leave and got back to work after 3 weeks. during that 3 weeks I did pretty much nothing. I laid on the couch, in bed, or drove to the VA, didn't talk to anyone other than my roommate (when he wasn't playing Battlefield 3 in his room) and watched Netflix. After I got on some medication for my depression and started working again, there was a shift bid at work when I was gone and I got moved to a night shift. I stepped on the scale again and it said 295. I decided I was going to try and start working out again in the morning or after work. That never happened. I got books, I researched, I researched more. I decided I want to do Parkour, and I also pulled out my Vibram Five-Finger Trek's I got (great for hiking) and tried running. It Hurt, so I stopped. I became a vegetarian, I was going to try vegan, but had to have dairy products (nachos). At that point I had reached 300. First few weeks felt great, I felt lighter, more awake, only downfall that I saw was everyone telling me I needed to eat meat. After that first few weeks there was no more feeling different. I stepped on the scale after 4 months, and it said 308 pounds, just after I moved into the 24' travel trailer.

After that I started looking into different diets and found this absurd way of eating called the Paleo Diet. Since I am a person that likes research I started looking some stuff up and found some different articles telling not only that this was the way our ancestors lived, but why grain products don't do much to help us. So I went and found a recipe book for Paleo, looked at some of the recipes and at the available space I have, and decided it wouldn't work with the meal plan on $40 a week for food. Started cutting out breads and other grain products. And of course I hear from my mother how bad it is to not eat them because whole wheat is good for you and I do all of these different things that are bad for me.

[Briguy]

So part of the title is how I found Nerd Fitness. I still want to do Parkour, and to do so I have to start somewhere. So I looked up beginning Parkour and read Dakao's guest post on here. It made sense and actually had a starting point that basically said do this first. And it has nothing to do with Parkour. I started clicking on links in the site and kept reading. I read one of the post from Steve and thought that the stuff he said for a workout was easy and I could do it without a problem. Then read the comments from people in shape that said it was hard, how absurd, it sounded so easy.

A week later I did

10 air squats,

8 pushups,

6 leglifts,

no pullups yet, I need to find a pullup bar first.

And that is all I could do, my Dad, (slipped disc in back, major concussion last fall, no feeling in most of leg) is in better shape than me.

So after 3 workouts I am up to ten on all of them and want to move up to the next level.

I have bursitis or something like that in my shoulder, and I want to strengthen it so it doesn't hurt all the time again. and am not sure if this is the right place to start. I looked at Stacy and Saints transformations, when I was younger I was benching 200, squatting 300 and could deadlift 250 without really to hard. I began to think high reps with light weights was what I needed to do because I don't want to get bulky. My goal weight is 220 right now I want to be at that weight, have ran a 5k, and know Japanese by the end of next year. (For any type of role playing I have pretty much always chosen Ranger, good with the outdoors, has stamina to keep a steady pace all day, and the strength get me and others out of situations that require it, and the dexterity to be a ninja when one is needed.)

[Guest Snake McClain]

Sounds to me that you're getting on a good path to a healthy life. I say go after it with all you've got. It really is your life on the line! You got this!

[smazzon1]

You're definitely in the right place. This community is amazing, and if you make use of the challenges, daily battle logs, and awesome NF Rebels then you will stay committed. I've always been off and on with workouts in the past, but I log them (and now food) everyday and it's helped me stick with my goals.

[Briguy]

Just an update on my intro, last time I weighted it was 300 pounds, I am not going to check again until New Years (that way I won't worry about the yo-yo effect at all. What I do know right now is that my belt is tighter around me, I only have one notch left and after that it is either find an older and smaller belt, buy a new new one, or find a punch and make some new holes. So it is looking like not to long and I will have a foot of extra leather sticking out past the buckle.

<<This makes me happy>>

[GallantNerd]

Sounds good to me. I'm not huge on the Paleo thing, though some people do seem to be having good results. I just can't bring myself to believe things like grain being bad for us when it's been such a huge part of our diet for so long - though I can bring myself to believe our current quality of grain (and various other foods) is pretty bad.

Anyway, good luck to you good sir! I'm brand-new here myself, but it seems like a great community as well as a great resource of information.