Ready, Player (One)?

[Sevryn]

Greetings & Salutations. I'm Sevryn. I have tried to lose weight... I don't know, a lot! Each time I'd have some minor success but something would derail me and I'd gain it all back. I've been heavy my entire life. Last month I turned 36. Only five years until the age my mom was when she passed. She died of cancer, a brain tumor that spread from her lungs due to smoking. If, at 36, had someone told her "Hey, seriously, this will kill you." Would she have stopped? I don't know. But the idea that I might have less than five years now? That's a little scary. I intend to make it to the end boss. 

 

So, that's my sob story, more about me personally... I'm female, married, one cat, and I live in the Midwest. I'm currently going back to school to finish my bachelor's degree. While I do that I work for an insurance company doing data entry. It's boring, but it's a job. A desk job, where I have to sit all day. I have a production number to meet so there's really no getting up and taking a walk every hour or something. It's head down, do your work if you want to stay employed. Oh and to show our appreciation, here's some popcorn mixed with M&Ms. I like to read, play video games, watch movies, and surf the interwebs. 

 

One of my biggest challenges is finding an exercise I can do and enjoy. I am morbidly obese, so just picking up a sport and doing it, isn't likely to happen. I know I need to start small and slow and build up tolerance and lose weight so I can do something. It's quite frustrating to know that to lose weight you have to move more but to move more you have to lose weight. Also, I hate running. Always have. If I'm running, it's because someone is chasing me with a big knife. Walking is OK, but I have back problems (that are probably largely weight related) that cause me to be in pain if I'm on my feet too long. I also have Lymphedema which causes my lower left leg to swell. So I have an exercise bike. It's activity and less stress on my back and legs. I tend to get winded on that too, so I'm also taking that slow, building up where I can. 

 

As for diet, I'm looking to try this paleo diet thing that gets so much press around here. A little over a year ago my cat was dx with diabetes. I did a bunch of research on it and found that cats are obligate carnivores and really have no need for carbohydrates. Most dry food is chock full of them. I switched him to a canned diet that's less than 10% carbs and within a month his blood sugar numbers had dropped to non-diabetic numbers. He's in remission, and doesn't need insulin at all. So when I started reading about paleo, I was thinking "Huh, that's pretty much what I'm doing for him." Problem is, he never was fond of pizza and bread and he's fine eating whatever comes out of the can. I'm slightly more complicated. 

 

So that's me in not quite a nutshell. How are you?

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome to the rebellion. Many people here don't like running, you don't have to run to lose weight. You do have to move somehow though, but the good news is diet is 80% of weight loss. Clean up your eating and you've won way more than half the battle. Look at some of steve's beginner workouts, do what you can and improve slowly. This weight did not come on overnight and it will not go off overnight, it will be a slow, steady process with a lot of baby steps.  Good luck.

[Laureleye]

So many times we try to fix our problems by going "whole hog", but tanktimus is right baby steps, baby steps.  I started out six months ago only about 20 lbs up, but was rehabbing a shoulder and knee injury.  When I started the beginner's body weight workout I couldn't do 1 lunge; last night I did 3 sets of 10.  I really like the beginners body weight workout - the warmup is hard, so just do the "easy" parts of the warmup (leg swings, arm swings, etc.)  I'd also recommend doing 3 circuits, but hold it down to just a very few reps every circuit.  If you need longer than 2.5 minutes between circuit (to rest your back), take more.  There is an intersting thread that you might like to join.  Good luck.