On the Road to Badassery

[SorrowsSolace]

Hello,

 

I'm SorrowsSolace. I joined NF a week or so ago because I've been unhappy with my health and body for awhile-I'm about 5'4'' and about 150 lbs. I take a kung fu class once a week, but that's not enough and as a student my habits are pretty sedentary. So I started to work out at the Y and it's been a week- I use the bike for 25 minutes and do a weight circuit for the rest of the hour. Already I feel better and a bit healthier (though pretty darn sore) and an hoping to get up to every other day for a work out schedule. So far it's every three days since I find that I'm too sore to do it more often, though I am looking for easier exerciss to do in between that won't cause any problems.

 

I've got asthma and am leery of running, i really don't enjoy it so the biking works much better. My diet's decent, I make sure to try and have vegetables ones a day along with meat and pasta, though I need to eat more fruits and vegetables in the day (I also have a weakness for chips.) I'm not too sure about the paleo diet since I really like my youghurt, milk (and yes, icecream) and bread as well as cereal. Right now i want to focus on cutting back on snacking and go from there.

 

That's about it, I'm glad to be starting my journey and hoping that i can keep things up!

[Shukar]

We're glad to have you here as we all go about our health/fitness journey. Welcome to Nerd Fitness! No matter where you start as long as you make progress toward your goals then you're doing alright.

[Laureleye]

The key to losing weight is controlling your diet.  I don't eat paleo (I too like my yogurt) - I just eat real food.  Meat/eggs, veggies, fruit, nuts/nut butter and very limited grains.  Cutting out most of your junk will dramatically lower your calorie intake and give your body much better fuel.  You might want to ditch the wheat/gluten for a while to see if your asthma reacts well.

 

If you read today's Strength Training 101 blog, you'll see that you're supposed go 48 hours between strength training sessions.  So if you do your body weight training 3 days a week, and do "something else" on alternating days 3x a week, you shouldn't have so much pain.  Something else can be the bike, rowing machine, walking, yoga, martial arts, or tennis or any mixture thereof.  Make sure you stretch after your workouts, and have at least 1 rest day/week. 

 

You're not too late to join the current challenge - it just started Monday.  It's a great way to focus on a few short-term goals.  Glad you found us.

[AKLulu]

Welcome! Diet is definitely key, as Laureleye said. Don't feel like you have to go Paleo. There are plenty of people around here that aren't and make it work for them. The biology of it makes sense to me, so I'm trying it, but I don't think that it's for everyone.

 

If you don't like running, don't bother with it. Steve always says, "Find something you like and stick with it." and that's really the best way to go. I dabble in other things, but really the thing that gets me going these days is CrossFit. Some people like running, some people like lifting, some like swimming, and some like Parkour. Do what appeals to you and don't stress about the other things. Don't be afraid to try something new, but you'll know if it's not for you. I think three days a week is a perfect place to start and is what I'm trying to work back into myself. Keep at it! You'll be less sore and feeling stronger/fitter before you know it