Rebel from Edmonton

[cjhallme]

Hello, Rebellion!

 

My name is Chris, and I am 23 years old. I am a college student whose story probably isn't TOO radically different from many, so apologies if I bore you with stuff you've heard a thousand times before.

 

I was a skinny boy growing up, and only first started gaining weight the summer between grades 7 and 8. I honestly can't pinpoint an exact reason why. My best guess is a combination of puberty (causing my body's chemical structure to go all haywire), "enabler" friends (ones who didn't lead very healthy lifestyles themselves, taking me with them), and just plain laziness/lack of motivation. I ballooned quickly, and ended up around 40-50 pounds overweight by grade 10. I never got bullied too bad over it, mostly just in gym class. Be that as it may, it still sucked, and didn't give me quite the motivation I was looking for. I basically stayed the same weight throughout high school, although I made one major diet change at the time: I totally eliminated potato chips as a snack food. Small change, but big considering it was basically a staple in my diet. I'm proud to say, over 8 years later, not a single chip has entered my mouth!

 

After high school, I started working, and actually lost most of that weight. I attribute it to not just being more active, but being in a role that basically gave me a full workout every shift. Working both on the sales floor and in the back stock room, I not only had the cardio down, but plenty of lifting as well. For the first time ever, I had guns! Well, more like pistols, but still, better than anything I had before! Despite all this, my body never got to where I was happy with it. Yes I lost all that weight, but I think my problem was my body hit a plateau and because my shift work never really changed over the years, I lacked variety and so didn't make any more progress. Add to that my diet was still meh (although I cut out another staple, pop/soda, and once again, haven't had any in over 3 years!), which didn't help.

 

Once I left work and went back to school, I went back to a more sedentary lifestyle, and gained back that weight (and a little more). Most of my days are spent sitting in a chair, reading, studying, working on assignments, researching...all the fun stuff! Combined with that, my social life has been pretty null since I left high school, which I think has partly contributed to my lack of motivation. It's picked up more recently, but for a while has been pretty sad, which I think has hurt my overall motivation (although an new addition to the family has helped provide some more motivation recently).

 

Regarding my previous experience, I've been "that guy" that stops and re-starts 100 times. Of course, I THOUGHT I knew what I was doing, but after doing some research (which led me here), I realize how wrong I've been. While I've actually kept my New Year's resolution this year to be active every day, I realize what I was doing really wasn't that effective (I was one of those "let's do hours of cardio" guys). Exercise aside, my main problem has definitely been my diet, and although it isn't terrible, it isn't great either, so I look forward to making small changes over time with the diet as well as the exercise to start improving. That being said, I'm not considering this a another "reset". To me, this is simply a "re-focus" to use my motivation from what I've done so far, and shift my focus on the more important aspects of getting healthier.

 

I look forward to being a "Rebel", and being a part of this community. While I had heard of NF before this, I never really gave it any serious thought until I stumbled on it again today. Reading a few of Steve's articles actually gave me more motivation, and made me realize how much simpler it could be for me, and from that I could realize much more benefit than from what I had been doing. I think being part of this community is what I really have needed this entire time. I promise to share my progress over time, as my schedule permits.

 

That's all I can really think about saying for now. I'm an open book, so if you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

 

Until next time,

 

- Chris

[sneaky]

I'm a college student as well. What are you studying?

[cjhallme]

Hi Sneaky,

 

I'm studying Business Administration, specifically management. I'm just finishing off the 3rd of 4 years.

 

- Chris

[sneaky]

You're a lot further than I am, I'm just finishing up freshman year. How are you liking business? I have a friend who keeps trying to recruit me to business.

[cjhallme]

Hi Sneaky,

 

I'm liking business, but that may be because that's what I seem to have a passion for. I had no idea what I wanted to do after high school, which is why I worked for a few years, and through that I developed my interest in business.

 

What are you currently studying? Are you seriously contemplating switching to business?

 

Chris

[sneaky]

Currently I'm a microbiology major, and I've only ever seriously considered switching to other sciences, it's what I find most interesting. Plus, as my brother would say, I'm too blunt for business. I just don't have the skills for social strategy. It's awesome that taking time away from school helped you though, I know a few people I graduated high school with that took a year off, but did nothing (and I mean not even a part time job, waking up at two in the afternoon to sit in their pjs and watch netflix, nothing).

[cjhallme]

That's awesome. Funny enough, I actually considered something in the sciences when I was back in high school because those were my best subjects. I realized, though, that just because I was good at it didn't mean I wanted to pursue it long-term, and I honestly couldn't see myself being happy making a career out of it.

 

I also know some people like that, but I also know just as many who went right into college/university and ended up dropping out or switching majors because they were unhappy. I'm glad I took the time off that I did, as it not only helped me decide what I wanted to do in life, but gave me a little experience in the field before I ever studied it.

[sneaky]

It's definitely not for everyone. There are so many people I've seen go from science to something completely different in a semester. The course load is kinda crazy and a lot of people just don't love it enough to get through the first two years of weeder classes.

 

For sure. One of my school's major donors was actually asked to leave before he completed college, and he ended up being a very successful businessman before he decided he wanted to finish college. He's actually donated so much one of the nicest buildings on campus is named after him because he gave them like three million to build it.