OpsMJP Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 Greetings all! I first stumbled on NF a little over a month ago getting ready to start my first attempt at P90X and looking for what my ideal body fat percentage would be. Being a self-proclaimed nerd/geek I immediately fell in love with the site. I had heard about the paleo diet long before coming to NF but the site really put it in perspective for me, which was coincidentally something that my doctor had suggested for me as a potential diet option not long before. I decided to take the leap and found not only by cutting out the grains/sugars/etc. out of my diet and buying more organic fruits, vegetables, eggs and meats that I was spending pretty much the same as I was on groceries anyway, but that I was not hungry all the time anymore and I had significantly more energy than I have had in a long time. Couple this with my workout routine and I've seen some progress already. I've lost about 11 pounds (I'm currently 239, my goal weight is about 180 and I am 5'9"). The big thing about it is my body fat percentage is dropping faster than my weight, and people at work have been noticing. I've noticed it myself in how much better my clothes are fitting and how the shape of my body is changing. A little bit about me: I've struggled with my weight for the majority of my life. Around the time I hit puberty I started to gain weight and lived a pretty sedentary lifestyle. I mostly played video/computer games as a kid and wasn't into most sports (to this day I have yet to find a sport that engages me, besides Quidditch but my college didn't HAVE a Quidditch team...). I never really weighed myself much while in school but once I got to college I definitely gained a significant amount of weight. In the summers I would work at an amusement park which helped me lose a little bit but I was usually eating fast food because after the long hours at work that's all that would be available to me (and living in a small dorm room with only a 5 ft³ refrigerator being shared between 4 people doesn't allow for much storage). Around June of 2007 I topped out at about 290 lbs. At that time I had heard about and been selected to participate in a medical study for an experimental drug for obesity. In addition to the drug, I was also working with a dietitian on learning healthier eating habits, counting my calories and increasing my exercise level. Between June of 2007 and May of 2008 I had dropped to 218 lbs. The study ended early due to FDA changes conflicting with the current formulation of the drug. As I entered my junior year of college I was carrying a heavy course load and had gotten sucked into the realm of hardcore WoW raiding. By May of 2009 I was back in the 230's and then proceeded to head to Japan for the summer to study abroad. Somehow I gained another 20 lbs there, so I was back at 250. I was desperate because I was seeing the weight slowly climb back up and seemed to have forgotten how to stop it. I ended up going to a weight loss clinic. Basically all they did was supply me with phentermine (with the benefit of hindsight I now know that this is an incredibly dangerous drug that effected me on both a physical and psychological level, but at the time the results of my weight loss were blinding me to that). I went from 250 in August of 2009 to 212 by December 2009. After I graduated from college in December I moved to Florida to start on a leadership internship with Disney. I managed to maintain pretty well for a while due to the fairly active nature of the job. December of that year I got very ill, and being without insurance at the time, and no longer in a salaried leadership role (as the one I was in was only temporary), I ended up having to be hospitalized after getting so dehydrated and malnourished (I had a sore throat that was so painful I couldn't eat or drink anything) that I had lost 16 lbs in one week. Once recovering, my weight slowly climbed over the next 2 years. This was partially due to lack of a good exercise routine, lack of motivation, and the fact that I was only living on an hourly rate of about $8.21 an hour. Between all the bills I had to pay, good quality food became less of a priority and I was back in the ramen noodles, pasta, and fast food lifestyle. In January of this year, I got a job offer that definitely put me in a better place financially and also allowed me to re-evalute my health. I was back up to 250 and I needed to change. No drugs, no crazy dieting. I was going to do this on my own. The first step was cutting out the diet soda. I was addicted to the crap. I'd go through 4 12 packs (that's 48 cans!!!!) in less than a week. I went cold turkey and switched to straight up water. That helped motivate me a little bit. What helped even more was when a coworker showed me her Fitbit. I had heard about it but the price tag ($99.95) was a bit off-putting. But once I heard her story about how motivated it kept her and continued to challenge her to do better, I was hooked. I got the fitbit and the Aria wi-fi BFP scale and haven't looked back. I've been wearing it 24 hours a day for the last month and being the nerd that I am I even weigh myself every day just to see the long-term trends. The fact that it communicates wirelessly with my iPhone and also works with the MyFitnessPal app that I use to track my eating (and which in turn adjusts my caloric intake based on how active I've been) has made staying motivated a cinch. I can't not be accountable because this thing that I often forget I'm even wearing on my waist MAKES me be accountable. I know I haven't been as active as I should when I get a push notification on my phone telling me to move it. So I do. And I feel better because of it. So here I am a month into my journey. I'm in no rush. Do I want to get absolutely ripped? No. I want to get healthy. I want to get to 15% body fat. I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror and be proud of what I see. And I'm glad NF got me on the road to getting there. Some other fun facts about me:Yes, I work at Walt Disney World. No, I am not Mickey Mouse. There is only one Mickey and he is who he is.I am a gamer at heart. I play WoW and Star Wars: The Old Republic casually. I also am currently hooked on BioShock: Infinite and Dead Space 3.Star Wars? Lord of the Rings? Love them to death. I will marathon all films at least once a year.I am a Harry Potter fanatic to the extreme. I am a textbook Ravenclaw (Pottermore told me so). Having the luxury of an annual pass to Universal Orlando, I get to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter whenever I want. I have an entire Hogwarts student getup that I wear exclusively to Wizarding World with friends of mine that do the exact same thing. Looking forward to getting to know all of you! Link to comment
dylan.glenn Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 welcome! Always good to see new faces, im sure you'll find the people here very supportive and overall from the experience I've had very nice. I hope to see you around the forums! Link to comment
eliz Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 Hi MJP! Nice to meet you here and read your story. Was thinking of Walt Disney World earlier today as I just registered for the marathon there... and immediately realized I better start making travel plans! Looking forward to following along with you. eliz, Level 2 Cookie Monster ScoutSTR 6 | DEX 3 | STA 6 | CON 5 | WIS 4 | CHA 4Current Challenge: Piles of Miles Link to comment
Locutus Lupin Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 Thanks for sharing your story! Good luck to you. Link to comment
Teros Posted April 9, 2013 Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 welcome! I was gonna go the WoW route a few years back but I knew I would be massively addicted. I bought the game, kept it on top of my computer and just left it there for two weeks.. just thinking about it. I returned it since it was unopened. Best gaming decision ever. Did you beat bioshock infinite? I heard that once you get to the end you realize it's a masterpiece (but I only got 1/way through). Been meaning to play dead space 3. is it as scary as 2? Link to comment
OpsMJP Posted April 9, 2013 Author Report Share Posted April 9, 2013 welcome! I was gonna go the WoW route a few years back but I knew I would be massively addicted. I bought the game, kept it on top of my computer and just left it there for two weeks.. just thinking about it. I returned it since it was unopened. Best gaming decision ever. Did you beat bioshock infinite? I heard that once you get to the end you realize it's a masterpiece (but I only got 1/way through). Been meaning to play dead space 3. is it as scary as 2? I've played BioShock Infinite completely through twice now. The story is absolutely phenomenal and they did the right thing by not giving you the payoff until the very end. It makes the entire game much more satisfying. And yes, the hype is absolutely true. I would consider it one of the best games I have ever played. I've never considered Dead Space exceptionally scary. There's some tense moments, but 3 has a lot more open space being on a planet instead of a ship or space station. The story is really good though. I'm interested in trying the co-op mode but I have issues with playing a co-op with a random person every time I sit down to play. I need consistency. Link to comment
Teros Posted April 10, 2013 Report Share Posted April 10, 2013 seriously? dead space 2 wasn't scary? Please tell me that those screaming children made your arm hair stand on end. I'm not the only 1. that spot after you go to the nursery area and you are in a gym is horrible. There is some play being done in the auditorium with cardboard bushes and stuff and then WAVES of those exploding babies and screaming children GET THEM OFF ME Link to comment
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