Hello from my corner of Oregon...

[Mictlancihuatl]

I stumbled upon this site yesterday after my live-in boyfriend and I had a discussion about possibly going paleo and dragging my 11-year old son along with us (probably kicking and screaming, but he's in karate so he does that about everything). 

 

About me: I'll be 31 years old next month, and today I weighed in at a depressing 271 lbs., which is a new high for me (or a new low, depending on how you want to look at it). I've managed to gain almost 40 lbs. since my boyfriend moved in with me at this time last year. He has gained 34 in the same span of time. Apparently we should not cook for each other. And if you're wondering exactly how bad this looks on me, I'm 5'4''. 

 

I am a longtime language nerd - aside from English, I speak Spanish fluently, Italian conversationally, German badly, and lots of bits and pieces of many other things. No one else in my family speaks anything but English, so I did not come by this naturally. Other things I get nerdy about include The Sims, geography, and certain rock bands. Oh, and I should probably mention that I'm a second-generation Trekkie (got it from my dad) and when I was in high school I was teaching myself Klingon from my copy of TKD. I've forgotten nearly all of it 16 years later, though. 

 

I work a desk job... there's no getting around it. The most walking around I get to do is going to the water cooler or occasionally going out to the warehouse to dig out an old tenant file (I work in property management). I've been doing this for about a year and a half now, and I'm sure it's a contributing factor to the weight gain because my old job was a lot more physical. I am living proof of my own theory that the more money you make, the less you actually DO... ;-)

 

Phase one of my (our, since my boyfriend is in on it too) plan is to clean up the eating around this joint. We've already resolved to use up what food is in the house and just not buy any more of things that we don't plan to continue eating, which I have heard is a good, gradual way to go about it. 

Once I'm feeling settled and secure in phase one, phase two will be adding in more activity. I'm already trying to find a Zumba class I can fit into my work schedule, I've resolved to start participating in my son's karate classes again as soon as I'm given the medical OK (I sprained my thigh muscle a few weeks ago at work... long story), and I'm going to start looking for sneaky ways to get activity into my day.

 

As I mentioned, my birthday is next month (9/12) and I'd like to have at least SOME progress to show by the time that rolls around, though I know it's less than a month away.

 

Anyway, the things that I actually LIKE to do for exercise include karate (with my son), dancing (particularly Zumba), and swimming. Any ideas from more seasoned members what sort of guild I should join?

[deepdarkgreen]

Welcome Mictlancihuatl! (geez I hope I spelled that right) The good news is that you and your boyfriend must be really good cooks! Now you just need to change up what's in your pan. The sprained thigh muscle sounds painful - that must have been one heck of a file!

 

You can accomplish a lot in a month. Do you know what your goals are going to be?

[Mictlancihuatl]

My first goal is to increase the quality of the food around this place. Four days in now, and so far so good. Today I made a paleo-friendly stir fry that even my son ate. I'm also currently taking walks on my lunch break at work. I get half an hour and I can do about a mile in that time.

Once I'm settled into that, I'm going to start tackling harder stuff like kicking my Diet Coke/caffeine addiction (I'm trying to gradually decrease, but I get horrid headaches if I don't have any) and start trying to add more exercise into my day. One problem I'm facing is that the only time I can really exercise is before work in the mornings, but I live in an upstairs apartment and I doubt my downstairs neighbors would appreciate a 265 lb. person thumping about above them at 6 AM. (Also, by our complex rules quiet time extends until 7 AM.)

I'm really trying to incorporate gradual, positive changes, since I'm attempting to drag boyfriend and son with me down the paleo/fitness trail - kicking and screaming if necessary!