Greetings from the not so frozen north

[Beargen]

Hello NF,

 

I've been lurking around these forums for the past couple of weeks, and I can say I've never found a place on the internet where I have felt more welcome, despite never really talking to anyone.Here is a little bit about me:

 

My name is Justin. I hail from Canada. I enjoy gaming and have a small collection of SNES and Gamecube games. I also play a lot of World of Warcraft (for the Alliance). I enjoy lifting, biking, and hiking. I'm in a band, we're ok. And I'll stop boring you now

 

Here's a little back story on my health and fitness for those who care/relate/are walking a similar path as me.

 

Growing up I was always a larger kid. Head taller than most of my classmates, and always slightly heavier than most of them. I was always told I was "big boned" and I thought that meant I was meant to be larger. Growing up it always felt like I had extra stuff on me. I wasn't overly fat, but I was by no means skinny. As I progressed through high school I started to put on more weight but I didn't let it bother me too much. I was always a stronger person so I figured it was ok. I hovered around the 220 mark through high school. Afterwards I didn't have many ambitions besides playing video games, hanging out with friends, and being free from academia. I worked a bunch of jobs, including fast food joints, which lead to staff discounts, which lead to eating a lot stuff that shouldn't qualify as food. Then I decided to go to college. Little sleep, lots of studying, some gaming, and a fantastic cafeteria all lead to me gaining more weight. Then in the fall of 2009 my roommate kicked me out of our dorm room because of my excessive snoring. I got relocated to another room and went to the doctor to find out the cause of my snoring. Turns out I have sleep apnea and the cause of it was my weight. That was the first time in about 5-6 years that I had myself weighed. I came in at a whooping 305lbs. I became depressed about it, and dropped out of school for a semester. Since then I have spent the last 3.5 years struggling with my weight fluctuating between 290-310 until last month I hit a break through. I discovered a site called marksdailyapple.com and learned about paleo and primal eating. I've been with it now and I've dropped 15-20lbs since then, just hitting 280lbs this week, the lightest I have been in a number of years. Through MDA I discover Nerd Fitness, and through that I rediscovered my love of lifting. This summer has been a blessing. I've cleaned up my eating, started exercising more, and I am just feeling better and happier about life.

 

I just started doing the Stronglifts 5x5 program, eating about 80% paleo, and walking everywhere. My current goals are:

 

- eventually get down to 200lbs

- Deadlift my old BW (310 at my heaviest this spring)

- eat clean. lift heavy

 

And that's about it. If you made it this far thanks! I can't wait to start doing challenges on here!

[DWD]

Welcome!

I spent a year in Calgary. My favorite city in the world. Miss it a lot.

Impressive goals, man. Best of luck!

[wideeyed]

You have already done the hardest stuff. Welcome to the boards

[Beargen]

Welcome!

I spent a year in Calgary. My favorite city in the world. Miss it a lot.

Impressive goals, man. Best of luck!

 

I've been through Calgary a few times, and my dad lived there when he was in his 20's . I live in Manitoba so it's about 14-16 hours to get there from here. 

 

You have already done the hardest stuff. Welcome to the boards

 

Thank you! I'm tired of trying and giving up like I have in the past. Hardest thing for me is staying motivated, but thank you for the encouragement. I don't often look back on what I've done and seen the effort I put into it. Saying that I've done the hardest stuff put that into perspective for me, and I know see just how much work I've put into this! Thanks!

[raptron]

Grooooss! Who plays Alliance? I mean, really.

 

Really though, your goals look super exciting and you sound like you are capable of taking them head on. As for seeing the effort, have you tried taking pictures or measurements? They can really help you see differences far beyond the scale! 

[Beargen]

Grooooss! Who plays Alliance? I mean, really.

 

Really though, your goals look super exciting and you sound like you are capable of taking them head on. As for seeing the effort, have you tried taking pictures or measurements? They can really help you see differences far beyond the scale! 

You can't be a Draenei or a Dwarf playing Horde! Giant blue awesome alien > all the horde races , although I would have probably been playing horde if all my friends that got me into the game weren't already alliance. The only bad part is we have to put up with gnomes and we can't gank them .

 

I started taking pictures this month on the first and plan on doing so every month on the same day. Haven't been taking measurements yet, but should probably start doing that soon. I'm driven by results and my clothing is already way looser than it was a month ago.

[WonderNatarella]

Welcome!

 

The forum is doing "miracles" : you'll never want to quit and go back to your old habits!

 

Challenges are great, you can open a "battle log" thread if you are willing to share your progresses!

[Jimbo]

Beargen,

 

Sleep apnea is important to treat. Untreated, it can lead to serious medical problems like high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, brain atrophy, and other nasty things. There's a great web site called cpaptalk.com for support. There are a lot of things to learn about sleep apnea. For example, make sure you get a cpap machine that is "fully data capable," meaning that it records events and allows you to view them in special software the next day (or whenever you get to it). This capacity is important to know whether cpap treatment is working. The same as someone with HBP have a blood pressure device and a diabetic have a glucose meter.

 

Those are "nasal pillows" in my avatar. For me, they are much more comfortable than a nasal mask.

 

Jim 

[Beargen]

Beargen,

 

Sleep apnea is important to treat. Untreated, it can lead to serious medical problems like high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, brain atrophy, and other nasty things. There's a great web site called cpaptalk.com for support. There are a lot of things to learn about sleep apnea. For example, make sure you get a cpap machine that is "fully data capable," meaning that it records events and allows you to view them in special software the next day (or whenever you get to it). This capacity is important to know whether cpap treatment is working. The same as someone with HBP have a blood pressure device and a diabetic have a glucose meter.

 

Those are "nasal pillows" in my avatar. For me, they are much more comfortable than a nasal mask.

 

Jim 

Oh yeah I know the apnea is some serious business. i have a CPAP machine and use it every night. Thanks for the info about that website. I'll have to check it out. I'm hoping that my condition can reverse once I lose all this extra weight. I've heard about that happening before and hope that my apnea has been induced by my weight (more incentive to get rid of it:P). Thanks again