Working on Me v2.0

[Mewtilator]

Last year, I stumbled upon an article here: Why “I Don’t Have Time†is a Big Fat Lie. This was crazy inspiring for just life in general.

Then I found it again this past week and went oh hey, I forgot about this! And reposted it on Twitter and Facebook. This time, I kept clicking around the site only to learn that there are so many like me with similar interests and at least some sort of desire to get health and fitness moving in the right direction. It was an instant why-did-I-not-know-about-this-community-earlier?! feeling.
 
So HELLO!!
 
I used to be pretty active (at best) and in better shape up until a couple years back. For the past 2.6 years, I've been working a desk job full time. In retail (Gamestop, haha), I was at least on my feet, walking the store, sometimes walking to work, moving things, stretching to scan or put games back on the top shelf (I'm 5'1").
 
But now I just sit all day. And then I'm physically and mentally exhausted by the end of the day. SO. LAME. I'll attribute some of it with unhappiness with the job itself, but I know that my physical being is also at fault. I believe that changing the physical part will also assist in bettering the mental part, too
 
Last summer, I tried going hardcore protein and carb/sugar-cutting and got 4 weeks into C25k. I went about dieting the wrong way and even though I'd ended up losing 15lbs, it was so frustrating because I couldn't go out with friends without realizing how much I couldn't have anymore..It didn't help that everyone told me that I "look fine". My response: easy for you to say; you're not overweight. It was stressful and actually depressing. I decided that my mental health wasn't worth losing a little weight. So I stopped, and went to just calorie counting. This was better, I'd kept the weight off, and gained back my happiness! Then...stopped counting.
 
I gained all the weight back, and then some, over the course of the months following that. I've maintained the same state since with eating better..Not the greatest, but better, and the following physical activities:
 
I'll go for an easy 20-30min walk sometimes, but other times I'll work right through it.
I play softball one day almost every week, sometimes multiple games.
I've been on-and-off doing bodyweight exercise routines using iPhone apps, ~10min total for any given day
Once a monthish, I'll do the next run in C25k. Kinda cool how I was able to pick up where I left off a year earlier.
 
Why haven't I pushed for more?
I'm already doing something, which is better than nothing. Apparently this is "good enough" for me?
I'm afraid to try new things at the gym without assurance that I'm doing it right. I didn't even know what a deadlift actually was until I started reading here. Trying on my own is dangerous?
SO. MANY. THINGS. on the internet saying this is better, no this is better, don't do that, oh nm it's fine to do that... WTF.

 

^ These need fixing ^
 
This month, I've taken to making myself do more. I told myself that I can buy Pokemon X if I play at least half of the game time while walking on the treadmill. So far, so good! And while I'm at the gym, I'm like welllll since I'm here... and then suck at working out. Yes. That's me after walking on the treadmill with a 3DS for an hour. After reading that, I realized that I could, at the very least, level up gym skills! This gives a whole new meaning to "Pokemon gym" and I think it's hilarious. And that's motivation right there!

 

I'm posting here and joining the community because I find that if I tell the internet I'm going to do something, I'm way more likely to follow through and hold myself accountable. And why not hang out with my kind along the way?

 

Now you've heard me.. MAKE ME DO WORK!

 

[Wow, sorry, that ended up being really long]

[Ba'sini'on]

You don't need motivation, you just need to do the damn work towards becoming awesome! Oh and welcome to NF!

 

If you need something to work towards why not an obstacle course race? I ran in the Run For Your Lives race, and I am hooked! I even came out a Survivor! Oh, the RFYL has zombies in it and is 5k, and your given three life flags at the start, if the zombie take all of them you are Infected and get a medal that labels it. Finish with a life flag and your medal says Survivor. There is also the Superhero Scramble, Tough Mudder, Spartan Sprint, Super, and Beast, and many more. Picking one and then using it as a goal to work towards could be what you need!

 

[Radulf Wilhelmson]

Welcome Mewtilator!

 

I found this role playing approach very motivational. This attribute-points-thing  keeps you going, if you are a real nerd :-)

 

All the best

[Mewtilator]

Thank you, LostOne and Miyamoto! I've always liked the idea of an RLRPG hehe. I'll have to dive in and do some point math-ing soon.

 

LostOne, I DO need to pick one that's in the future and actually set a goal for it. My friend asked me, maybe 2 weeks ago, if I wanted to do a 5mi with him in our home town, and I said sure, I'll find a way to get thru it.

 

That run was yesterday. I ran a very slow pace for most of it, walked some (including the biggest hill), and finished in 1:11:15, which I think was last place. But I did it And now I'm sore from my midsection down!

 

That in itself just goes to show I can without practice/training. What am I capable of if I DO train? I think I'm ready to find out!

[LuckyGamer]

As a huge Pokemon fan, I have to thank you for the brilliant idea of gaming on the treadmill (I don't know how I didn't think of this).  Sylveon and I are going to workout together tonight!

 

Welcome to the rebellion!

[Mewtilator]

Thanks, LuckyGamer! And I'm glad I could help +1 your multitasking

 

The cool thing about Pokemon is that you don't need the stylus so you don't have to worry about dropping it. I took the wrist strap off of a Wiimote and put it onto my DS...just in case! I've dropped my phone so many times on the treadmill/elliptical, but feel like the 3DS wouldn't hold up as well.

 

It's cases like this that I wish the 3DS would track steps WHILE PLAYING (but I understand why it doesn't). AND POKEWALKERS.

[LuckyGamer]

That Wii mote idea is clutch.  I too have had my fair share of phones flying off the treadmill.  I almost forgot about my pokewalkers, now if I could only find that old school Pikachu pedometer.

[Mewtilator]

I ALWAYS WANTED ONE OF THOSE!!! But I didn't get one

 

I do hope you find it!

[Tas]

OHMAHGOSH time to pull out my pokewalker! I completely forgot that thing existed. Thanks for the inspiration!

 

Also, welcome fellow noob

[supersprout]

Hi Mewtilator (HA! I love it! Makes me want to look at cat vids right meow!) - I'm a newbie too and I just wanted to tell you that I can relate to the dieting the wrong way = results + depression. Ugh, I'm tired of being obsessive about it. Congratulations on your decision to make a healthy change!

[Mewtilator]

Thank you, and same to you, supersprout!

 

I'm looking so much more forward to it this time around, and that's made SUCH a huge difference. It's so hard to get excited about it when you think about all the negative things. Perhaps it's easier for me now because I hardly hang out with people so I'm free to hide from all the not-good-for-me things That and I feel like I've found this resource (NF) for more ways to give it all another go. Hooray for hope!

 

We can do this :D