Ready, Set, Where do I go?

[HalfNerdHybrid]

Hello all my name is Cody. I am here because I looked in the mirror around Christmas time and I hated what was looking back at me. I smoked, drank, I was overweight, and I noticed for the first time I had a gut. Like a big gut. When did that happen? So I sat down in front of my trusty computer and started looking around. I needed a change and it needed to be life altering. Well I found a bunch of different information and as I sifted through all the bull, the Paleo Diet fell into my lap. About this time New Years rolled around and I vowed to quit smoking and drinking and get my ass in shape. Its been two weeks and I haven't drank or smoked yet and I'm glad. Now the hard part, getting back into shape. I am starting to go Paleo for two reasons. One I need the change in my diet so that I can look the way I want. Two I have Crohns Disease and this is supposed to help me out. Well it sounds like I have everything figured out, right? Wrong. I need help. Please if you guys could help me make the transition into the Paleo diet and help me get a workout plan I would be ever thankful.

[mevre]

hey Cody! congratulations on being smoke and drink free!! now, how can we help you with this diet transition? as far as the workout plan goes, what do you enjoy doing? what sorts of things would you like to be able to do, fitness-wise? [deadlift a whole lot, run really far, climb a cliff, etc.]

[HalfNerdHybrid]

Well when the weather is warm i like to camp, hike, rock climb. i like most sports. i would like to be able to have a more active lifestyle in general. no specific goals in particular yet. and as far as the diet goes i dont need anything really. just a point in a direction for meals and tips on how to stick with it maybe. 

[Lady Eleventy]

Welcome friend!

I'm Ele and I made the change to Paleo last week and let me tell you, it really has made such a difference for me. Right now, I still eat moderate amounts of dairy (cheese and Greek yogurt mostly I don't drink much milk or anything) and allow myself one meal a day that I can have carbs at. Generally, I don't have any carbs but it's good starting out not just to go cold turkey, or at least it is for me, so that the changes can be made over time and be maintained. Sometimes giving up everything at once can be overwhelming and can cause relapse, especially once you hit carb withdrawal (yes, there is such a thing). I have been suffering from the withdrawal for about a week and I think it's almost gone but for that week I had the craziest mood swings. It effects people differently, some just get a bit tired and others (like me) need some chocolate to stabilize the sugar drops to prevent serious swings. As far as the meals go, there is a lovely recipe section of the forums here. I also own a cookbook called The Paleo Diet that has some AWESOME recipes. I also recommend cooking in bulk because it takes some time to cook paleo meals and most are not just two step processes. Usually I have an omelette or something of the like for breakfast and then cook lunch and dinner at the same time. It makes life easier. I know some people who do all their weeks cooking on Saturdays and just have left overs for the entire week. It's up to you. recently I have been eating quite few hot salads because they are easy to make and tasty with many flavor variations. It is kind of hard sometimes, not going to lie, but on the plus side, BACON. I hope that helps a little bit.

 

Congrats by the way on quitting, it's a big step and takes a lot of dedication, well done!   

 

Welcome again to NF!

[Basement Cat]

Welcome to the rebellion, HalfNerdHybrid!

 

Congratulations on quitting smoking! I'm in the process myself and I know how hard it can be. The NF website has tons of stuff, you can check it out here: http://www.nerdfitness.com/resources/#resources-free

 

Good luck with your goals and keep us posted!

[mevre]

Well when the weather is warm i like to camp, hike, rock climb. i like most sports. i would like to be able to have a more active lifestyle in general. no specific goals in particular yet. and as far as the diet goes i dont need anything really. just a point in a direction for meals and tips on how to stick with it maybe. 

sounds like the adventurer's guild would be a good fit for you. i would suggest you poke around there, check out the workout routines other people are doing, make some friends who can help you out with building your own routine. and then just pick something that sounds like fun and stick with it. [lifting, running, bodyweight exercises, etc]

 

as far as diet goes, the advice i always give is to stock up on frozen veggies. i eat TONS of roasted vegetables every day, so it works great for me. minimal prep time, a little bit longer cooking time, but i can just leave it in the oven and do other things while i wait. if there are leftovers, they're easy to heat up in the microwave. another easy way to prepare frozen vegetables is steaming them in the microwave. with a 16 oz bag, just put it all in a microwave-safe container, add 2 tablespoons of water, cover, and heat for 5 minutes. let it cool for a few more minutes, and you're good to go!

the other super easy thing i've been doing recently is crock pot stuff. i have a book of 5-ingredient recipes, and though a lot of them call for canned soups and other junky food, some don't. for example, there are several recipes for basic turkey or chicken, which you can then use in salads, as a snack, or any number of other things.

good luck, and let us know how it goes!

[Draken50]

Hey, as someone who started from the less-active overweight smoker demographic. Sometimes having a good activity to work on things for really helps. It's a lot easier to look at something like climbing and make changes to diet or to smoke less or not at all when you see the effects it has on what you do for fun. 

 

I do martial arts.and I love sparring. If I smoke though, it becomes much much harder, and if I eat fast or junk food I end up feeling much much slower. So it's become easier to say no to the things I want to quit because I know I'll end up dying once the gloves are on.

[HalfNerdHybrid]

Thank you everyone for the helpful responses. I really want to try my hand at some mma type stuff but I can't afford it financially right now. And I think I need to get in a little better shape first. first day on paleo and I did pretty good. And I did the body workout. Good day.