Pacific North West Rebel, Here to represent!

[FiendFyre]

My name is Misty, and I’m from just outside Portland, OR. I’ve been a nerd since I was 5 years old playing AD&D with my parents who were nerds before it was cool.

In 2007, I started taking a 5:30am Jazzercise class and after struggling for the first few weeks I started to feel my life change as I became more in touch with my body. I was in better shape than I’d ever been in my life and that memory is what really inspires me to get back on track after some stressful setbacks that have kept me from being the best I can be. I found NF via Twitter and fell in love with the community and the concept of a leveling system to track your progress.

Right now I’m training for the Portland Marathon in October (my first) and I love long slow distance running, which puts me at odds with Steve’s philosophy that workouts should be as quick as possible rather than “hours of cardio.†I’m seeing a personal trainer for my strength training twice a week and he tends toward multi-joint exercises and free weights and I’m really pleased with my results so far. Since last year, I’ve gone from not being able to run for 1 minute to being able to run 10 minutes at a time at 4.5mph (pretty slow but 175lbs is a lot of meat in motion!) I also haven’t quite nailed down my diet beyond cutting out fast food and almost everything processed on the majority of days. Now that I have a 2 year old, I have to think about what I want him to grow up eating and our health rather than what is easiest for me to whip up. I’ve heard that Paleo takes a LOT of prep work, especially with families, so I’d rather focus on whole foods rather than a specific “diet plan.â€

I’d really like to find someone in my area to talk with about fitness and nerdiness and keep each other motivated.

[The Purple Diane]

Welcome, Misty!

Good luck, especially with the family. Just don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good, and you'll do fine.

[NorthRoad]

Welcome to the forum

you're allowed to have philosophies outside the realm of Steve Camb's mind here no one will bother you about that As for paleo cooking it's less work really. Just don't cook the rice/pasta/corn ( I know that's not the whole story, my point is you could start out with 50 % paleo and then work your way up )

[JosalinGoBoom]

Throw a bag of steamfresh veggies in the microwave for a few minutes. Bam, side down. Cook up a couple of chicken breasts, through some spices on them, got your protein. Still hungry? Put a couple of sweet potatoes in the oven. Lovely, easy to make and minimal clean up.

It's not "harder" to make, I think those instant meals are a PITA cause they have the worst cleanup. Have you cleaned tuna helper off a pan before? It's terrible!

[FiendFyre]

Thanks for the input, everyone. Sometimes paleo seems like such an exclusive niche that I forget that being less than perfect doesn't mean you're failing.

Heh, I think we need to let the makers of SteamFresh know that they have an untapped market over here, I keep hearing them recommended. I don't think prepackaged microwavable food is the best use of my money, especially if I'm eating them to conform to a diet that espouses eating what would have been available pre-agriculture.

[Aejaxe]

NW represent!!! I am also new, this actually being my first post. I wont get into detail of my own personal fitness goals, but seeing another NW'er posting made me want to comment. I was born and raised in WA, and I am now going to school in Ellensberg, not too far from Portland. So if you're ever in need of some motivation, support, advice, or just someone to chat with, feel free to hit me up.

[Tom Kenobi]

Another shout out from the Northwest! I'm over in the more "southwestern" side of the Northwest, but hey, its still the Northwest part of the country. semantics... ;-) anyhow, welcome to the rebellion!