Greetings Fellow Fitness Nerds!

[Theodolus]

Okay, well, maybe I exaggerate a little bit in the title. I'm not really a fitness nerd (yet), more like a Half-Elf desk jockey who just turned 30. I'm not sure what it is about that age, but a couple weeks after turning 30 I realized that my larger pants were beginning to get tighter. Waaaay back before I got married and was working a shelf stocking job and various other more labor intensive jobs I was able to fit in to a size 30/32. A few years after getting married I moved up to a 32/34 and it's just been a gradual decline since then. I'm currently fitting in to a 36/38 (depending on how loose I want it to be) and can still squeeze (literally feel like my sides are going to die by the end of the day due to constriction) in to a 34. I know that I'm not insanely overweight and that due to filling out I'll never be able to fit back in to the 30 waist, but the stomach could use some serious reduction in fat and I wouldn't mind packing on a few pounds in muscles. I would consider myself a level 1 (or lower) ranger at this point and would like to either become just a higher level ranger or maybe a ranger/monk hybrid. Primary driving factors behind losing weight are my own health, so that I can keep up with my kids for years to come, and to provide a positive influence for my wife to lose the weight she wants to lose.

 

So, I stumbled across this site looking for a different site that I had looked in to a few years ago. Can't find that one anymore as I really don't remember the name of it, but I like the attitude of weight-loss and exercise that Steve puts across in his articles. Mainly I like that there isn't an emphasis on hours upon hours of working out or running or whatever. I have two kids (7 and 5) that I need to spend time with after work every day. Throw in 2.5 hours of total commute time and that doesn't leave me with a whole lot of time after getting home. The last thing I want to do is to have to work out for an hour or two before spending time with them. For reference I also get up between 4:30 and 5 to go to work, so morning workout while do-able is definitely not my preferred route. So being able to do a 20-30 minute workout after getting home and then moving on with my life is awesome.

 

I started working out on Monday with the Beginner Body Weight exercise. Made it through 2 sets and then just about died on the floor. I literally had to drag myself upstairs and in to the shower to cool myself down. This is a common problem for me when first starting to work out. I tend to push myself to the point of collapse. On Tuesday I did interval training on a stationary bike that I dragged back in to the house from the garage. 10 minutes total with 2 minutes around 60-70% and 30% bursts of 100%. The bike is nice because it's easy on the knees and has a built in timer. Yesterday I didn't want to kill myself so I only did one set of the body weight exercises and then moved on. I feel like I sold myself short though, because the burn that I had all day through Tuesday isn't really present. Ah well, it's a learning curve.

 

I do have the support of my wife who, on her own, decided that she wanted to really start with the exercise at just about the same time as I did. I pointed her here and she is going to try out the Body Weight exercises as well as do some Kick-boxing videos and bike riding. She is also going to start trying to integrate 2 paleo dinners in to our diet per week. We'll see if we ramp it up after we get used to it.

 

So that's my story, sorry for the wall of text. Can anyone offer advice on the best way to leverage these forums? Keep a running diary of exercise, just browse through and ask for help when needed? Suggestions are welcome.

 

TL:DR Hi! I'm new! I want to lose about 30-40 pounds and would like to have that weight gone by the beginning of next year! Any advice?

 

-Theodolus

[Hazard]

Hi! I'm new! I want to lose about 30-40 pounds and would like to have that weight gone by the beginning of next year! Any advice?

Track your calories. Eat fewer of them. Strength train to retain lean tissue while losing weight.

[Silverwitch]

Hi Theodolus!

Concerning your weight loss goals, I can - out my own experience - highly recommend to follow the Paleo lifestyle. Took me barely a year to lose about 30 pounds with it (that was already before my NF time), and I'm living Paleo for two years now. You should check it out!

 

Good luck with your goal - I think it is absolutely doable!

[Silo]

Welcome!

 

I recently started the BBWW too and I had the same reaction the first time through it--ow ow ow ouch! What I have found helps a ton is a longer warmup (10 vs 5 minutes on the treadmill) plus more stretching. I warmup, stretch (I go through all of these stretches plus a few arm stretches), do the BBWW, and then do 10 more minutes on the treadmill and all of those stretches again. It took me three weeks to be able to make it through everything three times. It's okay to ease yourself into it.