Hi everyone!!!! looking forward to joining the Rebellion

[DeaNHtiD]

Hey everyone, I've deciding to join the Rebellion, been a reader of Nerd Fitness for a while but never made the jump to the forum.

 

A little about myself...

 

I'm Dean I live in a place called Chester-le-Street in County Durham, England. I work for an energy company as a Customer Advisor but I'm being made redundant (Came at a good time as was wanting to leave anyway, worked here for 7 years) and currently studying to hopefully become a software/web developer.

 

I'm 30 years old and basically need to change my fitness and eating habits.

 

I'm 6'3" tall and currently weigh 283 lbs. I mean I don't look massive as you would think for someone weighing that heavy as I think my height helps. In 2007 I had managed to get down to 196lbs and it has slowly crept back on since. I want to get back to how I was then. I was a lot more confident and happy back then and I'm hoping joining the Rebellion will get me back to how I was.

 

Can any of you guys point me the direction of what to do next. I'm thinking switching to the Paleo diet, doing some fasts and starting off with some bodyweight exercises might be the way to go. I had tried Crossfit for a few months but I couldn’t get any consistency by turning up for workouts. I think that the workouts basically exhausted me and that why. So I'm thinking I need to take it a bit easier and get a bit consistency and form exercising as habit. I want to enjoy working out.

 

Anyways that's basically my story, looking forward to starting a new journey with the Nerd Fitness guys =)

Thanks

 

Dean

[sylph]

Hi and welcome!

 

A couple ideas for you:

 

Paleo is great for some people, not so great for others. If you want to try it and see if it works for you, super! It also might seem like a lot.

A smaller step for starting to get your diet in line would be simply to write down everything you eat for a week. You don't even have to measure it, count calories, or anything. Just write it down (and be honest). Then you can take a look and see what patterns emerge: Every morning you have a sugary iced coffee from dunkin donuts or every day for lunch you have pizza, fries, 3 cokes and a candy bar, or every afternoon you get bored so raid the refrigerator for last night's leftovers. It's just a little project, rather than overhauling your entire way of eating to something completely new. (Some people do well with a big overhaul, others not so much.) Then you can start to adjust the patterns one by one--have regular coffee, drop the cokes from lunch, have an apple and some peanut butter for an afternoon snack, etc.

 

If you're looking to get started with some bodyweight stuff, check out the Beginner's Bodyweight Workout or the Angry Birds workout from the main site.

 

You're in luck in that today is the first day of a six week challenge! There are a bunch of links at the top of the page. Give them a read and/or head on over to the Level 1 Rebels forum and see what it's all about. The community and accountability of this site is one of the things that makes it so helpful. 

[DeaNHtiD]

Thanks for the reply Separatist. I like the idea of writing down what I eat for a week, I will definitely try this and post on the forum after I'm finished. I think your right about it seeming a lot, I thinking start off with some small changes and not jump in head first.

 

Beginner's Bodyweight Workout and the Angry Birds workout, I will check these when I get in from work. Get my first workout in today.

 

I will certainly take a look at the six week challenge, looks fun =)

 

What are your thoughts on fasting ?

Thanks =)

[The Bog Of Eternal Bench]

Hi, Dean!

 

I'm new as well (as we just established) and have been doing a bit of paleo for several weeks now. I say 'a bit' because I am still eating dairy so I guess it's more of a primal diet.

 

Good luck on your first workout!

[DeaNHtiD]

I beleive Dairy is fine as long as you can tolerate it.

Thanks for the luck and good luck to you too

[The Stranger]

Welcome to the front lines!

 

I'll second Sylph's suggestions.  Paleo may or may not be your cup of tea - eating responsibly is the most important thing.  Personally, I don't think fasting is good, for a variety of reasons.  First, your body will have to cannibalize itself for things it needs.  Some of that will be fat, which is the goal, but your body will also steal muscle and other tissue.  And you'll probably feel pretty crappy and low on energy.  And you'll be tempted to binge when you come off it.  And it's not fun, which IMO is important.  If healthy eating is a chore, it's harder to stick with it.  There's probably not too much harm in occasional short-term fasting, but it's not the best way to lose weight.  Better to exercise regularly and eat at a modest deficit to make sure you're getting everything your body needs to lose primarily fat.  Think of getting healthy as running a marathon - you can't sprint there, you have to take it slow and steady.  Focus on building a healthly lifestyle that you're comfortable with and will want to maintain even after you reach your current goals.

 

And yes, the six-week challenge is a great way to get started on that.

[DeaNHtiD]

Thanks The Stranger I will take on board what you have said. No fasting it is

I'll sign up to the 6 week challenge later. Looking forward to getting started

[Ãœberleben]

Welcome to the Rebellion!

 

I'm pretty much in basic agreement with the above.  It's usually best to try things out and see what works for you personally in terms of cleaning up your diet.  I'm on the fence about intermittent fasting, however.  The body will only start cannibalizing itself if you go majorly extreme with the fasting, or, you don't have a high body fat percentage to begin with.  Before you consider taking any fasting route, I would speak to your doctor.  (NHS doctors are absolutely not amazing, but if you're lucky your doc will have a little bit of knowledge about ketogenic dieting, which is the same ballpark as intermittent fasting is.)

 

With working out, the one thing I suggest for everyone I speak to who's just getting into a more active lifestyle, is try ALL the things!  For almost everyone (apart from the Rangers, those crazy crazy fun people), there's one type of activity that they just fall in love with and want to do all of the time.  But you won't find it unless you try as many things as you absolutely can. 

 

You're in a great place right now.  Fantastic community behind you, and a whole plethora of new experiences in front of you.  Enjoy the buffet! 

[DeaNHtiD]

Thanks Ãœberleben, I will maybe come back to fasting once I've dialled in my basic nutrition. I'm willing to try anything to get back to the fit and healthy me so I'll be trying everything.

I'm loving the forum already. I've been here a couple hours and already I've had a lot of help and support.

Thanks guys