It's a bird, it's a mensch, no its...

[SuperJew]

It's SuperJew!

 

Ok, so here we are. First, a little bit about me. I'm a 32 year old guy, married, with a 3 1/2 year old daughter. I've been a Soldier in the US Army going on 13 years now (I teach computers & networking to new recruits), but make no mistake about it, I'm out of shape.

 

About 7 years ago, I started having pain in my knees. I went to the doc and was told I had two options:

1. Go through physical therapy, get painful surgery that probably won't work, then deal with the pain for the rest of my life.

2. Deal with the pain for the rest of my life.

 

I took option 2, the easy way sure thing. They wrote me a script excusing me from having to run again, ever, and I let myself get lazy. Two combat tour, 6 years, and 45 pounds later, I still don't run. Honestly, I've probably used my bad knees as an excuse on occasion when I shouldn't have. I've gained weight and let myself get weak. My Soldiers and peers notice my weight, and that I don't conduct physical training with them. The Army doesn't really know what to do with injured Soldiers. While other conduct physical training, I (and other like me) are told to "just walk around the track for an hour". An easy cop out, but not something that will get me in shape. I'm now at risk of losing my rank and even discharge from the Army.

 

Three months ago, my wife had bariatric surgery, and has since lost 40 pounds. She has been asking me to go to the gym with her and get fit, and I've basically shrugged her off. Now is the time for action. I need to get in shape not only for me, but to set a good example for my daughter.

 

After some thought, I've discovered my two biggest challenges to fitness: Portion control and laziness. I do like the right foods, I just eat way to much of them. If I can get my meals under control and get my ass off the couch, I'll be perfect. Here's the problem: I lack the motivation. I know I need to do it, I do. I need to be held accountable for my actions.

 

So there it is. My story. My life goal is just to live a healthy lifestyle, and pass those good habit down to my child. 

 

Thanks for listening! 

 

EDIT: Forgot to mention: I HATE TO RUN. I always have. One of my worst childhood memories was having to run a mile in elementary school. Can't stand it. Another one of my goals is to run a half marathon before I'm 35. There. There's a measurable, accountable goal, out there for the world to see. That, and weigh 170 when I do it. What? There's another one. Dang.

[Delete]

You can do it! Try to feed off of your wifes motivation to beat back that laziness. For me, finding somebody else to work with and keep you pushing for more has been the way to go. Hopefully the rebellion can help us with that too (my first challenge too). The diet is a huge deal to me. Never had weight or health issues, nor thought about what i ate for most of my life, but since starting paleo with my wife a year ago, we have never felt better and several ailments I never really thought about have been remedied. It can be difficult to stick with (so many temptations!), I have become a firm believer in the diet being 80% of the battle. Good luck with your challenge and I look forward to hearing about your progress! Thank you for your service!

[BlackTezca]

I'm with cmwanderin; I've always been able to work out relatively easily.  Working out has never been hard for me to pick back up.  But changing my diet?  Ugh.  That's always been a challenge and while I haven't completely revamped it, I have cut back on carbs and especially on sugar, trying to keep below my macros on both those fronts while upping the fat and protein.  So far, I have been feeling better and noticed that when I eat poorly (SUGAR!! GIMME ALL THE SUGAR ONOMNOMNOMNOM  ), I do not feel excellent the next day.  So diet can be a definite gamechanger.

 

As for running; that is awesome that you have a half marathon as a goal to keep at it!  That's a great idea.  However, there are other workouts you can do if you still dislike running.  I'm okay with running; I don't hate it, but it's something I really don't like doing if I don't have music to keep me distracted.  I do a mix of different workouts, a lot of them containing shadow boxing and kickboxing thrown in (since I love...love...punching shit  ).   Perhaps there is something you can do instead that hopefully won't cause knee pain?