10 Year = 67 pounds

[Grax Earthgrinder]

Not very good at these things, but let's give it a shot.

 

I am 6'4" and currently 347 pounds. My knees and back hurt. I have Sleep Apnea and even with the machine I don't sleep well. I have trouble walking up stairs to my apartment (it's only one small flight) and I am very lazy. I've been friends with a personal trainer for about 2 years and he's constantly (but gently) urging me to change my lifestyle. I say, "yeah, let's do it," but then make excuses or just stop.

 

There came a point about six months ago where I realized I was not healthy and I just didn't care. I wanted to do what I want and that's what I did. About a week ago I was looking at myself in the mirror and I realized that's what my wife looks at everyday. I'm the one who sets the example in the household and the example I am setting is not good. Also, I work security, and had to run to a call the other day. I made it, but I was so winded that I thought I was going to need the EMT that we called and my knees were not happy about it either.

 

I liked to lie to myself and say, "I'm not that out of shape." I'm doing pretty good. I don't have diabetes, my last EKG came out great, the cardiologist said my heart was good. I'm doing alright so no issues. Then I realized my eating habits are horrible. Cookies, ice cream, soda, whatever. So, I got online and searched for setting up a workout for a sedentary person and found Nerd Fitness. I thought the site was great. A fresh mix of what I like without the pound packing habit of raiding all day. I like the one step at a time philosophy and the articles are great.

 

In high school I was about the same height and weighed 285 pounds. I got picked on because I was fat, but I still played football and wrestled. I struggled with practices because I was not doing the right things at home to match up with all the physical things I was doing at school. I'd finish a practice and head home where I'd eat Doritos (my most favorite chip), drink gallons of milk, while stuffing peanut butter M&M's into my mouth like a ravenous chip monk. Mind you, I was doing this while watching Dragonball Z and playing Final Fantasy.

 

Later, after I got married, it was the same thing. My wife and I both played World of Warcraft everyday and ate horribly. We finally realized that WoW was a major weakness to any life goals that we had (since it was proving impossible for us to just play casually here and there), so we wept, cancelled our subscriptions, and destroyed the cd's. Yay! We were free...not really. We just found other stuff to do than workout or eat right.

 

Over the last 10 years this lifestyle has = a gain of 67 pounds for me. I'm sick all the time, I'm tired all the time, my joints hurt all the time, and I'm scared of what might happen. I've joined NF, set up an exercise plan that looks like it will work for my current situation (walking to Mordor everyday & modified body weight circuits). Today, my wife and I walked out of the grocery store with more fruits and veggie's than processed junk, and I'm cooking one of our meals (Chicken stirfry recipe I found from Steve) tonight. I hate bananas, but have cramps, so I'm taking one step at a time and setting the goal to eat one banana this week, then next week two.

 

I know this is going to be extremely difficult due to my massive sweet tooth and the excuses that I typically take, but I'm enlisting my personal trainer buddy to help keep me accountable and if possible would love the same from some peeps on this site.

 

Thanks.

 

Grax

[firelamb67]

Hello Grax!

Welcome to NF! You sound really down on yourself in your post. Remember what'ts done is done and in the past. You've taken a huge step to improve your life. That's awesome! Find a positive attitude, and don't tell youself, "I have to do this" instead tell yourself "this is what I do." I find having a sense of humor helps. I'm new to NF too and am doing the beginner body weight circuit training. I did my 2nd day today and already have 2 small victories to claim!

My advice is to take it slow and don't over do it in the beginning, you might burn yourself out. I do as much as I can but I listen to my body and then promise myself,"next time i'll do one more _____." That's what i'm doing anyway. I'm 47 and have about 100 pounds to lose. I took all my measurements the day I started and i'm not going to check them again until July. I don't want to get frustrated or disappointed. This takes time, patience and perseverance.

You can do this Grax! Keep your eyes on the prize. When you feel lazy or like you just don't want to do it one day, dig deep and call on you warrior spirit! Make yourself do some exercise and once you get going, you'll be in it and the lethargy falls away.

Find your motivation. If you can find the thing that motivates you, it will help you find your energy. Is your wife joining you on your journey? It's really nice to have someone working alongside you and you can be each other's cheerleaders.

I do have one suggestion for your cramps and dislike of bananas. Take Magnesium it's great for cramps and it also increases your serotonin which will make you feel good. If you don't feel taking a supplement is right for you, I understand that you can maximize the potassium in the banana by drinking a cup of orange juice with it but make sure that fits in with you diet plan. If you decide to use orange juice, get Simply Orange. The only ingredient in that juice is oranges.

I hope some of this helps. I've only written from personal experience. Do your research and find out what's right for you.

Good luck Grax!

Firelamb

[MidgetphoeniX]

Hi Grax! Welcome from a fellow noob. I'm 27yo and weigh about 285 pounds. Today marks 10 days since I joined the rebellion, I've been doing daily walks with my family and we've all felt better for it. We used our first few walks as time to really consider the reasons we were commited to fitness - for me its not solely about looking and feeling good, but also about setting a better example for my 15mo son and wanting to be able to race him to school one day.

 

I've got my war paint on, and I am on my way - I'm staying motivated by reminding myself that sufffering the discomfort in these early days is preparation to one day walk 5km comfortably. Walking this distance will never hurt more than it does today. My full body photographs will never look like they did 10 days ago.

 

Find what your motivators and goals are. Set yourself small goals (ie, I want to be able to walk 2 blocks comfortably within 10mins or something similar), then celebrate your victory when you manage it, and set another small goal - don't overwhelm yourself. One foot in front of the other, headed towards a better life.

 

Best of luck, my friend.

[Jnic0]

Hey It's awesome you've started doing this. Steve definitely recommends the Paleo Diet. While it's a hugely strict diet, I promise you you'll definitely feel better. Don't cut cold turkey if you find that you would struggle ease it in. I had quite a complicated health issue and moved to this diet and felt so much better. Previously I'd sleep for 10 hours and still feel tired everyday, I couldn't be bogthered doing anything and was really lazy.  One thing that I do find to curb the sweet tooth is bananas. I know you don't really like them, but try mix it up by putting them into shakes. Heck, if you can substitute some of those sugary cereals with just a morning shake to start off. Remember 80% to your success will be through diet!  I couldn't agree more with Steve on that one.

 

Jesse

[Noname123]

You took the first step! You posted and have a supportive community there for you. 

 

Now take a second and see if you can find buddies and like minded individuals to make you accountable so you stick to it. (Let me know if you want an accountabilibuddy ) 

 

Also, two things- As you shift your diet your tastes might DRASTICALLY change esp if you're eating good whole foods. I also used to hate bananas- I couldn't even smell them without gagging. I'm absolutely bonkers about them now. Although cramping may be indicative of dehydration too, do you get enough water daily? If you can't stand bananas try increasing water intake and see if that helps at all- I get some pretty crippling cramps in my legs if I don't hydrate properly (the kind that start in your leg, shoot down through your foot and make your toes curl- blah, I shudder just thinking about them!)

 

Second thing, after a couple months of a cleaned up diet I decided to go out with friends and indulge in some things I used to eat on a weekly or sometimes daily basis- and I couldn't take more than a few bites, just didn't appeal to me anymore. So stick with it- after the first few weeks the choices get easier and then they're not really hard choices anymore, they turn into preferences

[Jett]

Welcome to the Rebellion, Grax! Slates is right, the next step is finding someone who won't let you get away with slacking off on your goals. This forum is a good place to look!

 

Here's a very simple thing to change, if you haven't done it already: if you drink sugary sodas, change to diet soda. Just replacing the sugar with a non-calorie sweetener can cut out 500+ calories a day, depending on how much soda you drink! Some people have concerns about zero-calorie sweeteners, but I haven't been able to find any concrete evidence that they actually damage you. And everyone agrees that zero-calorie soda is better for you than full-sugar soda.