So here goes...

[Mr_Willes]

As the topic tile said: "So here goes".

 

So many things buzzing through my head at the moment, and (almost) all good! So much happening to me, i just feel like screaming.

 

I'll try to get some structure in this overdue introduction post. I know myself i want to do things right the first time so i think this is gonna be quite the read!

 

First a little bit about myself. Age 34, sex: man (last time i checked), married with 2 kids (4 and 2). Working like a professional Deskjockey, maintaining the servers and network at a mental institution (yes, only working there). Hobbies: my Ducati (motorcycle), BBQing, playing/training the dog, making pizza. My picture of heaven on earth: a great time with friends and family during a summer bbq having a couple of beers with the kids and the dog playing in the garden. (No my kids are not allowed to drink yet, allthough Belgium isn't very strict about that)

 

I have always been a couchpotatoe. Never been very sporty, always a little bit overweight (let's call it chubby). Tried numerous times to do something about it, but never really succeeded. Quit smoking and moving out of my parents house had me gaining almost 15kg (33 lbs), but woohoo for the quit smoking. Being only 1,73 (5' 8") that weight made a real difference. The most i weighed was 87kg (192 lbs). 2,5 years back i joined a gym (for the third time) and started a little excercising, but eating was still the same so it made some difference but not a lot. As of christmas 2013 started intermittent fasting following the 5:2 rule. And in 2014 lost about 10 KG (22 lbs). And picked up on my excercing and pushing it a bit further.

 

Allthough i always looked like a small chubby guy i learned to enjoy running. At the moment i can run 12 km within an hour (7.5 miles). And have planned to do half a marathon in oktober. I also really enjoy going to the gym. That's because the owner and the instructors there make me feel at home. They always come and sit with me and drink some tea after the training. That makes it very easy to go even when i'm not in the mood. A few months back i even realized that i'm trying to manipulate my schedule in a way that i can go to the gym as often as possible (having a full time job,2 kids and a wife who also need some attention). Since my wife works at the hospital and always has different hours it's hard to make a schedule to go to the gym. Also my wife doesn't like it when i'm away from home a lot and made it clear that she thinks i'm going to the gym too much. Luckily this has changed a bit the last few days (she's seeing my dedication and i think she's realizing she also has to make some changes to her lifestyle)

 

A couple of weeks ago i was thinking how i could maximise my training schedule and realized it's all my wifes fault! ;-) Her hours are just killing for making a good training-schedule. So i IM'ed an old sportingbuddy who has studied for personal trainer, and he made me a personal program to follow on the days i have to stay home because my wife is working. Being the nerd i am i also started research on the internet and that is how i stumbled upon nerdfitness.

 

Last week my personal program was ready and my buddy came over to explain the excercises and did a full training session with me where he closely monitored if i performed the excercises in the right way. Here's the schedule:

 

1 cycle consists of: 

4 Burpees, 6 sit ups, 4 kettlebell deadlifts, 6 kettle bell upright rows, 8 mountainclimbers, 8 leg raises, 6 squats, 4 handicap pushups, 4 lunges and 6 kettlebell standing rows.

 

I asked for a program which i could easily do at home without any hardware. Because i dont have any stuff at the moment and dont want to invest in something i might end up not using. Last week when he came over he handed me the kettle bells and said i could use these as long as i needed since he didnt used them anymore.

 

Yesterday i did the training for the first time myself and got 13 cycles in 34 minutes. So the program usually is for 8 weeks and i'm gonna follow it this way (upping the reps when needed). If i like i'll invest in some free weights and ask him if he can focus on using those. Tonight i'll go to the gym and do a grouplesson of kickfun. Tomorrow my wife has to work so i can do the personal program and thursday they are starting a new class of MMA at the gym and specifically asked if i could join. So that got me really motivated!

 

Another thing i started doing just recently is running with my dog. He just turned one and is almost full grown, so now i can ease him into running. It's great, we both get a great excercise. I think that's gonna replace my running solo eventually. I also just read about the sprint (here on nerdfitness) and we have a track really closeby so one of my next running sessions will be on the track doing sprints.

 

As you can see i'm not a couchpotatoe anymore. I almost feel addicted to sporting, and it feels really good! BUT, i still have a problem with eating. And my body fat percentage is not where i want it to be. I really really like some bad food. Pizza, pasta and any combination of meat with bread are on top of my favourites-list. But since i have been reading about Paleo (especially about Saint) on nerd-fitness i am trying to convert, replacing the bread i normally eat on a lunch with a salad. And looking at getting the most healthy food available at the time. But it's a slow process. And the thought of not being able to make pizza or eating a good BBQed burger is really hard!!!

 

I know on the sporty side things are looking good, but it's just the damn food that makes me a little scared. Damn, if you made it here congrats and thank you for your patience.

 

Oow btw i live in Belgium and english is not my native language so if something is written all wrong please excuse me!

 

Yeah i just reread the whole thing (doing things right the first time ;-) ) and think this is it....

 

for now...

 

Oow damn, used the "Preview Post" button it looks huge... again: sorry!!!

[Eleanorsbee]

it may have been long .. but it was interesting enough to not get boring !!!!!

 

congrats on finding us .... I know you blame your wife for not being able to maximize your training schedule ... but seriously, thats a little unfair .. you SHOULD be blaming your kids for your eating habits .. a 2yr old and a 4year old will drive you to comfort eat and crave the Carbs and the Alcohol .... so blame them

 

at least that who I blame .... my kid ... not yours

[Mr_Willes]

It's not a little unfair! It's very unfair, she also pays half the bills, earns almost the same is me with only 28 hours of working (can you read the frustration  )

 

But the blaiming the kids thing, i like that. It's perfect, they can't defend themselves, yeah i'm totally doing that, first thing when i come home. No just kidding, they are great!

 

It is i who i have to blame, and ofcourse the foodindustry for making it so damn addictive!   In my case it's not really comfort food, when i'm alone there is (almost) no problem. But saying no to a beer when my inlaws are over and having one, that's too much! 

[Miw_Sher]

Hi and welcome! 

 

I feel your struggle with beer, that is my downfall. And then after one comes another….

[Mr_Willes]

It's not always a struggle. Only in social situations. When i'm alone, i also would love to have a beer, but i have no problem from refraining. What i now do to handle it a little better is start drinking a little later. So i'll join them when they are having their third. That way i missed the first two. Ofcourse this is not a solution but it's a start. And hoping to build momentum out of that.

 

Since it's winter over here (not the same amounts of snow as some parts of US) but when summer comes i will be giving myself some more "rules for drinking". Otherwise i'm pretty sure i will fall back. Just my way of handling things... Let me know what you think about it.

[Tom Muscle]

Belgium, the land of the good beer I know it can be hard to abstain from drinking but you have to develop the habit to just say no to it, even in social situations when it's probably the hardest. I'd keep your fitness goals in mind (visualise them several times per week to stay motivated and to remind yourself WHY alcohol is a no-go) and limit your drinking to 1 evening per week, for example on your cheat day you can have a few beers but that's it.

 

Remember, now is probably the best time to develop your habit because in a few months BBQ season will be here and you'll fall back when you don't have the right mindset/habit by then.

[Mr_Willes]

I'm in the process of (trying to) creating habits. I call it getting momentum. But i'm going one step at a time. So my next goal is a 6 week challenge no beer on working days. And every following challenge i will get stricter.

[Miw_Sher]

Ok, for some reason my post messed up and keeps deleting parts of what I am saying...

 

I was just commenting that I am in the same situation. At home there is an easy solution – just don't have beers lying around and only buy the amount you plan to drink. Your solution though is something I could get behind.
 

Also, I will be moving back to France soon so I guess I could start ordering un demi instead of a pint… although after four years of living in Bavaria I still can't see those as anything else but baby beers or beer shots...

 

Btw, where are you flemish or wallonian? (just so I know what your native tongue is for future reference)

[Mr_Willes]

Flemish, but actually dutch, import, only living in Belgium for 7-8 years. Still working in Holland (or the Netherlands).

 

Had to look up "un demi" on google it came back with:

 

 

And for anyone who is confused about the dutch living in holland or the netherlands take a look at this easy to follow simplistic explanation:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE_IUPInEuc 

[Miw_Sher]

Bahahaha! I guess technically, it is "half" a glass …

 

Un demi is actually 0.25 cl and the standard measure they will bring you in bars if you don't specify otherwise. 
 

This is the actual size in comparison to what looks like a pint.

[Mr_Willes]

We're the cheap dutch, 0,25 is considered medium for our standards. 0,2 is small (or even smaller). But enough talking about beer, it's still a working day (so no beer allowed).

[Mr_Willes]

I gave it some though but i think It's not very practical to not having any beer around. And i think you would agree if you knew my inlaws  . Yesterday my wifes dad came around, and it was the very first time we had no regular beer around.   THAT WAS A FIRST! So i had to give him one of my special beers (Erdinger Weissbeer). But (hurray) i let him drink on his own. First victory.

 

So the last time i had one was 29th of january, AND COUNTING! Now i won't pretend i can keep up with this.

 

Next weekend there's a national holiday-feast-weekend. Something like the dutch version of Brazilian carnival. But basically it's 5 days in a row of drinking beer and bad eating. At least that's what i used to do when i was younger. Now it's more like 2 days drinking and one day bad eating. So that's gonna break my "no beer, challenge". I'm gonna try my best to make it a one evening drinking beer this year. That would be a major accomplishment. But we'll see, not promising anything 

[Eleanorsbee]

 

 

 

 

ahhh, nothing beats the term "helpful" .... when it comes to posting pictures of beer on a thread of a guy trying to give up beer.

 

I think I might go post pics of some cakes in the weightloss forum

[Mr_Willes]

It's not that hard for me (yet). And i have no intention of giving it up completely. But i'm trying to drink less, and liking the idea of "Tom Muscle" to turn it more into a treat instead of a commodity. And so far so good!

[Miw_Sher]

 

ahhh, nothing beats the term "helpful" .... when it comes to posting pictures of beer on a thread of a guy trying to give up beer.

 

I think I might go post pics of some cakes in the weightloss forum

I felt invited by his post of the giant beer glass he put in the first place.

Congratulations on resisting that beer with your in laws, at any rate!

When I first read your other post about your national feast holiday, I thought you are saying you were only going to drink one beer every evening you attended it. I would have had some serious admiration right there if you had managed it.

Still, if your rule is "no beer on working days", and the festival is on the weekend, don't you still have the opportunity to stick to your challenge and also celebrate?

 

 

[Mr_Willes]

That's true, it would be sticking to my rule, but i try to do a little better because i know the social situation will probably allow for this, so why don't make the progress that can easily be made! Complete festival will start (for some on friday actually) saturday evening and will end tuesday night. For sure i won't make it to tuesday. Saturday is gonna be a big party. Sunday i will use the kids as an excuse not to drink (too heavily). Monday will depend on my friends whether they will be joining. But the last few years there are fewer and fewer. So i think i'm gonna skip it this year.