Hi. Nerd-Faced Woman.

[Nerd-Faced Woman]

I'm new here. I'm really shy, but when I'm writing, well, I tend to forget to shut up. I want to make some lifestyle improvements, mostly flexibility and stress relief. My squishy goals are to feel better and do more. I love video games, reading, writing, and I spend way too much time clicking links on wikipedia and tv tropes. I'm not sure where to start. I seem to have joined this rebellion in the middle of a challenge. I love RPGs but I feel like I'm in negative levels in my life. I won't be able to do much at first.

 

So, well...hi!

[Jett]

Hi there! I felt like I was at negative levels when I started, too. It took me about a month of doing lots of research before I figured out what I needed to be doing, and then I joined my first challenge and kept going from there.

 

So you want to improve flexibility, manage stress, and try new things? That can be arranged...

 

Do you have any weight-loss goals? If not, you probably don't need to worry about diet too much. If that's the case, we can jump straight to exercise-related things. :3

Do you do any kind of exercise/sports things already? Are there any that really catch your interest?

[insanity]

First, Welcome....

 

Second...I'll tell you the same thing I tell everyone else that seems like me (doing lots of research, not really getting to a starting point) Look for a simple program that goes along with your goals, mine is strength so I got the Stronglifts 5x5, and just start doing it, I started at the absolute lowest level and worked my way up. It gives you a definitive starting point and you can research to your hearts content while you're working out.

[Nerd-Faced Woman]

I do not have weight-loss goals; I consider my weight a reflection of my genetics and my lifestyle and would prefer to let is settle where it will. I haven't stepped on a scale in months, but months ago I was in the 240-ish area. I've always been big, though not always this big.

 

However, I am almost completely sedentary and my diet is pretty rotten. If making changes to my lifestyle results in weight loss, I certainly won't complain! But if it stays the same, I can live with that if I feel better and have more fun.

 

I don't do any exercise/sports things, and haven't in months/years. I used to walk and hike a LOT, ride my bike all over town (I don't have the bike anymore), and before that I'd play frisbee and catch and stuff with my friends. We're all and always have been gamers, without any distinction between sports, board games, video games, tabletop rpg; if it was a game, we'd play. We're also all scattered all over the US these days.

 

I would love to be able to walk down to the beach; it's about 1.5 miles away but it's very steep. I tried it once a couple years ago and coming back up that hill was so wretched and awful that I haven't tried it since. I'd love to take long hikes in the woods. I would love to be able to run for even one minute without having to stop.

 

I'm also interested in meditation and yoga but I've never tried them.

[Basement Cat]

Welcome, TV Troper!

 

Good luck with your goals and keep us posted!

[Jett]

Mm, okay. Sounds like you definitely have some interests, but currently no great passions when it comes to activity. I'll note that cleaning up your diet may also help you feel a bit better, since what you eat can have a vast impact on all parts of your body (including your brain!), but if your goal is simply to get more active, then it's not necessary.

 

Living that close to the beach sounds awesome! I am jealous. I love the ocean, but I live about a 5-hour drive away, currently. :/ 1.5 miles isn't too far, but having a steep hill to climb definitely makes that harder. If being able to come up that hill without a lot of pain is one of your goals, I would suggest that you start trying to incorporate some walking into your day on less-steep surfaces, and build up your endurance that way. Eventually, 1.5 miles, even uphill, will become a pretty minor deal. (I live about 3 miles from where I work, and I park 1 mile from the office. There is a street car that can take me the rest of the way, which is 1 mile uphill, and for a while I would do that. But then I started walking downhill on the way home, which seemed like a big effort at first. Once that got easy, I started walking UPhill some days, and it's become something that isn't that hard to do anymore! I'm slowly working up to walking the full distance...)

 

There's a program called "Couch to 5k", which is designed to get couch potatoes to a state of being able to run a 5k race in about 3 months. A lot of people here seem to like it; it also seems to take most people more than 3 months. But from what I have seen, it is a nice, gentle introduction to running. Whether you complete the program and actually get into good running shape, or just do the first few weeks to get to a point of being able to jog around your neighborhood, it might be something to look into if running is a goal of yours.

 

Meditation and yoga is probably perfect for what you say your goals are! Fortunately, you don't necesarily have to join a yoga class to start doing either of those things. Have a look at doyogawithme.com, which has lots of follow-along yoga routines and also a section on meditation.

 

Good luck, and as Basement Cat said, let us know how it goes!

[starsapart]

I would disagree about diet being a nonfactor for someone without weight loss goals.  Diet is intrinsic to overall well-being even if your goal isn't to lose weight!  Changing what you consume (even if you're not interested in looking at how much) can drastically improve your life!

 

You can do half a challenge and hop in now.  You can also start a battle log and go that route if you prefer.  Small, sustainable changes will win the day. You just have to decide what specifically you want to work on first!

[Nerd-Faced Woman]

Thank you for those resources! I will check them out more thoroughly but they seem like they're going to be very useful. Thanks for making me feel welcome. I'm getting excited!

 

I can actually see Puget Sound from my kitchen window, sort of!

 

The beaches up here are mostly private, it turns out; this is the opposite of how it was in my hometown. (I moved to the Seattle area from Sonoma County, California about three years ago. There were tons of public beaches, oh, a forty minute drive away)

 

I have a lot of...obstacles to consider. Perhaps I'll start a battle log to keep track of my initial progress, at least until the next challenge starts.

[Nerd-Faced Woman]

oops, duplicate!