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[Jon5k]

Hi,my name is Jon and I'm ready to report for duty. I want to change my habits, my body, my mind... I want to be a better person. Here is my story.

I graduated college in 2000 at 165lbs. I was able to run a 4:23 mile / 3:19 full marathon... all leg muscle, no upper body strength. I was doing ok, somewhat, with my weight after college, although I was never "strong". I started slowly gaining weight, but was 180lbs at my heaviest. Then 2009 hit, I had a horrendous job with a psychotic government customer. I became depressed, stopped caring about working out, starting eating crap (fast food for lunch and dinner... never breakfast cause I was too tired in the morning to make it and always running late for work) and ballooned to 210lbs within a 6 month period.

I woke up and snapped out of my funk when I realized I no longer recognized myself in the mirror one morning. By that afternoon I had quit that job and started my path towards redemption.

"When I'm sad, I stop being sad... and be awesome instead. True story" ~ Barney Stinson

I worked a year on my own going Han style... solo. I have now realized you can't do it alone. I was good in college because I had a team. I joined a cross fit gym in October of this year because I realized that not only do I want to get back to not fat, I want to get strong.. and my friends feed me some tasty cool-aid. I was instantly hooked.

I am down to 200 but need a power-up to help me further improve.

I started doing more research and I found this site via a link to Staci's story. This was about a month ago, I have been coming back to read and reread the articles and people's stories.

So why am I joining the rebellion now, you may ask? Well there are two reasons.

First, I need a quick swift kick in the ass to get motivated and I feel that by putting my self out there, flaws and all, I will feel responsible to others to work hard and keep myself honest. Using some advice here I have begun to create a plan of action. This is the power up I've been looking for.

The second reason is once in my life I erroneously believed that "fit" and "nerd" were oxymoron in terms. You mean it is possible to be fit AND a nerd?!? Most of my life I've never really felt comfortable with the fact that I in my younger days I was a varsity athlete (Cross Country and Track) and yet I enjoyed sci / fantasy movies and books and was a huge video game fanatic throughout high school and college. I found this site and have enjoyed lurking for a bit and realized, the folks on here seem to be similar to myself.

Basically, I think I can be myself and have fun here. .

So anyways, here are my stats for 2011:

5'6

Age: 33

200lbs

1 RM Deadlift: 275lbs

1 RM Back Squat: 275lbs

1 RM Push Press: 105lbs

Half Marathon: 1:47

Diet prior to 19 Dec: daily sodas, pasta, junk food, never eat breakfast, drink too much beer (going out multiple times a week)... yes even AFTER going the crossfit gym. 10 bucks to the first person who can guess how well my progress has been.

"Son, fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life" ~ Dean Wormer

Needless to say, my biggest problem is the diet (and probablt self esteem... but we'll put that aside for now =) ). I set out to fix that a couple days ago.

Here are my goals for 2012

5'6

Age: 34 (If I miss this goal it means I am dead... that would greatly affect my other goals!)

175lbs

1 RM Deadlift: 375lbs

1 RM Back Squat: 325lbs

1 RM Push Press: 125lbs

Half Marathon: 1:35

New (current) Diet: Breakfast! Cut out soda's. Cut out grains. Cut out garbage snacks. Go to a diet that is paleo based.

The plan: I recently went out and acquired cooking gear, pots and pans / pyrex containers for baking... It is amazing how just having the right tools can set you up for success! For me it is about spending a couple of hours setting up my meals for the week. For this week I baked a paleo friendly egg dish which makes eating in the morning quick and painless. I also cooked up a bunch of chicken breasts. Set up containers full of veggies for quick grab and go for lunches. I started this week... it has been awesome thus far.

So, this is my story, sorry for the length, once I started I just needed to put it all down, worts and all. I look forward to meeting folks here and taking up some of the challenges.. the Beach Body challenge looks like a very noble goal.

Thanks for reading.

[Guest guest4729]

I wish you the best of luck, Jon. You'll find a lot of support from this community. You're have your ups and your downs, but as long as you stick to your goals and keep leveling up, you're always a winner. Definitely work to cut out the soda and junk food! That'll help you progress nicely once you give your body the food that it really needs. Perhaps you can rid your house of bad foods the night before your next trash night? That's what I plan on doing this week(if I can't give it away, first). Out with the old and in with the new. You won't be able to stay focused and determined if you've got a lot of bad food in your house.

[ETFnerd]

Wow, 4:23/mile is really an elite level of athleticism. I run and have lower body, upper body and core strength goals. I believe that balance is necessary to become a fit individual. I live in the DMV and work in the district. I've worked hard to establish order in:

1) My family life

2) My professional life

3) My diet

4) My rest and sleep cycles

5) My social life (lagging but up and coming in NF). For you it may be relationships with friends and significant others.

6) My fitness

There are a lot of pieces in the puzzle and any one of these can derail you. You need to address each of these to be successful. It seems daunting, but happiness has many components and you have a lifetime to build successful structures in each of these categories. Notice I put fitness toward the end, but all feed upon one another.

Good luck and welcome to the nerd circle jerk. Look fwd to reading how it unfolds for you.

[Sloth the Enduring]

The second reason is once in my life I erroneously believed that "fit" and "nerd" were oxymoron in terms. You mean it is possible to be fit AND a nerd?!? Most of my life I've never really felt comfortable with the fact that I in my younger days I was a varsity athlete (Cross Country and Track) and yet I enjoyed sci / fantasy movies and books and was a huge video game fanatic throughout high school and college. I found this site and have enjoyed lurking for a bit and realized, the folks on here seem to be similar to myself.

Welcome Jon, I think you'll fit in just fine around here; I suspect there are lots of people here with a similar story. Your CC team must have been a lot different than the one I was on, 'cause mine was nerd central, even formally cool people who were just there to condition for their winter sports were recruited in to the nerd fold. You were super-fit once, that'll really help you on your quest for awesome fitness.

[Jon5k]

I wish you the best of luck, Jon. You'll find a lot of support from this community. You're have your ups and your downs, but as long as you stick to your goals and keep leveling up, you're always a winner. Definitely work to cut out the soda and junk food! That'll help you progress nicely once you give your body the food that it really needs. Perhaps you can rid your house of bad foods the night before your next trash night? That's what I plan on doing this week(if I can't give it away, first). Out with the old and in with the new. You won't be able to stay focused and determined if you've got a lot of bad food in your house.

Thanks for the advice. I went through and removed all crap and soda's... Yeah... it was pretty bad. Now need to fight the urge to hit the ole' soda machine here at work.

[maegs]

When you're tempted to drink a pop, look at the nutritional information on the can and how much sugar is in it. And then think about if you really want to drink the equivalent of a couple tablespoons of sugar. Works for me every time!

[Guest guest4729]

Thanks for the advice. I went through and removed all crap and soda's... Yeah... it was pretty bad. Now need to fight the urge to hit the ole' soda machine here at work.

If Maegs' suggestion doesn't work, think about how generally unhealthy it is for you. Read this and it might help you:

http://www.nutritionresearchcenter.org/healthnews/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-drink-a-coke-right-now/

http://blisstree.com/eat/what-happens-to-your-body-after-you-drink-a-coke-every-day-for-a-long-time/

I also believe I read somewhere that coke/pepsi has enough sugar in it to technically make you throw up; however, they add some sort of acid that cuts down the sweetness so you don't vomit after ingesting some.

Does that make you want to drink it still?

[Jon5k]

...hmm... yick...

[Guest guest4729]

...hmm... yick...

That's what I thought.

Does it make it easier to resist the urge to go buy a soda?

Speaking of which - imagine how much you'll save on a yearly basis by NOT buying soda. When I was a cashier I used to get people in my line buying two weeks worth of soda. How much would they buy? Like $40 worth of soda. That's an INSANE amount of money for a drink that isn't even good for you. Imagine how much you could save by drinking water even just 90% of the time.

I know my roommate alone must spend like $15 a week on juices, teas and flavored drinks. That's $60 a month! You could get a gym membership and a new piece of workout clothing or equipment with that kind of money!

[alexgator]

+1 for How I Met Your Mother quote

Welcome and good luck :]

I also believe I read somewhere that coke/pepsi has enough sugar in it to technically make you throw up; however, they add some sort of acid that cuts down the sweetness so you don't vomit after ingesting some.

I'm a bit of a soda addict and that is the most influential argument I've ever heard against drinking the crap.

[Guest guest4729]

I'm a bit of a soda addict and that is the most influential argument I've ever heard against drinking the crap.

Yeah, it's included in the first portion of what happens when you drink coke:

"In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down."

Now that I've read that I think long and hard before even taking a sip of soda. If something is so overwhelmingly sweet that it SHOULD be making me throw up...I don't really want it anymore. D:

[maegs]

"In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down."

ugh, yuck. Didn't realise there was that much sugar in it..

[Ryan Sannar]

Dude Jon! Sick goals and progress. We are proud of have you and I can say that with gusto because my name is Ryan.