Intro from Alaska

[pseudophyte]

Hello all.  You can call me Vinnie.  I'm new to the site and to any sort of weight loss community.  I'm not 100% sure this is the right program for me, but I'd love to get some input from the community.  Kinda, test the waters so to speak.  Be gentle!

 

WHO I AM

As I said, please call me Vinne (for now).  I'm 36, married for over a decade, have a slew of kids (4).  I work in an ITS office, which pretty much means that I'm sitting on my backside all day long.  I've gotta weight 275+ lbs. at this point.  The last time I officially checked, I was around 270lbs and my clothes don't fit at loose as they did a year ago.  I think a calculator said that my BMI was 38, which puts me into the "OMG how do you get around?" category.  I don't think I've ever really had a work out routine.  I've never had a gym membership.  But until recently, I've always been pretty happy with the guy I see in the mirror.

 

WHY CHANGE NOW?

I had a pretty blazing argument with my wife recently.  The "why" and "what happened" don't really matter (you can pm me if you really want to hear the story), but during the aftermath, she laid out the truth: She wasn't physically attracted to me anymore.  And we were teetering on whether or not my attitude (I guess I'm a pretty negative guy) was going to be a deal-breaker.  Because my physical weight gain had caused our passion to fizzle, and me generally being douce-like to her at times (not all the time), I felt that I had reached an ultimatum point.  I definitely think that my grouchiness is tied to my physical fitness, or lack there-of.  I'm hoping that a change in my lifestyle and some moderate physical improvement will help bring the spark back into our marriage.  (Also, it wouldn't hurt to have a few more years to watch my kids grow up.)

 

MY PHYSICAL FITNESS

As I indicated earlier, I think I'm sitting around 275lbs with a BMI of 38.  I'm not diabetic yet, but I do have the risk due to my obesity and some family history.  I generally hate exercise.  We had a treadmill and an exercise bike years ago that just sat and gathered dust.  I hate the way my body feels and moves when I try to exercise.  I cannot do a full push-up, though I recently tried those half-ones that kids to in elementary school.  Not gonna start lying now, after a few minutes of low/low-med exercise, I'm huffing and puffing.  My head itches, my body aches, I can't see why people like to do this!

 

GOALS

I wanna be able to disrobe in front of my wife and have her eyes light up.  I'm not trying to be crude or inappropriate, but that spark hasn't been there in a long time.  I would love to feel comfortable in my body and in the clothes that I wear.  I don't need to be muscle-y and chiseled, but I do want to feel good about myself.  to accomplish this, I think my target will need to be somewhere around 75-100lbs of weight loss.  I would like to set a realistic goal, but I'm not sure what's realistic and what's just pie-in-the-sky dreaming.  It'd be awesome if I could lose 10lbs by the end of January.  And I mean, 10lbs with improvements throughout (I head you might start losing weight in your face, which would be awesome!).  I would like to lose my negativity, too.  I'm not sure how much this site can help with that, but I'm hopeful that I can connect with some people here.

 

PLAN

I've been investigating the site, which looks very inviting.  So, I'll probably join soon; maybe make this an early Christmas present.  I've already asked my wife to start waking me up earlier so that I can try to squeeze in a little pre-work stretching or exercise (like work on those full push-ups).  I hope to do some in the evening as well.  I don't know if a gym is something that I can afford, but I do have a dusty set of hand weights that I can dig out of the shed.  I also am working on using some sort of calorie intake software to track my eating.  I don't really eat all that much during the day, but I do eat more than my fair share of junk food.

 

POSTLUDE

I know this intro is a little disparaging.  That's part of my way to deal with this.  I really am committed to making a change.  Honestly, I think my marriage and happiness really depends on my finding success here.  So, thanks for listening and I hope to connect with you soon.

[fitnessgurl]

Doing this is one of the greatest gifts you can give to your wife and children. I admire you for it.

This community is incredibly supportive and I'm sure you'll find what you need here.

[Basement Cat]

Welcome to the rebellion!

 

NF isn't  a 'program' per say. It's a community of individuals who want to get healthier. The type of exercise you do and how you eat (Vegetarian? Vegan? Paleo? Other?) are entirely up to you.

 

When it comes to exercise, the most important thing is to pick something you enjoy so you'll stick with it. You said you don't really like exercise, but there is so much stuff to try! A gym is completely optional. If you'd rather work out at home, great! If you want to go for walks, great! Try things in order to find what you like. You might want to get into a sport with your wife! Like tennis or badminton or something. Sharing a fitness activity couldn't hurt!

 

Exercise is a minor part of it though. The main thing to fix is food. Diet is 80-90% of your success. I suggest using this handy-dandy calculator to get a rough idea of your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR: how much food you need per day even if inactive) and Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE: how much energy you spend based on activity levels.) The calculator is very simple to use and gives a good idea of how many calories you need. On average, cutting 500 calories a day will result in about one pound of weight loss per week. If you are very overweight, you can cut 1000 for about 2 pounds a week (I'm doing the latter myself). Just don't go below your BMR and you'll be fine.

 

Tracking calories is good, but keep in mind that you need to eat the right kinds of food as well. Get enough protein, fat, carbs, etc. NF has a lot of info about that. You can check the resources here. Just scroll down the page to find the various articles.

 

I hope that helps. Good luck! Keep us posted!

[pseudophyte]

Thanks for the welcome.  It really means a lot to me to have an active community with friendly voices.

 

MY FIRST STEPS

To prove that I'm committed to change, I've started to incorporate some stretching/exercises into my morning routine.  My wife usually wakes up before me to shower and put a pot of coffee on, then wakes me up after she's done.  Yesterday, I rolled out of bed just after she got up (I really wasn't sleeping well thanks to our argument) so I could try some pre-work exercise.  I did 40 crunches (4x10), 40 squats (2x20), and 20 half-push-ups (2x10).  It took me 30+ minutes and there was a LOT of huffing and puffing.  My back hurt and my legs hurt and my upper-chest-muscles-next-to-my-shoulders hurt.  I'm not sure if I did them 100% correctly, but I did them.  I stumbled into the bathroom; my wife asked, "What the...?  Are you okay?"  I'm, like, "exercise... *huff*... sucks... *puff*..."  Her eyes lit up! "I'm so proud of you for trying!"

 

So, this morning, I asked her to wake me up early so that I could try again.  I did 20 half-push-ups (2x10), 50 squats (5x10), 45 crunches (2x10 + 1x25), and some cool move-your-arms-in-circles things (2x20 CW + 2x20 CCW).  Now my upper-chest-muscles-next-to-my-shoulders are burning and my legs are killing me.  Again, I stumble into the bathroom huffing and puffing and complain, "exercise... *huff*... still sucks... *puff*..."  We had a nice follow-up conversation about how achy everything is just starting out.  She says, "I love that burn; the feeling that you've been working your muscles."  (Forgot to mention that my wife has a daily yoga routine, so she's used to that "burn".)

 

One of the HUGE changes that we're trying to make is a mental re-adjustment.  Instead of constantly being negative (me: "I hate all exercise and I'm not gonna do it!"; she: "You never follow-through with these attempts.), we're trying to encourage one another and talk about our frustrations.  Maybe it's just that simple little change: try to have a positive mind-set.

 

She said that I looked "handsome" on the way out the door this morning.  Yay!

[fitnessgurl]

Woohoo! Go, go, go!

[m rips]

Hi Vinnie! I'm fairly new to the site as well, but welcome nonetheless exercise gets easier and better, I promise. Here's something to help with your mental re-adjustment: my boyfriend and I typically do this every night before bed, we each say 3 things that we were thankful for that day, or that made us happy. I was not much of a negative person to begin with, but I find it has made me appreciate more and by doing it right before bed, I go to bed happy. Good luck and keep on truckin!

[pseudophyte]

Thanks for the additional responses.  It's good to hear the encouragement.  I did my exercises on Saturday, but decided to take it easy on Sunday (just stretching).  Started this morning off with some inclined push-ups (2x20) instead of kiddie-push-ups and some squats (2x20, with 1x10).  Did some of my arm circles, but wasn't really into them today.  I've been making an attempt to supplement or replace one of my meals daily with a smoothie.  This morning, I had 10oz H2O w/ 2 handfuls of greens, 1/4C cottage cheese, 1/2C frozen berries, a splash of sweet cream, and a scoop of protein powder (pretty yummy).

 

I'll probably continue my updates on another part of the site.  Thanks again for the encouragement!

[MissStarshine]

It sounds like you're off to an awesome start! Yeey you!

I'm glad to see you are also thinking about your diet. It plays a huge part in losing weight and just generally feeling better.

Keep us posted! I'll be happy to read your progress!

[Sloth the Enduring]

Welcome Vinnie.  Nice start Bro.