Greetings from The Bottom of The Heap!

[the_griff]

For the past 7 years, I have travelled the proverbial peaks and valleys of working out and eating right.  

 

Where am I now?  In the valley.  In the deepest valley.  The heaviest and most out of shape I've ever been.

 

Things didn't used to be this way... three years ago I was 30 pounds lighter, much more muscle, and doing deadlifts for fun.

 

I try to remember that I was struggling with depression these past couple years, that it felt like a success just to choose life over death.

 

I have reclaimed my mental health, and I am ready to reclaim my physical health.  I have used this site in the past, but I'm unsure I did correctly...

 

I just need help.  

 

I need people to advise what I should eat, what exercises I should do, what goals to set, and most importantly, to encourage me onwards to victory...

 

(I'm usually very punny and can def drop a sh*t ton of pop culture references on ya.  HUMOR IS DA BESSSSST )

 

So... help?  

 

<3 mg

 

 

 

 

[Soldier1stCl4ss]

I'm a newbie here myself, so I'm still learning.  One theme I keep seeing is that you don't want to place too many expectations on yourself right out of the starting gate.  I told myself once that I would run a mile everyday, eat no more then 1500 calories a day, go to the gym every other day, etc....  It was a good plan in my head, but didn't pan out due to Life getting in the way sometimes and I felt defeated.  My one lesson I've learned is make a small change here and there until it becomes habit.  Example.  You know you need to drink more water.  Personally, I hated water, but I've made it a mini-quest to drink more water.  I log my water intake and now, after a few weeks, I drink nothing but water.  No more soda, no more energy drinks.  (I'm still a sucker for a good craft beer, though...)  But that one victory helped me. 

 

It's just like one of those boss battles where the Boss is accompanied by his minions.  Don't take them all head on.  You'll be pulverized!  Focus on one of the low level minions first.  Once he's vanquished, that's one less obsticale in your way and you're that much stronger. 

[Katnroyal]

Hey there I am new to the site but I have been on this fitness journey for awhile. I would be glad to help you identify your goals and create a plan to get there. I have tried many different things but just changing my lifestyle with simple fixes showed the most improvement! Keep your head up and never lose that sense of humor!

[the_griff]

I'm a newbie here myself, so I'm still learning.  One theme I keep seeing is that you don't want to place too many expectations on yourself right out of the starting gate.  I told myself once that I would run a mile everyday, eat no more then 1500 calories a day, go to the gym every other day, etc....  It was a good plan in my head, but didn't pan out due to Life getting in the way sometimes and I felt defeated.  My one lesson I've learned is make a small change here and there until it becomes habit.  Example.  You know you need to drink more water.  Personally, I hated water, but I've made it a mini-quest to drink more water.  I log my water intake and now, after a few weeks, I drink nothing but water.  No more soda, no more energy drinks.  (I'm still a sucker for a good craft beer, though...)  But that one victory helped me. 

 

It's just like one of those boss battles where the Boss is accompanied by his minions.  Don't take them all head on.  You'll be pulverized!  Focus on one of the low level minions first.  Once he's vanquished, that's one less obsticale in your way and you're that much stronger. 

 

Wanting to be Level 70 while I'm at Level 5 is one of my biggest problems... definitely need to be reminded as much as possible!!! (Just call me Veruca Salt because I WANT IT NOW)

 

Hey there I am new to the site but I have been on this fitness journey for awhile. I would be glad to help you identify your goals and create a plan to get there. I have tried many different things but just changing my lifestyle with simple fixes showed the most improvement! Keep your head up and never lose that sense of humor!

Yay! Thanks for the offer!  I have a big goal, and it is a matter of breaking it down into a doable thing.  

Goal: to love my body and be fit again by April 29th (for a local annual event I frequent )

[Soldier1stCl4ss]

Wanting to be Level 70 while I'm at Level 5 is one of my biggest problems... definitely need to be reminded as much as possible!!! (Just call me Veruca Salt because I WANT IT NOW)

 

YES!  That there is my biggest issue.  I want things now.  What?  I have to WAIT and be PATIENT!?  Nooppe.  lol.  But that's the sad truth.  We have to be...  ::sadface::

[jonesy2702]

Hey!!

 

I'm pretty to new to being on here too.  But got a decent amount of experience in the fitness side of things.

 

I can relate with wanting things like... yesterday!

 

Then after a couple days I notice I havent made any progress to my uber super goal and just give up.

 

So I am kinda piggy backing off "soldier1stclass" here.

 

My questions I got for you is;

 

What are you doing now? How are you eating? Are your working out even doing anything at home e.g. 100 jumping jacks etc..

What is your goal?

 

From there we can try break it down.

For example.. if you want to get to level 70 while you are at 5... how do we get you to 10? well it starts by getting you to 6 and so on.  

 

Lets try get some momentum and start kicking ass at life !!!!

 
Look forward to hearing from you.

[Kilo]

Wow it's super cool to see how the community is working and encouraging.

As someone who was once in depression and pulled out of it and is now living one hell of a life, just know you aren't alone in this. It's possible to do whatever you want.

In regards to your specific questions, I will do my best to link to the NF articles that cover those topics. I know the archives are slightly intimidating to look at.
 

Food: NF is huge on the paleo diet style and for good reason. You can read about it here. This is Steve's run down. I personally don't do the paleo right now because I am focusing on other things, but I will get there to try it. I normally don't advocate things that I haven't personally tried, but I do trust Steve to be well informed and accurate and to not have other motives. I personally use Myfitnesspal.com. It is a cool calorie counter that lets you fiddle around with everything without having to know a lot about the macros and such. It is like a puzzle for me, because I will wake up and decide what I can eat that day that will get me close to the calories I need. Plus by doing it every day, you get to keep yourself accountable.

 

Workout: This is pretty dependent on what you want to accomplish. I climb a lot, so I normally do bodyweight at high repetitions. The community is HUGE on strength training. Here is the link to their reasoning. It is really good because it is a full body workout style that builds functionality rather then looks, although that is a bi-product. It doesn't matter how good you look if you can't actually do anything. That's why functionality is the primary goal of any workout listed on the NF blog.
     There are all sorts of workouts on line that can help you depending on what you want. Just google "activity" + workout, and something is bound to pop up. There is also a page under the forums that is used to help you build a workout. You might drop by there and get some advice from the real experts.

 

To figure out your goals, I would highly, highly recommend Steve's new book called level up your life. I am still reading through it and have absolutely fallen in love with the way it works. Easily worth the money. By using his stuff in there I have already set up a bungee jumping party, learning Spanish, and traveling. If you don't buy that, just remember that we aren't here for quick fixes. You need to start thinking in terms of months and years, not weeks. It takes some getting used to but the only way we ever achieve things is by simply taking the next step.

     Basically, figure out where you want to be or you want to do, and make a checklist of every step you need to do to get there. Then just start checking things off.

 

One of my favorite quotes is: "F#ck motivation. Build discipline. That's what will bring results."

That's not to say that you can't use motivation, but realize there are going to be days when you really just don't want to go to the gym or what not. Use the motivation while you have it to make the action a habit and discipline yourself to stay with it. That being said, having people like those on the NF forums is a great way to stay accountable, but at the end of the day, it is your choice to take the hard road or the easy road. You can do what you want so long as you want it.

     I would suggest writing down what/who you want to be later and life, and put it somewhere you can see as your reminder of why you are doing this. I used to post quotes on my wall that I would read everyday just to remind myself that I could do it.

 

I hope this helps and good luck

[Scream]

Here's my advice: browse through the nerd fitness articles until you find something that REALLY gets you excited. Be it a meal, a diet, an exercise, meditation, whatever. Then post it here.

 

Then come up with a plan to do something about it, first step starting today. Even the tiniest step, like planning your next step, counts. Then post it here.

 

Odds are you already had something strike you, which is why you decided to join the rebellion. If not, you're bound to find something in the wide variety of nerd posts. The best thing about nerds is we like to do fun, exciting things.

 

Ready? Go.