Nerd Fitness Intro

[A_Bearded_Burton]

I am a littler over a week into my Nerd Fitness journey and have to say that I am a big fan of the site/community that it provides. I have a long way to go till I reach my ultimate goal but truly believe that everything is sinking in. The idea that this has to be a lifestyle change and not a diet is understood. My week 1 results were a huge motivator (11.5lbs) and can tell that I am doing better this week (won't know for sure till next Monday).

 

For the time being I won't lie... I am dieting so that I can get down to a weight that will make exercise easier. I am for the most part on the Paleo diet, but am still having some dairy (low fat greek yogurt) and occasional sushi  (once a week but not fried and smaller portion sizes than I am accustomed to). I am preparing 90 percent of my own food and have found many ways to season chicken. Maybe next week I will move to fish, then turkey. I am doing good at eating more vegetables than fruit.

 

    

[K_man]

Welcome to the community! Sounds like you are off to a great start here so keep it up. Remeber that there is always an exercise for any body type, even if its just going for a walk at a scheduled time. My advice to you if you really want to start exercising a lot in the future is to start getting used to scheduling a time now, that way it will be easier if you start at a gym or something to make sure you show up often.

 

good luck on your quest to greatness!

[A_Bearded_Burton]

Timing can be tricky but I have developed a good morning routine and should be able to make it to the gym 3 to 4 times a week. My mornings have included kettle bell, sit-ups. planking and stretching. I have done drop in aerobics classes and weight training at the gym. Hopefully the combination will have me back to my prime in no time...lol

[Guzzi]

Holy Pants batman! That's a heck of a change, and a lot to lose in your first week! Well done :aplause:

 

I think that you are 100% doing the right thing by getting your diet sorted before you start focusing on exercise. You can't outrun your fork and who wants to go through the pain and embarrassment of exercising (especially if you have a lot to lose) if it's not being 100% effective. 

 

I would however agree with @K_man about going for walks. Walking is a seriously underrated exercise. It has immense health benefits and it won't hurt your knees like other exercises do when you're overweight. People often forget that walking a mile burns the same calories as running or jogging a mile.

 

 I've seen you post in other areas of the forum but I just wanted to check that you have found your way around ok? Have you found out about the Challenges and the Guilds? 

 

We are coming to the end of the current challenge but there will be another one starting shortly. It's a good idea to have a look through the threads and get a feel for how they run and get a few ideas. If you need any help or want to know more about anything then just ask.

[A_Bearded_Burton]

I have seen some of the challenges but don't know much about the guilds. I have not committed to a challenge yet but will soon I am sure. For the time being I am just wanting to focus in on the basics and will probably save the challenges for when I start to plateau. With my weight that might be a while.

 

The weight lifting is coming right back to me. Many years ago I was college football player. I am finding out that I still have a lot of muscle mass built up and in general still have a lot of leg and arm strength. I have to remember that I am now mid 30's and increasing weight could lead to injury and delay my real goals that have nothing to do with weight training. Core training is what I need to be focusing on but these exercises seem to be the most difficult because of the extra weight.

  

[Guzzi]

The "Guilds" are really just a way of grouping the challenge threads together of who share interests and are working towards similar goals. People post their challenge threads under whichever Guild they want to belong to or feel matches their goals. So they can help and support each other. They also each have a general chat thread or two which you can drop by and check out. It sounds to me like you would probably lean towards the Warriors or the Rangers, you can check those out via the link in my last post. 

 

I like to recommend the 4 Week Challenges to people because it makes you an active participant in the forum... You meet other members, form friendships and get some accountability. They're also a really good tool to help you reach your long term goals by breaking them down into smaller, short term goals which I think is important in keeping you motivated. It's a tough slog to just keep working away toward losing 50lbs (for example) and trying to change everything all at once - eating better, exercising more, cutting soda, stop smoking..... Arrrrrgh! 

 

But if you have a challenge to, say, cut out soda over 4 weeks. Then go on to do another challenge to eat vegetables with one meal every day for 4 weeks and to use the stairs at work instead of the lift. You can focus on making small changes at a time, and make them lasting changes! And all the while you're getting support and advice from your fellow nerds. Coz we're like that.  

 

The next challenge runs from 17th of July - 13th of August, and the one after that is from 21st August - 17th September. Just so you have the info.  

 

Some people choose to keep a Battle Log instead of joining the challenges (or as well as!). They're in the Rebellion Headquarters section of the site. You don't get anywhere like as many visitors to your BL as you do with a challenge but it's still a good way to keep track of your progress and stay accountable to yourself. 

 

Anyhoo... Sorry for the mahoosive post, I hope I haven't bored you silly! And I should probably admit that a big chunk of that was copied and pasted from another post (I couldn't be arsed writing all out again) so if there's anything that seems odd or out of place then you know why.  

[V for Vetinari]

11.5 pounds in one week, wow! Good luck continuing with your goals. It's great that you've retained a lot of strength from your football days.

 

I third the suggestion to go for walks. That's how I started a few years ago, and slowly worked my way to longer and longer walks, then a little jogging. Only this week did I start feeling ready to tackle strength training, but up until now, the walking by itself changed a lot.

[A_Bearded_Burton]

I like long walks on the beach, but don't have a beach. I have been walking more but need to schedule it into my day.