Diving In

[Effy]

Hey gang! I'm super stoked to have found Nerd Fitness; I have a feeling it's exactly what I needed. I'm a 29-year-old self-employed freelance writer & personal assistant, and I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia two weeks ago. Besides the chronic pain, I've been battling a host of symptoms: stomach problems, extreme fatigue, insomnia and restless sleep, and anxiety among them. My journey here is really going to be about using diet and exercise to combat these issues and become the healthiest version of myself--and hopefully beat this condition into submission.

 

I'm a HUGE fan of fantasy and sci-fi, so it's super exciting to find a way to integrate that into my fitness plan. I'm leaning towards Druid (I enjoy meditation, have dipped my toes into yoga, and am planning on starting tai chi) with a side of Adventurer (hiking, exploring, rock climbing, etc). At the moment I have little strength or stamina to speak of and have been feeling pretty darn lousy thanks to my symptoms, so any tips for getting started or working through health issues would be very appreciated--I've started short walks, but have a hard time doing much else. I'll be seeing a nutritionist soon, but I'm thinking a Paleoish diet is going to be the best option to cope with my stomach problems and other symptoms.

 

A little bit about my interests: the Final Fantasy series are my games of choice (currently working on a play-through of FFVII!). Harry Potter is still one of my favs (I even do a writing-based HP RPG), and I love ASOIAF, The Kingkiller Chronicles, The Inheritance Trilogy, the Mists of Avalon, and Dune. The 100 is my current fandom (I've had a bit of a break-up with the show itself), but I'm also a big fan of Battlestar Galactica, Farscape, Doctor Who, Orphan Black, MCU & Agents of SHIELD, and many others that I'm sure I'm forgetting. I adore history (medieval and Renaissance England is my specialty), historical fiction (Rome! Spartacus! Vikings!), and traveling. I'm really in to the minimalism movement and authentic living, and hope to become a blogger in the field soon; I think this will pair really, really well with my fitness journey here. I'd love to have some new friends with similar interests to work on fitness goals with, so drop me a line if you ever want to chat!

 

Oh, and one last thing! My girlfriend will be joining me on my Nerd Fitness quest (her goals tend more towards weight loss/general health) so any advice for couples to set each other up for success (rather than making excuses for each other, which is our tendency) would be great. Really looking forward to taking this journey with all of you!

[SevenofSeven]

Welcome aboard and good luck with your journey.

 

@Emerald_Dragonfly has her partner on the boards as well, although they do belong to different Guilds. She might have some to helpful tips witj having a partner on board!

 

 

[Guzzi]

Welcome on board!

 

Im assuming you've read all the articles about fibromyalgia and the paleo diet? If not then I can post up some links, or you could hit Google.  There are a few people on here so suffer and there are some threads lurking around on the topic, though you might have to hunt them down (the "search" function never works for me, don't know why). They're most likely to be in the Diet and Nutrition section, but could be anywhere I suppose. 

 

There's also a couple of threads in The Pub that you might be interested in. There's one called Minimalism and the "Minimalist Lifestyle" and there's also a LGBT thread. 

 

It looks like you've read up about the guilds, have you also read about the 4 Week Challenges? The next one starts on the 17th and could be a good way of you putting your nutritionist advice into practice. They're also good for making friends and feeling like you're part of the community.

 

If you have any questions (I can't help with the partner one, lol!) then just ask.  

[Emerald_Dragonfly]

Welcome!

 

[AmerlioratingAirwrecka]

I am new here too and my doctor told me he thinks that I have fibromyalgia as well! However, a lot of what I have read says that Hashimoto's (which I have) can mimic Fibro as well, so I am still skeptical. I am doing paleo/gluten free right now because I am trying to help correct the Hashi's, and maybe my fibro like symptoms will go away with it too. I'm not totally convinced that everything can be cured by diet but it doesn't hurt to try, right? Here's hoping!

 

Also a big Dr. Who fan here! I am trying to get my BF to join this with me, but he has far less work to do than I do. 

[Effy]

Thanks for the warm welcome, gang!

 

@GuzziI have read some promising information about the Paleo diet alleviating fibromyalgia symptoms, so here's hoping! And thanks for the tips--search seems to be a bit buggy for me too, but I'm sure I can track the threads down. There seems to be a little of everything 'round here! I'll definitely be joining the next challenge, can't wait! 

 

@AmerlioratingAirwreckaFrom the groups I've joined so far, it seems like Hashimoto's and Fibro occur frequently together. I hope you get some relief with the diet changes, too! I'll for sure be keeping an eye out on your progress.  

[Noname123]

Here are some SO tips that I've been super lucky to experience lately: 

 

1. Lay out each others goals together. Figure out where you will help and hinder each other in your goals and hash it out beforehand. 

 

2. See where you  have similarities in goals. Set up your programs together and talk to each other about them. 

 

3. Surprise each other with little things that relate to each others journey (part of my bday gift was liquid chalk and wrist straps in my fav color, little things like that really just plaster a smile on my face) OR just do something huge every once in a while and blow their socks off with something they keep saying 'if only I had this' (got a best gf award for gifting a squat rack right here)

 

4. Send each other messages throughout the day- I focus mine around how awesome he's doing or how proud I am of him. 

[Cataleya]

Welcome to NF! That's so cool that your partner is going to be on here too.

 

We have a lot in common, so I'll be following your progress!

[V for Vetinari]

Welcome, @Effy! I see some similarities with you - age, minimalism, Who, Harry Potter. I even once broke up with a show but hung around in the fandom for a while.

 

I have a cousin with fibro and chronic fatigue. Going very low-carb helped with her symptoms initially, although I don't know longer term if it's still working. I'm sure it also varies by person and takes experimentation to find out.