New Plan

[Coopen87]

New Plan.

14 St and 7 lbs. (About 206 pounds) is my current weight give or take a couple of pounds, by the end of March I will weigh less than 14 St (196 pounds), if it is 13 St 13 lbs. I have succeeded if it is 14 St I have failed, I will not fail.

I am going to achieve this weight loss through a combination of fixing my diet and exercising, I’m not going to prescribe a specific workout or diet (maybe I’ll put some structure to it at a later date) just going to get on with it and do what feels good; this is my first step on the road to improving myself and levelling up my life.

I have tried things like this before, in fact in August/September of last year I decided to go Paleo and dropped around 12 lbs. in a month just from eating right, my problem is I get lazy and demotivated a lot and give up on things that require effort even if they go well for me (I’ve put back on 9/10 of those lbs. I lost). I’ve tried pep talks in the mirror, joining gyms, joining sports teams, having money riding on my success with friends and I have turned to the NF community a couple of times and every time so far I have failed (or to put a different spin on it I have found an awful lot of ways that don’t work for me). I want to succeed in this, I really do, I would love to one day look back on this from in front of a mirror checking out my awesome 6 pack and think that this push to drop around 10 lbs. was the first small change that lead to me legally changing my name to Optimus Ifreakindiditsonuvabitch Prime and walking around topless 24/7 making my pecs dance, that is why I’ve just bored the hell out of all of you by making read this boring essay (I didn’t plan for it to be this long I just got in a groove) because I want to be a proud member of this awesome community and be able to come around these boards without feeling like some kind of trespasser or outsider (Entirely my own image nobody here has made me feel like that everybody I have encountered so far has been supportive and welcoming) so I am inviting you to give me whatever advice you have to give me but more importantly I'm inviting you to join me on this journey (there's plenty of room I have a clown car) so let’s raise a glass to the first step of the journey and see how far away from here I can get!

[Book]

Lol, it's a somewhat more interesting read than you're implying.

Wanna share your failure mechanisms? Maybe there are some new insights out there.

[Corbab]

HUZZAH!!!

Given those first couple of lines, I'd say you already are a member of this community. It's obvious you have the determination and a defined goal in front of you. Why don't you join the next Six Week Challenge? It goes until April 18 (6 weeks away, duh), and it's a great way to get motivated and stay that way.

As far as advice, can you give a bit more info? How nutty are you willing to go (back to paleo again, cut out sugar, etc...), what kind of equipment/time do you have available... That sort of thing.

[This is Seth]

Well if it's motivation you're looking for, depending on the distance, we can always sick Mr Andy Gates on you. The crazed British Pyro is a great motivator... :-)

[Coopen87]

Lol, it's a somewhat more interesting read than you're implying.

Wanna share your failure mechanisms? Maybe there are some new insights out there.

My failure mechanism usually involves me getting set to do something like a bodyweight workout or cooking a meal and then this little voice in my head says "The X-Box takes less effort, so does ringing a takeaway why not do that instead?" (I actually sold my X-Box to remove that excuse) and invariably I end up taking the easier option, I seem to be allergic to effort and everything I try to do I give up on even if it works really well for me because doing nothing is easier, I hate being like this but every time I've started something and quit it's made the voice in my head stronger and reinforced it's message, it's gotten to the point where people have asked me to join them in things like martial arts classes or football in the park and I've said no because I'm thinking to myself that I'll only quit a few weeks in anyway. To be honest I almost didn't post this thread because deep down right at the bottom of who I am in my subconcious I don't think I believe I can win, it's like fear of rejection, I fear being rejected in social and romantic situations so I don't put myself in situations where I can be rejected, if I don't try I don't feel like I've failed but I also can't succeed. Wow, I didn't realise how messed up my head is till I wrote it down and read it back, I want to fight against this, I want to have a good quality of life I'm just not sure I'm capable [/depressing]

[Morrigainz]

That's not messed up; actually I think it's quite common. Less painful to not try at all than to try and fail.

Do you have specific goals? That might help. And specific time frames. If you want to lose the weight, what's your plan? I've found the things that help me the most are to have specific, achievable goals and a realistic plan. And you may find out along the way that your goals aren't reasonable, or your plan needs tweaking. That's ok. Just don't stop. Never stop

[morethanjustamom]

How about a time limit/reward system. Say, 'If I go do 15 min. of lifting, bodyweight routine, cardio, etc. then I'll allow myself to check the message boards, play xbox, etc.'

'If I cook my healthy meals all week, I'll allow myself to order in on Friday night, but I'll eat a large salad first.'

Many times by doing this, I can psych myself into working out longer, or I find I didn't really want that takeout meal after all.

Edited to add: I would also suggest that you find a sport/activity to fall in love with, or a new challenge to conquer. This might keep you more engaged than feeling like you're dragging yourself to a gym three times a week. I know I love to run, but my husband hates it, so we've decided to compromise: We'll run one or two days a week, and do heavy bag cardio (which he's much more into, and it sounds like a blast to me) one or two days a week, depending on the weather and how we feel.

[Book]

Yeah, what you're saying sounds completely normal and familiar. My big key has been to make changes slowly, even at times when my overall plan wasn't working. Choosing more fresh vegetables (over time my palette came to crave them more and more), light exercise (It's easy, and again, it makes your body ready for more the next time, and makes it *want* it more). As opposed to radical changes to diet and exercise so that you hate everything you're doing. I feel like the last few years were training for this new effort, which is going really well.

[Coopen87]

Well it's good to read I'm a little more normal (whatever that is) than I thought I was, so far I haven't done a huge amount towards my goal of under 14 stone but I did go out and buy some ingredients for lunch for the remainder of the week at work so I can eat that instead of going out and grabbing fast food or something plus I got my barbell out of storage and put it together and left it dead centre in the middle of my living room so that it's sitting there right in view, the opposite of out of sight out of mind, so just a matter of getting to it now. 25 days of the month left and a tiny insignificant amount of weight left to lose this should be easy right?

[Morrigainz]

Absolutely! I would highly recommend setting yourself achievable interim goals...sometimes when the big picture gets overwhelming, it helps to take things one step (month, week, day, hour) at a time

[MaraJade78]

I totally hear you. I go all gung ho for a while and then get totally bored with it and then there's all these damn other people to consider. Lets just order pizza tonight (hubby), lets stop and get ice cream (kids), lets go for brunch after church (my parents). And I totally lack the willpower to say no *sigh*. This probably doesn't help you does it? But you're totally not alone for sure.

I like the idea of leaving your weight right out in the middle of the floor, I keep a gym bag packed in my car all the time so I'm ready when the mood strikes, which admittedly isn't as often as it should be.

[Coopen87]

Well today was both good and bad, good because I did a short workout this morning and made a healthy lunch (chicken, ham, pastrami, cucumber with an apple, two oranges and 2 litres of water) but also bad because a friend came round to watch football after work and we got a couple of pizzas and now I feel like a fatty I also suggested a fitness contest at work to try and get others involved and to have something to work towards so will see how that goes.

Oh I was also wondering if anyone had any tips on being able to do a chin up, so far I can get to around my nose but I get stuck there, any ideas how I can get that extra couple of inches?

[Bumblebee4]

To be honest I almost didn't post this thread because deep down right at the bottom of who I am in my subconcious I don't think I believe I can win, it's like fear of rejection, I fear being rejected in social and romantic situations so I don't put myself in situations where I can be rejected, if I don't try I don't feel like I've failed but I also can't succeed. Wow, I didn't realise how messed up my head is till I wrote it down and read it back, I want to fight against this, I want to have a good quality of life I'm just not sure I'm capable [/depressing]

A long time ago while trying to figure out why I wouldn't stick to a certain something I realized it wasn't the fear of failure that got me, it was the fear that my success wouldn't look like I wanted it to in the end. For example I was scared that if I really got in shape and lost the weight I wanted to lose I'd have no boobs left and the area where my extra weight was (hips and belly) would have sagging skin so before I would ever really get close to my goal I'd quit. Might not be your case but figured I'd share it. I do know that having supportive people (ie the NF community) will help you as long as you keep using it.