Fat, lazy and timid

[Gamera]

Hi everyone. I just joined today. This isn't a "new year new me" thing; I'm 46, married with two kids, and VERY unhappy with myself. I'm out of shape and lazy. The reason I'm here is my kids. They're 11 (almost 12) and 10 right now; we are all gamers, however they've adopted my sedentary lifestyle and they're out of shape as well. I need to become a fitness hero to them - I need to figure out a way to ease both them and myself into a fitness regimen.

 

I will start with my assigned 10 minute walk after work tonight. I plan on taking things slowly - I will NOT fail. I can do this. But...

 

...I'll need your help. Again...I'm lazy. I like the easy way out. I need a push. A nudge. A mentor, even. Some sort of positive reinforcement to keep me going. I'm fairly shy and timid by nature, so I can't see myself posting pictures of myself for strangers to judge, if that makes sense. I discourage easily. It was a big step for me to throw this up here, even.

 

So...wish me luck! If anyone wants to invest a little time in pushing a newb into getting his a$$ in gear, I'd welcome it.

 

Thanks, and its nice to be here.

[Mr.Six]

Hey @Gamera and welcome.  I'm pretty new to this too, but I'm also here so that I can be healthy and strong for my kids.  Walking is a good place to start and taking things slowly is much better than being over-ambitious and ending up discouraged.  The beauty of NF is the diversity of ways that people find to get fit and improve themselves.

 

You may want to look at getting involved with one of the 4 week challenges too.  I've found them to be a good way for me to articulate reasonable goals and give myself some public accountability.

 

Cheers,

Six

[Gamera]

Thanks, Six - was curious about the challenges; I'm going to poke around those next. Appreciate the tips!

[Mr.Six]

Definitely.  Now on to business -- what kind of gamer are you? (deliberately vague)

[BrinaDawnsinger]

Hi Gamera, 

We have some similar issues and I am also a newbie.   My two boys are 11 & 13 and we are all gamers.  Hubby, myself and our oldest play WOW; my youngest is an active kid but when home he plays Farm Sim or Minecraft for hours.  

I am obviously not any kind of mentor but would be glad to provide some encouragement.    I am glad to not be the only new one here who is slowly moving into this new lifestyle! 

Best of luck to you!  You've already conquered the first step by signing up.  

[Kathleen's Adventure]

It doesn't matter the pace you go at, just as long as you keep going! Let me know how your ten minute walk was! did you see anything new or interesting?

One thing I like to do while walking is to look for certain things(can be anything, a black cat, squirrel, orange leaves on the tree, what's the moon look like today), kind of like looking for serious coinage in some games. (But don't break any pots!!!)

[Mr.Six]

1 hour ago, kathleensadvenutre said:

But don't break any pots!!!

And beware of rogue chickens...

[Gamera]

8 hours ago, Mr.Six said:

Definitely.  Now on to business -- what kind of gamer are you? (deliberately vague)

PC is the master race.   MMOs and Strategy for the most part...my twitch days are way behind me. Kiddos are console all the way, although I have gotten them into SW:TOR and WOW with me. I've also gotten them interested in D&D, that should be fun over the summer!

[Gamera]

7 hours ago, BrinaDawnsinger said:

Hi Gamera, 

We have some similar issues and I am also a newbie.   My two boys are 11 & 13 and we are all gamers.  Hubby, myself and our oldest play WOW; my youngest is an active kid but when home he plays Farm Sim or Minecraft for hours.  

I am obviously not any kind of mentor but would be glad to provide some encouragement.    I am glad to not be the only new one here who is slowly moving into this new lifestyle! 

Best of luck to you!  You've already conquered the first step by signing up.  

Thanks! We play WOW as well, and the newblets are bonkers for Minecraft!

[Gamera]

4 hours ago, kathleensadvenutre said:

It doesn't matter the pace you go at, just as long as you keep going! Let me know how your ten minute walk was! did you see anything new or interesting?

One thing I like to do while walking is to look for certain things(can be anything, a black cat, squirrel, orange leaves on the tree, what's the moon look like today), kind of like looking for serious coinage in some games. (But don't break any pots!!!)

Hello and thanks! Noting new on the 10 minutes walk, no - although I did bring Son and Dog with me, so we got some nice alone guy time. Win-win!

Funny you mention that though - the last time I tried getting active and walking a lot, I was playing Vanguard every night. While walking, I'd keep seeing plants and bushes I wanted to harvest..."oooh, jute, I need more bags!".   

[Mr.Six]

13 hours ago, Gamera said:

PC is the master race.   MMOs and Strategy for the most part...my twitch days are way behind me. Kiddos are console all the way, although I have gotten them into SW:TOR and WOW with me. I've also gotten them interested in D&D, that should be fun over the summer!

 

Amen.

I am dying to build a new machine but I have too much going on right now to rationalize it.  It's awesome that you're family games together and I would imagine the kids will convert in time.  Everything console can do...PC can do better.

 

Good to hear about the walk too and I'm glad I'm not the only one thinking about harvesting while I'm walking...

[rockybalbooty]

You're going to have to slowly change the culture of your family. Do active things together as a way of life with the gaming as a reward maybe, instead of the gaming being the focus of your way of life and the activity being a struggle. And I get that you're being honest and real in saying you're lazy. But you become what you say you are. Don't be so hard on yourself. You're a work in progress. Just keep moving forward. You can do it. 

[Kathleen's Adventure]

On 1/12/2017 at 6:56 PM, Gamera said:

Hello and thanks! Noting new on the 10 minutes walk, no - although I did bring Son and Dog with me, so we got some nice alone guy time. Win-win!

Funny you mention that though - the last time I tried getting active and walking a lot, I was playing Vanguard every night. While walking, I'd keep seeing plants and bushes I wanted to harvest..."oooh, jute, I need more bags!".   

Have you gone for any other walks since then? How did Son do on the walk? I'm pretty sure that Dog had a blast on the walk.