roband's life turnaround

[roband]

Original post:

Spoiler:

Sup.

I am overweight. I've never been shy about that.
I am unfit. I've never cared about that.
I've always eaten unhealthily. I've been trying to change that recently.

So in all my glory, I recently decided that I would do a charity walk for a very good cause (mentioned here - viewtopic.php?f=2&t=79344&p=2857008). The walk is 10 miles and it's a week on Friday. At midnight.

I started 'training' tonight. I walked with my uncle for 4 miles. It took us 1 hour and 20 minutes, which I'm pretty proud of.

Walking the 10 miles next week is the first hurdle. But after that, I want my life to change.

I want to lose weight.
I want to become fit.
I want to eat healthily.

Hopefully writing my stuff down somewhere, which will be here, will help me.
I will weigh myself as soon as possible, as I do not know how much I weigh.

Hope I did all this right and that it ends up helping me.

That all changed. Different outlook now, different way of getting there.

Gym Work is tracked in the following spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... sp=sharing

[philsov]

Sup.

Here is a good intro-level document on the matter, if it'll help. It has subsequent links to recommended calorie counting sites, BMR/TDEE calc sites, and exercise programs while outlining the basics in a collected and rational manner.

[Evengeduld]

good luck roband

The first few hurdles are always the hard ones but once you get the ball rolling it should be no problem to keep it rolling.

[roband]

Thanks for the link (and the awesome avatar) philsov, I'll be having a read shortly.
And thanks for the encouragement Evengeduld.

Initially, I'm going to be looking for improvement over perfection.

Eating MORE healthily, rather than perfectly healthily.
Doing MORE exercise, rather than daily exercise.
And such.

Because of this, today I had my normal "3 days out of 7" breakfast of a bacon, sausage and egg bap. For lunch, I just ate a chicken salad wholemeal baguette.
I'd normally be eating chocolate or crisps, but skipping those as much as possible from now on.
I've been drinking diet lemonade mixed with 'zero added sugar' Vimto - rather than my usual of Pepsi Max.

Tonight, I'm going out to eat with friends, but will attempt to find something remotely healthy on the menu.

[Роберт]

Thanks for the link (and the awesome avatar) philsov, I'll be having a read shortly.
And thanks for the encouragement Evengeduld.

Initially, I'm going to be looking for improvement over perfection.

Eating MORE healthily, rather than perfectly healthily.
Doing MORE exercise, rather than daily exercise.
And such.

Because of this, today I had my normal "3 days out of 7" breakfast of a bacon, sausage and egg bap. For lunch, I just ate a chicken salad wholemeal baguette.
I'd normally be eating chocolate or crisps, but skipping those as much as possible from now on.
I've been drinking diet lemonade mixed with 'zero added sugar' Vimto - rather than my usual of Pepsi Max.

Tonight, I'm going out to eat with friends, but will attempt to find something remotely healthy on the menu.

Brilliant! I hope and suspect you'll appreciate this change. It certainly will take a lot of work and self discipline, but it seems like you have a reasonable expectations.

Be careful though. If you don't give yourself some quantifiable goals, it's pretty easy to settle for less than you actually want to. But I wholeheartedly agree that you should be able to have bacon, sausage, and eggs for breakfast sometimes, even if you're trying to be healthier.

Depending on lots of factors, you may find something as simple as cutting out sodas as an everyday drink and instead only drinking soda a max of once or twice a week could mean a lot. So I guess my recommendation for getting started is see what kind of low-hanging fruit you can take care of first.

[Mighty Jalapeno]

Hey, we're in a very similar boat (see my Fat-Assery thread). I keep making changes, making progress, and then backtracking to the comfort and safety of 'even worse than before'. I'm here to tell you, with a waggled admonishing finger: Don't!

...

What, you want more help than that?

Have you joined the xkcd Fatbet yet? (Check the Fit Club main listings). If you're putting emphasis on weight, that's a good place to keep track. We can't see your weight, but we can see the progress on the little chart (fraction of desired weight loss achieved VS time). The other advice is good, smaller short-term goals especially. My "BIG CHANGES RIGHT THE FECK NAO" never lasted, and demotivated me still further.

*goes away for a minute, eats handfuls cheap Valentines candy*

As I was saying, eat healthy in small steps. The two biggest changes I made were "no seconds at dinner", which SU-U-UCKED but had the added bonus of providing leftover lunches for me to eat the NEXT day and a surprising impact on my grocery bill, and "no snacking on anything except fruits and veggies", which I stick with about 80% of the time. *mmmm, cheap Valentines candy*

Good on ya!

[Samik]

My "BIG CHANGES RIGHT THE FECK NAO" never lasted, and demotivated me still further.

This is so true.

The small changes you can sustain make vastly more difference than the big ones you can't, no matter how big they were.

[roband]

Cheers for the advice all.

MJ - I took a look at your thread (although only the start and end pages, the whole thread was quite long, IIRC) - the backtracking is something I'll try to avoid, but it's probably inevitable at first.
I'm sure I'll soldier through though.

More walking this week, 4.5 days til the 10 miles.

[roband]

So the walking hasn't really happened - been leaving work everyday feeling stressed and tired, meaning I just want to crawl into bed.

Managed 1.5 miles last night, but felt sore afterwards. I think my new walking boots make me walk different to before, and I'm not used to it. Was barely into my walk before I thought it would be best to turn around.
Feeling shit about walking only makes me feel more shit, making me want to eat stupid foods and sleep more.

In better news, today has been a good day for food, I ate a yoghurt, a banana and some mixed fruit for breakfast. For lunch, I ate another Innocent Veg Pot (3 portions of veg, in one handily microwaveable pot!) and another yoghurt, with fruit.

More walking later. 4 miles planned. Hopefully it's easier than last night.

[philsov]

1) You... did have dinner, right?

2) Are we talking yogurt or yogurt? I don't know what all is available in the UK, but when you're adding in your own fruit I'd at least recommend a yogurt with a higher protein than sugar content.

[roband]

Haha, I made that last post at 2pm local time. I did eat dinner later that night. I had a pint of lager and a (crap microwaved pub grub) curry with rice and naan. This was at the end of the walk, so it felt like 'free calories'.

Without more help on the description or image, I don't know which type of yoghurt it was. Does this help? http://www.mullerdairy.co.uk/nutrition- ... uit-corner
Not the most healthy, I'm sure, but better than bacon and sausage
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
10 miles to be walked tonight. Shit scared, self doubting and worried about embarrassing myself - all rolled into one. It's for a fantastic cause, so hopefully the knowledge of that will push me on when I'm struggling.

Healthy-ish eating today, more yoghurt and fruit, with some melon and grapes as well. Then a cheese and onion baguette (not too healthy, but it's Friday and I wanted something nice) with another one of those veg pots, so I'm well loaded up on vitamins and stuff.

Will be eating pasta later, before the walk, to hopefully give plenty of energy to be walking around a reservoir in the dark

[philsov]

Not the most healthy, I'm sure, but better than bacon and sausage

Not necessarily. Given the choice between food quantity and food quality, quantity will determine one's weight loss/gain to a far larger degree. As I've espoused in similar threads in this forum, protein is awesome for fat loss because it typically takes a long time to digest and thus has a rather large satiation factor (resulting in less craving-indulgent eatings). Eating less calorie-dense foods (reduced fat, lots of veggies, etc) lets people eat the same amount of food they're accustomed to eating while having fewer calories net. A similar result is just from eating dense foods and having water. Bacon/sausage are rather dense because of their fat content, but there is a difference between feeling full and getting in the appropriate level of calories/vitamins/what have you. It's a psychological thing as much as it is a physiological.

I'd argue that 6 slices of bacon (rough caloric equivalent) is indeed better than a pot of that yoghurt, taking into account that your diet looks like 80% carbs.

Hope the walk is awesome

[roband]

Thanks for the advice SIX SLICES OF BACON? I'm there.

[Роберт]

Thanks for the advice SIX SLICES OF BACON? I'm there.

His point is a good one though. Wherever you can, make changes that you don't really care about either way taste wise but that makes the calories more nutritious and filling.

It might even some training/adjustment. For example, whole grains. 100% whole wheat for breads and pastas and stuff might take some getting used to (or not, it depends on the person). But quite often even if you really didn't like the switch at first, you get to where you like whole wheat better and the white stuff is kinda gross for most applications. (Angel food cake and pizza I still prefer white.) So it's a very sustainable change.

What are you drinking, in general?

[roband]

I love wholewheat anything. Pasta, bread, whatever.

Mostly, I drink water. Used to drink a lot of Pepsi Max (but have basically stopped and replaced it with the sugar free vimto and diet lemonade). At the weekends, I drink more lager than I should.

The 10 mile walk went infinitely better than I could've hoped. Maintained an average speed of 3mph all the way around, despite being at the back of the group until the very end when I put a spurt on. Very happy with myself.

[Роберт]

The 10 mile walk went infinitely better than I could've hoped. Maintained an average speed of 3mph all the way around, despite being at the back of the group until the very end when I put a spurt on. Very happy with myself.

Awesome!

[roband]

Things are going badly. Eating, exercising, everything is back to how it was before.

Need to refocus and get back on task. Of course, I can't do that today, it's Paddy's Day and I'm going out drinking!

[Роберт]

Things are going badly. Eating, exercising, everything is back to how it was before.

Need to refocus and get back on task. Of course, I can't do that today, it's Paddy's Day and I'm going out drinking!

Except before, you couldn't say "I've walked 10 miles", right?

Keep at it.

[roband]

Yeah I suppose. Working all day and on call all evening for this week, so no walking for at least 5 days though. Need to get back at it and keep it regular.

[Samik]

I don't know if this is really an idea you can apply to your situation, but here's something I'm doing now that's working for me somewhat.


I've been recording all of my runs, time and distance, with the hopes that I'd be able to see progress in the list and stay motivated. But sometimes I hit walls and stay doing about the same thing for a while, and it gets really discouraging.

So just yesterday I took all of that data, and put in in the form of a graph. The periodic plateaus and regressions and outliers and other depressing things are all still there in plain view, but the clear overall downward trend over the last four plus months, modest as it is, is undeniable.


I think the appeal of seeing it this way for me is that I often want to always be doing better than yesterday. I want every single run to be faster, or longer, or both, than the last one. And when I have a regression, or a week or two where I don't make any progress at all, it gets me down. But then I can look at this chart, and see where I was four months ago, and remind myself that my situation, overall, is vastly improved from where it has been most of the last year plus.



So maybe in your case, you could do something like plotting your weekly walking mileage. And, after enough weeks / data points, you'll hopefully start to see that the occasional bad week or two begins to fade into the background in the face of the overall trend. And even if the trend is modest, seeing it this way will remind you that it's not about what you did compared to yesterday/last week, but about what you're doing compared to when you first started.

[jobriath]

Not sure if this is helping or what, but it seems to me that if you're having trouble making two large lifestyle changes---eating less and exercising more---then maybe focusing on one will make it easier. There's nothing more soul destroying than coming home aching and knackered to a mug of unsweetened tea and a spinach salad with council pop dressing.* For me, I'd much rather do the run and have the KFC. Without significantly altering my diet (which wasn't too bad) I've tightened up just by weightlifting (don't underestimate how good this is for getting you in trim) and rock climbing.

* It's not a bad idea to find some lightweight meals you can prepare a lot of in a hurry. In our house, a vegetarian cauliflower curry is stocked in the fridge at all times. If you like I can suggest some recipes.

Ninja edit: Fitocracy has graph-keeping facilities for that. If you respond well to gaming-style quests then fitocracy even without the social aspect might be a good idea. Let me know if you want an invitation!

[roband]

Samik, that's something I'm considering. If I can get myself in the right state of mind to purchase some scales, I'll do it (as weight tracking would be a good way to either get motivated, or be happy, I suspect).

jobriath, thanks for the suggestions. My uncle pointed out that recently I have been neither gaining or losing weight - as such my exercise and diet have been balancing out to no gain or loss. Therefore if I can actually get down to a better weight, I can potentially go back to normal and still not gain or lose. I dunno.
Recipes are always welcome! Tonight I've reheated some homemade beanless chilli and (because it's basically a spicy bolognaise) I'm making lasagna with it. Not necessarily healthy, but I need to start eating all the meals I have frozen in my freezer!

Fitocracy kinda interests me, but I'm not sure about if it's public or what? I wouldn't want that.

[philsov]

jobriath, thanks for the suggestions. My uncle pointed out that recently I have been neither gaining or losing weight - as such my exercise and diet have been balancing out to no gain or loss.

It's a point of clarity but one's goal should be fat loss, not necessarily weight loss. Not only do I suggest getting a scale* but also doing less-than-rigorous metrics like looseness of clothing and which belt loop you hook into occasionally. Just getting a tape measure and going gut diameter occasionally is sometimes more telling than a scale.

*digital, preferably one that has a finer accuracy. Mine is accurate to 0.2 lbs. When your goal is 1 lb/week (e.g.) it's not always easy to check if your increment is 1.0 lbs.

[Роберт]

Samik's idea seems awesome.

[shocklocks]

Eating MORE healthily, rather than perfectly healthily.
Doing MORE exercise, rather than daily exercise.

That is the biggest most important lesson that so many people seem to miss. Make your changes small, even smaller then you think you need to make them. Pick one easy goal, write it down and put it somewhere you can see and make sure no matter what else you stick with it for 3 weeks. Put a tick next to the goal every day you achieve it. After 3 weeks add a new goal, write that below the first, tick off every day you accomplish both goals etc etc. On top of that you should also probably have a long term goal to work to, write that down as well .

[jobriath]

jobriath, thanks for the suggestions. My uncle pointed out that recently I have been neither gaining or losing weight - as such my exercise and diet have been balancing out to no gain or loss. Therefore if I can actually get down to a better weight, I can potentially go back to normal and still not gain or lose. I dunno.
Recipes are always welcome! Tonight I've reheated some homemade beanless chilli and (because it's basically a spicy bolognaise) I'm making lasagna with it. Not necessarily healthy, but I need to start eating all the meals I have frozen in my freezer!

Fitocracy kinda interests me, but I'm not sure about if it's public or what? I wouldn't want that.

In re fitocracy, I can't access anything but overview info of people I haven't friended. If you want, send me a PM with the email address you'd like to use. Once you've made an account we can unfollow one another and that way you've got a private progress tracker.

How do you motivate yourself to do stuff? Does social pressure work? Do you only do things you find fun? Do you get a buzz out of achieving goals you set, and does that prompt you to continue achieving those goals? I ask because I respond to social and fun, but my wife runs on achievements, and it really changes our approach to work and play.

If like me you have a hard time committing to a not-entirely-pleasant activity (such as gym) indefinitely, you can still get a lot out of, say, two months. I became active after getting talked into circuit training with a friend, which I kept up for about two or three months. I hated it, but it got my body in the sort of state that wasn't completely useless at fun stuff like, say, squash, rock climbing, or motherfudging Brazilian jiu jutsu. Once I got onto the fun stuff (with reasonable strength and endurance thanks to the circuit training) I got enough positive results that continuing was easier than stopping. If you've no access to a circuit training group, maybe some other intense, varied workout schema would help. If you prefer to work alone, a gym routine worked out with a trainer would do, if you could commit to it for X months.

Is there anyone in your acquaintance who does a sport or activity you think you'd enjoy?

Infinite Cauliflower Curry (Seriously, You Can Just Keep Eating This Stuff):
1 large cauli/2 medium cauli~s, cut into florets. Size doesn't matter so much as the fact that they're roughly equal in size.
1 carrot, chopped into 1cm^3.
1 potato, chopped into 1cm^3
~100g frozen peas
~100g frozen sweetcorn

1tsp Cumin seeds (or you could use 1tsp ground cumin with the powdered spices)
1tsp Ajmo/ajwain/black carom seeds (all synonyms, optional but very highly recommended)

6--12 thin green chillies, chopped and smashed into paste
2tsp smashed garlic (can be from frozen)
2tsp smashed ginger (can be from frozen)

2tsp ground coriander
1tsp turmeric powder
1.5tsp salt

Method:
1. Heat 4tbsp oil in a coverable pot on the hob. Fry the seeds till brown (30 secs). Then add smashed garlic, ginger and chillies, and fry for a minute. Lovely smell. Add powdered spices.
2. Add vegetables to paste and stir to coat. I go in order potatoes => carrots => cauliflower => peas => sweetcorn. No need to defrost the frozen veg separately.
3. Bring to a sort of steaming simmer. Add a splash of water if necessary and cover. Cook for ~20 mins or until cauliflower tender. Check seasoning.

Serve with rice or naan or bread-and-butter. Serves four serious eaters. Absolutely delicious and a good way of eating large quantities of carbs (in form of rice). Keeps well in fridge. Cures minor skin ailments. I like this curry.

[roband]

How do you motivate yourself to do stuff? Does social pressure work? Do you only do things you find fun? Do you get a buzz out of achieving goals you set, and does that prompt you to continue achieving those goals? I ask because I respond to social and fun, but my wife runs on achievements, and it really changes our approach to work and play.

When I've been out walking, and I'm struggling for any reason, my uncle berates me, gives me abuse. Kinda friendly, kinda not, but it works. Ending the walks with a beer is always nice too.
And currently, the walking is the only exercise I'm getting, so I can't really compare anything else.
With eating healthily, I find the difficulties are wanting things quickly and wanting them cheaply. The rewards are that healthier stuff is generally stuff I make myself, and I feel proud of myself for having made it. But having time to do this is the issue, for me.

And I don't really have goals, I suppose I should.

Recipe:

Spoiler:

Infinite Cauliflower Curry (Seriously, You Can Just Keep Eating This Stuff):
1 large cauli/2 medium cauli~s, cut into florets. Size doesn't matter so much as the fact that they're roughly equal in size.
1 carrot, chopped into 1cm^3.
1 potato, chopped into 1cm^3
~100g frozen peas
~100g frozen sweetcorn

1tsp Cumin seeds (or you could use 1tsp ground cumin with the powdered spices)
1tsp Ajmo/ajwain/black carom seeds (all synonyms, optional but very highly recommended)

6--12 thin green chillies, chopped and smashed into paste
2tsp smashed garlic (can be from frozen)
2tsp smashed ginger (can be from frozen)

2tsp ground coriander
1tsp turmeric powder
1.5tsp salt

Method:
1. Heat 4tbsp oil in a coverable pot on the hob. Fry the seeds till brown (30 secs). Then add smashed garlic, ginger and chillies, and fry for a minute. Lovely smell. Add powdered spices.
2. Add vegetables to paste and stir to coat. I go in order potatoes => carrots => cauliflower => peas => sweetcorn. No need to defrost the frozen veg separately.
3. Bring to a sort of steaming simmer. Add a splash of water if necessary and cover. Cook for ~20 mins or until cauliflower tender. Check seasoning.

Serve with rice or naan or bread-and-butter. Serves four serious eaters. Absolutely delicious and a good way of eating large quantities of carbs (in form of rice). Keeps well in fridge. Cures minor skin ailments. I like this curry.

This looks awesome, I will definitely try it.

Oh and about the friends' sport/activities, the only real relevant thing is rugby. I wanted to get into it last year, but I have a bad knee (from a car crash) and it doesn't do too well under pressure. Which is a big thing in the scrum. I did consider training with him in last year's pre-season, but didn't in the end. Maybe I should plan ahead more this time and do it.

[wam]

Oh and about the friends' sport/activities, the only real relevant thing is rugby. I wanted to get into it last year, but I have a bad knee (from a car crash) and it doesn't do too well under pressure. Which is a big thing in the scrum. I did consider training with him in last year's pre-season, but didn't in the end. Maybe I should plan ahead more this time and do it.

Rugby is the main exercise I do and i really notice it when I stop. I had a month out with a shoulder injury and put on 5 kgs (it was also xmas). Pre season sounds like a good idea, although I always find matches the best way to get fit.

Iv never really noticed pressure on my knees at scrum time, more back, shoulders and neck. I would be more worried about tackles. Most teams have some form of physio who would be willing to strap it up for you. I'm assuming your talking about playing prop, so you could always try second row which should put less strain on everything.

Dependent on where you live I might be able to reccomend some friendly clubs.

[roband]

To be honest, I've only ever played a few games, but I'd likely be in the front row somewhere.

When I last played, it was as a favour (16th man, "honest mate, we probably won't even need a sub", 15 minutes in - injury) and I ended up in the second row. That's when my knee went to shit.

Training interests me more than playing right now, tbh.

[wam]

Ah fair enough. Well whatever works for you.

Iv also had several of those 16th man we wont need a sub experiences. Last one was about a month ago when I turned up to watch a mate play and the guy who ran the team went "you got your boots with you?"

[roband]

I ended up wearing my mate's dad's boots! He was the only one with small enough boots for my size 11 feet (his two sons wear 15 and 16...).

[roband]

Fucking backwards steps right now... Not helped by being stressed all the time.
Going to abandon all plans for the next few days and start from scratch at the start of the month (no, this is not an April Fools joke).

[philsov]

When I've been out walking, and I'm struggling for any reason, my uncle berates me, gives me abuse. Kinda friendly, kinda not, but it works. Ending the walks with a beer is always nice too.

Headphones. Grab some audiobooks or podcasts. Make the walking time more about listening to these things and walking as something to do rather than walking being the priority and dragging the books along with you. Also... uh... rewarding yourself with a pint of lager completely undoes the walking save the light bit of heart exercise you've experienced.

With eating healthily, I find the difficulties are wanting things quickly and wanting them cheaply. The rewards are that healthier stuff is generally stuff I make myself, and I feel proud of myself for having made it. But having time to do this is the issue, for me.

I do most of my cooking in a ~two hour block on sunday. I make a large portion (4-6 servings) and then store some in the fridge (<3 tupperware) and immediately freeze the rest. Good, healthy, cheap food is now just a trip to the microwave away. You can plan ahead with the frozen stuff and leave it out in the morning if you'll be eating it in the evening or have it slowly defrost in the fridge if you'll be eating it in a day or so. I say sunday because I work M-F so that's when I have a chunk of time to myself.

Need to refocus and get back on task.

You said this two weeks ago. I'm skeptical you'll actually do anything different six days from now if you're not doing them already. Are you supposed to be working less in six days or something? Is your external schedule going to change at all? What's preventing you from taking the necessary (and, ideally, desired) steps right now?

Spoiler:

[Samik]

Also... uh... rewarding yourself with a pint of lager completely undoes the walking save the light bit of heart exercise you've experienced.

Well, unless he drinks beer on a regular basis anyway, and one of those beers has now been moved to immediately after his walk. In which case, doing what he's always done + walking is an improvement over just doing what he's always done.

Now, if it's an extra beer that wouldn't have been consumed normally...

Need to refocus and get back on task.

You said this two weeks ago. I'm skeptical you'll actually do anything different six days from now if you're not doing them already. Are you supposed to be working less in six days or something? Is your external schedule going to change at all? What's preventing you from taking the necessary (and, ideally, desired) steps right now?

But yes, overall, there is a significant procrastination vibe beginning to come from this thread. I know this is supposed to be a supportive sub-forum, but sometimes tough support can be necessary.

Roband - there is never going to be a magic time when suddenly all facets of your life fall in order and you have more free time and feel great and are ready and rarin' to go.


Take it from someone who has severe sleep issues. Sometimes I get into the cycle of putting off things I need to do because I just feel so exhausted and awful all the time, and telling myself that I just need to get through the week, get one or two good night's sleep over the weekend, and then I'll be able to get going.

But I have to slap myself a few times, because I know that will never happen, and if I stick to that plan, it'll just be another week gone by with nothing done. I'm never going to magically just wake up one morning, after passing out and sleeping a solid 8 hours or more, and feel great. It's just not going to happen. Every night, for the rest of my life, I am going to sleep fitfully. Every morning, I am going to wake feeling awful. And every day is going to be a long slog through the mud.

The simple fact is I have to learn and adapt to functioning in that reality. That's the way it's going to be, and if I can't deal with it... well, tough luck. No one is going to take pity on me, or give me easier opportunities, just because I don't sleep well.



Exercising is always going to be tiring. That's pretty much the whole point. It's always going to require effort, and, unless you're one of the crazies, you always will find yourself preferring to do something fun or relaxing instead.


That reality is never going to change. You either need to come to terms with the discomfort, or come to terms with being out of shape. Either is fine, but don't mislead yourself about your own intentions.

[roband]

I will read this again tomorrow when I'm sober (yes, I had a real shitty day at work, called my uncle and arranged an evening in the working men's club - 6 beers and a pizza on the way home).

I understand the anti-motivation vibe - this only came about because I had a week of working 24 hours a day, meaning I couldn't walk or anything. I need to get back into it and I will. I will.

I intended for this thread to be a point where I could post what I was eating and what I was doing exercise-wise, and people could tell me where I was going wrong.
I can see why people think I'm going wrong here - truth is I find it hard to stick to this shit. I need people telling me that I'm doing it wrong and need to sort myself out.

If I give myself a date to start from, I will start from that date. I will continue as long as the momentum continues. I will get back into a routine.

[Nath]

I can see why people think I'm going wrong here - truth is I find it hard to stick to this shit. I need people telling me that I'm doing it wrong and need to sort myself out.

If I give myself a date to start from, I will start from that date. I will continue as long as the momentum continues. I will get back into a routine.

Hey roband,

You're doing it wrong and you need to sort yourself out.

I can sympathize, because I have a nasty habit of putting things off until some date. But then the date comes, and I'm still busy, and I move the deadline to another date. This is a bad strategy in general, but it can eventually work for non-urgent one-off tasks. It does not work for lifestyle changes. Getting fit is a lifestyle change. You can't start tomorrow or next Tuesday; it's something you need to hold yourself to all the time. Busy, tired, drunk, whatever. Don't give yourself a starting date. The starting date has passed. Catch up.

I know this sounds like a lot to ask of yourself, but once healthy behavior becomes a habit, you won't need to consciously think about it any more, and you will be less tempted to fall back to your old habits.

[Samik]

I can sympathize as well. I wondered if maybe I was too harsh, but ultimately decided to leave it as is.


I'm on record here already in the forum as admitting that I'm a chronic 6-month-on 6-month-off exerciser. I go through cycles of getting myself motivated, going good for a while, burning out, and letting things really slide. So I can't exactly throw the first stone when it comes to not being consistent.

And, as I described in the previous post, I am also intimately familiar with the "I'll get back on track on Monday / next week / next month / my birthday / the first of the year" trap (though with respect to other things), and Nath is absolutely correct: starting dates are evil.


The starting date was the day you were born, and it sounds like you've got some catching up to do (don't we all).

I will continue as long as the momentum continues.

I think this one line may be very revealing.

You can't rely on momentum. Momentum is contingent on a lot of factors that are not always in your control. And when those factors conspire to halt your momentum, you have a built in excuse.

You have the be your own impetus, at all times.

[roband]

Sober now (although slightly hungover) and not yet read everything from last night again.

I think the momentum is required to get me to a point where I am enjoying it. From there, I can only hope the enjoyment makes me carry on.

Having to actively think about exercising and eating somewhat decently is difficult - I've had 22 years of not just doing what I want, but going out of my way to eat unhealthy things because I never gave a shit. It's a big change.

[roband]

Need to refocus and get back on task.

You said this two weeks ago.

You're right. I didn't realise I had slipped back into my old routine. As I've said, actually remembering to be healthy is the hard bit for me.

Exercising is always going to be tiring. That's pretty much the whole point. It's always going to require effort

I am willing to put the effort in. Tiring doesn't bother me once I've started. It's actually thinking "yes, I need to do some more exercise today" that seems to be missing. Routine will help this, but the routine I had before was messed up by being on-call.

I can see why people think I'm going wrong here - truth is I find it hard to stick to this shit. I need people telling me that I'm doing it wrong and need to sort myself out.

If I give myself a date to start from, I will start from that date. I will continue as long as the momentum continues. I will get back into a routine.

Hey roband,

You're doing it wrong and you need to sort yourself out.

I can sympathize, because I have a nasty habit of putting things off until some date. But then the date comes, and I'm still busy, and I move the deadline to another date. This is a bad strategy in general, but it can eventually work for non-urgent one-off tasks. It does not work for lifestyle changes. Getting fit is a lifestyle change. You can't start tomorrow or next Tuesday; it's something you need to hold yourself to all the time. Busy, tired, drunk, whatever. Don't give yourself a starting date. The starting date has passed. Catch up.

I know this sounds like a lot to ask of yourself, but once healthy behavior becomes a habit, you won't need to consciously think about it any more, and you will be less tempted to fall back to your old habits.

Thanks Nath, sometimes I need harsher words like this to make myself think about it properly. It will become a habit. I desperately want it to be one.

You can't rely on momentum.

I don't want to rely on momentum, but as Nath said - it becoming a habit will help me a lot. Once I'm doing it, it becomes easier to continue doing it.

And personally, I think setting a date is a good idea. It means I can ensure that anything that might tempt me is out of the house (because things have been creeping in again) and I can force myself to eat healthier and pre-arrange more walks with others.

[philsov]

It means I can ensure that anything that might tempt me is out of the house (because things have been creeping in again) and I can force myself to eat healthier and pre-arrange more walks with others.

How did the "tempting" things (a concept I find ludicrous, focus on a caloric regiment first and quality of food second imo) get there in the first place? And more importantly, how are they getting out of the house?

If brought in by friends/family -- guess what? They're going to just re-enter the house again at all sorts of intervals outside of your control. You need to learn to simply NOT EAT THEM. There is no how -- you just do not do it. If they're brought in by you, then what's to prevent this from happening again (and again and again)? It's not a matter of habit or momentum -- it's a matter of mindset. Simply do not buy them. Again -- no how. (Or do buy them but eat only a little bit every day. If you can stop yourself that's fine. If you can't stop yourself, prevent yourself.)

As for them getting out of the house, if the plan is to have some mardi-gras like carnal celebration and devour everything before the Ash Wednesday of your turnaround, you're already setting yourself up for subsequent failure.

You have the ability to do whatever you want. Put it to good use.