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YearOfGettingHealthy

YearOfGettingHealthy

New member
So far from what I can see this forum seems to have an endless supply of valuable information and even more important than that- I great source for support!

As for an intro... My name is Mike, I've let me health go for many years now and am finally taking the bull by the horns to correct the issue. Today is Day 3 of what I've decided to refer to as my 'Year of Getting Healthy'.

In the past I have tried numerous programs, and gave it my all right out of the gate. Every time I managed to burn myself out within a few days to weeks and went right back to my bad habits.

This time around I am taking a completely different approach which I am hoping will do the trick for me and my personality type. For my Year of Getting Healthy I will be making 1 change per week for 52 weeks. The changes will range from addition of physical activities, specific exercises, dietary changes, and anything else I come across in the next 365 days which I feel will provide an improvement in my overall health.

I know this forum is specific to weight loss- and that is by far and large the biggest item for me. At present I weight in at close to 250 pounds... and I think my ideal weight is in the 170-180 range, so I have a ways to go.

I don't know for sure if I will loose all of the needed weight in the next 362 days- but I will loose a good portion of it, and more importantly, extend my life so I have more time to enjoy my kids (and some day their kids :)).

The first change I have made is adding 30 minutes of daily walking. No real solid plan other than that- I do have a large list of changes to implement, but haven't put them into any specific order just yet.

Anyways- I don't want to write a book here, but I am looking very forward to getting to know everyone a little more :)
 
welcome!
 
Hi YearOfGettingHealthy! Welcome to the forum, and good to hear that you are ready to make some changes this year. This also happens to be the year that I am getting (super) healthy!

I just typed a message for another newcomer, and I think you may find it interesting as well, so I am going to be a bit lazy and quote myself:

If I could give you just one recommendation, I would read "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olsen. In it, he describes in a very down to earth way how you can make long term changes. Basically, he says that most of our problems and our successes do not come from sudden events, but from the little daily choices that we make: drinking water or coke, smoking cigarettes or not, reading just 10 pages per day or not reading at all, etc. It's all very logical, but our society (me included) seems to want/expect things quickly, and I think that's exactly what is sabotaging us from making real progress.

You can find an audiobook version of the book by looking for "Slight Edge" on YouTube. I think it's the first result. That said, if you like it, I recommend buying it (not intending to advertising it, but I think it's fair for the author if I say this).

My own advice is to first decide to accept/respect/love yourself, it sounds cheesy but it's important, because many people (including me in the past) say to themselves that they can only accept/respect/love themselves if they lose weight. This is unhealthy. If self-love/respect/etc is your starting point, you can make positive changes and make them, because you deserve them. For example, I started cooking healthy meals again, and stopped looking at it as a chore, and started seeing it as a gift that I give to myself. That made it SO much easier to do and stick with it. I was trying to make that change for years already, and then, from that change of mindset, I just did it.

Also, take it slow, but focus on making sustainable change. If you continue to make positive changes, and stick with them, you will see results. It has no use to make a lot of big, sudden changes, it's not in our nature to stick with that, because it drains our willpower. Trust me, I have tried doing this a LOT. However, as I have described, there is hope. The slow, but steady, route can lead you to sustainable results, and paradoxically, it may even be faster than you think. For example: they say that 1% weight loss, or 2 lbs (close to 3 lbs in your case), is the highest amount of healthy weight loss that you should aim for per week (more is unhealthy, except perhaps in the first weeks when you lose a lot of water weight). You can manage this by making some changes to your diet, by moving a bit more in your normal life (using the stairs, walking to the supermarket, cycling to work, etc) and by exercising more. It may take a month or two before you made enough changes to do this, but when you have, you can lose 2-3 lbs per week. That may not sound like much, but that means that you will be under 200 lbs (if that's your goal) in less than a year. That said, in the meantime you will see the benefits appearing. After a month you will already have lost about 10 lbs, which is really noticeable. Every month you will have experiences like this.

But, I really recommend that you listen to that book. It's only a few hours. I listened to it a month ago, and it already changed my thinking (I was already leaning towards these ideas, but now this philosophy is much clearer).
Click to expand...

I hope you found that interesting. Let me know what you think, and good luck on your journey! :)
 
Welcome! If you are interested, I would recommend starting your own thread in the Weight Loss Diary subforum. It tends to be the most active part of this site and there are a bunch of great people there to offer support and advice.
 
Welcome, even adding just the waling if you have not been active of the past years will help a lot. Good Luck!
 
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