Greetings everyone,
I just found this thread and felt compelled to post my story; hopefully it will serve as inspiration for some you fine folks. Bottom line, if I can do it (a severly sedentary, overweight gamer, anyone can.)
Long story short, I was severely overweight and I had enough. I knew that I had to change my life. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but I told myself that under no circumstance would I allow myself to get discouraged. So I committed to changing my lifestyle.
I started slowly, easing my way in to a new lifestyle (I pretty much had to because I was so obese that I knew that making any extremely changes right off the bat would only lead to failure)
I began by eliminating a ton of unhealthy foods from my diet (fast food, sugary drinks) and cutting back moderately on the amount of food consumed.
Then after a while I incorporated very light exercise (10 minutes of light cardio for about a week, then upped it to about 15 minutes for a few weeks [that was all I could muster, I was really overweight remember and I didn't want to push myself too hard])
After a while, I changed my diet completely; I eliminated almost all processed foods and generally all foods considered junky. I started eating only self-prepared meals (lean meats and fish, grains, vegetables, fruits, etc.) and I also started paying closer attention to the amount of food consumed. I would eat no more than 2,000 calories a day.
Then again, after a while, I started working out harder, upping my cardio to 20 minutes, then to 30 minutes, then to 30 minutes cardio with light weight lifting.
Now, I'm doing about 30 minutes cardio with about 30 minutes of moderate weight training.
It's been a hard fought journey, but it's been worth every moment. Believe that it's possible. All it takes is real commitment and discipline. It's extremely easy to get discouraged and that's really the problem that come along with making change. But if you can get over the mental challenges, everything will fall in line.
Here are some progress pics I've taken:
I still need to shed some weight, but soon I want to move towards firming and toning up.
I don't want this experience simply to be one of weight loss. I want to sustain this healhty lifestyle for the rest of my life so i know I still have a lot to learn.
Well, I hope this encouraged some of you and thank you for allowing me to share. If anyone ever needs advice or encouragement, or anything, feel free to PM me.
Thanks again!