Offering Support and Advice to 5 New Friends!

Hawkian

Greetings MFP crowd,

I'm Hawkian, and I have no credentials other than having done this back in 2012 (the pictures can be found in this album since the embedded ones seem gone). But I think I can offer some assistance nonetheless. I'm maybe a third of the way through a similar, actually more dramatic, transformation at this very moment, and this time I wanted to try helping a small group of others along the way. If you want to skip my story and just see if you're interested, jump to the bold stuff at the bottom.

As to how and why I got back out of shape in the intervening years, first off all- as should be obvious to anyone who's a part of this community - there are no excuses. No such thing as a good reason: I got lazy and was fully cognizant of the fact that I was letting my fitness slip, and didn't really resolve to take control again until the beginning of this year.

That said, I'm more serious about it now than ever before, and there were some contributing factors that I'm actively trying to avoid for myself this time around- and I may be able to help others in a similar situation avoid them as well.

First off, I'm a huge fan of Beachbody's workouts and video products (and am still primarily using P90X and P90X2 this time around), but not so much of their supplements/other products or their coaching infrastructure. I know the latter work great for a lot of people but they just aren't for me, personally. Specifically, I found myself caught in a phenomenon I'll call "Fitness Feed Overload," where I was subscribed to so many groups, taking part in so many XX-Day Challenges, seeing so many people's results flash across my screen, getting so many offers for bars and powders and premade meals on a daily basis that it all started to bleed together... to the point where I started to resent looking at it, and it actually had a negative impact on my fitness in the end. I also sort of started to feel like I was becoming part of a kind of corporate dynamo with all the stuff being pushed, and spent a lot more money than I now realize was necessary.

Secondly, I realized that I do much better when I'm more focused on the simplest aspects of fitness as they relate to my daily life, versus comparing numbers with others. I took part in a number of those month-long weight loss, how-many-steps-can-you-get, an-extra-minute-a-day, etc. programs with people at work and honestly found I got much better results when I'm just sort of tracking and making an effort on my own. In other words, my most effective fitness has always come when I'm ultimately only accountable to myself. I think this is probably counter-intuitive to a lot of people (and certainly isn't true for everyone) but I bet there are at least some people out there who have found the same!

Finally, while the first time around I did tons of research about nutrition, muscular anatomy and sport science- to make sure what I was doing would work- in the last couple of years I've read (and written about, in my job) a lot more having to do with the almost intangible concept of motivation, which ends up being the biggest factor by far with regard to getting in shape. The notions of "motivation," "drive," and "willpower" are so, so much more complicated than I understood back in 2012, and I'm hoping that applying what I've learned in this area will go a long way toward making the results stick.

With all this in mind, I wanted to try taking on a small number of new friends from here, I'm thinking 5 so that I can ensure a certain amount of attention, and offering them whatever ongoing, one-on-one help I possibly can to reach their goals as I continue working toward mine.

Here's what I can offer:

• Ongoing support, reinforcement, and guidance. No matter your fitness goals I'm fairly confident I can at least point you in the right direction.
  
• An extremely science-based approach to exercise and nutrition. I like to keep things as simple as absolutely possible, and will even steer clear of disputed/hotly debated aspects of fitness in favor of what we do know with certainty. I have no tolerance at all for pseudoscience or alternative medicine and cannot offer any advice or assistance in that area.
  
• Honest answers to any questions you have about me, what I'm doing and why.
  
• No 30-day challenges or pressure to try a juice cleanse... just encouragement to make big and hopefully long-term changes.
  
• Suggestions for generic/inexpensive/practical products, foods, etc. that can be just as effective as the big names with big price tags.
  
• Going to start writing blog posts, something I've never tried before, on topics as varied as what true motivation actually is, how to remain on track and healthy without sacrificing cuisine (I *kitten* LOVE food, one of many reasons I'm here of course :P), and the categorically-best music to work out to.
  
• I will never shame anyone for anything and have no patience for mocking overweight or out-of-shape people, deriding others for a bad day, etc. As alluded to above, I don't want you to be accountable to anyone but yourself.

If this sounds like it's up your alley, please send me a private message (rather than replying to this thread). I'll friend the first 5 people to do so regardless of who you are or what you're looking to do, and then I'm going to delete this thread (I really want to be able to give legit, one-on-one, support).

I've never done anything like this before and so I ask that you bear with me as I'm certainly no professional or anything like that. Just a dude who has a feeling that he can help.

In reading this over I actually feel like it might seem like I'm secretly shilling for some product or program but I swear I've got no ulterior motives or any personal stake in this at all. Just wanted to reach out and see how it goes!

If this all seems a bit pretentious to you and/or you don't think you'd get anything out of it, then please ignore the *kitten* out of this post and move on! I don't expect my approach to be perfect or even remotely appealing to everyone out there... but if what I'm offering sounds like what you are looking for, please send me a message!