Getting Started - a Marine's Perspective...
Mitzarin
Posts: 5
First post here, but don't toss what I say aside lightly. I was a Sergeant of Marines, in charge of helping "overweight," Marines to reach the Marine Corps standard. (This was two years ago.) After I got out, I binge ate pizza, stopped physical fitness (good bye six pack) and boom! A year and 1 month later, I weigh 65 lbs more than I did. Talk about depressing, right? Not really... I chose to do this to myself, knowing what would most likely be the outcome. (But GOD I still love Pizza!) Bare with me!
The irony of that still humors me by the way! But I digress...
You aren't losing weight. You don't want to lose X pounds. Those (except for a very small few) are temporary things. People think, well, I won't drink soda and eat candy until I reach my target weight. Or they use food to celebrate milestones (don't do that!) Or they try diets, which almost always fail (except again for very disciplined and self-motivated people.) These are all wrong things to do, to try.
My best advice is to wrap your mind around two (three) words:
LONG-
-TERM
PERSPECTIVE,
or said another way:
LIFE-
-LONG
PERSPECTIVE
I don't mean one year, or two years. I mean a lifestyle change that will never end until you either decide you are okay with whatever happens, happens, or until you die.
Don't eliminate things from your diet forever. The biggest thing wrong with us Americans (sorry if there are out-of-country folk on here! Not quite educated on who all uses MFP.) is our portion sizes. A medium coke at McDonalds used to be a large 10 years ago. Learn to have half that slice of cake, and eat it slowly, really enjoying every second of it. On the road? Do you "have to," eat out? Get a small cheeseburger, small fries and water. For added benefit, don't eat the bread or get it wrapped in lettuce instead!
I saw several posts on here asking for motivation, and ticks and tips and I have a very blunt and cold truth. The only TRUE motivation you will ever find will come from YOU.
(Stealing a very good line [editing it slightly] from 'Till I Collaspe,')
Sometimes you will feel tired, feel weak, and when you feel weak, you want to just give up. Don't! You must search within yourself, find that inner strength, and just pull it out of you - and get that... motivation, to not give up. Not be a quitter, no matter how bad you just want to fall down flat on your face.
The truth is, you control your life. You control if you over-eat on those calories. No one puts a gun to your head and force feeds you. (I do realize some people have medical issues that DO cause this, this isn't directed at them!)
You are NOT losing weight. You are establishing a life-long series of healthy habits to improve your life in ways you see fit (energy, looks, happiness, whatever.)
The problem with motivation is it's temporary.
You need motivation to START on your journey.
You need habits to FINISH/MAINTAIN the end of your journey.
TL:DR, establish a HABIT of eating healthy and exercising. I recommend you incorporate weight training and cardio with a healthy diet to lose weight and build muscle. (Weight training can be nothing but body weight for those who want to tone: calisthenics etc..)
Focus on changing your lifestyle to healthier things. The weight will come off on it's own.
Semper Fi. Sorry if I offended anyone. Add me if you want to be friends/help keep one another accountable. I know a lot about nutrition etc...
EDIT: One final thing. You are beautiful no matter who you are, or what you look like. Don't critic yourself. Love yourself. It will lower your stress and make losing weight easier!
The irony of that still humors me by the way! But I digress...
You aren't losing weight. You don't want to lose X pounds. Those (except for a very small few) are temporary things. People think, well, I won't drink soda and eat candy until I reach my target weight. Or they use food to celebrate milestones (don't do that!) Or they try diets, which almost always fail (except again for very disciplined and self-motivated people.) These are all wrong things to do, to try.
My best advice is to wrap your mind around two (three) words:
LONG-
-TERM
PERSPECTIVE,
or said another way:
LIFE-
-LONG
PERSPECTIVE
I don't mean one year, or two years. I mean a lifestyle change that will never end until you either decide you are okay with whatever happens, happens, or until you die.
Don't eliminate things from your diet forever. The biggest thing wrong with us Americans (sorry if there are out-of-country folk on here! Not quite educated on who all uses MFP.) is our portion sizes. A medium coke at McDonalds used to be a large 10 years ago. Learn to have half that slice of cake, and eat it slowly, really enjoying every second of it. On the road? Do you "have to," eat out? Get a small cheeseburger, small fries and water. For added benefit, don't eat the bread or get it wrapped in lettuce instead!
I saw several posts on here asking for motivation, and ticks and tips and I have a very blunt and cold truth. The only TRUE motivation you will ever find will come from YOU.
(Stealing a very good line [editing it slightly] from 'Till I Collaspe,')
Sometimes you will feel tired, feel weak, and when you feel weak, you want to just give up. Don't! You must search within yourself, find that inner strength, and just pull it out of you - and get that... motivation, to not give up. Not be a quitter, no matter how bad you just want to fall down flat on your face.
The truth is, you control your life. You control if you over-eat on those calories. No one puts a gun to your head and force feeds you. (I do realize some people have medical issues that DO cause this, this isn't directed at them!)
You are NOT losing weight. You are establishing a life-long series of healthy habits to improve your life in ways you see fit (energy, looks, happiness, whatever.)
The problem with motivation is it's temporary.
You need motivation to START on your journey.
You need habits to FINISH/MAINTAIN the end of your journey.
TL:DR, establish a HABIT of eating healthy and exercising. I recommend you incorporate weight training and cardio with a healthy diet to lose weight and build muscle. (Weight training can be nothing but body weight for those who want to tone: calisthenics etc..)
Focus on changing your lifestyle to healthier things. The weight will come off on it's own.
Semper Fi. Sorry if I offended anyone. Add me if you want to be friends/help keep one another accountable. I know a lot about nutrition etc...
EDIT: One final thing. You are beautiful no matter who you are, or what you look like. Don't critic yourself. Love yourself. It will lower your stress and make losing weight easier!
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Replies
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I like this! Welcome to this crazy place!0
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I love this advice almost as much as I love Marines (which is the reason I read it in the first place)! I couldn't agree more.
My favorite take-away:
"You need motivation to START on your journey.
You need habits to FINISH/MAINTAIN the end of your journey."
Best of luck to you, Marine!0 -
Oorah!0
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I second that Ooorah!Oorah!0 -
Hoorah! Great advice!0
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Thank you for this post and for your service as a Marine.0
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Well said!
Welcome to MFP0 -
Thank you for this post and for your service as a Marine.
This^0 -
Great post and great motivation too!0
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omg can I make a mini clone of you to live on my shoulder and be my coach? seriously :flowerforyou:0
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Great post, thanks for sharing!0
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From one Veteran (US Army) to another...... Welcome to MFP.....:drinker:0
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Brilliant first post.
Welcome to Mfp and best of luck with your health endeavours.0 -
Sounds good to me!0
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This is a good post and you should feel good.0
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Thank you for this post and for your service as a Marine.
This
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Welcome to the suck.
As one of those who ended up a fatty while I was in I hope this process gives you new perspective on how you can't just scream at a person until they make weight. This is a physical and mental process.
Good luck and Semper Fidelis!0 -
Welcome and thank you!! :drinker:
My hubby served in the Air Force for 10 years and was in the Desert Storm.0 -
Thank you for this post and for your service as a Marine.
^^ this :drinker: :drinker: :drinker:0 -
Thank you for this post and for your service as a Marine.
Great first post~0 -
Love it. Great advice. Thank your for your service. And an OORAH from a Marine wife 0
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Love this!! Friend request sent 0
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just awesome!!!0
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Welcome!0
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Thanks for all the welcomes. Also! Thank you ALL for your support. We can do this! Feel free to message me questions (a few have already!) and I will answer them if I am able to (or tell you I cannot and try and help provide a source for an answer!)
I'll try to be active on this site. Probably better use of my time than #facebook or #twitter.
Live your life in the present, but be aware of where you are going. One of my Marines refused to lose weight because he was happy with where he was. At first, I was very angry, but after I cooled off, I saw great insight in the things he said.
Sadly, the Marine Corps didn't care and he and I were training from 6 am to 7 am, from 11:30 to 12:30 and from 4:30 to 5:30... (This is why I did NOT wonder why I stopped all fitness when I got out!)
Anyway - the insight was, just be happy with who you are. Forget others. Your opinion of yourself is the only one that should truly matter (and MAYBE your Spouses if it's realistic).
Fat and happy wasn't invented for nothing! Like I stated in my post, if you are aware of all the risks and accept them, that's your life. I watched my Grandmother die slowly because of her diet and a weight loss surgery that killed her because she failed to follow the diet. Now I am watching my Mother walk down the same road. My motivation is to stop my Daughter from having to watch me go down that road.
This bounced around a lot... I tend to go on rants. Just be aware of that!
STAY HAPPY!0 -
Your profile says you're disabled and only 24. What's your disability may I ask?0
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You definitely didn't waste that one! I think you'll do just fine around here, but don't apologize
Welcome to MFP.0 -
Welcome and great post. Such good advice that needs to be taken to heed. Thanks for your service to our country as well. You Rock!!!!0
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Great post and perspective. Welcome!0
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Your profile says you're disabled and only 24. What's your disability may I ask?
Service connected at 50%, my Wife has it worse, she's at 60%. (I'll take knee pain and anxiety over a migraine that kills her and has for the last 3 years...) Terrible knee injury [will need it replaced probably in my thirties...] (makes my PT that much more "willpower" using haha), mental disorder (anxiety and the like
... ) and tinnitus. . Just relaxing, I am almost always at a 1-2 annoying pain level, that increases with more and more physical activity. It has only gotten worse with my weight gain. Another motivation to lose it!
Didn't even realize I put it on there... don't generally flaunt that/thought it was private/friends on here only. Kind of embarrassing to have anxiety issues. Haha.0
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