Hello, my name is Mike.
This is my first time posting and I’m a complete novice. I’m 43 years old and have never lifted weights in a gym etc.
About me: I’m 6’ tall and weigh 283 pounds. I have a large belly and headed down a dangerous path with my diet and lifestyle. Before Sunday I had a habit of drinking between 6-8 Mt Dews a day and getting through life eating gas station food. I quit all of it on Sunday, and besides massive caffeine withdrawal and a couple of hallucinations last night I’m doing pretty good. On Sunday I bought a vita mixer and made a green smoothie; Broccoli, spinach, a banana and some pineapple. It was good, and I actually enjoyed it. I literally have to teach myself how to eat because I forgot how.
I totalled up the money I spent last month on crap food and soda and it was $1,177 so basically I blew through close to $200,000 on crap food over the last 25 years. I’ve also kept a YMCA membership for 3 years and never stepped foot inside it, that’s also $109 a month wasted.
I am very committed to this lifestyle change but I’m also very confused because there’s just so dam much information to learn I’m not sure where to begin. What I learned so far after reading a ton of articles is that at some point I need to pick heavy weights up of the floor and lift it up and move it around. I’m looking in to the Starting Strength program because it’s simple enough to understand and it makes sense to me.
For my diet, it’s a struggle to know how much protein I should be taking etc. Any opinions would be great!
So that’s that, and this is where I begin my journey. I’m pretty excited about it, I’m not giving up anything, I’m gaining everything. Well, that’s how I see it anyhow.
Mike