You’ve been here before.
You told your friends that you were going to lose weight last year…only to fall off the wagon two weeks later and give up.
You managed to successfully fit into those old pair of pants back in January…before getting sick.
You won that weight loss competition at work…and immediately put all of the weight back on.
You started a blog to track your progress…and then gave up after two weeks.
You went to the gym for a whole month straight…before things at work got busy.
You’ve told yourself dozens of times before that “this time its going to be different” …before doing things the same way as before and getting the same results.
No more.
This time, it really IS different.
This time, you’ve identified the real reasons you want to get in shape. Not just because your doctor said so, but because you want to look good naked, build up the courage to ask out the cute waitress or waiter, because you want to set a good example for your children, or because you want to be YOU.
This time, you’ve identified your kryptonite and know how to avoid it.
This time, you’ve identified how to build systems and remove emotion from the equation.
This time, you’ve built your support team.
This time, you’ve finally learned how to eat right and not let drinking stand in the way.
This time, you’ve decided to put your money where your mouth is, like Saint.
This time, you’ve stopped collecting underpants and put your focus on phase two.
This time, you’ve learned how to track your progress.
This time, you’ve finally realized that “eventually” never happens.
This time, you’ve finally realized that the ONLY person who believes your excuses is you.
Prove them wrong
When you tell your friends you’re going to get in shape, they might say “good for you” while secretly doubting you.
And who can blame them? You’ve been here before.
Prove them wrong.
And while you’re at it, prove that little voice in your head that says “you can’t do this” WRONG too.
Every single day, quietly “go to work” and get a little bit better.
Be thankful for all of the times you’ve failed before.
They got you where you are today.
And today’s a brand new freaking day.
This time, it’s different.
Now prove it.
-Steve
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photo: staircase
It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you have a clear goal in mind.
Six months ago, I received an email from a reader named Stephen who told me that he had a wedding coming up in May 2012, and that he hoped to get in shape for it. After managing to go in the opposite direction through most of the Holidays, Stephen finally woke up in early January and said “enough is enough.”
Since then, he’s become an absolute machine, day in day out, dominating his workouts and putting a huge focus on eating right.
Yesterday, he got married weighing in at 213, a full 57 POUNDS lost since January.
This is his story. (cue the Law and Order theme!)
Oftentimes, when I’m at a Nerd Fitness meetup, a rebel will ask me, “Do you mind if I have a beer?”
I usually laugh and say, “Nope! Will you get me one too?”
Yeah, I run a fitness website, but as you’ve hopefully been able to tell up to this point, it’s not normal. I write about Optimus Prime, Office Space, and the Legend of Zelda. I generally do my workouts on a playground and run around the world for fun.
I happen to also enjoy the occasional adult beverage.
I’ve been getting a lot of emails lately from people with questions like, “I want to try the Paleo diet, but I love beer. What can I do?”
I hear ya, friend.
Let’s take a look at alcohol, its effect on the body, and see if it can be consumed while still living a healthy life.
[side note: if you aren't 21 or of legal drinking age in your particular country, this article isn't for you. Instead, look at these baby sloths getting a bath!
Also, I'm not a dietitian, doctor, or anybody with any sort of important sounding credentials. I'm not an expert of any kind. I'm probably not even wearing pants right now. I'm merely a nerd who likes to dig into these things and present my results.]
I time-traveled yesterday.
Over the weekend, my friend/design Yoda Mike Bridgman wanted to give Nerd Fitness headquarters a more nerdy, retro look that screamed “NERD FITNESS!” Boom – I honestly get giddy just looking at it.
Seriously, if you’re reading this in an email or RSS reader, come check out the site 
Anyways, during the weekend we also updated a whole bunch of other stuff and plugins on the site; one of those new services managed to revert EVERYTHING back to November 2011 yesterday. Things SHOULD be back to normal now, but for a few hours there I felt like I was trapped back in time, six months ago.
It was a rare (though forced) opportunity for me to see what the site looked like, what the message boards looked like, and how many members we had.
It taught me patience as well, as we’ve run into all sorts of snags, problems, glitches, and so on over the past two weeks getting this read…and then the site just didn’t work yesterday!
Last but not least, it also had me thinking of what my life was like six months ago (thanks to Mama T for the inspiration), and what life will be like six months from now.
Shall we go back in time?
Mega Man is going to blow your mind today.
Well, him and dozens of his side-scrolling friends.
Last week, a friend of mine emailed me a link to a video that instantly made my day and almost brought me to tears (seriously). If you’ve ever played an old school NES game, or grew up with a Sega or Super Nintendo, this video will take you on a nostalgic adventure down memory lane.
On top of that, if you’re anything like me, it’ll inspire the HELL out of ya.
Now, if you’ve been reading Nerd Fitness for a while, you’ll understand my obsession with drawing thought-provoking life lessons from the most random of places (Underpants Gnomes, Shawshank Redemption, and Mike Tyson’s Punchout!! to name a few).
Today, we’re going to learn how to level up our lives from 8-bit video game characters.
GO RIGHT
If this isn’t the best 2.5 minutes of your day, email me and I’ll send you a free NF t-shirt. Just kidding, we’re almost completely out of stock (though more are coming in the next week). And if they WERE in stock, you’d have to do something way cooler than just complain to get one
Enough about shirts though, let’s get back to the epic awesomeness that is “Go Right.” Make sure you watch it at least once, but preferably 10-250 times.
I’ll wait.
Done?
Great! Time to get educated by Mario and company.Keep reading »