Alright, so I really wasn't sure where to post this, but I kind of needed to get this way off my chest and figured since the thread revolved around fitness, this would be the best place to put it. Just a quick warning: I'm probably one of the least fitness-savvy people around in all honesty, so I can totally understand if I'm laughed at and deemed a lost cause, but in the end what I'm trying to look for is self-improvement, not disincentives to improve my body. Also, since I know practically nothing about fitness and am trying to immerse into it, I'm probably gonna be using words in the wrong fashion, saying outright dumb stuff or not using the fitness-savvy definitions, and I apologise in any case of that. So with all of this pointless preamble done, where do I begin?
I'm 17, 5,11, have a somewhat wide build and at the current moment weigh 139 lbs (or 9 stone 13 in British measurements). However, I have pretty much no muscle on me so much of the weight is actually fat, thanks in no part due not only to my relative inactivity, but also my hugely restricted diet, which is significantly carbo and thus is very difficult to spice up, and has been a recurring problem since childhood. This time last year I was around 180 lbs (12 stone 11), and only then did I notice problems with my image, so I went on a rather lax, on and off weight loss scheme which consisted of jogs and a slightly more balanced fibre heavy diet. I actually intended to not really build up much muscle at all and go down to around 130 lbs if it weren't for family and friends coming into the picture and claiming I looked too thin (which I actually thought was just them overexaggerating). So essentially now, I've been told to put on weight and try to build a small amount of muscle for myself in an attempt to make myself healthier. I have a number of questions to ask the more experienced among you, providing nobody minds helping such a clueless individual as myself:
1: How exactly have you coped with personal endurance? I ask this because my stamina has been in the pits for most of my life, as I've been capable of bursts of athleticism at times but it never lasts and I quickly tire out. My jogging has improved my stamina a fair bit but even now it's largely inconsistent, sometimes I can manage up to around 8 miles (around 6 laps around a consistent route in my village, considering my standards that's actually pretty fricking good) while othertimes I struggle to even manage 1.5K (2 laps). This is precisely why I've avoided muscle work a lot of the time, not just due to weakness but due to endurance as well, which is kind of a focal part of building muscle and of exercise in general really. Essentially, when it came to weights and other kinds of exercise,
how did you start out and how in what ways have you managed to improve performance over time?
2: Specifically regarding weights this time,
what do you feel is the optimum beginning weight for a complete noob? I've bought 2.5KG (LOL) weights alongside light anklets yet even as somebody who in all honesty can't lift I feel it's far too light for me. As much as I'd like to tackle the heavy stuff immediately I know all that'd do is pretty much destroy my body beyond repair, so I feel looking for an optimum starting weight is key. Additionally, from there,
in what sorts of time frames and by how much have you improved your lifting capability?
3: For those who may have initially rejected the role of a community in fitness,
how have you dealt with the integration or interference of other people? I don't think I'm alone in saying that I've avoided the gym mostly due to fear of how other more developed people may perceive me struggling to perform even really easy reps, and potentially mock me (actually it's mainly because the only gym in my town's a kickboxing one but what I said still applies). As a result, I've not exactly embraced the role of a group of people with regards to exercise, especially not when it comes to either peers or total strangers. Even in jogging, I mainly prefer solitary evening jogs as I feel that's when my performance is maximised and there are less people/cars to notice or distract me during a run, although in group jogs I have noticed that my bursts of energy become more frequent. I severely doubt my case is the norm in all honesty, as I'm rather shy normally in addition to being saddled with Aspergers Syndrome, which may possibly have an effect on my view of a community in exercise, as well as my choice of a quiet and less active time to jog in. For anybody who's felt similarly,
how were they able to come out of their shell on an exercisal basis and eventually come to terms with being around others (specifically peers of the same age) during exercise?
I apologise for asking so many questions, but I've REALLY wanted to try and sort myself out at long last before I head off to uni in September, and I'm honestly annoyed at myself that it's taken until now for me to actually give a fuck about my body when most people tend to do so in their early teens. Sorry if this is the wrong thread to post this anecdote in, but I assumed that since it was fitness related, it'd be good to go.
As a final note, here's a before and after comparison of the 180+lb me from 2011 and the 139 lb me from this year. Not much difference really, but ahh well, just for kicks!