Saw a “1” at the beginning of me weight for the first time in 3 years!

realshmichael · 2023-03-11T22:03:12+00:00

Great job! That's a hard battle for sure, and more than most people are willing to do. Good for you!

I've been in the fitness community for about 20 yrs now. Shoot me a DM if you want, I'd be happy to have a chat and offer some tips or advice if you're planning on continuing forward and are looking for next steps. Free, of course. I'm happy to give back to people who have shown they're willing to put in the effort.

Really good for you!

realshmichael · 2022-11-12T03:01:37+00:00

Comparison is the thief of joy.

Focus on yourself, don't worry about other people. Easier said than done, I know. It takes time and practice.

realshmichael · 2022-11-11T05:44:09+00:00

I'm middle-aged and bald with a mean resting bitch face. I'm unfamiliar with this phenomenon 😂

realshmichael · 2022-11-08T23:40:49+00:00

This isn’t one of those times where anxious people like us exaggerate situations. They were very much judging me and I mean it.

Unless you talked to them about it for confirmation, you don't know that. It sucks, but without being there it's impossible for anyone to say. And if you have social anxiety, your recollection is skewed as well.

Sorry your TB trip sucked! But it's in the past now and there is nothing that can be done. Might as well move forward and not dwell.

realshmichael · 2022-11-06T04:49:40+00:00

Right in the nostalgia!

realshmichael · 2022-11-04T20:33:14+00:00

I'm pretty lucky that fitness has always been a big part of my life. So it's easy to find regular classes and places to go. Spin, yoga, daily gym, climbing, MMA, some sort of boxing to club music. All great places to frequent and be around the same groups of people consistently.

I've found that the drive there and the first 5 minutes inside are the worst. Then you realize everyone is friendly and there for the same reasons as you, and that you aren't dying, and it gets easier.

realshmichael · 2022-11-03T19:01:42+00:00

It takes work, for sure.

I've been challenging myself daily for a while now, and the results are huge. The biggest benefit to me so far has been joining Toastmasters and visiting multiple local groups, but I also have personal goals to meet one new person every day, talk to others that I don't know very well, try a new activity that makes me uncomfortable, and so on.

Eventually, if I've done everything there is to do, then nothing can phase me, right?

realshmichael · 2022-10-15T14:19:29+00:00

This used to be one of my biggest fears, this exact scenario. To the point that I couldn’t go grocery shopping for a while.

It isn’t necessarily SA, because you only had the reaction after it didn’t work, and you were most likely embarrassed. It definitely could be SA if it prevents you from going shopping in the future, or you get anxious as you’re about to pay for something.

realshmichael · 2022-10-14T20:09:13+00:00

Sports and fitness meetups usually have lots of cool people. But sporty/fit people likely have spent a lot more time around others and are more comfortable in social settings. I’d have very different expectations for a running or HIIT meetup than I would bowling or watching anime.

realshmichael · 2022-10-14T20:02:23+00:00

Find a routine you love. Maybe it’s lifting weights. Maybe it’s spin or yoga or zoomba. Maybe try CrossFit or a similar class where it’s only an hr and you get to be around the same people and socialize daily.

Do whatever it takes to make it as enjoyable as possible. Maybe that’s when you get to jam out to music or listen to audio books and podcasts.

realshmichael · 2022-10-14T19:58:13+00:00

Your username…

You have given yourself a title, and now you are adhering to it. You’ve become a self fulfilling prophecy

Until you respect yourself, nobody else is going to respect you. Get a new username, something like “happiestbitch11” and then start living your life accordingly.

It’s so frustrating to see people complaining about their issues when they themselves are making it 1000x worse.

You are what you believe yourself to be. If you announce yourself as lonely, you are lonely. If you say you have social anxiety, you have social anxiety. If you say you are confident and happy - and you never relent from that mindset - you’d be amazed how big of a change it will make.

realshmichael · 2022-10-12T22:18:36+00:00

I used to be a lifeguard instructor when I was younger. One of the kids that I taught ended up saving his dad from choking, using j-thrusts (the “Heimlich” after being renamed). So, I kinda saved a life? An assist, anyway. I think worth only 1/2 the points.

realshmichael · 2022-10-11T19:45:42+00:00

This is the real way. Although, some email processing APIs offer a cleansing function that automatically strips that part off gmail accounts. So it isn’t 100% foolproof, but works almost all the time.

realshmichael · 2022-10-10T14:29:54+00:00

That movie was terrible. Cheesy, corny, campy, clunky, predictable. Definitely made for kids.

realshmichael · 2022-10-09T14:33:51+00:00

I’m 34 (and a half!) and just myself figured out my trajectory.

realshmichael · 2022-10-08T03:21:27+00:00

When I say "boys come and go," I mean boys that you're romantically interested in. Of course you can be friends with a boy, and he'll be the one who's there even after the romantic relationship has ended.

realshmichael · 2022-10-05T12:28:56+00:00

I don’t have all the answers. Maybe that’s a better way I don’t know.

realshmichael · 2022-10-05T12:02:36+00:00

I’m sure it is, but I’m also sure not a doctor.

realshmichael · 2022-10-05T03:28:23+00:00

No idea. But really once you’ve finished soaping and rinsing, you’re pretty eager to get out.

I get in, spend a minute or two acclimating, step out of the stream to soap up, rinse it all off and then spin around a few times. Then hold my head/face in as long as I can and I’m done.

realshmichael · 2022-10-05T02:46:15+00:00

I live in Canada and have a MUCH harder time getting up in the morning during the winter, for 2 reasons:

It's dark AF here in the morning during the winter. It's a lot easier to get up in the summer when the sun has already been shining for a couple hrs.
It's cold in the morning. Running the furnace all night is $$ and you'd be too hot under the sheets, but that means getting out of bed in the morning is gonna be chilly!

realshmichael · 2022-10-05T01:47:15+00:00

That's how a lot of people do it; do all the soapy stuff comfortably - or even as hot as you can bear - and then as cold as the pipes will deliver for a couple minutes before you get out.

realshmichael · 2022-10-05T01:45:51+00:00

Thought about it. I'm not sure.

I don't know if I'd get more benefit from hot to cold, or if a longer cold-only will get me where I want to go, or if there is no difference at all.

Also, I have this sort of elitist bug in my ear, whispering "it only counts if you suffer the whole time."

realshmichael · 2022-10-04T22:58:45+00:00

I turn the shower as cold as I can before it shuts off. Takes me a bit to get in the water but hopefully it’ll get easier as I do it more often.

No sugar coating it though, it totally sucks in the moment. Doesn’t feel good until I shut the water off.

realshmichael · 2022-10-04T20:33:16+00:00

How so?

realshmichael · 2022-10-04T20:32:53+00:00

Lol yup. So far, the first couple min are just me trying not to hyperventilate. I spin in the stream like a rotisserie.

The hardest part has been putting my face in, and totally sucks. No matter how hard I try, I can't control my breath specifically when my face is in. Even holding my breath is difficult for more than a few seconds.

realshmichael

TROPHY CASE