Advantage

Claimed and PM sent.

No I'm just an idiot haha. I'll send you an intro PM right after I get some food into my belly!

Hello friends,
 
Nick Gallagher here. Some of you might know me as Gally. Most recent identity was NPGFX so I went with that again for familiarity. I was never involved with VHL but I do enjoy hockey. I think I was in every Madden/Football sim league there was, however. Anyway, I was thinking about these leagues the other day (even logged in to the old VFL page) and then a short while later Chris sends this mass recruiting email and I figured, "let's check it out." 
 
Not sure if I'll be an A+ addition to any team; I wasn't everyone's best friend in the past. But I've GM'd, Graded, Commish'd pretty much done it all in these leagues so I'm fairly familiar with how they work. 
 
Hoping I see some old friends and make some new ones as well.
 
 

 
I know the SBA has that end-of-the-year survey, which I think is a good idea to be done either every year or every other year.

Finished my fourth gym session of the week.  Now taking the weekend off before going back to it Monday.
 
I feel good.  Not in pain really and happy with my first week back.

Its been 10 days since my initial weight (265) and post here.  Since then I've gone to the store and bought healthy foods salad, misc veggies, brown rice, healthy cereal (high fiber/protein low sugar), only meat I've bought was chicken, and other good foods.  I'm currently trying to workout on the Bowflex 3 days a week and my weight as of right now 262 (-3).  I know it fluctuates greatly from day to day so we'll see how it goes in another 10 or so days.

Guessed it correctly even before I clicked it. (High school was pretty much a constant rotation of Three Days Grace, Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin for me.)

@CowboyinAmerica
 
I was waiting to see how long it would take to give me shit for this   Certainly didn't work out as I hoped (although Barnstormer falling to 11 was not due to inactivity, but rather him having only interest in New York).  Muffins was very active and I figured if he did go inactive he'd at least hit a much higher TPE total first, but it ended up being the move that set the tone for a much more difficult rebuild than my first one.  It made basic asset management since as I figured it would be easy to message Jericho so that he can get on, but then he just got tired of the league and stopped.  The other thing was Kitras too who I was told had a whole heck a lot of sigs made that he didn't claim TPE for, but he never really submitted them afterwards.  

Your response btw: " Hah, well that's not half bad getting a future GM and #1 overall. Best of luck with your not-really-actually rebuild"
 
Of course, this was when Jericho was supposed to be my successor (which is why I thought he was a sure thing).

I think best case is FlyersFan or Dollar going in and making small posts just because they use their counts regularly and it wouldn't be seen as spam.

Hey gents, anyone who can still see this is the group I personally selected to be on the recruitment team.  Really it's mainly a discussion group but I just don't find that the BOG gets enough attention for recruitment and Draper and I both agreed that having separate conversation is probably better.
 
I might add a few more but mainly just added those who have been pretty active in the recruitment discussion there.  Might still take ideas there, but I want the main group to be you guys.
 
First off, I have created the three ads.
 
https://www.reddit.com/promoted/
 
You can see them there.  Wasn't really sure what to do with them but figured those worked.  @sterling once you get in there you just have to edit each ad and go down to the pay options.  If you want help, I can go through it with you but we had decided targeting specific sub-reddits like EASHL, Leafs, etc.
 
Think we said 3 ads at 20.00 each (13,333 impressions).  We were going to run each for 3 months as well.

I'll pay for those upon my return home in about an hour.

Shit you people talking Destiny up in here.....wow. @Advantage and I used to tear that shit up all the time. 

4th rounders really shouldn't be allowed to be traded 

Finished my fourth gym session of the week.  Now taking the weekend off before going back to it Monday.
 
I feel good.  Not in pain really and happy with my first week back.

I set my home gym up on Tuesday/Wednesday and did a short session yesterday of bench, curls, and aerobic rowing.  Still figuring this contraption out.
 
Been eating all the rest of the "bad"  food from my cupboard all week going shopping this weekend for "good" food.  Planning on making a list and sticking to it.

Yeah my sleeping patterns have been great lately due to a lot of early morning class.
 
Just got back from the gym....I'm still sore from Monday lol.
 
 

Yeah my sleeping patterns have been great lately due to a lot of early morning class.
 
Just got back from the gym....I'm still sore from Monday lol.
 
 

I'm glad to see this thread and if this stays active I'll continue to post here as well.
 
High School Weight: ~~240ish
College Weight: ~~260ish
Last Spring: ~~New Record 280ish
I've made a few changes mostly in my career which has me up and moving/lifting and not at a computer all day.
Weight As of 30 seconds ago: 265
At 6'3" I don't look that big in fact when I ask people they say I don't know 230 and never expect that I weigh so much.

I've never taken fitness seriously or ever tried to really get into good shape even when I played sports in school.  I lifted and ran at practice but never did anything extra on my own.  Even when I lifted it was just going through the motions and I'm not really a gym person.  I just bought a home gym last week and am going to try to take things serious this year to get into the best shape of my life.
 
My Tools for success are
1) My Fitness Pal App (2600+ Calories to maintain current weight looking for 2400 daily to lose)
2) George Foreman Grill (Mostly just chicken I like to cook but hate to clean and this is easy to use)
3) Kitchen Scale (for correct serving/eating amounts)
4) Bowflex PR1000 Home Gym (Estimated delivery Tuesday 01/20/2016)

5) Using the "Portion Control Plate Method".  I don't mind veggies but usually the meat/starch section takes 70% of plate and little veggies.  Also the starch going to stick with whole wheats, beans, and high fiber things not high processed whites and sugar starches.

6) Other changes I don't eat a lot of fast food or drink much soda but I do go out to eat a lot (chinese, applebees, pizza, wings, mexican, and etc).  Going to try to cut that down to 1 super splurge meal a week where I go HAM instead of every other day or several days in a row.  I drink Arizona Tea 150 calories 39g sugar per 23oz can.  I water it down though and drink it over 2-3 days instead of 1 24oz pepsi 250 calories 69g of sugar.  Same for real non concentrate juice I do 1 or 2 parts water for 1 part juice.
 

Yep, and that mentality hasn't won us shit.
 
"Easily win 2-1 games"...right.

Chris, right with you on the soda. In middle school and high school I actually did a pretty good job limiting myself an occasional coke, but the wheels fell off in college and my soda intake skyrocketed. Basically, whenever the Flyers played, I had a can. If I was stressed due to procrastinating on school work, I drank a can. If I was drinking, there was a good chance it was a whiskey and coke. As I type, I actually have some right now, even though I know I shouldn't since I already had some when I went out to dinner tonight. I don't know what it is about it, but soda is what I crave when I'm looking for something sweet. I go through phases where I can replace it with something like orange juice or straight water, but it never lasts. And it's a shame, because I'd say I eat relatively healthy, but neither I (or really anyone on my dad's side of the family minus Austin, who has never liked the stuff) can kick the habit.
 
I was able to shake the "freshmen 15", but I'm beginning to discover that the "corporate 30" is no joke. 
 
 

Oo - this is my kinda thread! Thanks for sharing Chris. I know it can be difficult to do so big ups to you for doing it. If you want my advise (oh yea, I graduated with a KIN degree  ) Here it is:
 
Give up pop - Obvious and its already been said - gotta cut back on the pop. There's substantial evidence that these drinks increase the long-term risk of several cardiometabolic disorders, including obesity, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease yadda yadda yadda... you probably are well aware. More importantly for your goals, however, there have also been several clinic trials showing that the reduction of these drinks leads to meaningful weight loss. 
  Don't obsess about going to the gmy - Getting to the gym can be difficult, but it's not the end-all of fitness. Over the past few years, I think there's WAY too much emphasis being put on "going" to the gym. People can get fitness without ever going there. Sign up for a pick-up league of football, play shinny once a week, join an intramural baseball league... social activities like sport are often underused as a way of getting fit. That being said, being physically active and increasing your metabolism is key. If going to the gym is the way for you, then giddy-yap. 
  Small Changes - Fitness and increasing your metabolism can be done by simply altering some tiny decisions you make. Take the stairs instead of the escalator, bike or walk to class, eat many smaller meals rather than 3 large ones.-  all these things are very easy to do and will show major results, regardless of everything else. 
  Find what motivates you - the most important part of attaining your goal is that you can stay motivate and have the drive to accomplish it. I have several little things that I have that keeps me motivated but ultimately, it keeps me going. You gotta keep that drive.  The fact that you've already successfully lost a lot of weight in the past before should be a huge push in the right direction for you - you know it's attainable. Now you just have to put in the time and dedication to see it out. Even with the one time I've met you, I can see from your personality that you have a steady resolve about you and if you set your sights on something - nothing's gonna stand in your way!! 
 
Thanks for reading ahah, hopefully this helps a little. If you want anything more specific let me know. My door is always open. 

This thread can be for people sharing advice, sharing things they have tried, sharing their triumph when it comes to health and fitness, sharing their troubles...anything basically.  The idea is to have there be no judgment.  I think we all have struggled with something like this in our lifetime and for me at least, I think the only way I can get any progress made (at least to begin) is to share it with people I have gotten close to and known for quite some time.
 
For myself, I want to share my journey with everyone else and if you want to comment..that's great..but I just think having a no judgment zone or myself or anyone else could help with things like this.
 
I get my new gym card tomorrow for my new school so I am excited to start fresh there.  I have been working on eating healthier (albeit I could certainly be better) but still I have always struggled.  Five years ago I lost 40 lbs in a month and a half but then I let it get away and it's only gone up since.  So here is where I'm going to get personal.  I normally wouldn't do this but I figure maybe it will help keep me consistent this time:
 
- I weigh 370 lbs at this point in my life (Over 120 more than I did when I went to University)
- Yes, I am disgusted by it..but I haven't really done much about it either.
- I am heavily addicted to pop
- I don't drink or smoke
- I have absolutely zero confidence despite a supportive girlfriend, family and group of friends
- I don't like to set goals but I would love to get back down to my weight when I went to University by the time I graduate college next year
- Additionally, I want to get back to a point where I can comfortably play sports again (used to competitively play several in H.S.)
 
I plan to start going to the gym in-between my classes starting next week (4 days a week).  I don't really do anything else in-between class so it shouldn't be hard to do that.  Any advice is welcome but I think others sharing stories, journeys, advice, etc. would just be nice to read.  I don't know, maybe someone else is going through similar shit.
 
I might post some pictures at some point, but for now, I just have an older one:
 

 
^ At 310 (on the right)

Oh, and if you're a Reddit user, sub to /r/fitness. There's good stuff for everyone on there.

As everyone has concluded, pop is mostly bad. If you cut pop and did nothing else, you'd probably still see results over time.
 
Anyway, here are my recommendations:
 
1. Download the MyFitnessPal app. It makes watching your calorie intake infinitely easier. For the longest time I could never figure out why I couldn't gain weight even though I generally eat a shit-ton every meal I eat. The answer was because A. I'm pretty tall and therefore have to eat A LOT, B. I often slept through/skipped breakfast, and C. I actually had no idea how many calories I was actually taking in in a day. It was quite a bit less than I thought. I personally need to eat 3000+ calories a day to start reaching my goal weight, and I wasn't/don't hit that nearly as often as I thought.
 
Moral of the story: Losing weight is about calories in vs. calories out. Calories are trickier than they seem, so download the app to get a visual of how much your taking in.
 
2. Get into a routine of going to the gym. You don't even really need to work out that much when you go at first. Walk on the treadmill for 15 minutes and leave if you want. As long as you go and keep going, you will eventually get used to it and accept it as part of your routine.
 
3. Definitely go with someone if possible. If not (or even if so), check if your gym offers any classes and/or group workouts. They're actually quite satisfying, and being around other people keeps you honest. If you're worried about being judged, just remember that judging someone heavy at the gym is the dumbest fucking thing I've heard of in my life. That's like going to a French class and laughing at people for being shitty at French.
 
4. Always be conscience of your weight goals. Whenever you want a pop, think "It would be better if I had water/OJ instead." If you just got home from a long stressful shitty day of school and you just want to eat supper and play a little 'chell and pass out rather than go to the gym, think, "I don't have time to work out so I'll go for a quick walk instead." Basically whatever action you do, think if there's a better option that would help you instead.
 
And don't be afraid to rely on your family/girlfriend/support group either. Maybe strike up a deal with your boo that you get a BJ for every X amount of pounds you lose, or a HJ for every time you go to the gym. Something like that.
 
Good luck, and keep us updated!