Life As Nick Starr

I can’t believe it. I was at the gym this afternoon, and weighed myself, 182. This down from my all time high of 220 is amazing to me. My old jeans are now slipping right off, and even the new jeans I bought recently have a bit of give to them.Since the new year (or right after that) I have bee dieting by virtually eliminating all sugar, lowering my carbohydrate intake, and trying to eat foods that are lower in fat, or less amounts of these foods. I also joined the gym the day after MLK Jr. day, and have been going virtually every day. At first it was hard, but it is becoming more of a routine now.

I have also started this past week taking Alli, the some what controversial OTC FDA approved weight loss drug. This isn’t a miracle drug where you sit back and loose weight. It helps you lose weight by blocking 25% of the fat that you eat. There are “treatment effects” if you eat too much fat, but fortunately I have yet to experience any of these.Ultimately my goal is to get around 165 or maybe lower and at this pace it seems like it could be a reality.

Until later (when I’m even thinner) buh bye…

Yes, yes I know I have been majorly slacking in terms of blogging, and NickStarr.com has turned into more of my personal updates from my trip across country, and adventures since then. I have also been twittering like mad and thus haven’t had much time to blog here, but I hope to change that, you know being a new year and all.

Today I joined 24 Hour Fitness….now when I was in Florida I was a member of the YMCA, but I almost never went to work out. I’ve really been feeling the need to get into shape so I’ve started dieting and thought that adding a regular workout would help aid the process.

There is a 30 minute circuit branch of 24 Hour Fitness branch very close to my work, and I decided I would go check it out a few weeks ago. There was this amazing sale for $29 down, $0 processing fee, and $29/month…Compared to their $45-$55 a month this sounded too good to be true. I went and liked the facility, but when I got back to work the offer was gone…

24 Hour Fitness has a sale every Monday from 9am-1pm PST, and I got back and finished my order around 1:05pm….sucks. A few weeks later and they now have the same sale, this time for 48 hours (so get your order in by tomorrow before it is gone again). I signed up, paid my $89 total out the “door” charge online….BTW there is something ultimately wrong about signing up online for a gym.

During lunch today, I drove down to the gym and met one of the guys who runs the place. He showed me each piece of equipment and had me do a minute on each. That is how this circuit thing works…5 minute warm-up on the elliptical, then 1 minute on each of the 25 machines.

Let me tell you what, I was counting the machines, and by number 7 I had already broken a sweat and it didn’t get any easier from there. I think I worked muscles that I didn’t even know existed. The worst is at the very end, there is this giant ball you have to put between your legs (which are killing you already at this point) and lie on your back and bring your legs up and then down to the floor. I didn’t make the full minute on that one.

I was planning on going every day during lunch, but after today’s “experience” I might cut it down to a more manageable 3 times per week. I want to check out the main facility which is closer to where I live to see all of the other equipment they have. I also think I will stick to mainly cardio type things there, as this circuit training facility seems to do a good job at kicking my ass as it is.

Ultimately, the goal is to get in shape, but also to feel good about how I look. I haven’t really liked what I see in the mirror for years now, and now that I am getting older (yes I am less then 3 years from 30) I would like to try to get prepared for the years where the metabolism doesn’t work as well as it does now (which if you have seen me isn’t very well). Here is a recent picture of Kara Murphy and myself at Matt Mullenweg’s (of Wordpress) 24th birthday day party.

All of that being said, look for more personal updates about life and things that are going on in the future on this blog, and you can always add the feed to your favorite RSS reader here: http//LifeAs.NickStarr.com/feed/

Until next time….buh bye.

A few weeks ago I was feeling depressed and alone. I had been working about 80 miles away from where I normally live and there wasn’t anything to do there. I didn’t know anyone in the area, and driving home to see the few friends I do have locally was costly on gas. I went out one night and started having a few drinks alone. This fueled my feelings of loneliness and depression (something that I have suffered with almost all of my life). I got to the point that night where I felt that ending my life would make things better for me.

My thoughts spilled out onto the micro-blog Twitter, which I have been posting to for some time now. I began playing out the thoughts that were going thru my head and the method of my suicide on Twitter. As I left and started driving, I parked and gazed upon the very bridge which I planned my demise.

Fortunately, I fell asleep shortly thereafter and woke up the next morning feeling better, but still not happy. I found out the next day that my actions posted on Twitter had caused many people to become concerned for my safety. I spoke with my friends Dawn and Drew that next day about what happened the night prior. It felt good to have someone to be able to speak to about the issues that were spinning thru my head.

I decided to seek professional help in order to have someone to speak with about these issues. I have been out of communication with almost everyone online over the past few weeks, and I apologize for publishing this update for those who still weren’t aware of my current state.

I want to apologize to everyone for my actions. I never meant to cause such pain and worry to so many individuals. Depression and suicide are often very selfish actions where one isn’t aware of anyone else’s worry except their own. The sense that there is nothing worth living for is not something I feel now, but there have been dark times which I felt this was the only option. I want to let everyone know that I am on the road to becoming mentally healthy.

This all being said, I am slowly working on building upon the relationships that I have and working on myself to become a stronger person for when dark times arrive. Thank you again to everyone who sent me emails and messages, I am just now finishing reading all of them. It is encouraging to see that there are so many people who care. Thank you again for your support and I hope you will see great things and progress in the weeks and months to come.

Again, I want to say that I am truly sorry to anyone who I hurt or scarred in the past few weeks.

Thank you,

Nicholas R. Starr Schuler