In my previous post, I described an experience I would not have been able to have five months ago - at least not without considerable agony and risk. In early August of this year, I decided to make a choice to change my life for the better, specifically in the area of heath & wellness. At the time, I knew I was a mess - overweight, working in a big job with very high stress level, poor diet, very little exercise, terrible posture, struggling with old injuries that were exacerbated by my busy life, etc. I had done nothing to change this. Then, I had a wake-up call in the form of two separate doctor visits that occured about a week apart.
The first was my 40-year-old physical (that I'm now supposed to repeat now every three years, much to my dismay). The bad news was that all of my tests came back absolutely normal - everything was in order, blood test and urinalysis showed everything was in tolerance. Nothing to see here. What makes this bad (according to my doctor anyway) is that most of the health risks you face later in life are genetic and my dad's medical history reads like a who's-who list of all the bad things that can happen to you. Dad's had a stroke and heart attacks as well as struggles with high blood pressure and diabetes to this day. So the doc's message was that, even though there was really nothing I could do to affect the genetic cards I've been dealt, I needed to do whatever I could to lower the associated risks. Most importantly, I needed to be around for my family, he reminded me (as if I needed that). And he told me I needed to lose weight (I was at 223 lbs) - whereas women are more conscious about their bodies, most men, he said hide that gut under loose clothing. So, I thanked him for his time, put on my big-***ed shirt and left. Ouch...
The second event involved a visit to my chiropractor. I was involved in a pretty serious car accident a number of years ago and walked away with fractured vertebrae as a result. This led to arthritis and scar tissue setting in throughout my neck and back, dealing with chronic pain and stiffness as well as occasional numbness in the hands, headaches, etc. Things like stress, travel and cold weather took their toll as the pain went from nagging soreness to debilitating at times. I've tried a variety of pain-management techniques from meds to injections to accupuncture to physical therapy to massage to, as I mentioned, chiropractic. I found that narcotics are the easy answer - they work great on reducing the pain to managable levels and seems to be the default treatment doctors rely on these days. In Europe (where we lived for a couple of years before relocating back to Seattle in February), codeine in particular is easily available over the counter. And NHS doctors love narcotics as much as the US doctors, or so it seems. While they work great, they can have devestating long-term effects on your body, mind and soul so at some point, you just have to stop. But more on that in a later post. Chiropractic care was the next best thing in pain management, for me anyway. Maybe took a couple points off of the "1-10 pain scale, with 10 being the worst pain imaginable", so would bring me down to maybe a 3-5 depending on the day. After several months of treatment, the chiro wanted to reduce me to once every couple of weeks and I told him that wasn't enough. By the time I got a week out, I knew I was overdue. He said that we needed to back them off and get my body to the place where my core was strong enough to hold the adjustments. They say, "change happens when the pain of staying the same exceeds the pain of change". Yeah, I was in that place.
So, I made a very simple, yet extremely powerful decision to change the game - to commit to a healthy lifestyle involving a proper diet and exercise, a commitment of reducing stress and raising energy levels, a commitment to do whatever it takes to manage the pain in a natural way. I believe it starts with a solid decision, because there is a heckuva lot of work required to follow through and without a firm (stubborn?) decision, I knew I didn't stand a chance.
I'm now weighing in at 188 lbs - 35 lbs lighter than when I started five months ago. I've lost two full sizes and could likely come down one more. Though I'll never be "ripped" (darn genetics!), I've gained a good bit of muscle weight along the way and you can certainly see the difference. I've gained strength, endurance and flexibility, too - effectively doubling the amount of weight I'm using in most every exercise at the gym as well as able to make some pretty serious hikes and still survive in one piece. I've been able to handle stress in a much better way - with more energy during the day and the ability to sleep soundly at night. And you know what? I'm experiencing much and much less pain, too (though don't imagine it will ever go away fully).
I know I'm only five months into my journey and still have a long way to go. It is certainly too short to qualify as a complete life change - only time will tell if I stick with it, I suppose. But I'm more determined than ever and having some fun with it too. My hope is that this blog will keep me inspired, help track my journey and maybe help others along the way.
Stay tuned for my next post, Basics & Bull***, Part 1... hope you enjoy!
No comments:
Post a Comment