I was stressing about a topic I wanted to talk about today, not sure if I was feeling in the blogging mood.  Whenever I get a mild case of writer’s block I look to other’s who write for inspiration.  It’s really no different than each of us who have had weight loss surgery looking to each other for help, support and inspiration.  Today’s inspiring thoughts come courtesy of a blog called Marc and Angel Hack Life which has absolutely nothing to do with lap band surgery at the very same time that it has everything to do with lap band surgery.  Just what the heck is she talking about you say?  The article that inspired me is called “12 Things Successful People Do Differently”.  In life after weight loss surgery words it could be titled “Using The Rules to Get Results Not Typical”, or “How To Use Your WLS Tool” or any number of article titles all of us have probably seen and read before.

While the entire article was inspiring, what spoke to me today was #8 -
                “They focus on making small, continuous improvements.”
Think about that one for a moment - people who achieve the success they want in life focus on making small, continuous improvements.  Baby steps…that’s what it is all about.  Taking those tiny baby steps one at a time, watching them add up to that great big leap off the mountain into that valley called success.  I have spent years “wanting” to do something, whatever it is but never reaching for it because it seemed impossible.  Let’s start putting this baby steps lesson into some real life analogies.

I had lap band surgery in 2004.  A year later and 100 pounds lighter, still weighing more than 300 pounds I realized it was time for some exercise and it needed to be more than just walking around.  As I analyzed this more I found 10,001 reasons why I couldn’t - I had a bad knee, I had breathing problems, I didn’t have the time, yada yada, yada.  Then I thought I will NEVER be athletic or particularly fit - how could I be, I started this out at 424 pounds barely able to get my rear out of bed in the morning.  Why should I bother trying.  More reasons why I could not exercise.  I was embarrassed; everyone would be looking at me at the gym and laughing at me and so on and so forth.  I would never run or swim a race, or be strong enough or good enough.  All of this negative self talk that I had been listening to and repeating for years.  This is what had prevented me from being successful.  I looked at what I really wanted to accomplish here- what would success at exercising look like for me at 300+ pounds?  It wouldn’t be running a marathon, competing in an iron man, or anything of the sort.  It would be finding a way to get in 30 minutes per day of aerobic activity to :

• Build muscle
• Speed up my metabolism
• Facilitate my weight loss
• Improve my moods and emotional balance
• Improve the quality of my life

When I looked at from the point of view of the benefits exercise would provide me I was able to think past I CAN’T.  Now what you ask?

Now it was time to make a plan that could work.  Time to not ask all of my weight loss surgery buddies what they were doing for exercise but for ME to come up with something to try that I might actually like enough, or dislike so little, that I would repeat it at least 3 times weekly for starters.  Baby steps…

My answer was swimming because :

• I love the water
• I know how to swim
• I had scuba diving as one of my “bucket list” items for being a normal weight
• The water supported all of my body weight without putting pressure on my joints, especially my bad knee

Now I had this mini list of reasons why I COULD.

What happened next?  I found an indoor pool (no excuses regarding the weather) and tried it out.  I found a bathing suit in size 300 pounds and put my body in the water and swam 1 lap.  I was exhausted when I was done, but I did it!  My target was 3 times weekly so 2 days later I went back and did it again only this time I swam 3 laps before pooping out totally.  Yup, and 2 days later once again I found myself in the water, this timing gaining another lap before exhaustion struck. 

At the end of a year I was swimming 5-7 days a week for anywhere from 30 minutes to a full hour.  SUCCESS!  How was it achieved, one baby step at a time.  I was motivated by my own mini successes and as I found the rest of the world fading away while I swam laps I was motivated to push myself a little more each time and was more excited by my accomplishment of adding a lap in the pool then I could ever imagine. 

Where am I today, 7+ years after swimming one lap in the pool?  I am maintaining my 250 pound weight loss, swimming for at least ½ hour 3 times weekly, sweating on the elliptical 3-4 times weekly for ½ hour and resistance training 2 times weekly.  I bicycle ride for fun (and exercise) and take long walks on the beach just because I CAN and I like it!  I am 64 years old and have more muscle on my body now than I did at 34 and am darn proud of it.  All because I took that first baby step.

What’s next for me?  I’m not sure in the wonderful world of exercise and fitness, but I am sure that whatever it is, I will break it down into small continuous improvements.

So just how do you eat an elephant?  ………………………………………………….

ONE BITE AT A TIME!

What can you take on in small, continuous improvements?