Despite Adversity

Like many of us in the first month of a new year, I made new year’s resolutions. Like many of us, a portion of that centered on my health and wellness. But how do we maintain these commitments to ourselves when we face difficultit’s such as COVID, especially after injury leaves us unable to use vital parts of our body.

When I was younger I was in the gym constantly. All through college I was there 35+ hours a week. Even after a catastrophic shoulder injury that led to a complicated surgery wherein they had to screw my shoulder back together and reattach muscles that had been torn off sidelined my plans to weightlift competitively, I still maintained my physical regimen. After college it became harder and harder to maintain this commitment to activity.

In the years after college I was living in a small apartment, working 60-70 hours a week living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet. I ate when and what I could afford, I can assure you it wasn’t health food I was consuming on this meager allowance, and poured more of my time and energy into working. I still maintained a gym membership and tried to make it in on a regular basis but as this went on, it became less and less of a priority. I did make some strides when I cancelled my gym membership and bought a few sets of dumbbells. It takes less commitment when you can workout right there in your bedroom than when you have to physically travel to a location. There are a myriad of exercises you can do with little or no equipment and I would become well versed in them. This kept on for a while though the downward trend of the priority I placed on it would continue. This was partly because work was sapping all of my energy the longer this continued.

I moved on from that time and got a better job where I could support myself from the one job and even had some leisure money. But the thing was, I was working harder at this one job than I had been at the other two combined. I was working fewer hours but I was drained. I had more time but I had no energy. After a year of this I got some bad news.

When I was a kid, I dislocated my knee. At the time the doctors dismissed it as the complaint of a kid and told me I would get over it. 26 years later I still had not gotten over it so I sought the advice of a doctor who immediately sent me to a surgeon. Looking at X-rays and MRIs, the surgeon informed me that the reason I was still having trouble with it is because when it had originally been dislocated, it never got reset back into place. Since it was never reset, the entire joint developed all wrong. My kneecap was floating on the side of my leg, instead of sitting on my knee, and the joint had become twisted. The good news was I was in the small window of time when this could be fixed but the bad news was it had to be now And it would most likely be at least a year’s recovery.

My job was very physically demanding. I would be unable to perform my duties without the use of my legs, so the beginning of November last year I had to drop everything and go on medical leave without pay. Thanks to Covid this also included a two week quarantine period before my operation. So I get the surgery done the day before thanksgiving. I spend my thanksgiving in a haze of medications and unimaginable pain. This would keep up until the beginning of this year. Which brings me back to the beginning. I had all these grand plans for this year but how could I achieve them when I didn’t have full control of my legs?

The operation I had done was rather extensive. They had to cut my knee joint out, take it apart, put it back together properly, screw the joint back in and tie everything back together with donor ligaments. Pretty gruesome stuff. The end result was me, locked in an immobilizer, unable to move or use my leg for months. I am only just being able to get around on it. This would seem to give me the perfect excuse to sit around all day and play video games or binge Netflix or play video games while binging Netflix. And well this is tempting and I can’t say there haven’t been days lost in this way, I find myself more determined than ever to meet my fitness goals And here’s how.

It began with my diet. Being an active person in a physically demanding job, my diet wasn’t exactly my first priority. I obviously had concerns being a health conscious person but for the most part I ate whatever happened to be on hand. In this new world of limited mobility from both my injury and from the new COVID age we find ourselves, in forcing us to stay isolated, I found myself less active so my diet became a greater priority. Being less active you are burning fewer calories than you were, leaving your body to store these now extra calories as fat. So the first step is consuming fewer calories. This means a healthier diet. Look for lower fat foods, adding more veggies to your diet helps with this. They fill you up with fewer calories and have the added benefit of having all sorts of vitamins and nutrients and such your body needs. Portion control is also important. Don’t starve yourself, but don’t stuff yourself. Don’t overeat, just eat until you are satisfied. It’s important not to starve yourself. It is easier for your body to feed off of muscle than fat and our bodies require a certain amount of nourishment to function properly. If you are used to consuming a certain amount, your body will continue to think it needs this amount to survive, even if it doesn’t. It will start shutting itself down when it thinks it isn’t getting what it needs. By just eating until we are satisfied and no more, despite temptation, gradually our intake will come down but in a gentle, less abrupt manner that puts less strain on our metabolism. Healthy dieting is not about a quick sprint to a goal. People on these fad diets may lose weight for the month or so they are on them but then the second they are off it, their body, which has gone into shock by being deprived of what it (thinks) it needs, overcompensates and starts hoarding everything it has been missing causing people to balloon back up to their old weight and often times beyond. These slow, gradual changes are sustainable, not putting strain on your body, and are the building blocks to a healthier lifestyle which should be the true goal of any health and wellness endeavor.

The next step was to be more physically active, despite limitations. This is often times a struggle and takes sheer force of will. Again, it is a marathon. If on day one we do a multiple hour, high intensity workout, the next day we are tired and sore and unmotivated. Instead, set small goals. Maybe it might start as just 20 minutes of simple movements, at this stage anything helps, it’s about getting the ball rolling. Creating the foundation for future building. The key is to not become complacent. Don’t fall into the rhythm of doing the same simple things day in and day out. Over time our body acclimates to activities and while some activity is always better than no activity, it is no longer as good as when you first began. Instead, as things become easier to you, up the difficulty. Start turning simple movements to more complicated ones. Maybe gradually add weight. Dumbbells are your friends in this. They are relatively inexpesive as equipment goes and don’t take up a lot of space. Plus they are much more versatile than other, more specialized equipment. You can use them to work pretty much any and every muscle group in your body. Set yourself new goals. Whether this is weekly or monthly or just as you feel it is needed but push yourself! Keep it gradual and sustainable, sustainability is the key for any health endeavor, and don’t burn yourself out.

Finally work around adversity. Whether you are stuck in a house or apartment, unable to get out into the fresh air, or stuck because of an injury or incapacity, or like me; both, find ways to work around. If you’re not able to get out, find ways to get cardio exercise in the space you find yourself in. Whether this means walking around the house or walking in place, or doing cardio exercises like jumping jacks or burpees. These are all great exercises that require little space, and no equipment but get your heart pumping! If you are limited by a physical limitation, as I currently am, this too can be worked around. I may not currently have use of my legs, but everything above the waist works just fine. So instead of seeing this as a setback, I am taking it as an opportunity to focus on my upper body, to be followed but some extensive leg days when I can use them again!

So to sum it all up, health is a marathon, not a sprint. It is all about small, gradual changes that can be sustained for a lifetime. Don’t become complacent, set new challenges and goals for yourself but make sure they are attainable, don’t burn yourself out! And finally, to use the old cliche, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. Find ways to work around obstacles, no matter their origin. By following these simple principles we can all become healthier versions of ourselves in this year and for many years to come. Stay safe everybody!