We go through life hearing many of these phrases. 

• It takes a community. 
• Don’t go it alone. 
• Change takes time. 
• Exercise is good for the soul. 
• Be grateful & express why your are grateful on a daily basis.

When I look back perhaps the phrase most important to me is:  It takes a community.  Through my experience I learned to ask for help, be open to receiving that help, make the investment, & then make the change…no matter what it takes.

Sometimes it takes great stress for me to realize that I am all out of whack.  For me to change it took a gram slam of events:  COVID19, a death in the family from COVID19, a divorce, & a heart attack – all at nearly the same time.  As a heart attack survivor I knew with surety that I was taking decades off my life living the way I was.  I had to answer the BIG question:  ‘What is important?”  

The graph of my weight & health is what you might expect – a great big yo-yo.  Both went up & down for many, many years.  My overall health, my fitness, my eating habits, my weight, my attitude, my mental health, & nearly every other metric varied with the seasons.  I did not have a reliable home base.  My practices where all out of whack. 

I took the advice of smart people who care.  I started to exercise.  I started a meditation practice.  After a few months & COVID restrictions lifted a bit, I sought out several professionals to help me make HUGE changes.  I had a lot to learn about attitude, gratitude, acceptance, proper nutrition, proper exercise, avoid injury, patience, & consistency.

The first step was winter training to build strength & stability.  My strength coach, Tristin Stillings at Axiom Parkcenter, developed a plan (including restrictions to avoid injury of weakened joints), encouraged me & pushed me to build physical stability.  This served as a foundation for my seasonal return to outdoor cycling, swimming, & limited running when summer finally arrived. 

The next step was meeting Coach Michelle who put structure to my swimming & cycling training.  I am a former competitive swimmer so the experience & muscle memory wasn’t buried very deep.  Due to consistent practice from late winter to early summer, I can now swim much faster & farther than I have in many years!  And I have rediscovered that wonderful trance-like state you can find during long swims.

My cycling training plan has helping me improve my endurance & overall health.  It contains a mixture of shorter, faster rides, longer rides, sport-specific strengthening, & much more mobility work.  I am rebuilding.  I need to remember what is important.  I am not a cycling competitor.  To support this mindset I took the cleats off, I put the jersey away, & I wear a regular T-shirt.  I love the feel of just pedaling & dropping into the trance – meditation on a bike…lovely & healthy. 

Although these changes were helpful, I was concerned that they weren’t enough to get me off the yo-yo pattern.  I worried that I could easily slip back into old habits.  I needed another professional.  Coach Michelle sent me to registered dietician, Erin Green to work on the nutrition piece, the piece that will get me off the yo-yo & into a sustainable & healthy lifestyle.  My nutrition sucks.  Period.

I have a stressful job.  It drives me nuts.  Food is one of my stress outlets.  I like nearly everything edible.  Erin patiently worked with me while I hemmed & hawed around the dietary changes needed to maintain a health life style.  I HAD to change the way I eat.  That message was coming in loud & clear from ALL the professionals I was working with.  These are all the people that I asked to help me.  Pro’s helping a guy in recovery.  I had to listen. I had to change.  It still isn’t perfect.  It is an ideal.  And a goal.

But change is happening.  VERY slowly.

One surprising thing I had to implement early on was a sustainable daily calorie intake. For me, that was about 800 calories more than I would typically eat.  I was learning that 1400 calories per day combined with several 43-mile rides per week is not sustainable.  This was one of the contributors to my yo-yo pattern – don’t eat enough, lose weight…eat too much, gain weight.  Now, losing weight is not the priority.  I am now proving to myself that I can eat properly over time.  When I do that, weight loss will come.  Healthful eating & proper exercise are required first.  

I have the remainder of the summer to implement the skills & training put in place by my coaches.  My winter training resumes in November…with the assistance of “my team” because the winter is when I often choose ride the other side of the yo-yo.  Winter is when I will need the additional assistance to solidify these changes into a lifetime practice.

Attitude, gratitude, & acceptance.  Ask for help & listen.  I am grateful for the people at St. Luke’s who saved my life last year.  I am grateful for the many people who have patiently prodded me this far.  I am grateful for the thousands of people I have seen while riding the Greenbelt that chose to smile & say ‘hi’.  I am grateful for the plans that I have been given.  Follow the plans as you are able.  They are ideals which means that you may not follow them exactly.  This does not make you a failure.  Rather they provide the goal that you can strive for over time.  I am grateful to have the opportunity to work to reach my goals!