For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.
-Aristotle

Tell Us Your Story!

Healthy Utah invites you to share your wellness success story. By doing so, we are able to educate our members of the importance of making healthy changes for life. They will be a resource and inspiration to help others improve their health. Download a Success Story Form (Word document).

David's Story, May 2008

Hang in there - It’s a War of Attrition

Let it be known that I am no fan of “diet and exercise” in any shape or form. Over the years I have always been “healthy enough to do what I wanted to do” but not athletic. Several attempts to improve things with an occasional diet here, the odd exercise program there, never really provided lasting results and proved more discouraging than helpful.

My January 2007 Healthy Utah testing session revealed that my preoccupation with the demands of life and work had maneuvered me into a regime of poor diet, reduced activity, and a deteriorating sense of wellbeing that was not destined to end well if allowed to continue. During the preceding 6 years or so, IT in particular had been subjected to successive improvement initiatives while enduring a constant growth in the volume and complexity of operational demands amid growing customer expectations.

Though it is difficult to gauge the exact human toll that such an environment will impart over time, there comes a point when something has to give. In both Life Saving (at sea) and First Aid training I was always taught that the number-one patient was myself; since you can’t save or treat anyone if you are in some distress of your own.

Clearly it was time to face up to some grim realities that I had hitherto gleefully ignored and, looking back on past efforts, it occurred to me that the sporadic diets and exercise binges hadn’t really failed, they just hadn’t been given the right chance to succeed. Whenever either of those initiatives came to a conclusion, it was the return to unhelpful habits that reversed any temporary good that they may have done.

To reverse the downward trend that my wellbeing had taken, and achieve some lasting improvement, I was obviously going to have to implement some moderate lifestyle changes from this point forward. As the title suggests, this “war of attrition” means that this narrative is not really a “Success Story”, merely a Progress Report.

Things I am learning along the way:

Motivation:

• Less in, More out (it’s that simple)
• It’s your current lifestyle that is preventing your success (Nothing is going to change if you don’t change something)
• You are your number 1 patient and you’re doing it for yourself, no-one else.
• You’re not exercising, you’re extending life (in both quantity and quality)
  

Momentum:

• Do something and do it regularly (30 minutes a day, 6 days a week will give you an easier routine to follow than 60 minutes a day, 3 days a week – with the latter you’ll find excuses not to go)
  
• There will be days when you feel tired after just a couple of minutes (that’s okay, take a relaxing exercise day – your first step is getting into the routine of consistently doing something)
• If you can’t (or don’t want to) afford a gym, just go for a walk. Check out the neighborhood, get some gardening ideas (and vary your route, not your time)

Moderation:

• Don’t over exert yourself with sudden, intermittent bursts of activity (You’ll injure muscle and you won’t stick at it)
• Don’t try to keep up with the person on the machine next to you (They’re working to their ability, you stick to yours and look for steady improvement)
• Use common sense in your diet (If your treadmill/elliptical says you burned 300 calories, read the packaging and see just how little 300 calories is. Also, rediscover what a “portion” is – the restaurants and marketing folks have done a great job of dispatching that information to obscurity)
• If you don’t want to work it off, don’t eat it.

Maximizing:

• When you’re in a routine with the “regular” exercise, the addition of some weight or resistance training will help build lean muscle (which burns fat all by itself, even when it’s doing nothing).
• As above, work within your means and comfort level, and take your time.

Results so far:

• Sustained weight loss in year one – 28 lbs
• Total Cholesterol reduced from 282 (High risk) to 195 (Desirable)
• HDL Cholesterol increased from 49 to 52 (Desirable, moving in the right direction)
• BP 128/80 down to 122/74 (the significance escapes me)

I haven’t figured out the Stress thing yet because the daily demands have not gone away. I do, however, wake naturally at 5:25 a.m. just before the alarm (which is annoying on the weekend) and I get a half hour of “mind time” while on the elliptical to mentally organize the day ahead. Perhaps this is as good as it gets.

Final observations:

• Hardest day to get up and go to the gym - the day after the above results came in. (remember: It’s a journey, not a destination)
• Hardest day to not pig-out at the restaurant - when the PEHP rebate checks arrive.
• Best way to stay on track – Use the Healthy Utah Testing Sessions to track your progress (It’s a bit like Weight Watchers, I imagine, only a whole lot cheaper).

Good luck on your own “journey” - in the eternal words of Red Green “I’m pulling for you, we’re all in this together”.