Someone to Spur You On

It's been a long time since I have attempted to genuinely face my need to improve my diet and exercise.  Like many of us, the pandemic derailed some of my efforts in that directly.  I'd known that my activities were being restricted by my knee pain and had just made an appointment to see an orthopedic doctor to have my knee looked at when the pandemic hit.   My appointment was canceled, and I just recently got back at it.

It was my sister, that moved the dial in my motivation.   She'd come out to help my Mom who was in the hospital. We were staying on the 4th floor of a hotel there.   Each time went back and forth from our car or simply to grab breakfast, we'd dawn the four flights of stairs.  One morning she gave me this look that she thought, I was a bit too winded.  With all this focus on Mom's care, I guess it hit home that I needed to get a grip on my own.

We agreed to share our fitness and diet plans with each other and spur each other on.  Some would call this an accountability partner.  Anyway, it's been an encouragement to be able to share my efforts, disappointments and successes with my sister these past few months.  I've begun to make some forward progress.

The biggest win for me has been the commitment to strengthen the muscles around my knee.  Between going to the physical therapist and chiropractor, I have begun to regain stability in my troublesome left knee.  I don't anticipate that I'll ever have the full functioning I once enjoyed when I used to run, but I'm hoping that it will support increased cardio workouts so that I'll have better stamina. 

Another win has been seeing the success my sister has had with tracking her diet.  I'd been there and done that with only limited results; honestly, I'd given up on it.   With her encouragement, I've regained confidence in tracking what I'm eating and it is making a difference in my level of hope around being to affect positive change in my weigth.