Posted on June 15th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Exercise, Motivation, Organized events, Training |
Motivation is among the most important things that anyone dealing with a health condition–let alone someone who is training for an athletic event or just for weight loss–has to deal with.
What motivates me? My primary motivation is to outlive my mother, and also to see my nine year old niece grow up. After my father (also a diabetic, but one who never knew it–and neither did anyone else until he had the stroke that eventually caused his death) passed away, one of my primary jobs became taking care of my mother. And part of doing the jobs that my dad did was also caring for my then one year old niece, who is now nine.
Success also motivates me. This past week I ordered a couple of pairs of Tactical 5.11 pants off of eBay with a 36 inch waist–almost all of my pants are 38 and they’re all way loose–and I found the 36 loose as well. Looking at old pictures of myself (which I’m planning to put up here at some point) also motivates me. And seeing folks around my age who are in some ways struggling with their health–like my cousin, a year older than me but heavier than I ever was at my peak and on medication for cardiac issues as well as diabetes–also motivates me.
Signing up for organized events motivates me, as I get more structure in my training program and more defined goals–plus I love being in them, just because I feel more part of a group and I like the t shirt at the end. And seeing some of the participants is motivating–in the Honolulu Marathon I limped through badly last year, for example, not only were there elderly marathoners, there was a double amputee and a blind woman with guide. If they could do it, I could do it too–and I did, even if barely.
Interestingly, if you notice, there’s not a lot there that’s negative in terms of motivating me. I don’t say that I want to keep my limbs, my vision, my kidney function–even though I do. As a guy who works largely with children and teaches parenting, one of the things I believe is that negative consequences are great in the short term for stopping negative behavior, but long term positive behavior is far better encouraged with positive consequences, so in this case, I stick to the positive.
There’s no one way to motivate yourself–or anyone else. What motivates me may not be what motivates you, and I’d like to hear from the readers: now that you know what motivates me, tell me, what motivates you?
Posted on June 12th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Social aspects |
I’m not perfect; I’m often tempted by food. A friend of mine who is vegetarian but was an omnivore up through early adulthood used to tell me that even after years of not eating meat, his mouth would still water at the smell of it. “It never goes away,” he would tell me. One of […]
Posted on June 11th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Exercise |
There are people in my life who will tell me that I have no concept of rest. I would disagree. The truth is, I know what rest is–I may just not do as much of it as necessary. Rest is definitely important. You can’t stress your muscles all the time. While I try to do […]
Posted on June 10th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Family |
Having lunch over the weekend at work–I’ve now worked 15 of the last 16 days–one of the nurses I worked with commented that, “Food is good,” then looked at me and stated, “but for you, food is the enemy.” It’s a double edged sword, this relationship diabetics have with food. Like most but certainly not […]
Posted on June 9th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise |
Hypoglycemia–low blood sugar–is the biggest enemy of the athletic diabetic. Sometimes more food is necessary before a workout session. While I try to figure out more snacks during workdays (mostly I have cheese and almonds; in the past I’ve had organic peanut butter as well), Triple Workout Thursday is posing a unique challenge. It’s pretty […]
Posted on June 8th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Social aspects |
Write it down. These are three words I say all the time. I say it to my clients in parenting class every week; I say it to my coworkers who try to pass off information of importance to me verbally every day; and I say it to myself about just about anything important that comes […]
Posted on June 5th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Exercise, Motivation, Social aspects |
It’s true, at least as far as working out goes. I have a lot of goals. I don’t reach all of them. Even my exercise goals are the same way–I have a plan, if I don’t reach it, then the next week (or month or year) I need to change the plan. For instance, this […]
Posted on June 4th, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Medical care, Weight loss |
While diabetes is a huge issue for the diabetic, it’s not their only health issue in the vast majority of cases. Besides the actual diabetes, frequently they also have hypertension (high blood pressure) and hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol), as well as obesity. In my case, I had all three. Only the first two were treated with […]
Posted on June 3rd, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Motivation |
I’m struggling. I’m struggling even more than my last post would let on, and my weight hasn’t gone down–in fact, it’s gone up a pound or two recently. I’ve also been having difficulty getting up in the morning regularly to do rides or runs. In fact, the only thing I’ve been able to get done […]
Posted on June 2nd, 2009 by ryan
Filed under Diet, Exercise, Medical care |
I think having a great primary care physician–not just a doctor who is smart, because there are tons of those, but someone you can trust and talk to–is really important. I was blessed with a couple of great ones. Some of the things that are pretty likely if you have diabetes is that the physician […]