Adjustments had to be made. For most of the first part of this year, I had no gym habit, nor really any exercise habit. Part of it was the depths to which I submerged myself in finishing the novel, another part is an instinct I have to stay at home when money is getting tight, even though the membership is paid for.
But a genuine, maybe-it-means-I’m-weak-to-admit part was that the pain in my foot was becoming a round-the-clock hindrance. I was having to spend time in the evenings of normal days elevating and icing it. The bedeviling part about plantar problems is that you are re-injuring yourself just by walking around. So even my beloved daily walks went by the wayside.
My weight crept up by a little, not so much as to be alarming. What was worse was that I felt my conditioning dropping away: the stamina and muscle. I feel like I get more sensitive to heat every year, and ever since the summer hit it has been pulverizing on top of that new fatigue.
But last month I made it back to the gym, and then again, and then again, and now I seem to be in a pattern of going every third day. This suits my body well, even though it means the workouts fall on different days every week. Look – I’m not the genius who structured our week as a prime number. It’s hard to divide.
And I made sure each exercise protected my foot, to the extent I could. I kept the walks out of the picture, did more bicycling.
The results have been good, I feel my metabolism cranking back up, I’ve lost some of the weight and am back where I like to be, and some muscle is reappearing. But most importantly, the pain is receding. There are days now where I’m not aware of a problem at all. It’s more like a potential then a pain sometimes – still there, still flaring up when I’m not careful, but maybe some healing has happened. Maybe, if I keep taking care, I won’t need to consider surgery.
I’m incredibly glad I found a way to do something. I know a lot of people struggle because something or other physical makes standard exercize difficult, and that can really lead to a downward spiral. The gung-ho gurus of the sweat world are always emphasizing that you have to have the mentality that your exercise time is non-negotiable. If you can’t stand, wave your arms from your seat. I have easier choices than that, thank the Maker.