Exercise and Fitness Forum

By Linda Algazi, PhD

You have taken the plunge into a healthier lifestyle. Congratulations!

Whether you are at the beginning of a new journey or well into your post-surgery resolve, there is are a few things we already know about you. You have demonstrated the courage needed to take a new kind of bite out of life. The decision to have weight loss surgery was not an easy one to make. We know that you are a brave soul who knows how to take action. There is at least a part of you who knows you?re worth it ... the optimistic part that looks forward to the future. We know that you are someone who has dreams. We also know that inside you is an athlete.

You may not believe it. ?An athlete? Ha, Ha!? you say. But it is true! That athlete lives in your head. Your body is only the instrument your mind uses to take more steps, lift more weights, run faster or do any other physical activity. That is, of course, when and if the inner athlete in your head chooses to take action.

Your commitment to an ongoing fitness routine is the next step toward regaining and maintaining a healthy lifestyle. But just as no one forced you into choosing your surgery, no one can make you exercise. You have some new and difficult decisions to make for yourself.

Do you want to get old fast? Do you choose to retain your flexibility and strength? In your mind?s eye, can you picture yourself running at the beach or playing volleyball? Does it interest you to be able to roll around on the floor with your children or grandchildren?

?Okay, so I?ll join a gym,? you say. Sure, it?s what we want to hear ... but starting an exercise program is kind of like starting a diet. Sticking to either is the difficult part.
It takes work to stick to your resolve. For that, you will need a few tools: goal-setting skills, motivation and imagination.

The first step is to set fitness goals for yourself. If you choose to be fit, you?re going to have to make plans and become accountable to yourself or somebody else. If you don?t have some kind of blueprint, it is simply not going to happen. Your goals need to be:

• Believable - I will walk my dog.
• Specific - I will walk my dog every night
• Stated in Positive Terms - I will walk my dog after dinner and then I will alow myself to watch TV, instead of I will not watch TV until I take my walk.
• Measurable - I will start by walking a half mile a day and increase it every week by a quarter mile until I am walking two miles a day, or I will wear a pedometer and keep walking every day until I reach 10,000 steps.
• Realistic - Ask yourself, Can I accomplish this?
• Controllable - Can you do the fitness activity yourself? Do you need help? Can you identify where help is available?

The next key is to develop and maintain your motivation. Let us assume you have gotten your plan together. You have identified an activity that makes you happy and will do the job of keeping you flexible and fit. You have committed to doing whatever it is three times a week. And then ... you get a cold! You take a ?break? from your program, and the next thing you know it is six weeks later and you are back to your old habits. What can you do to jumpstart your efforts?

• Find an exercise buddy - If you are accountable to someone else, it is easier to stay motivated.
• Change activities - At least for a while, it may be more interesting to try something new.
• Review your motivation - Are you still dedicated to improving your overall ability to enjoy life? (Do you remember how you felt when you were participating more fully?) Weren't you really more energized...sexier? Do you want to lose your weight at a quicker pace?)
• Review all your victories - Take credit for the good decisions you have been making. Celebrate them. That makes it easier to get back on the path of "healthy righteousness."
• Remind yourself that you need a good plan - The more you plan for success, the more there will continue to be.
• Choose images to help you keep going - Put some "before" pictures in plain view. Add some more recent ones of your more active lifestyle. Choose a "hero" (someone whose active life you admire) and put his or her picture up along with yours.

From time to time you may find that your inner athlete has stalled. You can help get it going again bycalling upon that part of yourself to direct the action in your ?mind?s eye.? You won?t burn any extra calories doing this, but the imagery you create may just get you going ? and keep you going.

• Close your eyes (leave them closed for 20 minutes) and imagine a limber and flexible "you" go through whatever paces you have designated as helpful and fun.
• Now, create a picture of yourself the way you choose to be.
• Visualize all the benefits that the exercising is creating for you in the rest of your life.
• Remind yourself how good it is to feel comfortable in your own skin...how you are almost there and how you deserve to succeed and maintain you resolve

Dr. Linda Algazi is a clinical psychologist in private practice for over 20 years. She is an author, teacher, researcher and has been a prizewinning syndicated columnist. Dr. Algazi's book, A Hundred Pounds Thinner, Life After Obesity Surgery, was based on real-life stories of patients in her Orange County, California, bariatric patient groups.