The snow dissipates. 

 The springtime flowers emerge. 

  Man regenerates.

–Haiku by Frederick M. Maynard, M.D.

 

Regeneration is my goal now that spring has arrived. And especially now that my doctor just ordered me to lose ten pounds by Halloween or else! The “else” would be unwanted medication with weird unpredictable side effects, and gradual systemic breakdown ultimately leading to disease and death. Not good.

So that’s it! I am sick of being almost 50 pounds too heavy. This situation is embarrassing, serious, disgusting, and super scary. I must lose weight or become morbidly obese. Yuk! Who needs that repugnant label next to your name?

It’s up to me. Yeah sure, obesity’s an American epidemic. Yeah sure, taking off pounds and pounds of fat is hard. Especially for someone who is a sedentary wheelchair user, like me. But there are a lot of American polio survivors that use wheelchairs who are not so overweight. I truly believe that “all things are possible,” in spite of being difficult. All I have to do is look around me to see the success stories.

So, how will I do what my physician firmly advised?  It’s gonna take resolve, a new diet, and more exercise. I hope that sharing my story publicly might help others who are struggling with the same issue. Maybe writing this post will keep me accountable to my reading audience of friends as well? I am now cooking up an action plan and will be checking in with a progress note to you once a month on this blog through October. I am hereby altering my personal perspective on getting rid of my extra pounds, choosing to eat fresh foods with smarter carbohydrates and less sugar, and exercising more often–under the prescribed guidelines for polio survivors.

For starters today, here are three more specific wellness ideas–“recipes for regeneration”– that can become part of the action plan…

Recipe One: Emotional, Intellectual, and Spiritual Resolve

Step One: I dig deep. Way deep. Back to the unflinching resolve that I learned during my childhood rehab from acute polio. Set a goal and achieve it. Polio survivors know how to do that well. I can feel it. That perspective is coming back to me.  I dig deep and take the first steps. My willpower gets stronger as I keep moving.

Step Two: I focus. My eyes are narrowing. My grinding grit and laser drive to succeed take me back to that stubborn, dedicated, unrelenting, hard core self. Now I have engaged an unrelenting commitment to eat properly and go to the gym to workout. I connect to WeightWatchers Online and plan my weekly menus. I have engaged a super-friend to help me cook. I plan to  workout at my gym three to five times per week. Then I’ll report to my inner circle of close friends at the end of each week on how many times I got there. My daily schedule will revolve around these critical tactics to achieve that new health goal: ten pounds off by late October!

Step Three: I pray.  May the Lord give me the daily inspiration to continue this journey back to wellness and regeneration. I wasn’t born overweight. I don’t have to be so heavy now. And may I have the heart and eyes to be open to this spiritual blessing to me and others as I find joy and little miracles of support and encouragement all along the way.

Recipe Two: A Lovely Spring Soup

Here is a very tasty, low calorie soup that I discovered last week. (Found it at WeightWatchers Online.)  Just thought you might like to try it sometime…

Recipe Three: A New Workout Technique

When I go to the gym, one thing I do is workout on the NuStep machine. Ever seen one or used one? It’s a great option because one doesn’t need much leg power to use it, but it can provide an aerobic workout. How to effectively pace the workout is a key for burning calories without overdoing the exercise.

Here is a method I just learned from Frederick M. Maynard, M.D., well-known physiatrist and medical expert on the late effects of polio and post-polio disability.  He is a man who works out to stay healthy himself, so he also speaks from personal experience.

Dr. Maynard writes:

New Workout Exercise Research finds significant benefits for High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) compared to Conventional Aerobic Training (CAT). HIIT is ideally performed for only 20 minutes 3 times per week and involves alternating 60 seconds of ‘high intensity exertion,’ defined as 7-8 on a 1-10 perceived intensity of exertion scale and/or 80%-90% of estimated maximum heart rate. CAT is performed for 20-40 minutes at moderate to high intensity exertion continuously 5 times per week.

Researchers found that although CAT burned more calories per session than HIIT, people who did 15 weeks of HIIT burned 900% more fat than those who did 20 weeks of CAT, likely because it resulted in a significant increase in Basal Metabolic rate.

What might this mean to polio survivors? It has long been recommended that polio survivors utilize principles of Interval Training in order to make participation in Aerobic Training possible, given their common limitations of moderate to severe weakness in limb muscles. This research suggests that if a person’s primary goal for doing an exercise program is to achieve weight loss, then doing it with an HIIT approach may help obtain the desired outcome.

Here are the steps to try this out:

1) Pick a feasible activity: stationary bicycle, NuStep, swimming, arm ergometry, treadmill walking, etc. It needs to be an activity that can be performed without struggle, be possible to engage in 3 to 4 times per week and be done briefly without risk of harm at moderate intensity levels.

2) Do the activity at low comfortable levels of exertion for 3 to 5 minutes as a warm up.

3) Then do a speed interval of the activity at as high an intensity as possible (faster and/or harder resistance) for 30 seconds, with a goal of doing it for 60 seconds at gradually higher intensities.

4) Then do a rest break or light interval for 30-60 seconds, the same length of time as the speed interval. Keep doing the activity at a leisurely or comfortable speed during this interval.

5) Repeat the speed interval and rest interval for 2 or 3 times, and build up to a goal of a 20-minute session or bout of exercise.

6) Do a bout of exercise every other day or 3 times per week.

This approach to exercising for weight loss and improved fitness for polio survivors has not been scientifically studied or proven to be effective. However, in my opinion, it makes sense to try to incorporate as many of the principles of HIIT as possible into any polio survivor’s exercise program. Many polio survivors may need the professional advice and coaching of a doctor, therapist or trainer to be able to conduct these programs effectively. The long-established important principles of pacing and avoiding overuse injury or harm must still be honored.

Please share your experiences of trying this approach out with us by way of the comment section below.

My personal regeneration program just started.

Am off to the gym now…

 

 

More Later,

Sunny

Points to Ponder:

Do you have any practical ideas to share with us on successful weight loss tactics for people living with polio?

Have you ever lost weight and kept it off? How did you do it?

_______________________________________________________________

P.S. If you found this article helpful and enjoyed “the read,” you may want to subscribe–free of charge–to receive an email every 10 days or so, announcing the latest post.

Just go to the right sidebar here to sign up.

____________________________________________________________________