If you are anything like me in my 40's, than you know how hard it is to find the motivation to start exercising. What made me think that I was suddenly going to start working on my health from the perspective of better exercise? Here's what it took and what I finally did to change things.

BOB
Bob was a wonderful friend and dental patient of mine. I met Bob in Bible Study Fellowship and he was already in his 70's. He was a true gentleman. He was sharp, polite and always well put together. Bob was also in great shape for his age. I remember mentioning that to him at one of his dental appointments and he remarked how he had a real turn around in his 50's.

Prior to that, he had been a smoker and a real Type-A personality who travelled the world for business. I forget what it was that motivated him, but at some point he decided to start running. On the first day, he put on some tennis shoes and tried to run around the block. He made it to the mail box about three houses away and walked back, but that did not dissuade him from going back out the next day. So, he threw out his cigarettes and quit smoking. By the end of the week, he was running down to the corner and walking back. By the end of the month, he was able to run around his block.

By the time I met Bob, he had run in the San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Boston Marathon races. Bob taught me that you are never too out of shape and you are never too old to do something big.

MID-AGE MANIACS
Speaking of doing something big, I joined a Facebook group called Mid-Age Maniacs that was started by a few friends. Here is the description from the page:

“Do you recognize the need and benefit for men and women to be pushing physical limits into and past middle age? From physical benefits, to mental and emotional health benefits, to setting an active example for our kids and grandkids, middle age guys and gals need to spend less time on the couch and more time out there crushing it.
It doesn’t matter what you’re into: 5k’s or marathons, MMA or tai chi, Crossfit or yoga, trail running, mountain biking, rock climbing, 100 mile craziness, calf roping, or whatever. Just be into SOMETHING! And CRUSH it.”

This group was full of stories of people in their 40's and beyond who were doing big and scary things. Some were taking on a marathon or a half-marathon, others running a 5K/10K, some walking, some hiking and others were just taking on a big task. I lurked, I read, and I got inspired by others stories.

LAURA'S STORY
One of those people who inspired me was a friend named Laura. She had started her transformation several years prior. Like Bob, Laura was also a dental patient. What makes the stories of my patients so interesting is the noticeable results based on the gaps of time between visits. When you only see someone every six months the changes are very evident.

At one point, Laura came in my office and the physical change in her body was clear. We asked her to share her story and she told us that she had lost 125 pounds using Weight Watchers. I was absolutely blown away. First, we calculated that she had technically lost the weight of my dental assistant. As if the physical changes were not dramatic enough, just recognizing that she had been lugging around another human being was incredible. Second, was the knowledge and understanding that Laura had been at it for several years. She was a picture of determination and her story was inspiring to me.

Laura's story and transformation pushed me over the edge. She was looking and more importantly feeling better. It was because of her that I was inspired to make small changes and wait for the results. She eventually joined the Mid-Age Maniacs and I still continue to be inspired by the things she knocks off her list of big scary things. She has gone from a non-walker to a bad-ass runner! Such an inspiration to me and I hope to you too!

ARTHUR'S STORY
One morning I was scanning Facebook and I came across a video. If you are on social media, I'm sure you have seen the same video about a guy named Arthur who discovered yoga. I will post it here. Watch it now!

Arthur's story continues to amaze me. He went from being injured to be an amazing practitioner of yoga. To say that his transformation encourage me was an understatement. I purchased the videos and began practicing DDP Yoga.

Did I see the same transformation? Not quite, but I did realize a few things. I was horribly out of shape and I did find small changes in my body. I was able to touch my toes and my flexibility improved. It also proved to me that change was not going to happen over night. It took long term commitment and an element of sticking to it.

WALKING WALKING WALKING
All of these stories started fitting together at the same time that I was being hit by waves of depression and stress. I have posted about this before, but this is where my need to get out and walk took off. Taking the kids or the dogs on a walk really helped me battle my stress and depression. I would often drive to the local college and walk anywhere from 1 to 5 miles with my dogs or kids.

One of the things that I began to notice was that walking causes you to slow down. You see more things, you smell more things and you experience all the things you miss when you speed by in a car. It was intoxicating. Suddenly, I wanted to walk more and more. I asked everyone I knew to join me. Cold, Rain, Heat or Fog. I found myself waking up at 5AM so I could get in a few miles before work. I planned long walks into my vacation time and kept pushing myself to get faster and walk farther.

You would think that life out in the country would make walking fun. Nope! There is something about roaming dogs in the country that takes all the fun out of a walk in the orchards. Instead, I got to know the neighborhoods around my office and found myself walking everyday at lunch too.

I also took up hiking and found myself driving out to the local river where I could hike for miles at a time. The kids came regularly and the dogs loved being free to run in and out of the river. Everytime someone came to visit I invited them out for a walk in the trails and rivers of eastern Stanislaus county.

I don't want to miss one other result of all this walking. I remember reading the biography of Steve Jobs where he mentioned taking walks to work through ideas and creative projects at Apple. When people came to visit him, he would ask them to take a walk. Friends, co-workers, family members, ministry partners were asked to join me. It works! Don't believe me? Give it a go.

CH...CH...CH...CHANGES
I'm not sure what exactly changed in me, but I did begin to recognize that people were asking me if I had lost weight. Talk about motivation! That was like pure gasoline in my tank of motivation.

The patients were the first to notice. Again, 6 months makes a difference in the way someone looks. Eventually it was friends and then family members who noticed that my clothes looked and fit my body differently. It seemed that everyone wanted to know what I had done. Thanks to Bob, Arthur and Laura I was able to share the truth: Slow and Steady Wins the Race! There is no fast solution to reversing 45 years of bad habits.

I started a hashtag on Instagram and Twitter: #walkingawaymyType2 so I could go back and chronicle my efforts. Follow the links to see what I am talking about!

There was only one problem with all of this: My blood sugars were still not dropping. There was one final change I needed to make. In my next post, I'll share the biggest component that helped me turn the corner in my transformation: an entire new way of eating!

Quietly making noise,
Fletch

READ THE WHOLE SERIES
Introduction
PART 1: Middle Age Status
PART 2: Fatty Liver Disease
PART 3: Ironman Is Here
PART 4: Hypertension
PART 5: Bloody Noses and a Tumor
PART 6: Stress and Depression
PART 7: Diagnosis: Diabetes!
PART 8: Get Out and Get Walking!
PART 9: Kicking Sugar to the Curb!