I mentioned the concept of poco a poco (Italian for little by little) in my last post. The results of getting started with small steps towards any goal can eventually be life changing – especially in relation to weight loss. That’s the approach I’ve taken as I get back into shape after cutting workouts and overeating while caring for a newborn with my wife this past year. I gained 25 pounds in that short period of time.
Poco a poco is a mindset that I embraced many years ago as I shifted from a strength, speed and power athlete (football) into an endurance athlete after college. Triathlons had fascinated me since I was a boy and watched the Hawaii Ironman annually on ABC Wide World of Sports. I absolutely never thought I’d compete in one, but simply stood in awe of the athletes I watched. For those who don’t know, the Ironman includes a 2.5 mile swim, 112 mile bike and a marathon (26.2 miles) completed consecutively with a cut-off time of 16 hours to be considered a finisher.
Once I decided to give triathlons a go in my thirties, I had to first learn how to swim. The local YMCA offered adult swim classes and I entered the beginner series. Swimming pools intended for training and competition are 25 yards long. During the first class I could not swim one length of the pool without feeling asphyxiated and needing to grab onto the side of the pool around the halfway point. The experience was demoralizing and humbling. The swim coach, noting that my bulky physique was sinking me in the water, simply said, “stop lifting weights.”
That comment came to mind this past month as I began in earnest to lose the excess weight I had gained. Pumping iron was never a means for me to slim down, yet that’s what I’ve been doing for the past year in the name of my health and fitness. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised when I stood on the scale for the first time since my baby boy was born 10 months ago weighing just a hair under 250 pounds. Strong as an ox for a man in his fifties, but definitely overweight and dealing with blood pressure issues. It was time to change my training and reunite with the world of cardio and endurance work.
But let’s get back to those swim lessons and the point I intend to make regarding the poco a poco approach. Week after week I showed up for the classes and eventually felt confident enough to sign up for my first triathlon – a sprint distance event which included a 500M swim, a 6 mile bike and a 1.5 mile run. Six weeks later I’m standing in my wetsuit at lake’s edge just before the start and looking at the orange buoys marking the swim course.
Nope, no thank you. I slipped back to the race area bike racks and took off my wetsuit. From there I just watched all of the triathletes jump into the water after the starting gun. Once the back of the swim pack began to exit the water, I joined them for the bike and run portions of the race. That’s where I started in the sport – finishing 2/3 of the shortest triathlon offered. Three years later I was pumping my fists as I crossed the finish line at Ironman Brazil. This is how weight loss and excellent health is achieved. It’s not fast and it’s not gimmicky.
Little by little. One manageable workout at a time. One week at a time. One pound of weight lost at a time. Dang son, I’m right back there now. Not competing, but needing to lose weight, get fit and take my health to a higher level in small steps day after day. The wisdom I have from so many years of experience allows me to trust the process enough to string together countless small, almost trivial workouts to gain momentum. I think this is where a lot of people get off track with their efforts to lose weight and get fit. There’s a cultural vibe pushing people to work out really hard, take on near tortuous fitness classes and see results fast. Please don’t buy into that. It is healthy to take it slow (mentally and physically) and that approach is sustainable. Two weeks ago I started on the journey to lose 20 pounds. I began with my first treadmill run in a LONG time and it was all of 6 minutes and 30 seconds long. Today’s run (a week later) was 20 minutes long. I’m excited to see where I’m at next week.
I really haven’t lost weight at the scale yet, but I understand that I won’t see much of a difference for a couple of months, which is when the cumulative effect of all the workouts starts to kick in. They key is consistency and small steps forward. Importantly, the more running and cycling I do, the easier it is for me to straighten out my diet – eat clean, eat less and drink lots of water. This is probably true for a lot of people. There’s momentum to eating better that matches the momentum of all the small steps taken while getting into shape. In subsequent posts, I’ll note what I’m eating and any good recipes I come across. Hopefully, that’s helpful. Please keep in mind that healthy weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. Any program hyping 20 pounds or more of weight loss in a month is either BS, a risk to your health or completely unsustainable. Anyway, hope to see you in the gym, on the trail, in the ocean, or up in the mountains.
Go get it.
