"It is not the strongest species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the most responsive to change."
Charles Darwin
How adaptable are you?
How do you cope with change?
What happens when life really doesn’t go according to plan?
Being adaptable is an essential life skill to help you in all aspects of your life but it’s one that I think is absolutely essential when it comes to your weight loss and healthy living journey and I’ve chosen this as a last minute topic change for this week’s blog post as it really couldn’t be more true of my life right now.
So, I try to plan ahead for my blog post topics about a month in advance – plan new recipes or old favourites into our meal plans so that I can photograph and test in advance or pick particular topics around mindset and strategy that are relevant at particular times. The planned post for this week was a new recipe I’ve been trialling and I’d put it on the meal plan so that I could photo the steps and write down all the exact measurements and ingredients to write up for the blog.
However, life did that thing that it often does and completely got in the way. And got in the way in a very big style.
A bit of background
2 and a half weeks ago, I was out for my usual Sunday morning run – I run 5km three times a week, I’m not particularly fast but it’s something I really enjoy and it keeps me fit and I love spending a bit of time in the local park which is important for my mental health too. However, on the way back home, I got my feet caught in a plastic cable tie thing and went absolutely flying. I haven’t fallen over for years and years and years and the whole thing completely shuck me up but I knew right away, I’d really hurt my knee.
Hubby had to come and pick me up and after getting some medical advice, I was advised to go to A&E for an X-ray. Luckily nothing was broken but I was advised to rest, take Ibuprofen and that it would take 4-6 weeks to recover.
I’m not very good at resting but to be honest, I had no choice – the knee was agony (as well as other aches, pains and bruises which developed over the next few days). Falling over at age 46 did a heck of a lot more damage than it did when I was a kid.
Unfortunately on about day 5, I noticed a new pain and swelling in a vein above my knee which started to track up my leg over the weekend so a visit to the GP was in order where I was diagnosed with an infection in my vein and put on a 7 day course of strong antibiotics.
The pain and the bruising in the knee starting to improve bit by bit however, the pain in the vein as well as its progress up my leg was getting worse by the day and after another couple of medical appointments I was referred to the Ambulatory Emergency Care department for more tests.
Initial blood tests showed that it was quite likely I’d developed blood clots as a result of the fall, I had to have an injection in my stomach and return again the next day for scans.
Unfortunately, the scans did show up blood clots and I’ve now been put on a 3 month course of anti-coagulant medication with a whole load of instructions in terms of what I have to now change or adapt in my life due to what this medication will now impact.
I’m still in pain from the actual injury to my knee which apparently needs draining of fluid that has now formed, the pain in my veins is still pretty hard to cope with, I can’t stand for too long, I need to keep my leg raised as much as possible and I’m currently awaiting the delivery of a thigh length compression stocking which I need to now wear. I’ve got to be super careful not to cut myself and I’ve only left the house 5 times in the past 2 and a half weeks and that’s been to go to either the doctor’s surgery or to hospital and I’m struggling mentally with that and I’m really missing my independence.
And bringing me on to the topic of this week’s blog – I’ve not cooked anything that was on our meal plan for the week, I’ve certainly not been photographing cooking methods and the new recipe I wanted to type up for this week’s blog has been shelved for the time being.
So, on to the subject of adaptability and why it’s so important
My circumstances have changed but my goals haven’t.
The reason I started my ‘final’ weight loss journey in 2010 was because of my health and a warning from a doctor that if I didn’t change my lifestyle, I’d quite likely not live to see my 50th birthday and 12 years on, my health is still my priority and now I’ve got a serious health condition to contend with, that goal is as important as ever and now I need to find different ways to manage things.
Being adaptable means you don’t panic when things don’t go according to plan and you work on finding new solutions to challenges and problems.
So what does that look like for me right now?
- I’ve had to swap to online food shopping once a week and can’t ‘pop out’ midweek to pick things up so my meal planning and shopping list has stepped up a gear to make sure that we’ve got everything we need in
- I can’t spend ages on my feet cooking meals from scratch (which is something I really enjoy doing) but I’m not willing to compromise on my nutrition so I’m planning meals that take less time to prepare – lots of one pan wonders / quick and easy meals and batch cooking. We’re eating simple and repetitive meals for the time being – I’ve had 4 jacket potatoes this week already and they’ll be featuring heavily on next week’s menu too.
- I can’t exercise at all and am hardly mobile right now and for me, being active is really important not only for my physical health but also my mental health so I’ve found a few other things to do at home to help with my mental health – got myself some good books to read, a new craft project to start and I’ve been going to bed early to get a good night’s sleep. I’ve also got my hand weights out and am doing 10 mins of arms exercises each day.
- I’m asking for help! This is a big one for me and something I do struggle with but there are times in life when you need others and there are just things that you can’t do alone. I know I love helping others so I’m having to flip my thinking and be ok with asking other people for help.
- Working on my mindset – it’s very easy to feel sorry for myself and dwell on the challenges and worries I currently have but I know from past experience that dwelling on the past just cultivates negativity and increases the chances of emotional eating so I’m really focussing on finding the positives in each day and using my journal to get my thoughts out of my head and to plan how best to use my recuperation time.
Changes are often outside of your control.
What you can control is how you react to them.
This is a phrase that has helped me through a lot of challenges in my life alongside the mantra and actions of ‘Control the Controllables’.
The key for me is ensuring I am constantly reminding myself of what my priorities and my goals are and more so when life is challenging. I may have to change and adapt how I operate but if the end goal is still my key focus, being adaptable and working my way around challenges and problems will come a lot easier and reduce the levels of stress and anxiety that change can often bring about.
I’m hopeful that now I have a proper diagnosis, the correct medication and with following doctor’s orders, things will start to improve from now on – it’s going to be a lot slower that I first hoped and I’m not sure when I’ll be back out running again or back in the kitchen cooking properly but I’m determined to make the most out the situation and to do whatever I can to keep my focus on my goals and to use the time I have whilst resting up wisely.
I love helping people discover the best ways to work on their mindsets and habits to help them reach their weight loss goals and if you would like to find out more about my 1-2-1 coaching programme or how I can help you, please do get in touch.
Email me or phone/message: 07834 442607
Join my free Facebook support group for weekly live sessions, more tips and strategies and motivation: