My outlook: Adapt or get fat

fishgutzy

Starting about 8 years ago, doctors started telling me I should not be doing martial arts due to degenerative osteoarthritis in my feet. I didn't stop.
2008 foot surgery due to DOA. Took a break for a little while for recovery. But didn't change my unhealthy eating. Moved, trained less, gained more weight.
After the third doctor told me I needed to stop, I finally retired from training. I started swimming a little more, but not enough to fend off more weight gain.
When i got tired of seeing my chin sitting on my collar bone I finally started adapting my my exercise mode to the work within the and try pushing the limits of the arthritis in my feet and shoulders.
One is never too old to learn new tricks. Sure their are many lifts and aerobic exercises I cannot do unless I want more pain and surgery. So I adapt. Machine and dumbbell squats instead of barbell squats.
Swimming (lots), and spinning (some) in place of impact inducing aerobics.
Surprisingly, hiking on uneven terrain bothers my feet far less than walking on sidewalks or paved trails.
I have found that swimming has eliminated the arthritis pain in my shoulder, though it has not increased range of motion significantly. So still no barbell squats and I can't do back stroke.
But I find new ways to adapt every time I find a new lift I want to learn.
I have a choice. Adapt or get fat.
Adapting how I eat as I find foods that either don't feel right or I find to be trigger foods. If my wedding ring feels tighter the morning after eating something, I know that now gores on the 'avoid' list.

Also learning to change and adapt my swimming technique to improve efficiency and speed. I want to be able to swim 5 miles in the time it takes me to swim 4 mile now before work.