Ed took on all the challenges during 2020
This week’s client success story is someone I am dying to meet. We’ve been working together since June 2020, but have only interacted virtually; me in my home office and him in the comfort of his bedroom.
Ed Tymkow was a regular reader of this column when he reached out last summer for help.
He needed to lose weight before undergoing abdominal surgery and wanted to regain the vitality he’d lost in retirement.
Here is his story:
Q: Why did you start?
A: I had been reading your columns for some time and noticed that you’d been working with others dealing with the issues affecting me. I had been retired for about a year at that point and wasn’t happy with my health and fitness. Simply put, when I retired, I got bored and depressed and found myself drinking too much. I was in bad shape and was scheduled to undergo surgery for an abdominal hernia. When my surgeon insisted that I needed to lose at least 30 pounds, I knew it was time to get some help.
After meeting with Ed for an initial virtual consultation, I suggested that before we started exercising that he seek help for depression and for his drinking. I referred him to someone who I knew was providing support online with a 12-step program and Ed immediately made the call and connected with him.
Q: What did you notice after starting to work out?
A: Almost immediately, my energy and flexibility improved.
I became more active and started to feel better about myself. Our initial workouts included walking and I couldn’t even make it one block. I really believe that this represented a loss of independence so, when I was able to increase my walking distance and duration, I started to feel like my old self again.
When I started with Ed, we had to modify everything and were careful to always have a chair nearby in case he had to sit or stabilize himself. Currently, he is walking 60 minutes a day as weather permits with no problems.
Q: What has been the biggest challenge?
A: All of it. Just getting started when I was tired, drinking and feeling sorry for myself was hard. I felt overwhelmed, like I couldn’t do it on my own. You helped me to find the motivation and kept me going a little bit further each week.
The decision to stop drinking was a whole other challenge.
When someone has several things they are trying to get under control, the result is very often to feel overwhelmed and they simply freeze and don’t do anything. In cases like this, I’ll develop a priority list and look for a foot hold to just get started. Movement and action builds momentum for most people, helping them to notice positive changes almost immediately.
I insist on working only within my professional scope of practice and expertise and will always refer to other qualified professionals when necessary. In Ed’s case, helping him to overcome what he felt was a problem with alcohol was clearly outside of my scope.
Q: What have been your proudest moments?
A: There have been two big ones. In June 2020, I weighed 246 pounds Six months later, I stepped on the scale and weighed 201 pounds, exceeding my surgeon’s order. Being so close to being less than 200 pounds felt pretty amazing.
The second thing was celebrating six months of sobriety. I could not have done it without the support of my mentor, but I felt really proud of myself for having achieved it.
Q: What is your current status?
A: I’m healthy and fit and feel great physically and mentally for the first time in a long time. I’m really looking forward to having my surgery to put that behind me and to get on with things.
Q: Do you have any tips or advice for others?
A: Seek out guidance and get a program together. Then put strategies into place to stick to it. Recognize that you’ll get bored or frustrated on occasion, so change things up frequently. My suggestion would be to exercise, with purpose, at least three times per week and use the technology that is available these days as essential tools for success. In my case, every personal training and counselling session that I’ve attended has been virtual and I’ve tracked my daily walks using an app called “Map My Walk” and I continue to track my daily food intake with “My Fitness Pal.”
Q: What’s next for you?
A: After surgery I’m looking forward to taking my golf game to the next level and I’m starting a retirement project that I’ve wanted to do for some time. I’ll be a 77-year-old beginning guitar student in the very near future.
In my book, Ed is already a rock star.