Knee pain. I’ve been living with it for a while. All of the high impact workouts I had been doing last year exacerbated my knee arthritis and while I have come a long way, I’ve had a pretty big setback. Cortisone injections and physical therapy have kind of kept things at bay while I have been finding some alternate ways for getting my exercise in.

Last week, I miraculously got a next-day appointment for a cortisone injection. And it’s not working.  My knee actually feels worse.  My ortho doc said that cycling and swimming were the best activities I could do.

Seeing how I have no pool, I joined a local gym that has a lap pool and cycling classes. I started going there last week (and made it every day) and strategically worked myself up to get in the pool this morning. Like the tech nerd I can be, I looked up how to make sure my Apple Watch stayed waterproof in the pool. I had to put together my backpack to carry my towel, my swim cap, my goggles (that I didn’t use because I am nearly blind without my glasses), my lock, and my outfit for post-swim escape.

As Apple is my witness, I did it! I conquered the pool. I don’t know if what I did was good or bad, but whatever it was — it was a starting place. Just another piece of data I can use to work towards my fitness goals.

So, post-bariatric surgery, body positivity can be hard. I have been completely self-conscious of the thought of being in public in a bathing suit. I have been scoping out the pool all week, since you can see the pool from the cardio theater area of the gym. I finally got it through my head that no one is going to be looking at me in the pool. Especially at 10 am on a Sunday morning. And if they do — whatever…

Getting back to where we started — my knee hurts more now than it did before swimming.  WTH? I’m going to do my next pool session walking only. I think one of the kicks tweaked out my knee.  So ice and rest while I celebrate my accomplishment today. I’m looking forward to next week too, but I will be researching to see what I can do to take even more stress off my knee.