DIY Mom Blog Healthy Living Series - My Health and Fitness Journey Continued

In the last installment of my Healthy Living Series, I talked about what led to my declining health and how I was forced to make some radical changes. This time I’ll be going into more detail. For anyone who may be experiencing the same or similar health issues, I want to assure you that you CAN turn things around. The important thing is to simply begin!

Like many women of a certain age, I had suddenly found myself having to work at staying fit. Hormonal changes, and lifestyle and diet changes had crept up on me without my realizing it. I’d long since recognized that gluten was a major irritant for my longtime IBS issues. I’d gotten control of the debilitating and agonizing bouts of IBS, but I made one big mistake. Gluten free foods do not translate to low calorie. Basically, I went hog-wild with the gluten free pasta, breads and other high carb foods simply because I'd found a gluten free way to continue eating them.

Then, when I began experiencing frequent bladder infections, I decided to ditch over-the-counter meds in favor of cranberry juice. In my mind, this was a healthy choice. Wrong again. Tons of sugar and carbs were lurking in those heaping glasses of cranberry juice.

Are you beginning to see a trend? Carbs were making me overweight, sluggish and unhealthy. Yet, I had no clue as to what the heck was going on…until I met with my cardiologist after my ER visit. The verdict? NO CARBS and MORE EXERCISE.

My blood tests revealed even worse news. I was pre-diabetic, had high cholesterol, severe high blood pressure and needed to turn things around ASAP or I was at risk for a heart attack or stroke. Truthfully, that ER visit, and my cardiologist, saved my life.

I was immediately put on blood pressure meds – two of them. The doctor also wanted to prescribe high cholesterol meds. I declined these, insisting that I’d gain control of this through diet and exercise. He reluctantly agreed.

That very same day I swore off carbs. ALL CARBS. And it was extremely tough at first. I was famished constantly. I had a low-grade headache for a week or so. But I stuck with it because I was committed to see this through.

Although I had been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia a few years ago, I slowly began an exercise regimen. I knew I could still walk and I’d always loved walking to stay fit. This was a natural choice for me then. Unfortunately, between the extreme Texas heat and the high instance of free roaming neighborhood dogs, I had to rethink my plan. The alternative? An at home walking fitness regimen. Who would have thought that you could actually get in shape and lose weight by walking in your living room? I can honestly say that this absolutely works. Check out Leslie Sansone’s DVDs. That girl can push the limits of walking for sure!

copyright 2018 Leslie Sansone

I began with fifteen-minute walking routines per day, without weights. Worked my way to longer routines and added free weights – first 1 lb and now I’m doing 3 lb weights. I know that’s not exactly heavyweight material, but it suits me fine. And it’s definitely working. Since my ER visit, almost two years ago now, I’ve ditched all meds except a half of BP pill. I’ve lost over 50 pounds. I have more energy now than I’ve had in probably ten years. I’m fit, trim and doing tons better. I chose to keep myself from being a statistic, stayed with my new diet and fitness regimen and I plan to keep moving one day at a time. I've added a few "good" carbs here and there, but I've kept them to a strict minimum.

This was the humble beginnings of my fitness journey. I'm here to tell you that you can definitely do this too!

Next time I'll talk a little bit about the confusing topic of carbs, and how and with what to substitute them and a few other things. Please join me!

Why and How to Put SMART Healthy Living Goals into Action

© 2018 Susan Barton, DIY Mom Blog

In the previous Healthy Living Series article, I talked briefly about using the SMART goals technique to begin your fitness journey. In this article, I’ll share what led to my personal fitness journey and the steps I took to achieve the necessary results.

It’s important to remember that everyone is different. We’re all at different places in our fitness journey, in terms of weight, dietary needs and activity levels. What might work for one person, might not work for another. The important thing is to simply BEGIN.

My story…

As mentioned in a previous post, throughout my life, I had always been active and fit. Like most people, as I aged, I found that it took a bit more effort to maintain my ideal weight, but my physically demanding job helped immensely. When I left that job to pursue writing full time I had no clue how that would impact my health.

Suddenly, I was no longer the active person I once was. I sat at the computer for hours at a time. My eating habits changed. Add to the fact that I was fast approaching the age where women really need to be extra careful in terms of health, fitness and nutrition – it was producing the perfect storm.

I’d been experiencing palpitations, rapid heartbeat and even occasional chest and arm pain for several weeks, but I ignored these warnings and hoped they would simply go away. I’d always been a migraine sufferer, but when I woke up one morning with the mother of all migraines I knew something was wrong. My husband took me to the ER, where they ran some tests. It seems they thought I was having a stroke. YIKES.

Fortunately, it was not a stroke, but I was in serious distress. My blood pressure was an alarming 189/110 and had most likely been that high for some time. I’d sustained some damage to my heart. I’d be on medication for the rest of my life. I could very well need heart surgery at some later point. This was my wakeup call.

I was referred to a cardiologist immediately. He was a lifesaver…literally. After some additional tests, he sat me down and explained that it was critical to my health that I make some very serious lifestyle changes. Radical changes were outlined. It wouldn’t be easy, but it could very well save my life.

Although you might not currently be at this crisis stage, and I sincerely hope that you aren’t, you could very well be getting close to it and not even realize it. My goal with this series is to prevent you from getting to that point.

Next time, I’ll begin laying out my plan of action, what I did to achieve my goals, what worked and what didn’t and some other tips and pointers for anyone else who may be finding themselves in a similar health crisis as mine.