My hope in all of this is that I would like you to do the same; get a piece of paper and write out whatever health issues you have (see examples below) or other obstacles you have and what your plan is to surpass them.
For me:
1) I have PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome) - which among other things personally causes issues with:
- Fertility problems (but I have 4 wonderful boys thanks to God and fertility treatments)
- harder to lose weight and those with PCOS (myself included) hold on to weight in mid section - I was told by a specialist that I (and others with PCOS) have to work out twice as hard/long - awesome news right.
- Acne - another awesome side effect
- risk of diabetes
I was diagnosed with PCOS when we were having trouble getting pregnant. If you suffer from this and are trying to get pregnant, I know this can be a very emotional and stressful time but do not give up hope! There is a chance! We were worried we would never have kids but we are so blessed to have 4 beautiful, sweet boys.
If you have PCOS and want to talk about it you can contact me.
2) Hypothyroidism, the biggest symptoms i feel with this is that it slows down metabolism and makes me tired. What can I do about it? Take my prescription and try to get rest, eat healthy and stay consistent with my workouts.
3) Long list of food allergies with the biggest problem stemming with gluten. My food allergy list includes: wheat, barley, oats, soy, peanuts, tomatoes and garlic and I am also sensitive to dairy. Food allergies really make you pay attention to food labels. it is not as easy as you think to follow. There are many gluten free things these days but that does not mean they are free of wheat, oats or soy, etc. Those with food allergies really need to do their homework and carefully examine every label. Do you have food allergies? I would love to hear from you.
4) Sjogrens Syndrome: the biggest symptoms of this that affect me are:
- extremely dry mouth and eyes
- difficulty concentrating
- fatigue
- Arthritis
- cavities because of dry mouth
- risk of blindness with anyone that has Sjogrens. That is scary. For some reason I am really bad at remembering to take my meds. My son has to have certain meds every day like clockwork and I have no problem remembering but for myself for some reason I struggle. At my last Dr's appt she said "do you want to go blind and never see your beautiful children" kinda scared me into remembering!
So what can I do about Sjogrens? Well not much except take my meds! They don't do much for symptoms but can help reduce the risk of going blind as I mentioned. I drink a TON of water. I always have a very dry mouth and am extremely thirsty. I actually drink so much that I am suppose to up my sodium level. Fatigue can affect you all throughout the day; i know it affects me all day long. Those who have this need to try to get as much rest as possible. Although nothing ever feels like enough with this. Do you suffer from Sjogrens? I would love to hear from you.
5) Foot injury - Monday will mark 4 weeks in this walking cast/boot on. Man am I sick of this thing. Anyone with an injury knows that it affects your ability to exercise but in most cases, guess what...you can still exercise. For me with this I can still ride the spin bike and I can still lift weights. I also still do my bootcamp classes but have to adjust what I do. I do a lot of jumping on one leg, but if you have a similar injury, be careful, you don't want to hurt your other leg by overcompensating too much and getting an overuse injury on your good leg. That would set you back even more. Believe me, I understand it is hard to be patient. I have a very hard time with this too and yes you will not be able to do everything you are use to. I miss running and I miss jumping with both legs :) and can't wait to get back to it, but you need to find ways to keep moving. I can still pretty much do my full weights routine minus lunges and heel raises. Keeping up with the weights is important, make sure to work your injury free muscles. If you have a wrist or hand injury for example you will want to avoid weight baring exercises such as push ups or planks but you can do ab work lying on your back or do a plank on your elbows instead of your hands. So you may need to search for alternate exercises if you can't safely do the ones you are use to but in most cases you can find something. You will heal eventually so hang in there. Even with this injury though and my decreased ability to get my sweat on I feel my stress level up. Please Lord if not for myself, then for the sake of my children, let me get out of this stinkin boot so my kids can have a happy mommy :)
6) 4 young children - can I hear you ladies - being a mommy can be exhausting and stressful! I love my sweet kiddos more then anything but those little rascals can take it out of me. I know many mommies feel the same way. Pulled in so many directions and finding it hard to make time for ourselves. Whether you are busy just being a mommy or if you need to fit a job in too it can be hard to fit in "me time". Well, we need to find a way. It will help us be good mommies. For me, I get up early 6 mornings a week and workout before my kids get up. I know if I do not do it then, the odds are that I will not fit it in. If you say "I am not a morning person" then try to fit it in when your kids go to bed at night or if they take a nap fit something in then. or if all else fails pack your kids up in a stroller or put them on their bikes and go for a walk or bike ride. The fresh air will do you some good. Not only will you burn calories but you will increase your energy level and decrease your stress level and we can all use help with both of those. I know many of us mommies struggle with guilt when finding "me time", that is another reason I do my workouts early in the morning; because it doesn't affect my children, other then giving them a happier mommy and that is a good thing :)
7) Child with very serious health issue. My 4 year old has a very serious illness called Menkes Disease. Unfortunately there is nothing we can do heal him (except pray for a miracle which we do every day), there is no cure but we can take care of him to the best of our abilities and guess what! he is the sweetest, happiest angel in the world and we are blessed beyond our wildest dreams to have him!! Of course, those of us who have a child or loved one with a very serious illness know that it can take its toll on us. This can put a lot of extra stress on our bodies which can lead to many things including weight gain, headaches and lack of sleep. So when we struggle with this we have to find an outlet whether it be exercise, massage, meeting with a friend for coffee, you need to find things that help you unwind. If we do not then stress can really eat at us and damage our bodies. For the sake of our loved ones that are struggling with the illness we need to keep ourselves healthy so we can take care of them! I have Proverbs 3:5 tattooed on my wrist - Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. We may not understand why hard things happen in our lives but all we can do is trust in our heavenly father to take care of them.
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8) Anxiety issues. Many of us struggle with anxiety and I am no exception. I am the biggest worry wart in the world and I wish I could fix that but I just have not found a way. Every day I feel worry about my children but all I can do is put it in God's hands and pray about it. Right now I have HUGE anxiety issues with my ENORMOUS fear of flying as I have a flight coming up very soon and cannot help but fear that I will die on the airplane. Yes, I know, I know, more people die in car crashes, blah blah blah, I don't care, it doesn't help. Give me my meds, knock me out, wake me when we get there. Oh I am going to puke just thinking about it. What a wimp am I, goodness!!! Oh and please don't tell me it is a sin to worry about these things because I know this and then I feel guilty about not fully putting my trust in God to get their safely and you know Christians die all the time....ok STOP :)
We all have our list of challenges or excuses that get in the way of a healthy lifestyle. Well, my challenge to you is to figure out what you are going to do about it. We are not going to get anywhere if we just look our issues as "problems" and let them stop us from accomplishing what we want out of our lives. No ones life is perfect, you are not alone. I bet you can make a long list too. Well, make the list too and write what you can do to overcome or at least manage the problem. My list are all things I will have as challenges forever. I can't just get depressed and think I am going to let myself get fat because I have a couple health issues that really make that happen easily, instead I am going to work out twice as hard as a "healthy" person needs to. I am going to fight fatigue every single day but I am going to try to get proper rest every night to at least set myself up as best I can. I am going to be very careful of what I eat and try to avoid my allergy list. I am going to enjoy my children and hopefully take stress relieving breaks when possible :)
Take a deep breath, find things you enjoy, get some fresh air, say a prayer and thank God that he has blessed us with LIFE. Every day is a gift. We need to live it to the fullest and give all the glory to God.
I love to hear from you so feel free to comment.
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