The Need to Exercise

I posted this on April 21, 2012 as a 'note' on my Facebook page and feel this is as relevant today as it was two and a half years ago when I first posted it.

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Having checked my weight earlier this week and seeing it had blown out to 100.8kg I realised I needed to do something, and do it soon, about my weight gain in recent months.

At the time of my heart attack in July, 2007 my weight was around 95kg and thru diet and exercise changes after my bypass, I was able to get it down to 85-87kg and was able to keep it at that level until early in 2011 when I started on insulin due to my diabetes worsening.

Within 2-3 months I was back up to 90kg and in July, 2011 I started on a second insulin. By October/November, 2011 my weight was back up to 95+kg, my heart attack level.

When I queried my weight gain at one of my regular reviews at the diabetes clinic at our local hospital I was advised that insulin can result in weight gain – would have been nice to have been told this when I started on insulin, not months later.

And during the period since starting on insulin, my diet and exercise regime had not changed – in fact, when I noticed my weight was increasing shortly after commencing on insulin and before being told insulin could cause weight gain, I had increased my daily walking from 30 mins a day to 30+ mins twice daily but still the weight kept increasing.

About two months ago, I had an issue with my left heel. When I saw my podiatrist he commented that more than likely it was something called 'plantar fasciitis' and the best thing for this was to rest the foot and do some heel exercises which he gave me. Dutifully I did this, the pain was excruciating at times making it very hard indeed to walk on and resulting in my needing to take a pain killer like Tramadol. So for a couple of weeks I did very little walking and then slowly started to do a bit more but without any vigour as the pain was still there.

Then early this week I weighed myself and found I was now over 100kg and I realised I needed to do something about this NOW!!!

When I came out of hospital after my heart attack and bypass surgery and after being given the all clear to start exercising, I pulled out a piece of exercise equipment I had not used for years called an Airofit Air Walker – it is very low impact and allows you to control how much energy you want to exert and the intensity of your time on the equipment.

Well I used that piece of equipment just about every day until around the end of 2010 when it literally fell apart so we discarded it and instead I started doing my 30 mins a day walking. So when my left foot started playing up I started looking on eBay and Gumtree and in our local paper for another Airofit Walker and yesterday we found a second hand one in very good condition for $20.00 – from memory we paid $199.00 for ours new in 2002.

Airofit Walker

Well talk about a duck taking to water, I jumped on board it yesterday afternoon and did 40+ mins and again this morning did another 30+ mins and had sweat pouring off me probably due to my lack of conditioning and my ‘fatness’. I am confident this equipment will help me get my weight back under control.

It is my intention to use this now twice a day for at least 30 mins a day with the aim of getting my weight back under 90kg within a month and maybe even back to around 85kg within 3 months – I will keep you posted on this.

I am hopeful that if I can do this, get my weight down with increased exercise then maybe my sugar levels will improve and then just maybe I might be able to reduce some of my diabetes meds – need to live with hope these days, don’t you?

However, whatever happens, I am sure that not only will l lose some weight and possibly tone my body a bit due to the variety of exercises you can do on this machine, but also I will feel better for improving my stamina and breathing.

As they say, exercising is an essential activity everyone should be doing daily, especially those of us with a heart condition and/or diabetes but sometimes what holds us back is finding an exercise program we enjoy. Finding my $20.00 walker is doing it for me, and maybe something similar could do it for you!!!

Since first posting this in April 2012, I have amended my exercise regime to that of mainly walking, 20-30 mins in the afternoon and a similar amount in the morning when I have the time. Today, November 30, 2014 I weigh 88.7kg but I need to mention my insulin dosage has been amended and I now take a second injectable medicine for my diabetes called Byetta which is known to be an aid in weight reduction - a nice side benefit when you are a bit overweight.