Tag Archives: IBS

I won #Fitin5!

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A month ago I decided to see how far my body had really come over the last few months and take on a fitness challenge set by Hiitgirl Susan Dyson and Sweaty Betty.

I embarked on the challenge with determination but also a lot of trepidation. As you will see in my previous blog I have had an interesting time with my health for many years.

One key thing I learnt over the years was to not push myself too much as this depleted my energy and healing ability. #Fitin5 was all about pushing yourself. Further, harder, faster than the day before. Yikes.

But I did it. Every day as promised. OK not quite, I had a day off because my lower back hurt but I did a 6 mile walk and a long wild swim instead…but I think that’s pretty good going.

I documented the journey in pictures as well as reps - I took the challenge on holiday with me to the stunningly beautiful hills and beaches of Wales and Ireland, it was fantastic to do my exercises on the beach then dive into the ocean for a refreshing swim.

Below is my photo album of locations, and you can read all my scores in the comments on my initial blog.

Thanks to Susan and Sweaty Betty for setting the challenge and to all those who joined in - the competition was fierce! I am still shocked to have won - I really mean it when I say I don’t think I’ve ever won a sporting challenge before.

Winning aside I learnt that my body IS strong enough, that my resolve is rock-solid and that I do know how to listen to my body well enough to be able to push it a little further each day. So that’s the challenge now - to keep this going. To keep pushing, to keep getting stronger.

Tomorrow I’m off to spend my vouchers and then in a month or so I get to go and join Susan in her new Crouch End studio for a personal training session. I am little bit scared but hopefully Susan isn’t as daunting as her challenges!

#Fitin5 and how I’m learning to trust my body

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You may have noticed some tweets and other social media updates about something called #Fitin5. #Fitin5 is a high intensity workout set by Hiitgirl Susan Dyson and being championed by Sweaty Betty.

I have decided to join in on the two week challenge and see how I do. But first I want to share why I am doing this, and what it means to me.

I [don't] trust my body

Those who know me might think it a little unlike me to do something like this, and they wouldn’t be wrong. Well not about the old me, anyway. I didn’t used to trust my body, my energy or my strength anything like enough to do something so demanding. Now I do.

On November 23rd last year I had an operation. It was meant to be a quick day op to remove a lump. It turned out to be a bit more complicated. What they found was much, much bigger than they had seen on the scan.

Dismissed by the doctors…

What had been dismissed by doctor after doctor as being ‘all in my head’ turned out to be all in my abdomen. Well a rather large amount of it anyway. So no it wasn’t anxiety, depression, attention seeking (!), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, phantom pregnancies, or as I had been told since I was 10 – IBS. In fairness it is apparently very rare, certainly for the lump (a remnant of a rudimentary foetal reproductive system that should have dissolved away) to be as big and problematic as it was. I couldn’t even find much about it on Google.

But it explained an awful lot – I knew now why my body, my general health and immune system suffered so much. The years of dogged struggle against such deep seated chronic pain that my brain had stopped recognising the cause and just registered it as deep, deep tiredness. And then there was the acute searing pain each day, which I’d had since I was a child and had become second nature – I thought everyone had it, but apparently not! No wonder Sitting Forward Bends hurt so much.

Recovery

It’s taken a few months to recover from the operation, and for my body to recover from years of being dragged down by pain. The lump was just one of a number of challenges my health has faced. I have, and will continue to, nurture my mind and body with Dru Yoga, but now I am ready to reap the rewards of years of determination to be healthy.

I have jumped feet first into running my yoga business, giving up the desk job to focus on my teaching. And yesterday I saw a picture of me practicing yoga. It took my breath away – who was that lady with the definition in her arms, legs and torso? Who was that person who could lithely stretch into an extended runner? Surely not me!?

Lucy doing yoga on the rooftop in Peckham

You are strong

I used to hate living in my body, my skin didn’t fit and every touch was painful. Anyone who has had an injury or illness which has taken away their strength and replaced it with tiredness and pain will be able to understand how horrible it is. But now I know I CAN trust it. I can build its strength and I can achieve things I never thought possible.

Having seen how far I have come I want to see if I go a bit further. Taking it easy of course, I’ve not got here without learning to love my body, work with it and listen to it when it says no!

Completing the #fitin5 reps in the park this morning did hurt a bit but it was exhiliarting. I can feel my muscles, not because they hurt, but because they are stretched and strong.

Want to join me? Watch the video and then post your reps below – don’t forget to share them with Sweaty Betty too.