Things changed for me about eighteen months ago. I took on additional duties that required longer working hours and ate into the time I had for physical activity. Long walks, which I love, took a back seat.
Gradually over time I've become more sedentary, especially through last winter when I seemed glued to a computer screen and online meetings all day. By the end of the working day, often all I wanted to do was have something to eat and get into bed.
I've done so well with the Zoe programme which helps you improve your nutrition, with greatly improved health indicators at my last check. However, it appears that even though I made good progress, according to local health guidance I am still borderline and a candidate for statins.
My LDL ("bad") cholesterol reduced from 3.7 mmol/L to 2.8 mmol/L and comes within national NHS guidelines, but locally the specialist health guidance is that the desired LDL level is less than 1.8 mmol/L. This puts my risk of cardio-vascular disease at over the 10% threshold.
When I completed the Risk Assessment myself, I found it was 10.3%, so borderline. I am going to continue with the lifestyle changes I've made about eating, but this seemed a good prompt to sort out the physical activity aspect and give the changes I want an extra boost.
One of the reasons I like the Zoe programme is that it prompts me to pay attention to what I'm eating and to take remedial action. It's completely okay to have some oven cooked french fries providing they're compensated by lots of nice leafy greens as well or at other times of the day.
Logging meals in the Zoe app keeps me aware and on top of things. I could just keep doing that. I wasn't especially strict during the six months and still saw big changes in health indicators and reduced symptoms like reduced arthritic discomfort.
I had been contemplating signing up with a personal trainer for a while, but not getting round to it. I have an anxiety that I will get knocked out during the session and not be able to get through the rest of the day (or week). But I also know that having a regular session will not only be good in itself but will prompt me to pay more attention to physical activity through the rest of the week.
I know that strength training is really important for maintaining bone density and muscle mass, balance and mobility and reduces the risk of falls and fractures as well as reducing LDL cholesterol and increasing HDL ("good") cholesterol . So today, I took the plunge and booked a session at the local gym.
I wanted Friday afternoon, I liked the idea of the session being part of the transition from work to the weekend (and afterwards I could go and have fish and chips). But it appears Friday afternoon is very popular and the first available session that came up was 8.00am tomorrow morning.
Reader, I booked it and paid my £42.
Let's see what happens.
