Guest Writer Steph Talks About Fitness

I don’t know about you guys, but fitness is something that I’ve struggled with since being diagnosed with IBD. I’ve recently started running again and I’d like to share my journey with keeping fit and throw in a few things that I have learned along the way.

I never used to struggle with exercise to be honest, I quite liked it when I was growing up and was extremely active. I used to play football in and out of school; I tried various different sports such as cricket, volleyball and even tried my hand at martial arts.

Things slowed down when I went to university, but I would run occasionally and I was doing a very physical Drama course.

That all unfortunately changed when I was diagnosed with Colitis.

 I was bloody tired, and not just ‘I could do with a nap’ kind of tired. I was downright ‘can’t even get out of bed’, kind of tired. It took all the energy I had just to get myself to university, let alone partake in any exercise outside of that.

Where my course was very physically demanding, I fell behind on a lot of my written work. I was run ragged. I didn’t want to seem like I couldn’t do it so I’d push myself to keep up with everyone. I never really let on with my lecturers how bad I had UC, I didn’t want to cause a fuss, but now I wish I sat them down and explained everything that was going on. I’d push myself to exhaustion in class and then by the time I got home I was so tired, I’d curl up in a ball on my bed, written work was the last thing on my mind.

My fitness levels decreased rapidly, I stopped being so active and then came the steroids. I put on so much weight with those bad boys that naturally, I wanted to exercise to get rid of it. But surprise, surprise, I was too tired to do it so not only was I tired, I was fat and I was miserable because I was tired and fat.

Unexpectedly, it was my second operation that spurred me into action. I was so amazed by what my body went through, and how strong it was, that I wanted it to be in the best condition possible for the final operation. It had been through a lot and I wanted to start treating it right.

So. I tentatively started running.

It was so hard because I had lost so much fitness and strength from my previous two ops. I was under no impression that it would be easy but God, I didn’t expect it to be so hard. I started with a run 1 minute walk for 2, repeat 8 times job and I think I actually died.

My lungs were on fire, my legs were screaming and I remember thinking “how the hell are these runners doing it so effortlessly? I mean look at that pensioner, he’s pretty much gliding.”

I stuck by the routine and it was immensely difficult. Some days I missed because I was still recovering. Mentally, it took me a while to get used to the idea that I couldn’t follow the programme exactly because some days my body was screaming no and I had to listen to it. I’m not your average person with normal everyday plumbing so why I was still treating my body like everybody else was beyond me.

Some days I found it to be truly liberating where I’d be running along with a huge smile on my face, not quite believing that I was able to run more than 5 minutes.

I managed to keep up the routine until I had my final surgery. Since then, I’ve unfortunately had a lot of issues with my J pouch and only recently have I been able to pick up running again. At the moment I am managing to run about three times  a week and add in some strength training to boot. I’m currently able to do about 7k and my running average is 5k. It’s been heaps easier these days because my health has improved and now I’m just battling with actually being bothered to do it rather than not physically being able to, which is weirdly a relief!  I’m hoping to pick up a kick boxing class in the future because, and I’ll share a secret with you, I actually hate running!

On my journey I’ve found a few things that I would like to share with you.

If running isn’t your thing, try walking, yoga or a sport. Just try to get your body moving. I picked up Yoga after my final surgery because I was too tired to run and it was an awesome experience. Something I still dabble with today.

-         You are not everyone else. Stop berating yourself for not being able to do everything like the people around you. It’s not a fair comparison and the fact that you’re out there giving it a go, with everything that you have going on is amazing.

-         Use modifications where you can. I can’t do certain abdominal exercises because I’ve been sliced and diced three times through my abdominal wall and so I have to modify exercises. It’s okay to do this, just find what works for you.

-         Watch out for dehydration.  I get dehydrated so easily so I drink a rehydration drink after any physical activity that I do. This is the one that is in Australia but in England I used to take Dioralyte.

  

-         Set small goals and keep a record of what you have achieved. When I started running, it was awesome to see how far I had come and it really inspired me to keep on going.

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-         Find your motivation. Mine was to get my body in shape for my final operation to reduce the recovery period. Since then, my motivation has changed, but initially it helped me to get out there on the days that I didn’t want to run.

-         Find what time suits you. I, for love nor money, can’t exercise in the mornings. I’ve tried it and my workouts are ten times harder. Why? I have no idea but I find my best performances are mid afternoon/evening.

I hope the small tips above help in some way. Just try small baby steps and if you have to take a few steps back or even take a break for a little while, recognise that this is okay. We’re only human and the majority of us are dealing with a lot more than most. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Good luck!

Steph has her own blog... "Imagine Being Different"