Working Out To Be Healthy #27

Recently I am feeling much better about recovery from the health aspects associated with having a heart attack.  My cholesterol, good and bad, remains headed in the right direction. My eating habits are good, and  I have developed a formula of healthy foods to eat that works for me.  My weight is also consistent and under control and I feel good about where my weight is.   I no longer feel like I am constantly struggling not to gain weight.   I am exercising more and in better shape than I have been in more than 20 years.  My blood pressure is no longer all over the place.  I range well within normal blood pressure for a healthy person.  You're thinking, so what is he saying or is he just tooting his own horn.  Well, I feel good about myself for putting 3 important factors together and staying committed to them to get my health back.  Healthy diet, exercise, and weight control.

If you had known me 3 years ago, you would have said, this guy eats terribly, is over weight, out of shape, and needs to exercise.  His blood pressure gets so high his vision gets fuzzy, and his heart pounds like a diesel pump if he walks up an incline.  He doesn't eat breakfast or lunch.  He says he doesn't understand why he is not losing weight and he snacks on Twinkies, honey buns, and chips until dinner time.  He works 13 hour days, and says he thrives on pressure and stress.   If someone  continues these habits and health life style long enough you know what is going to happen. Sooner or later they are going to be risking having serious cardiovascular problems.  But you can change.  It is not as difficult as you may think.  Once committed and dedicated to become healthier, you begin to feel better about yourself.
If you're already having heart problems, as a lot of us have had, it is still not too late to change.  Or you can leave your health entirely in the hands of doctors and medications.  There is only so much, in my opinion, they can do for you. What is the point of doctors giving you medications for blood pressure, and cholesterol, and you're still eating foods high in fat, remaining overweight, and are not exercising? You're working against the full benefits you should be getting from the medications. At best they are maybe offsetting the negatives you are doing.  I know some of you are uncomfortable at this moment.  I am not a doctor hiding behind this blog trying to lecture you for not doing what your doctor is asking you to do.  I want to impress on you that you can do what the rest of us have done.  We were doing all the things not good for us too. Not only do we feel better, we feel better about ourselves. 

I personally do not go around telling people about having a heart attack, losing weight and exercising my way back to good health.  Most people I'm around, particularly at my fitness center, just think I'm an older guy who has kept himself in good shape.  That is so far from where I was 23 months ago.  I not advocating we become bodybuilders, just be fit and heart healthy. A while back I was working out and a lady (in her 30's) was on a weight machine next to me and was with a trainer.  She leaned over and said "when I get to be your age I hope to be in as good of fitness condition as you".  I smiled and thought lady if you only knew........