Adding Fitness to My Life

I started small, and I mean small.  I did not follow any model, I just decided that I was going to start doing plank exercises.  I got up 30 minutes early and did three rounds of 30-second front planks.  Each week I added another 10 seconds.  Then I added side-planks, then sits ups.  A colleague recommended a Scott Harmon fitness You Tube video, which I incorporated into my routine.  It hurt to walk a good 2-3 days after my first YouTube fitness session, and do not even get me started on how it felt to walk up a set of stairs.  But, after the first week the soreness went away.  I could feel myself getting fitter and I felt ecstatic with my progress, all for less than 30 minutes a day!  During this 4-month period it felt like my metabolism improved and I started losing weight (more on that later).

I Want to Do a Pull-Up

A book I had read about 20 years earlier—Strong Woman Stay Young by Miriam Nelson resonated with me and was often in the back of my mind, especially as I hit my 40s.  One of my takeaways from the book was that it was important to build muscle as we age.  That book combined with a flyer I saw advertising CrossFit for older adults led me to try out CrossFit.  I had been interested in CrossFit through the years and was always a bit intimidated by it, but this flyer was directly addressing me!  With motivation in hand, I set up a meeting where I informed them of my goal to do a pull-up.  The environment was very welcoming and encouraging for all fitness levels and ages.  In fact, their oldest athlete was in her 80s!  Once I signed up and saw myself getting stronger, stronger than I have ever been in my life, I was hooked.

Getting Through Setbacks

When I first got back on the fitness-train I concurrently decided to experiment with a gluten-free diet.  Though I did not eliminate it completely, that combined with building muscle had a significant impact on my weight. Then I started looking at macronutrient ratios to maximize my muscle building.  Things were going great until I got sick.  I got a persistent rash on my neck.  It progressed to both sides of my neck, then forehead, then cheeks.  My hair was falling out, I was not sleeping well, and I often felt bloated.  Some things I chalked up to the “normal” aging process.  So at that time, the only symptom I was concerned about was the rash, which felt like I was constantly being stung and burned.  I went to numerous doctors with no clear answer.  I started looking on the internet and YouTube videos and heard terms like functional medicine, histamine intolerance, small-intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), Paleo, autoimmune protocol (AIP), low FODMAP, mycotoxins, etc.  I asked my doctor for a SIBO test and it came back positive.  This process led me to develop a high interest in functional medicine and food as not just medicine, but a means to allow my body to thrive without the use of conventional medicine.  This also led me to discover that all the symptoms I was experiencing was not due to the “normal” ageing process, but rather my lifestyle of diet, sleep, and stress.

Health Coaching

My love of learning about functional medicine and the ancestral lifestyle approach led me to attend Chris Kressor’s ADAPT-Certified Functional Heath Coach training program.   I chose this program to gain knowledge for myself and my own health journey and to use this knowledge to support others in their personal health journeys.  It is important to know that healing and change take time.  As a culture, we have spent decades creating habits that may not have served us well.  The good news is that although it will take time and persistence to change those habits, it will not take decades to heal.  Persistence pays off in a big way.  Health coaching can help with this process by creating a safe space for people to talk about and develop strategies around the lifestyle changes they want to make.

As someone who decided to make changes in my late 40s, I learned that it is never too late too late for a healthy lifestyle.

Background

I am in the final phase of my training as an ADAPT Functional Health Coach.  The ADAPT-Certified Health Coach program teaches functional health concepts and a variety of coaching techniques–motivational interviewing, positive psychology, non-violent communication, transtheoretical model, among others—as tools to support individuals in reaching their goals.  Prior to coaching, I supported the community in a different way through my 20+ year career in forensic science working in federal, state, and local crime laboratories.

I enjoy exercising, creating music, learning about functional health, and sharing fun adventures with my two kids.