Getting in Shape

Hi Everyone! It has been a little while and I thought I would let you know how my efforts are going on becoming more physically fit. My Mother's Day gift from Cody and the kids was a Sole E35 elliptical. Three weeks and counting later I love it.

I can honestly say that I have never, and I mean never, been one interested in running, jogging, or various other forms of cardiovascular workouts. Prior to leaving Denver City I had started going to Zumba classes. If you have not tried a Zumba class or work out I would highly recommend them. They are high energy fun classes. If you think you would be terrible or embarrassed, well you can probably find someone else who is just as bad as your are. Zumba is wonderful in my opinion! As far as the other typical cardio workouts though, I have just not been interested enough in bettering myself to put forth the effort required to do them. I guess you could say I have not had anything in my life that motivated me to get in shape. Honestly, I have always been one who needed to loose a little weight, but it was not a high priority.

Four months after my BRCA2 diagnosis I have a totally different reason to get motivated. My overall health long term has become an issue on the fore-front. I have taken away 90% of my previous risk of Breast Cancer by having a prophylactic bilateral mastectomy(PBM), and I say good for me. Unfortunately though it would not be wise of me to say that is all I need to do and go back to life pre-BRCA. The next step for me is to determine when to remove my ovaries. My PBM had virtually no long-term effects on my overall health. At some point in time I will have to get new implants, but that really does not affect my health. Yanking out the ovaries has several very life changing side affects. I will be discussing more of these in a later blog. One in particular is Osteoporosis.

In my Osteoporosis blog I discussed the need for me to focus some of my attention on strengthening my bones. So in the past 3 weeks I have worked my way up to 20 minutes a day 5 days a week on the elliptical. I have also added hand weights, sit ups, lunges and squats to my workouts. This has been huge for me, but I can honestly say I have more energy and love working out. After 3 weeks I can already see a difference in my legs. They are becoming more tone and ready for shorts. My arms are also becoming more toned, and my abs are starting to show some definition. I cannot say much about weight loss, but I know that I am putting on muscle right now so I am not too worried.

I hope you are all doing well, and enjoying your summer! God Bless and hope to hear from you soon.