Blog post 8 - Episode 7: Making progress with my weight loss
- jeddison54
- Jan 21, 2022
- 9 min read
Updated: Mar 15, 2022
Introduction, so this post picks up from the critical period covered previously where Humira became part of my life and changed my outlook. As I cover about 20 months, I tackle how the improvements in health that Humira started, really took hold, and transformed my health. The ballooning weight seen previously started to fall off.
The fitness regime became part of normal life, it enabled my transition back into cricket, where eventually the fitness results translated on the pitch. Claire and I continued our London journey by buying our first house and then welcoming a new addition, who would become my walking partner.
Summer of 2013; becoming homeowners, back into cricket and a new job
The summer of 2013 was essentially our first time to truly enjoy London’s green spaces in the sunshine. Getting back into cricket in the spring gave me a great mechanism to see what London had to offer with many games across south London and Surrey’s parks.
The London cricket season was much shorter than ‘up North’ and felt a bit like it was over before it started. The positive health improvements meant that I was more mobile and did not have to keep fighting my back pain. While I played some decent innings, I never managed to sustain it for a significant one. So going in the right direction but more work needed.
After our experience of renting in London and the cost! We had made the decision we needed to buy. Luckily, we were to qualify for the Help to Buy scheme which without we would have not been able to even look. Naively though we didn’t know the astronomical costs of stamp duty, we would soon find out. After a short time looking, we found an interesting place that had many pluses two bedrooms, secure driveway parking, garden, balcony and as a new build could be moulded into our needs. As always there were compromises and mainly the location. Sadly, the thing I was most excited about was having stairs, it had been a while!
We secured the house, now it just needed building and for all the design decisions to be made. A few nervous moments followed when the admin team missed us of an email noting delays, which nearly left us homeless. Everything though fell roughly into place, and we moved in during September, we had done it we had our own ‘little house’. Getting a house in London really set us up for future moves and financial security.
Despite the stresses of buying a house I felt it was a good idea to get a new job which I started weeks before the big move. My health and AS were so much better and more stable that despite all the stress and anxiety of buying a house while nervously preparing for a new job I managed to not even have a ‘flare’. For me this is a sign that although there is a delicate balance between physical and mental health when managing chronic pain, you can still find a balance and ‘sweet spot’ just a different one to normal. At this point the good physical health helped manage the mental health.
So, what is a flare and why are they so important?
Flares are commonplace for those of us with chronic arthritis conditions of which AS one. They essentially mean that your symptoms like pain, swelling and fatigue ’flare up’ or get worse. During the flare the pain can be more intense and debilitating, and most caused by stress or pushing yourself beyond your boundaries. So, in layman’s terms it’s when you are at your worst.
This infographic below gives a good overview of AS flares, courtesy of creakyjoints.org
As usual NASS have a lot of useful information on how to manage AS flares: About AS - Your Flares.
The advice pays particular attention to how planning and preparing for flares are key to manage them. It is imperative that if you have AS you know your triggers, recognise a flare coming and have tricks to mitigate them or manage them. As with all things AS flares can impact your mental state of mind.
Plans for managing flares often include things like:
medication, knowing when to and by how much you can increase pain relief.
exercise, knowing the limits and what may reduce the symptoms.
coping mechanisms, like baths or heat packs or a simple TV show on the sofa.
your happy place, finding what relieves the mental stress and how to tap into it.
For me as with most things AS walking and fresh air help me during flares but maybe not walking as fast or as far as normal. On occasion they are so bad that I must admit defeat and take it easy. If they last a while, then ibuprofen does not suffice, and I have had to seek a steroid injection from my rheumatology nurses. They can be as described a ‘golden bullet’.
Autumn and Winter 2013; making it our house, redundancy maybe and embedding my fitness regime
We got the keys at the start of October 2013 and quickly started to look at how to make it our house, this meant many trips to places like Ikea. I even made 2 trips in one day. It also meant learning about DIY which I had never been good at and quickly found out I wasn’t still.
The benefit of the area we lived on my fitness was that to get anywhere meant a 20-minute walk either to the tube or train. Added to this a few mornings a week I would break this walk up with a gym session, usually a treadmill run and walk. Then to work, often like a nomad carrying my big plastic bag full of smelly clothes squeezing onto a packed train or tube. A short walk at the other end to the office.
The new job was centrally placed in Waterloo located on a little strip that was full of lunchtime street food stalls. This really challenges my health kick as lunch with a couple of other newbies was often a tub of authentic hot pasta, or a pot of Chinese noodles or a Cuban pulled pork, plantain, and rice box. Probably any option was about 1000 calories each!
It was during this time that I started to read and understand food more and listened to my body. I started the no breakfast trick, now trendily known as intermittent fasting. For me the benefit of no breakfast was I wasn’t hungry all day, my energy levels were up (less lethargy), and the gym was easier. It also meant that I could have nutritious healthy meals later, without thinking I had over done it. I also learnt about low carb and starchy carbs. Pasta, potatoes, pastry were not my friend and left me bloated, now I know this was true but more on that in future.
This combination of walking more, the gym first thing, no breakfast and reducing carbs really helped me make more progress on the weight loss. It became a good routine and some better habits and relationship with food.
A couple of months into the new job a spanner in the works struck, a restructure. The job I had been brought into do was being split into 2 roles and some parts given to a third. Not ideal when you have left a secure job and bought your first house. The stress of that did deflate me and my health a bit with a few bad days and some pains creeping back in. None of the roles offered appealed anymore so it was back on the job market again trying to secure our finances so we could keep up the mortgage.
Early 2014; starting the annual tradition of spring slim, guess to give challenge and a change of career direction
Over the Christmas period the good eating habits went out of the window as they usually do when faced with endless chocolate and a million varieties of pork. New year needed a renewed focus on the fitness as I was determined to get even fitter for, the new cricket season to get back to playing at the level I wanted. I needed a challenge and some motivation.
I decided to do a public weight loss challenge for the first time and to raise money for charity as well. This would really motivate me to do well and stick to it! So, I signed up to a two month guess to give challenge. Essentially people would donate and guess how much I would lose and the closest would get a share of the funds raised as a prize. I got right back into the no breakfast, low carb and started a 1500 calorie a day diet. Cricket training twice a week supplemented by walking, the gym and avoiding lunchtime street food was the way to go. The results were fantastic I lost about 2 stone in the two months so started the season much lighter and raised a few hundred pounds for NASS in the process. This preseason weight loss became an annual tradition of a spring slim!
The threat of redundancy was forgotten when I got a random call from a recruiter to head hunt me for a job. A real surprise as it was in financial services for the regulator, and I managed to convince them I could do it. So, a new direction in strategy, planning and performance in financial services dawned. As can be the case restructures can open new opportunities and with the bonus of a big pay rise, annual bonus, and lots of perks.
Canary Wharf was the new destination which saw me step up my walking further by introducing a lunchtime stroll around the area and rivers. This increased my daily step count and made me realise the benefit of getting away from the desk, switching off and de-stressing.
Summer 2014; the elusive 10th century, reaping the rewards of fitness and along came Polly
The efforts made early in 2014 and the increased fitness I had, despite a setback with an ankle injury, immediately reaped rewards on the pitch. Opening league game of the season on a wet soggy Saturday saw me register a significant century. Significant in 2 ways as no one else scored more than 17 in the game and because it was my 10th century. I had scored 9 centuries between the ages of 14 and 20, now at 29 I finally got the next. It was a great start to a strong season. It made the effort on fitness worth it.
Claire had grown up around dogs with a continuing cycle of family dogs. For a while she had wanted our own dog and I succumb and said yes. Having never been a dog person I was not sure how I would respond to being a dog daddy. I could see the benefits a dog would bring to help me walk and continue getting fitter, could also replace the gym which I still didn’t enjoy.
Luckily around the time a breeder that had provided Claire’s mums latest dog was having a litter of terrier crosses Border and Jack Russell - a Brussel! I was not sure what breed was what at that time but from the moment Claire’s dad picked up this little puppy on camera we both immediately said yes. So, we went for it and little Polly was ours.
All that we needed to do was get her home and learn on the fly how to raise a dog. I use the term raise deliberately as it is a lot like a baby in those early days, sleepless nights settling them into their new surroundings and clearing up all sorts of mess! All that was worth it to see her little round head looking at you all innocently, although not sure we ever got the training nailed down!
Winter 2014; the joys of walking, dogs are wonderful stress relievers and forgetting about the pain
As Polly became a real part of our family be it the never-ending tummy tickles, the snuggles on the sofa or the scurry up the stairs on a morning to jump into bed, it made me realise how good a little companion is for your well-being too.
Alongside the fact that with her in tow I really got into walking, a routine of a little morning nip round the block, weekend long muddy park jaunts and after work de-compressing round the block again. I really started on my love affair with walking to the point where I am not sure how life would be without them. I would supplement the dog walks with the daily work scurry to the tube, lunchtime stroll and dash back from the tube.
There is probably some research out there about the whole therapy dog thing but having Polly in our lives taught me about how much a little fur-ball relieves any stresses. There is nothing more calming and something therapeutic about a gentle stroke and tickle of a dog, their little heart racing, to forget troubles. They can also genuinely lift you up by seeing how excited they are to see you, even though you went to the bins for 20 seconds. We chose well as Polly is a creature of habit and loves her routine just like us.
The other benefit having Polly enabled was the confidence that I could look after someone other than me and something so small. I would recommend a dog as a good companion, for well-being and therapy.
Walking enabled me to forget about the pain and from this point has been such a critical point in my AS journey.
Walk your AS off, a walking community for people with AS from around the world
Walk your A.S. Off (WYASO) is a community organisation supporting AS awareness through virtual walk events. The events bring people and teams together from across the world to meet daily step goals and collective goals. The virtual events and community encourage people with AS, those who care for them, or others just interested in supporting and raising awareness of AS. It is a powerful movement that highlights how small people can change the world a step at a time.
You can find out more about WYASO here: https://walkyourasoff.com
I am a regular WYASO participant for a fantastic UK team called AS Buzzers, and every May we play our part in the mission to walk to Mars, virtually of course. Each of the last 3 years I have successfully achieved the Million Step challenge although not yet got my aim of breaking the 2 million step mark during an April and May! I will get there.
Click here to give to my next walking challenge, a 50km hike around the Lake District to raise funds for NASS.
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