Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
It was supposed to be a relaxing beach holiday with the family. Sand castles would be built. Boggle would be played. Drinks would be ordered without ice. Instead, I ended up in hospital with severe pneumonia. For one of the few times in my life, I was certain I was about to leave this world.
The thing is, I'm 41. I can no longer take my health for granted. Catching pneumonia is just one sign that I'm deteriorating. My bones are becoming lighter and more porous. My muscles are shrivelling. My brain is shrinking, my arteries narrowing, my coordination slowing.
And I'm fat. Not morbidly obese. I'm what's described as skinny fat. A python-that-swallowed-a-goat type of body. Which I've learned is the worst kind. My wife, Julie, has been nudging me for years about my growing belly. But inertia is a powerful force. So I continued eating food packed with empty calories. I hadn't done serious aerobic exercise since school. I got winded playing hide-and-seek with my sons.
Then I found myself in hospital gasping for air. And so, right about when the nurse came into my room bearing a pill the size of my middle toe, I made a pledge: if I make it out alive, I will turn myself into the embodiment of health and fitness. I will become as healthy as humanly possible.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/may/04/brush-death-from-fat-to-fit
The thing is, I'm 41. I can no longer take my health for granted. Catching pneumonia is just one sign that I'm deteriorating. My bones are becoming lighter and more porous. My muscles are shrivelling. My brain is shrinking, my arteries narrowing, my coordination slowing.
And I'm fat. Not morbidly obese. I'm what's described as skinny fat. A python-that-swallowed-a-goat type of body. Which I've learned is the worst kind. My wife, Julie, has been nudging me for years about my growing belly. But inertia is a powerful force. So I continued eating food packed with empty calories. I hadn't done serious aerobic exercise since school. I got winded playing hide-and-seek with my sons.
Then I found myself in hospital gasping for air. And so, right about when the nurse came into my room bearing a pill the size of my middle toe, I made a pledge: if I make it out alive, I will turn myself into the embodiment of health and fitness. I will become as healthy as humanly possible.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2012/may/04/brush-death-from-fat-to-fit