Health Problems Holding You Back?

I have several health problems that have made life a little more of a struggle for many years. Nothing super horrible, but still it wears on me. I have had endometriosis since I was about 14. I have had 4 surgeries for it. It has caused me daily pain for almost 20 years. My most recent surgery did dramatically help reduce that, thankfully, but I have pain from the internal scar tissue still.

I have hypothyroid, which just this week has been found to be due to Hashimotos disease. I am on a daily medication, but still have a lot of the symptoms.

I also have gastroparesis (among a few other things, that I won't bore you with).

Gastroparesis is "paralysis of the stomach." The washboard like part inside the stomach that is supposed to move and agitate to break down the food is much, much slower than it should be. It causes me a lot of discomfort. The food sits in my stomach and causes bloating, pain, nausea, gas, belching, and just downright feeling miserable. I have days where I do a lot better and then some days where it is really bad. Certain foods aggravate it; meat (unless ground up) and raw veggies. These foods take a lot more work to digest. Well, the past 2 weeks I have been eating a lot more meat (because I wasn't eating enough protein before) and a LOT more raw veggies. I eat a salad or 2 a day now. So the past couple days I have been miserable. Today I have been so nauseated that I didn't want to even eat. Worse yet, I didn't want to exercise. I mean, would YOU want to exercise if it made you feel like you were going to throw up all over the floor??

I actually considered skipping my workout today. Then I realized that I can't keep letting my health problems slow me down. Too often I haven't done things or put off exercised because of my endometriosis pain or my gastroparesis symptoms. I don't want to use them as excuses any more. Obviously if the pain were to increase during exercise then I would slow it down...or if I did actually throw up all over, then I would stop... but I won't let the fear of what could happen stop me.

It was 10 pm tonight.... I thought real hard about just doing a double workout tomorrow instead, but I decided it was best to just push through it. It helped that my husband needed to get his workout in also and that our 8 year old daughter was begging to workout with us. So reluctantly, I did the 30 minute Cardio Fix.

I pushed myself hard. Harder than I have the past 2 weeks! It felt great! Sure I felt like I was going to throw up...but I still felt good.

I am not saying that all health problems should just be pushed through. I know from speaking with my doctors that it is safe for me. So always consult a doctor first to make sure it is safe for you! I think back to the season of Biggest Loser where the theme was, "No more excuses!" I am not going to use my excuses any more.

I have a Spartan Race to prep for! I can't let anything get in my way! Plus, I want to be healthy for my husband and kids. I want to be around for as long as possible.

I know it isn't easy to workout with health problems, but there are ways to modify and do some for of exercise to just get your body moving. And it is possible to adjust your diet no matter what. Nutrition is the most important part. No more excuses. Your health is too important. Make small steps to eating healthier and it will soon get easier. Plus, eating healthy can actually cure some ailments or at least reduce the problems associated with the disease. The effort is so worth it.

What Is Holding You Back?

We all have a reason for not being fit and healthy. Every single one of us.

Not everyone has the same reasons. The reasons can vary quite a bit. But we all have our reasons.

The important thing is to not let our reasons be an excuse! Because no matter what, there are things we can do to be healthier.

I have struggled with quite a few reasons and find that as I work on pushing aside my excuses that I find new ones. I have never really liked to exercise. As a teen I struggled with knee pain and asthma. I was already very skinny, so why exercise? It didn't matter what I ate, I still wouldn't gain anything; so why eat healthy? I didn't get a good routine set up then and it is much harder now that I am very set in my ways.

I LOVE donuts, cake, chocolate, cookies...Like I would be happy eating them for every meal and snack. I am addicted. They emotionally make me feel "better." I have always felt crummy after eating them, but my brain was happy and so I kept eating them. Addiction to junk food- my first main reason.

Figuring out that I am quite gluten intolerant forced me to change that. It is a lot more expensive to buy pre-made gluten free junk food. And making them was time consuming and I couldn't do it without my kids knowing; which meant that I would have to share! haha So I slowly phased out a lot of that food.

Ok, now I don't have that excuse... so why do I fight being fit and healthy?

I won't bore you with each and every thing that has arisen, but the most recent one that I have realized, which I think is the root of it, is this:

I don't feel worthy of having self esteem.

If I feel good physically, am strong, have a great body from working out, great skin from eating healthy....then the natural thing would be to feel good about myself and my looks- therefore having self esteem. I have never felt worthy of that. I have many past memories of my looks being made fun of embedded into my mind. So whenever I have felt like I look good I will hear those voices telling me I am ugly, my chin is too big, my nose is huge, etc. I hear a voice saying, "How can YOU have self esteem?? You are too ugly to have self esteem!"

And this is where I am stuck. In this horrible mindset. I am afraid of looking good. I am terrified of actually thinking that I look good. And this is a crummy place to be stuck.

Am I going to let this hold me back anymore?! NO! Ok...so on the inside I am really doubting my abilities to fight this mindset... But I think the first step is to recognize what I need to work on- check! Next thing to do is to fake it till I believe it- check! I am going to say I won't let it get in my way any more. Then I will remind myself of it again in a few minutes...and then again and again until I do finally believe I am strong enough AND WORTH IT to believe I deserve self esteem. I have to do this. For me, for my husband, and for my kids. They deserve the best me that I can possibly be. And until I feel good about myself, I can't be my best.

What is holding you back? It is time to peel back the layers and work on them one by one until you finally allow yourself to get healthy!