January 2019 I was rushed back into hospital again where I stayed for another week. During this time there was a scare that my thyroid was causing further complications to my health. I did yoga exercises almost hourly to improve its function and did my best to keep my general fitness up in hospital. I walked up and down the stairs a few times each day (I think I was on the 10th floor) and around the ward a few times each hour, my muscles and body just felt like I was caving in.
On return to the temple, I was allowed to do my best to recover. I am sure I annoyed a few people by generally lying around on the sofas for most of the day, but I really had no energy or interest in life at that time.
I kept trying to do what I could, walks around the park, even trips to the shops were difficult for me. Thanks to the patience and persistence of those around, I was slowly getting better. The thing which really changed things for me was seeing some old pictures of me at good health. I remembered I had always been a fighter and refused to give up. Why should I change now? I started getting my thinking faculties back slowly and my eyesight was improving a little. I was still passing out and tripping over things, but I refused to let it beat me. I took a serious look at my diet and realised this was what needed to improve.
I went through weeks of experimenting, what kind of foods were good? what kind of exercise was achievable? I started to embark on an incredible amount of research, anecdotal and scientific, in the quest to recover and beyond. One of the first things that I worked on was writing, joining a local club, those sessions were incredibly good for my self-esteem. As confidence returned, so did my thirst for improvement in all areas.
Around the end of the summer, I felt strong enough to ride a bike again. My feet would still go numb from time to time, my first trip out resulted in missing the pedals and landing in the middle of a busy roundabout. London being what it is, impatient drivers were beeping their horns as I tried scrambling to those insentient feet to get out of the way.
I moved into a larger room. I could regularly stretch and massage my self here and practice my yoga without upsetting anyone else or getting under the feet of people. One of the next things on my list of things to do was exercise regularly. I still wasn't strong enough to even run 300m around the park yet, but I managed to do small adaptations in the gym. My frozen shoulder and lack of balance made doing even a two kilo kettlebell Turkish Getup an almost impossible task for me. I kept going though.
I also started to experiment with one meal a day and longer fasts around September. My increased rent meant I couldn't really afford to stay in my new bigger room, but it had helped improve my health, I really didn't want to go back to the other room. My gym fees also needed a little more money. I decided to get a credit card to give me a month's breathing space, then I had to get a job.
Cycling through the city of London, I got really juiced up on the 'hustle'. Just being among crowds of busy, successful people made me hungry for my old days as a successful trainer. I knew I needed a job but the most I could ride on my bike before almost passing out was about 15 minutes. I walked into a gym to test the waters for future work.
Surprisingly I was given a personal trainer job within a week after a successful interview. Having a residency and the chance to help people with all the information I had caught up with in my recovery time filled me with great hope. I soon realised that gym style personal training had changed a lot in 16 years. It now seemed like a money making spin where each of your clients becomes some kind of cash cow rather than an individual who needs help. More about that in another post.
Fast forward to now, 2020, I am currently on a one meal a day diet with +40 hour fast over the weekend. I manage to have at least one day a week now without insulin which is amasing. So that's going to be 52 days a year without injecting myself! Then one day on half the amount because I am just breaking the long fast. I have currently put on weight and am over 70kg. I own kettlebells, Olympic Rings, a TRX, and resistance bands. I do yoga and animal flow to supplement my training and I am thinking about getting a stationary bike (once I get a new job). I am running (at a slow pace) 4km around the park and looking to go up to 5km in the next month or so. I am nowhere near my peak, but I have my eyes on getting better all the time. I am hopefully going to finish a book that will help people in a similar position to improve their health, and aim to help anyone I can personally. I still have a lot of the complications, but they are much better managed now.
On return to the temple, I was allowed to do my best to recover. I am sure I annoyed a few people by generally lying around on the sofas for most of the day, but I really had no energy or interest in life at that time.
I kept trying to do what I could, walks around the park, even trips to the shops were difficult for me. Thanks to the patience and persistence of those around, I was slowly getting better. The thing which really changed things for me was seeing some old pictures of me at good health. I remembered I had always been a fighter and refused to give up. Why should I change now? I started getting my thinking faculties back slowly and my eyesight was improving a little. I was still passing out and tripping over things, but I refused to let it beat me. I took a serious look at my diet and realised this was what needed to improve.
I went through weeks of experimenting, what kind of foods were good? what kind of exercise was achievable? I started to embark on an incredible amount of research, anecdotal and scientific, in the quest to recover and beyond. One of the first things that I worked on was writing, joining a local club, those sessions were incredibly good for my self-esteem. As confidence returned, so did my thirst for improvement in all areas.
Around the end of the summer, I felt strong enough to ride a bike again. My feet would still go numb from time to time, my first trip out resulted in missing the pedals and landing in the middle of a busy roundabout. London being what it is, impatient drivers were beeping their horns as I tried scrambling to those insentient feet to get out of the way.
I moved into a larger room. I could regularly stretch and massage my self here and practice my yoga without upsetting anyone else or getting under the feet of people. One of the next things on my list of things to do was exercise regularly. I still wasn't strong enough to even run 300m around the park yet, but I managed to do small adaptations in the gym. My frozen shoulder and lack of balance made doing even a two kilo kettlebell Turkish Getup an almost impossible task for me. I kept going though.
I also started to experiment with one meal a day and longer fasts around September. My increased rent meant I couldn't really afford to stay in my new bigger room, but it had helped improve my health, I really didn't want to go back to the other room. My gym fees also needed a little more money. I decided to get a credit card to give me a month's breathing space, then I had to get a job.
Cycling through the city of London, I got really juiced up on the 'hustle'. Just being among crowds of busy, successful people made me hungry for my old days as a successful trainer. I knew I needed a job but the most I could ride on my bike before almost passing out was about 15 minutes. I walked into a gym to test the waters for future work.
Surprisingly I was given a personal trainer job within a week after a successful interview. Having a residency and the chance to help people with all the information I had caught up with in my recovery time filled me with great hope. I soon realised that gym style personal training had changed a lot in 16 years. It now seemed like a money making spin where each of your clients becomes some kind of cash cow rather than an individual who needs help. More about that in another post.
Fast forward to now, 2020, I am currently on a one meal a day diet with +40 hour fast over the weekend. I manage to have at least one day a week now without insulin which is amasing. So that's going to be 52 days a year without injecting myself! Then one day on half the amount because I am just breaking the long fast. I have currently put on weight and am over 70kg. I own kettlebells, Olympic Rings, a TRX, and resistance bands. I do yoga and animal flow to supplement my training and I am thinking about getting a stationary bike (once I get a new job). I am running (at a slow pace) 4km around the park and looking to go up to 5km in the next month or so. I am nowhere near my peak, but I have my eyes on getting better all the time. I am hopefully going to finish a book that will help people in a similar position to improve their health, and aim to help anyone I can personally. I still have a lot of the complications, but they are much better managed now.
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