Road to Recovery - 4 Months Post Operation

What's going on 4 months Post Open Heart Surgery to replace a congenital Heart Valve defect? Well if I didn't know better, I would say I am for the most part back to normal now. I feel like I can do most everything I want to do. Life now is a bit different then before, I have a new set of goals! The first one was to survive and that one has been checked off my list. My next goal was to be able to go for walks, go to the gym and keep my body tuned up, and do some outdoorsy stuff. Again another check on my Road to Recovery list . Now I am even out ripping around on my Electric toys, training at the gym as hard as I want to, and feeling really good doing it all.

I am still a bit careful when it comes to high level cardio as I have not had my post operation heart test done yet to see how much it has recovered from my pre-operation baseline, which was an injection fraction of 18% (Normal is 60%). I feel my injection fraction now will be very much improved and would not be surprised if it is close to the 60% normal marker, at least that's how I feel. I can tell you that whatever my injection fraction is at now, I am OK with it as I feel really good and do not feel that I have any real limits on what I can do with my new working heart.

Well take a watch of this video as I hope you will enjoy the kind of new format. I hope to record in this format in the future (weather permitting), that is if you like it, perhaps it's a bit distracting? Let me know.

Road to Recovery - Taking a Bit of Time

In this Road to Recovery - Taking a Bit of Time video update, I talk a out a recent fall I had and go over where I am at in terms of how my heart is reacting to the surgery.This may not be my best news so far b sometimes you have to take a few steps back before you start making progress again.

What to do When You Fail Your 2020 Fitness New Year's Resolutions

This is not rocket science, all you need to do is eat less and be more active. That's all you really need to know!

OK - So here are some tips to help achieve this.

Most people simply want to lose fat and get toned. When you lose fat you get toned because it’s the fat covering the muscles that makes it impossible to see the muscle tone under the fat.

Start with taking control of your diet since diet is 80% and exercise is 20% of what it takes to get Healthy and Fit. This way you can avoid the busy gym until February when most of the New Years Resolutioners have given up and left the gym.

Diet Tip:

• Track your food so you are accountable and have a better idea of what the food you eat has in it in terms of Calories and Macros.

• Be a bit more strict with your diet Monday to Friday so you can live a little on the weekend.

• Allow yourself some simple pleasures when you diet. You can have a beer or wine with dinner but will have to be more careful in other areas. You can have an evening dessert but again you will have to make sure everything else you eat during the day is on point. Budget your treats into your daily calories and macros.

• If all of that seems too complicated then keep it simple. Eat more lean meat or high protein non-meats and lots of vegetables, avoid fats and carbs so we are talking about the rice, potatoes, pastas, breads, donuts, muffins pastries, cookies, chocolates… and only stick to low calorie dressings and sauces.

• Keep hydrated with water or zero calorie beverages.

• Pick your eating window times, restricting when you eat means you will generally eat less food as long as when you do eat you stay on track.

Exercise Tips:

• Start slow and build up to a sustainable Health and Fitness program. Start off simply moving around more, lots of walking, hiking, biking, swimming, Yoga, other sports.

• Add in some strength training at least 3 times per week. On those days only focus on the weight training. Be intense and work hard at getting stronger, don’t just move weights around, have a purpose to your workout.

• If you are new to the gym find a workout partner with some experience and or hire a trainer to get you started. Maximize your time in the gym to get the most out of it.

• If weight training is not your thing then find something you really like to do and commit to that several times per week. Like Yoga, Gymnastic, Martial Arts, Team sports…

General Tips:

• Have a goal in mind, a vacation, going out and buying some new clothing when you down size, a fitness show, an event like a wedding, or simply getting in shape for summer.

• If you have a setback it’s not over, simply start back up where you left off. You only fail when you give up completely.

• Don’t just weigh yourself, measure your waist or other trouble areas, the scale can be slow to go down but when the tape measure results decrease this can really help keep you motivated and progressing.

Fat Shaming - This One is Going to Set Off a Few Nerves

I know this video will probably hit a few nerves with people as we live in a very politically correct society where we all must be very careful not to step on anyone's toes... But is this always a good thing? Are there times when you need to speak up and say something even if it may offend or upset other people? Is it worth it if your best interest are at heart and you are truly trying to help them.

We are so concerned not to make people feel bad in any way these days that we keep our mouths shut, but is that helping people really? If you had a piece of food in your teeth or toilet paper on your shoe, you would want someone to tell you and yes it would be a bit embarrassing. It's more embarrassing if nobody tells you and you go on the entire day like that...

The subject in this video is a lot different than food in your teeth or toilet paper on your shoe but I feel the similarity in my analogy is that we need to say something even if it is not a conversation either people are looking forward to having. Fat Shaming is never OK but does that mean we simply ignore the fact that a loved one or good friend is hurting, even killing themselves with the food they are eating and lifestyle they are living?

Daily Workout - Yoga at MMA Gym

I went to another Yoga Class at my MMA Gym, it felt better this time around. Things are starting to loosen up a bit, the trick with Yoga is that your body wants to fight the direction you are asking it to go. It knows that if you go too far in that direction it will get hurt, so it sends out pain messages not to go there. You have to gently work into the moves so your body understands that it won't get hurt, once this happens it starts too loosen up, the pain goes away and you get more stretch. You just have to take your time, relax and wait for your body to let go...