It happened- I am technically obese.

This is something that I don’t want to be and certainly not something I would normally want to share with anyone, BUT there is power in being honest with myself and declaring to the world that enough is enough. Also, I am now on an MS body mission!

Putting on weight has crept up on me since I stopped teaching 3 years ago. During the first year after I stopped teaching I put on 1 stone. This is not surprising given that I went from being on my feet 7 hours a day and running up and down 2 flights of stairs to get to my classroom at least 6 times a day, to sitting on my bum aaaaallll day. Plus, I only have to walk 3 streets away to get to my office. This created the perfect storm of sedentary life and even though my diet didn’t change, my weight shot up.

I have taken action to reverse this continued increase in weight: I’ve done Slimming World (it works if you stick to it!); I started running (I do it for a bit and then have ended up with no energy for months!), but I’ve never been able to find a diet and exercise regime that I could stick to. 

At the beginning of the first UK lockdown I found myself actually being far more active than usual. As we were only able to leave the house for exercise, I got into a really good habit of walking 10,000 steps each day and really enjoyed it. 

Now, I’m not sharing this because I think there’s anything ‘wrong’ with being the weight that I am. There’s no judgement about it, the only thing is that it is officially “not healthy.

So, I declare here and now that I am on a MS body mission: a mission to be healthy and strong. My mission is to weigh 11 stone 2 pounds by the end of 2021. This is the official healthy weight for how tall I am and it is also the weight that I have felt the most comfortable, confident and fit being (I last weighed this in July 2017).

My challenge in achieving this mission is finding the right diet (I’m currently testing out Veganuary) and also working out an exercise routine that pushes me enough, but also doesn’t floor me. I’m looking for an exercise regime that I can consistently maintain, rather than something that risks putting me in bed for weeks and undoing any gains that have been made. 

I would love to hear how you keep fit and stay healthy with MS.

To be honest, I have never been a particularly sporty person so keeping fit with MS is a challenge. I was definitely more music and drama department at school rather than athletic, but I have always been averagely fit. I definitely took it for granted that as and when I decided that I wanted to get fit, I could. I’d start going to the gym for an hour each day or I’d go for runs and after a few weeks I would have got fit and lost weight…thinking about it now though, this may have had something to do with being in my early twenties, rather than not having MS! Getting older is a bitch! 

When I was first diagnosed with MS in 2015 I felt out of control. I felt like my body was no longer my own and my symptoms were the worst that they have ever been. I wanted to take back control and seriously considered getting a tattoo (!), before deciding that signing up to run a 10km race was probably the less radical thing to do!

Swimming is really recommended for people with MS as it is a good full-body and cardio workout and being in the water keeps your core body temperature down. I really enjoy swimming and always take the opportunity to swim whenever I’m on holiday and we have a pool. However, just as a personal preference I hate how humid public swimming pools are and I don’t like having to plan my swims around the school lesson timetables, so it’s never made it into my regular MS exercise routine.

I am terrible at going to the gym. It’s just not really my thing. I have the same problems with the gym as running: I’m not very good at moderating how much effort I put into it! In the past I have had the attitude of “wanting to make the most of my visit”. So, I would really go for it on the machines and make sure I do a full hour workout. Again, this has not been great for managing my energy levels and I will do it for a few weeks, before having a sudden crash in energy levels and not going for ages. I know that it would be better to work out moderately for half an hour each day, but trying to fit that around work and the rest of my life has always seemed a huge faff, especially when I have to drive 15 minutes to get to the gym and then the time it takes to shower and get dressed after- eugh!

Bodystreet is a gym alternative and there is one in my city, Bristol. It uses EMS (Electro Muscle Stimulation) machines which make you look like you’re taking part in a weird science experiment, but I love it! You wear a jacket and straps that are hooked up to electricity and over the course of 20 minutes my P.T. directs me through a series of poses that I have to hold while electrical pulses run through my muscles. I have been doing it for over a year now and have seen huge improvements in body fat loss and increased muscle mass. It also improves my balance as my muscles strengthen and I practice the different poses each week. 

Walking is my new favourite form of exercise! When I was a teacher I used to be on my feet all day and didn’t even notice how many thousands of steps I was walking every day. When I left teaching 3 years ago I put on 7kg just from sitting at a desk all day! Recently, I have started to get up just before 7am and am enjoying 1 – 2 hour walks each morning. I have found these walks so beneficial, not just for my physical health, but also my mental health as I feel stronger physically which makes me feel more powerful and positive about myself.

I love dancing! I can salsa and swing dance and it makes me so happy! I haven’t managed to find a class that fits my schedule here in Bristol, but the year that I experienced my first MS symptoms I was living in Liverpool. I had the most fantastic time with the Mersey Swing dance group. Doing things that you love, even if you have to have breaks to take a rest, is so important in staying healthy both physically and mentally.

My best friend is a huge yoga fan and she has encouraged me to try it over the years. Thanks to her, we went to a yoga fair at Alexandra Palace a few years ago where I met Veronique Gauthier, who is a yoga teacher living with MS. Veronique taught a special yoga class for people with MS and I was so inspired by her that I went to speak to her after the class. Veronique was the first person with MS that I had spoken to since being diagnosed and she continues to be an inspiration to me. She runs a website called Taming the Walrus where she shares her specific yoga for MS courses and writes about her experience of living with MS. I really enjoy doing online yoga courses as it really helps me with my balance and flexibility.

It’s cold and we’re in the middle of a pandemic, but my weekly exercise for keeping fit with MS hasn’t really changed.

How do you keep fit with MS? What are your biggest challenges? Let me know in the comments below!