I’ve had a few illnesses and injuries over the years, but I keep on keeping on.  Limping on, perhaps?  Let’s put it this way.    If I was a horse, I’d be a Pritt stick by now!

The major thing I’ve been dealing with is an autoimmune disorder, Connective Tissue Disease.  To cut a very long and extremely boring story short, it is like having rheumatoid arthritis.

Mid last year, my autoimmune disorder was officially kicked to the curb.  I was in remission!  Still have to keep a firm eye on my diet and take medication, but the marker no longer even shows up in my blood tests.  Yippeee (and a lovely new Country Road handbag) for me!

Later in the year, I started getting the symptoms back again, dropped a few wineglasses, started walking like a sailor as my joints seized up, and had a few terrifying falls when I lost nerve sensation in my legs.  Now, this was a new symptom, and not very much fun at all.  Another very boring symptom was feeling bloated all the time and putting on weight, despite watching what I ate.

I took myself back to my lovely specialist and was amazed when my results again came back negative.  Upon further investigation, and a trip to an endocrinologist and a nephrologist, I was diagnosed with chronic oedema (terrible ongoing water retention).  I went on diuretics and lost 7kgs in 4 days.  Unfortunately, not sustainable!  As soon as I stopped taking them, I looked like Spongebob Squarepants in the bath again.

That’s the boring backstory – here’s the point.  Oh, there it is.  I’m getting to it!

I’m putting myself through lifestyle rehab!  After years of being unable to exercise freely (some days, I had great difficulty even walking), I’m taking charge of my life.  I need to be strong and healthy for Boyo, the Welshman and me.  I’m fast approaching the big Four Oh My God I’m Old!  If I don’t do it now, I’ll never do it.

When I got whiplash, I went to physio for rehabilitation. Now I’m taking charge and putting my lifestyle through rehabilitation.

Lifestyle Rehab : Kimba 2.0 is about reclaiming my body.  Taking control of my life.  Regaining my muscle tone and strength. Building stamina.  For years, I was unable to exercise and that takes a toll.  I’m not going to go hard or go home.  This is about slow and steady wins the race.  You know the saying, “here for a good time, not a long time”?  Well, I’m greedy.  I’m aiming for both!

My lifestyle rehab involves the following steps:

• Upping my water intake from about a litre to a measured 2.4 litres a day.
• Stepping up my sneaky exercise, ie, incidental exercise.  More walking or scooting to school, aqua jogging when Boyo goes swimming, rather than Tweeting on the sideline, Kegels at the traffic lights,  more taking the stairs … that kind of thing.  It’s surprisingly effective!
• Committing to a serious course of Pilates with a registered Pilates teacher (not a dodgy physio with some Pilates equipment with vague instructions like I tried last year).  It is costing a fortune, but I’m worth it!
• Joining an aqua aerobics class at my local pool.  Low impact and no swimming – perfect!
• Cutting down all the treats – notice that wasn’t “cutting out”?  This is a lifestyle decision, not a diet or Die with a T as I like to call them!  Therefore, it’s got to be sustainable.
• Saying YES more often.  ”Yes, darling, Mummy will get in the pool with you.” “Yes, let’s scoot to school.” “Yes, let’s have ice cream for afternoon tea.” Oh, wait … not that one.
• Finally buying that bike I’ve been talking about, and going on family bike rides.
• Being stricter about what I eat again.  Fewer treats, smaller portions, upping the fruit and veg, grabbing a tomato instead of a sweet (except when I really, really need a sweet!), eating mindfully as much as possible … all that kind of thing.
• Cutting down on salt.  This is an important part of fighting the oedema.  I really notice added salt in food now, and it isn’t good.
• Using as many products as possible on my skin and body that don’t contain parabens, petrochemicals et al.
• I’m actually quite happy with being a curvaceous size 12, but I want to be a strong, toned, energetic curvaceous size 12!