One of the biggest compliments I can get is when a client is asked by their doctor “What are you doing? Your numbers are fantastic”. This question can apply to any number, from weight loss to A1C to even kidney function.
I was ever so pleased when I recently received an email from a client named Alexis. It was just after a recent visit to her nephrologist. Alexis was diagnosed with a kidney disease known as IGA Nephropathy in 2010. There is no cure for this disease but it can be treated in various ways including exercise and healthy diet. But according to Alexis’s doctor few people make the choice take use lifestyle modification in there treatment plan course.
Alexis, however, is not most people. After a round of treatment with immunosuppressant drugs (another treatment option) she found herself at her heaviest and, perhaps, her unhealthiest. Before we met in March 2013 she had high blood pressure, was experiencing daily headaches and, due to sore joints, she struggled to walk up stairs.
My low point came last winter at work when our downstairs restroom was closed and I needed to climb the stairs to the second floor. It was raining outside, but I seriously debated going outside and across the street to another building, just to avoid the stairs.
Contacting me was a present to herself for her 51st birthday. Despite reading every blog post and watching every video she was still very nervous about the idea of hiring a personal trainer. As she filled out the contact form on the web site she wondered if she was too out of shape for personal training to even work. Luckily, I don’t believe that anyone is beyond hope. I believe if you’re willing to do the work all things are possible.
Alexis was more than willing to make the small changes I asked of her. Sugar and caffeine were her dietary crutches. She believed they were the only way to make it through the exhaustion she felt each day. Unbeknownst to her, the coffee and candy were making her lack of energy even worse. We attacked sugar first; gradually reducing sweet treats from an all day affair to once a week or a special occasion. She also was able to face the fact that dairy wasn’t her friend and was the cause of her stomach issues and spontaneous rashes.
We built up her exercise routine as we reduced the amount of sugar. Alexis was already participating in yoga twice a week, which I loved. Yoga is great for flexibility, mobility, balance and core. It’s a prefect counter to strength training, which we added 3 days a week. We started with foundational exercises like body weight squats and chest presses on the stability ball, letting the perfectionist in her practice moves until she felt confident in her execution. About every 4-6 weeks, the program changes to keep challenging her. It’s paid off in her ability to easily hold a 2 minute plank and in recently conquering her latest nemesis: the prone jackknife.
Over the last 10 months I’ve watched her change. Not only is her blood pressure lower than it’s been in a decade but she was recently able to fit into a size 8 pencil skirt that has been languishing in the back of her closet for several years. She’s happy and her doctor is happy.
The doctor said “what ever it is you are doing, it is working. You are completely symptom-free! You aren’t disease free, as it never goes away, but considering that in 2010 we were talking about the likelihood of a kidney transplant by the time you were 60, this is fantastic”.
I couldn’t ask for a better result. Well, maybe to have video of her demonstrating a T-push up in a skirt to her doctor. I would have loved to have seen his face.
