Exercise

Exercise is important for everyone, as we all know. For people with CF it is beneficial in a few ways.

1. Weight gain- muscle weighs more than fat and it is harder to loose muscle than fat. By having a stable weight/not be under weight you have a better chance at fighting off infections as your body is stronger. If you do get ill and lose your appetite, your body won't loose as much weight if it is stored as muscle.

2. Circulation- People with CF often have cold hands and feet and have clubbed fingers. All this is due to poor circulation. By exercising you are getting your heart to pump more blood round your body, making your circulation better.

3. Physio- Doing exercise will make us cough, clearing our lungs :)

4. Arthritis- I have found that, personally, doing exercise helps my arthritis in my knees and ankles. Of course if you wake up in the morning in pain, you don't feel like getting out of bed let alone doing exercise! But once you've got started, I find that it eases the pain (maybe because somewhere else in my body is hurting haha).

There are probably other benefits for CFers from exercise, but these 4 are what I'm hoping for for me.

I used to be very active and do a lot of exercise. I did gymnastics, cheerleading and horseriding but stopped all of these in during my teens. At the same time my health declined... coincidence? I think not lol.

So now I'm looking into what exercise I can do. I want something that I am going to enjoy and not see as a chore. I went to my first pole dancing class last week; 2 of my friends already go so it was nice to know someone there. It was good because you didn't realise you were even exercising, it was really fun. The next few days though I was aching! Hadn't realised I'd even used my muscles so much. I found it super painful to do any physio as coughing uses stomach muscles- all of which were painful. I am also going into a gym on Saturday to find out membership prices and stuff. I will probably do one or the other as both will likely cost too much. But I'm excited to start exercising again!

Food wise, I have stocked up on double cream, nutella, cream eggs and anything else with high calories. I am waiting for my supplement Calogen to be put on my prescription.

I have taken measurements of my arms, legs, stomach etc and taken photos of what I look like now. In like 6 - 12 months I will repeat this and see if my hard work has paid off :)