Fitness & Fatigue

"Sometimes you don't realize your own strength until you come face to face with your greatest weakness." ~ Susan Gale

My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, I don't want to rely on the side effect of fatigue as an excuse to not take care of it.

Six months into a five-year hormonal treatment to help keep my estrogen levels low in order to eliminate the feed factor of cancer cells returning, carries a set of familiar side effects.

I experienced early onset menopause at forty-five years old. The symptoms are no different from regular menopause; hot flashes, night sweats, just to name a couple. At fifty I was done. At sixty-three over and out for real.

So, I thought. The side effects of estrogen therapy sent me right back into menopausal symptoms and then some. Weight gain, bone density, and fatigue.

Yes, and hot flashes!!

But there is one thing that combats each of those hard three, exercise!

When the fatigue hits, I admit, it can sideline me. I do feel tired and not up to doing anything.

In this journey I learned that I need to do something before it hits. Fighting the fatigue with fitness before it strikes the first blow of the day helps ease the effect of the effect.

I've come face to face with my weakness and am determined to show it my strength!

I'm not one to just give up and say, "Oh it's just too hard. I just can't." Now don't misunderstand me, every woman who is fighting breast cancer, who has survived breast cancer, has experienced her own journey in her own way, and I do know things can be hard. I think I am more fearful of letting this beat me.

Moreso as a woman of faith. I can't pray health and healing and then act like I don't believe in what I'm praying for. Where's the faith in that? Where's the strength in that?

I love walking. Due to the compromised vision of my right eye, I don't speed walk like I used to, but I live in an area with a lot of hills, so inclines, time and distance help make up for the intensity. I have to step up my game with weights to help with any loss of bone density but thankfully I like using weights.

Getting older affects our bodies, plain and simple. Fighting this fatigue is a priority for me. This is a time when I think back on times of victory to remind me that I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.

For my fiftieth birthday I participated in the Los Angeles Marathon. That was the biggest fitness challenge I had ever been through! The weather of the day was horrendous. Cold, windy, and rainy. A full-on storm!! I prepared well, layering my clothing with non-chafing fabrics, had gloves, a hat and a hoodie. But it was brutal. For my first marathon it wasn't the most ideal experience.

My friend Carla on the route cheering me on! The event photographer captured this perfect moment right after she called out my name and ran up to me from the sidewalk! It is my favorite picture of the event!

I have no intention of walking in a marathon again but walking a different kind of race.

It's the days when the body aches, the desire is low, you feel tired, and you feel weak......these are the days when champions train.

These are the days when I do some thing, any thing, a thing.

No matter how small a distance or length of time.

I do a thing.

Whether a walk up Runyon Canyon or a day when I can only muster up the energy to walk a few blocks.

I do a thing.

Watching tv and using my LegXercise.

I do a thing.

I don't get to a gym, I use my weights at home.

I do a thing.

I got bands and a yoga mat.

I do a thing.

Fighting against the fatigue with fitness.

I do a thing.