My Health Transformation

I write this today at 43 years old and feeling healthier and fitter than I was in my 20’s and in the best physical condition of my life. Excited knowing, that despite being in my 40’s I have not even got close to reaching my physical performance potential. However, it wasn’t always this way, by the time I reached my mid 30’s through 2014-2016 I was very overweight, had worrying health symptoms, could barely run, was lacking confidence and felt my health and fitness spiralling downwards.

My symptoms included:

· Chronic sinusitis

· Chronic fatigue

· Joint ache in my fingers and toes

· Frequent Urination

· Lipomas – small fatty lump on abdomen and back

· Stabbing pain in abdomen

· Intermittent burning flank pain on right hand side

· Insomnia

· Back pain

· Frequent colds

Throughout these years the chronic fatigue and sinusitis was debilitating, my energy was so low, I would do what I could to get through the day, but I would take any opportunity to shut my eyes and snooze when I could. Although I was working, I was scraping by doing the bare minimum, struggling to sleep at night and shattered during the day. Meanwhile, my bodyweight increased gradually until I reached 120kg (almost 19 stone) and the frequent urination, lipomas and the intermittent abdominal/flank pain resulted me caught in an underlying cycle of low level anxiety and worry that something was wrong. I felt caught in a cycle I couldnt break out of and no matter what improvements I tried to make, nothing seemed to really work.

Prior to the onset of these symptoms, I qualified as a Personal trainer in 2005 and began working with clients. However, I began questioning what I had been taught and due to my passion for human performance I knew there was a lot more I wanted to know about how the body really functions. I undertook different courses that answered some of my initial questions but also discovered the concept of holistic lifestyle coaching where I met Emma Lane, who at the time was teaching on behalf of the CHEK Institute.

By 2010, aged 31 I had a career deviation whist maintaining my interest and study in human performance and chose to work within football environments. However, I knew I hadn't been fully walking the path of my talk, especially with my choices from a healthy lifestyle perspective. Here I was with a massive passion for health and human performance, but I wasn’t truly living it myself. It wasn’t until I began to heal that I acknowledged why this was. I wasn’t even close to my best physical condition, but my career had a new direction. My main job was sedentary for a couple of years but because I was in my early 30’s and still considered myself a “Personal Trainer,” I kidded myself I could get back in physical condition anytime I wanted.

Little did I realise how wrong I would be…

Continuing to 2014-16, although I returned to working within health and fitness related roles, I still never committed to getting into my best physical condition and my lifestyle choices had no consistency. I could no longer get away with the preceding benefit of youth to pretend I was still fit and healthy. My symptoms began to worsen, my confidence began to decline, and my bodyweight kept increasing. I was having to buy bigger and bigger waist sizes for my jeans. At this point I can remember being at an away football match struggling to keep up just walking across part of London. I would get nausea with the intense intermittent burning pain down my right hand side and didnt know what it was. I would try and start jogging at home and I couldn’t even make half a mile before my knee would lock up and my body just felt in pain. I remember thinking to myself “S**T Lee, you have got yourself in a mess”. 35 years of age and I felt what I could only imagine to be 80.

I was living with low level intermittent anxiety over my worsening health symptoms, and I couldn’t even physically train myself out of what I was experiencing. Permanently tired, fatigued, and my body was rejecting any attempt at strenuous activity. I spent this period seeing my GP and Consultants. I was on long courses of antibiotics for my sinuses, whilst the Urologist told me I didn’t have a urine infection and said the only option is exploratory surgery and to take Alpha Blockers! I refused both these options and returned to my GP who said my health was perfect!???

It clearly wasn’t perfect, I felt despair and reached a low point, but I knew I was no longer going to allow myself to exist like this. Deep down I knew what I had learned from my holistic lifestyle course and that healing was possible, I had to address the subconcious part of me that previously ignored this. The time had come to take this seriously and step into being the person I wanted to become. I knew the potential I had inside me and I was going to tun this around by taking a more holistic lifestyle and naturopathic approach. I knew exactly who I wanted to guide me so was grateful to Emma Lane, a truly amazing holistic health practitioner and naturopath agreeing to take me on as a client. Emma was able to perform an extensive holistic life analysis plus tests to establish a baseline of how I was presenting physically and identified the following:

· A urine infection

· A parasite infection

· A gut dysbiosis (bacteria imbalance)

· Leaky gut

· Autonomic nervous system imbalance

· Food sensitivities

· Effects of previous emotional traumas

My body was in a chronic physiologically stressed state, my vitality was low, with challenged digestive health, inflammation, and toxic overload.

So how did I start to improve?

It was a relief to get a baseline of what was going on with me. My desire to change was so great I didn’t have any resistance to change. I needed to take responsibility for what I was creating in my life and focus my attention on what I wanted to achieve. Initially I needed a lot more parasympathetic activity (rest and digest) that would allow my systems to settle down.

I started by eating real foods from nature of proteins, carbs and fat in ratios that worked for me in creating energy balance. I also avoided known food sensitivities and processed food, adopted lifestyle modifications to facilitate optimal sleep/wake cycles and took steps to reduce my toxic load. Any given food item that had more than one ingredient rarely entered my body. Many of my symptoms settled down almost instantly and then I began protocols to steadily improve my gut health and eradicate the infections.

I looked within to be honest with myself, recognise why I had created poor health in the first place and why I never fully adopted some principles I had previously learned. I took the lessons I needed to learn from what my body was presenting and focus on becoming the person I wanted to be. I released emotional /energetic blockages, aligned my vision, purpose and values to change the mental processes that influenced choices I previously made.

Within a month I started to feel a lot better and could feel my energy and vitality starting to improve and my body wanting to move. I could now wake up easily in the morning and began with walking in nature and doing lots of breathing exercises. The weight began to fall off as my inflammation reduced and my autonomic nervous system began to balance. I began to develop a mind-body connection the more I healed and listened to my body if it wanted to move, stretch, rest or eat. By developing a wellbeing platform, improving my vitality, I was able to gradually proceed with further protocols to facilitate moving me towards optimal health rather than symptomatic and fatigued.

I never counted calories, and in under 2 years my bodyweight had reduced by around 5 stone, I was mostly symptom free, had more energy than ever in my life and felt brand new. Without even performing traditional physical training for a couple of years, I was able to run with ease. I felt ready to take action on moving towards my goals, career and passion for optimal health and physical performance. By the time I reached 41 I was in the best physical condition of my life, lost a further stone and felt fitter and healthier than in my 20’s. It was a complete transformation compared to how I felt before.

My healing with Emma aligned with my vision so whilst a client, I began to study Emma’s courses with Integrative Health Education so that I could use the same framework to help others. I also studied under two other experts in their respected fields, Mark Buckley with FMA, bridging the gap between the fields of rehabilitation and strength and conditioning and Rob Brinded, learning the power of observing our own thoughts, behaviour and using insight with Energetics. I also began an MSc in Strength and Conditioning.

Our health and physical performance go hand in hand, we are a system of systems. When we identify the route cause behind the breakdown in that larger system, adopt the necessary healing protocols that are appropriate for the individual, take responsibility for the lifestyle choices and mindset moving forwards, we give ourselves the best opportunity to heal or be in the best possible optimal health and condition we can.

Looking back, it is easy to see why I experienced the health I did, why I made choices at certain times and also how my education fits into that. Our pain becomes our greatest teacher and by now turning my health around and walking my talk, I feel better placed to help others than ever before.

Life can always throw us stressful events that can result in that fight or flight physiological response, none more so than the past 3 years. If stress is chronic or we cannot effectively adopt management strategies, it can affect our current health. However, by creating a lifestyle wellbeing platform, aligning my vision, purpose and choices that support me, I can listen to my body and ask why is this happening for me? Instead of, why is this happening to me? This allows me to adapt and make any changes with choices or lifestyle that keeps me on the path of creating health, rather than just suppress and neglect the cause behind it. Now at 43, I feel I am only going to get fitter and stronger in whatever physical training I choose to focus on and can help others improve their health and do the same.

My Final thoughts... healing is not always linear and the best approach is the one that is right for the individual in any given moment in time. By establishing a baseline and taking a holistic lifestyle approach, having a vision for moving forwards, improving the connection to self, releasing from within that which is not serving us, understanding the action steps that will support us instead of work against us and being consistent, we give ourselves the opportunity to experience life in the best possible health that is relative to us. As I found out myself, knowledge is useless if it isnt applied...why wait until you are in pain? But if you are suffering, it is an opportunity to look at what you can change or improve!

We do not have to accept that becasue we are in our 40's being overweight and suffering in poor health should become the norm. It is possible for many to completely turn their health around and create physical performance levels you might of no longer thought possible...

Please feel free to share, especially if it may inspire others who may be experiencing similar circumstances. If any guys want help moving forward with their health or fitness and don’t know where to begin, please email lee@leeransomcoaching.com .