It is now three years since my fateful visit to a Harley Street clinic to be told that I had a heart condition that would need open heart surgery. Three years. Normally I would look back three years as if it was only yesterday. But this seems a lifetime ago. How you can walk through a door and walk out an hour later with the life ahead of you changed forever remains difficult to comprehend. But it happens to people all the time. How many will walk out of a hospital clinic today dazed and scared at what lies in front of them. Fortunately for me I was told at the onset that I would survive. Some are not so fortunate.

Three years on those memories and those feelings are slightly faded. I don’t feel they are bad memories although I would hate to go through it again. And apart from the scar, the click and the Warfarin all is good. I’m fit and healthy. And grateful for the life I have.
However it is playing havoc with the housework. I have either been away or busy for the last few weekends and completing a course in between. I now have a house that needs a serious scrub. Which I will get to once I have posted this blog. Except my dog may have other ideas.

This past weekend I was with friends in Wiltshire. A beautiful part of the country. I had been a little apprehensive at putting on my walking boots in the middle of a heatwave but I got wet instead. And it was very windy. I had brought the tail end of Hurricane Ophelia last October so I have been warned to keep an eye on the Beaufort Scale before I next visit.
But we did enjoy a six mile walk along part of the White Horse Trail. The entire trail is 90 miles long taking in all eight white chalk horses of Wiltshire. We only passed over one (Alton Barnes) and completed just 7 percent of the walk. But apart from one downpour it was glorious. And doing all 10 is something to think about for a future challenge.

My two other successes over the last couple of weeks have been the completion of a course I have been doing for an age and losing a tiny bit of weight.
The course is Exercise and the Older Adult. Whilst I completed all the study and passed the exam I just couldn’t motivate myself to complete the worksheets. I’m not sure why. I can usually turn such things around fairly swiftly. Anyway all done and dusted now. Just to wait for the results.

I have lost a kilogram of weight (2 pounds). Which doesn’t sound much but at last it is going in the right direction. Three years ago I found it fairly easy to lose weight following a low carbohydrate diet. But that may have been more to do being ill. Now that I’m healthy it is proving a little more difficult. So I’m giving the calorie counting a go using MyFitnessPal which I’m finding really easy. I’m ensuring that I get a set amount of calories from protein (muscle building) and then spitting the remaining calories between fats and carbs. This gives me more flexibility which makes it easier. And I’m taking a weekly approach to the calories to accommodate the weekend curry and lager.

Strangely enough I do feel a slight sense of failure that I’ve taken the calorie counting approach. Which is a little absurd given that the only way to lose fat is to be in a calorie deficit. But most diets I have tried, and ultimately failed at, don’t mention calories. And the anti diet brigade will tell you to just eat healthy food when you are hungry. But I’m always hungry and too much of anything can make you fat. Except broccoli. So I will suppress my guilt and open the app.

I’m now going to do some housework. If the dog lets me.