This is my mum. Her name is Anna. Since I remember she was always heavily overweight, she never did any kind of exercising in her life. She gained weight when after giving birth to me and my sister and wasn't able to drop it. She was trying to lose weight by trying various diets but nothing worked. She also was avoiding doctors at all cost.



Until at the age of 55 she had a heart attack. On that day she had pain chest but still went to work, where it got worse. She called my dad to come and get her. She was insisting to go home where she could rest. Luckily my dad was wiser and took her to hospital instead, where they told her she was having heart attack. She was immediately admitted to ICU and treated. She had to have stent inserted in her blood vessel as it was blocked, stopping the blood flow to her heart.



2 weeks after leaving hospital, she was referred to rehabilitation center for people after heart attack. And this saved her life more than doctors and stent. In that place she met with dietitian to discuss changes in her eating habits (even though her daughter tried to change it for years!) and she listened to him. She wasn't eating massive amounts of food, fast foods, sweets etc. before the heart attack, but she was eating breakfast early in the morning and dinner late at night, not eating throughout the day. Dietitian advised her to have 5 small meals through the day and include a lot of vegetables. She started to follow it.



In the rehabilitation center she had also been prescribed exercise routine on stationary bicycle. When she went to first class she was afraid, she didn't know what to do, how to operate the bike, she thought she can't do it, she is too old, she never rode the bike in her life. Trainer there helped her overcome those fears, explained what to do and how to do. And so she did it. And it wasn't that bad, she said! She kept attending the classes for 2 weeks of her being there and when she returned home I bought her stationary bike so she could exercise at home.



Since that day my mum every day has been doing 50 km on the bike! Every single day! For 5 years now! She divides it to 20, 15, 10, 5 km throughout the day, puts her favorite music on or some film and goes. In 5 years she did the same amount of km as if she went around Earth 2.5 times!! When the weather is good she also goes for a walk in near park. When she had heart attack she weighed 105 kg, one year later she was 70 kg and she maintains it since by exercising and eating well.



My parents live on 4th floor in building without lift. Before heart attack she had to stop for few minutes on each floor to rest and catch breath. Now she can go all 4 floors in one go, despite her heart being weaken by the attack. Exercises made her heart, body and mind stronger, even after all the years of carrying extra weight. She does take a lot of medicines prescribed by doctors of course, but her condition is not getting worse, thanks to consistent exercises. She is also behaving well and not afraid of doctors anymore, although she still get nervous when she needs to see one.



My happiest moment was when 1.5 year after the heart attack we went to buy her dress for family event. When she was overweight, we had to go to special shops which had sizes 26-28 to buy clothes that would fit her. When we went to buy a dress, we went to normal shop, where she could fit in size 12 and look amazing. She looked in the mirror and saw a woman that she hasn't seen for so many years. Everybody complimented her at the family event, some people didn't even recognize her.



The inspiration and motivation from her story is that no matter age, fitness level, illness, fears - you can achieve your goal! You just need to be patient, consistent and with help and support, you can definitely change your life. Don't be afraid. Try.