Hi everyone, I hope you have a good day with only mild fibromyalgia pain and none of those nasty flare ups that we all dread. I started working out for the first time in a few days today. A couple weeks ago I thought I was going to start working out and did the Jillian Michaels yoga meltdown dvd and about killed myself (the workout was tough, but the fibromyalgia flareup was what really brought me to my knees). I have determined Jillian Michaels dvd's to be something that I am going to have to work my way up to. The last time I really started working out and did it the right way by working up to more and more workouts, I did Leslie Sansone's Walk At Home - 5 Mile Walk (With Fitness Band). During the first couple weeks, I only did one or two miles at a time, never using the fitness band. I slowly worked my way up to where I could do the whole thing. Believe it, I was walking 4 and 5 miles a day. I felt great until I stopped doing the workouts (mainly due to the fact that I am a lazy bum). I now have to go back and start building up again. Today I started with one mile (or maybe a little less, my sister called mid workout). Tommorow, I hope to do two miles. I will stay at two miles for a week or two before moving up to three miles.

The reason I am posting about my impending workout plans is because exercising helps to cut down on fibromyalgia pain. It's hard to believe that moving more could bring about less fibromyalgia pain, but its true. When the doctors first told me I had fibromyalgia, they told me that I should start working out and I thought they were out of their minds. I was in so much pain, that moving literally made me throw up (sorry to be graphic) at times and they wanted me to workout. Of course, during the initial stages of my diagnosis I didn't work out, but when I accepted my illness, I started trying to fight it. When I started fighting my fibromyalgia, I started exercising. When I started exercising I could see a marked decrease in  my fibromyalgia pain.

Like many of you I still don't like to exercise all the time. I have to force myself to exercise when I do by remembering that "high" you get after a good sweat session. I also have to remind myself about how much extra energy I have when I workout and how I have more days in between flare ups. In the end, I usually end up working out about three days a week even on weeks when I am not doing my best. So my challenge to you (the reader) is to get up off the couch and walk at least ten minutes. You don't have to buy Leslie's dvd to get a good walk in, even though I recommend it if you want to get serious about your walking. You can walk around your backyard for a while, or take your dog for a stroll in the park, you can even go walking in the mall, just get up off the couch and start moving. When you first start moving its going to be hard, everything worth doing is hard, but stay commited and I promise you will see results. If you have already started exercising and it has helped you, let me know what you did and how much it impacted your overall health.

Until next time,
Sarah