The battle against the pred pounds - 12WBT take two!

So no doubt if you have RA (or pretty much any other auto-immune illness, for that matter), or if you know someone with RA - you will have heard them simultaneously sing the praises and bemoan the side effects of prednisolone and/or prednisone.

Steroids are a mainstay of treatment of RA and other diseases like it; a double-edged sword for people like me.  In their 'pros' we have reduction of pain, reduction of swelling, improved movement, improved function, and general improvement in wellbeing.  The 'cons' column (and believe me when I say I'm giving you the summarised version!) includes insomnia, mood swings, depression, emotional lability (crying at the drop of a hat is my super-power!), constant hunger, fluid retention and weight gain.  And that, my friends, is just the tip of the iceberg of the short-term effects.  Don't get me started on the crazy manipulation of your body that it causes if you're on it long term!

Funnily enough, I (and many RA patients around the globe) have long referred to these little white pills as "Satan's Tic Tacs".  The irony in this is that the company that makes Tic Tacs has long used the ad line "Two hours of Tic Tac freshness in less than two calories.".  Satan's version, however - well those little $*#^@&! basically make people like me pack on the kilos just by reaching for the bottle they come in.  Not fun.

Actually printing those three little words on the bottle might prevent some lawsuits in the future for "failure to acknowledge likely outcome".

So, after receiving a full-length mirror for Christmas (I have carefully avoided having one since living in my current house for the past 3 years; I'm not sure whether my family thought I was putting together my outfits badly or whether they were concerned about my weight gain...) I have had to come to terms with the way I look now.  Sure, my work pants had become a little tighter - but I really didn't think I was in too much trouble.  Seeing the way I look now, in my before photo for the 12WBT - I was clearly delusional.

I'm one of those people who has always been a bit of a problem solver - see a problem, acknowledge it, fix it - and I couldn't very well treat my body and my health any differently, could I?  So I got online, pulled out my credit card and signed up for another round of Michelle Bridges' 12 Week Body Transformation.  The signing up was the easy bit.  The hard work was yet to come.

The before photo I mentioned before evoked a different response to the one I get when I look at myself in the mirror.  In the mirror, I find myself focusing on my face.  When faced with the photo, I can't help but take in the whole picture.  And while I try to be very open and honest on my blog, sharing the photo would be cruel to you so to give you an indication of how unhappy I looked, allow my friend to demonstrate:

Grumpy Cat is not impressed by what she sees.

But the clincher for me wasn't the way I looked in the photo.  The thing that got me to hand over my money and commit to another round was Michelle's announcement that this round would also mark the launch of her "Move" program - for people with movement and mobility issues, whether they be from illness, injury, having not done exercise for an extended period, or having a BMI > 30.  The promise of an exercise program that was actually within my capabilities was simply too good to pass up, and I'm not going to lie - it felt freakin' awesome to complete my workout this morning.  I did it - not a 'modified' version for the girl with the dodgy joints, or only completing selected exercises because of pain - I did the whole darn thing!  Talk about building a girl's confidence and her pride in her work!

As I type this and day one of my twelve weeks comes to a close, I am proud of the start I've made.  Under my calorie target, and having gotten out of bed at 5:45 am to exercise - I am impressed with my day one dedication.  The trick will be keeping it up from here - but if I want to look less like Grumpy Cat in 12 weeks time, I need to get it done.  Fix that problem.  Change my life.



I'll be checking in from time to time to report back on my progress in the 12WBT.  For information and to sign up to be reminded when future rounds begin, go to  www.12wbt.com - I'll be honest, the meals are great and now with this new exercise program, we have no more excuses!