hi my names sarah im 21 and im finally getting off my ass.

OK. So I have finally been pushed over the edge of which divides the lazy complacent old me and the new, healthyier fit me. after a few heath scares in the last year or so i finally got told by a doctor today that i have high cholesterol and that i am risking a heart attack if i dont sort it out. this is the news i needed to put me into action and get going.

its not going to be easy - i got asthma 8 months ago and as a result have really suffered even climbing the stiars sometimes cos i carnt breathe. ive got 190 pounds on me, of which id like to loose 50. when i am at home its damn hard to excercise as the allergies that cuase my asthma are all around me (car pollutants, dust, general crap in the london air) but i am determined to say a big F%%K YOU to asthma and being fat and improve my lung compacity, reduce my weight and help my fragile heart out.

so, what did i do today. well after coming out of the hospital i felt full of life. having finally been told what i didnt want to hear but needed to hear, it provided me with great motivation. i walked all the way home for about half an hour in the sweltering heat (im currently in asia visiting my dad, it was 35c today!!) just now i went out for a long walk (another half an hour) i feel tired but motivated. i will get up at 7am tomorrow to go for a walk through the jungle before it gets too hot.

anyways, i just wanted to start this to get some help advice and support. i rad through the forum and you guys have a nice community and id like to be a part of this also. i also wanted to seek some advice if anyone can help?

i am a strict vegetarian and most of the time i pursue veganism although here in asia its very difficult so i eat egg if i have to. i dont eat fish eat meat drink milk and since 6 weeeks ago, eat chocolate or eat cheese. ive been veggie for 15 years now!! i just wanted to ask if there was any more veggies or vegans out there how do you find weight loss, and what do you eat. the only things about our foods online dont tell you if they are full of carbs or cholesterol. its only for meat diets.

(ive never met a fat veggie or vegan i think im the only one but its worth a try. by the way my high cholesterol is herediatry but the doctor said i can still try to reduce it as much as i can in the next year, if its still high ill consider trying drugs)

my main aim is not to look good, or be sexy. i couldt care about that. i want to lower cholesterol for my heart, increase my lung capacity thru excercise to aid my asthma and to loose some weight so im a bit healther.

thanks for reading ill keep yall posted.

oh and heres my tip of the day - instead of grating cheese over things grate raw carrot, its lush!!

welcome to your diary.. and to the site... much success on your journey to a healthier you

so it continued today and did quite well. had a roti for breakfast, some rice and fruit for lunch and rice and lots of veggies for dinner. now more fruit.

also went out for a long trek through the jungle for an hour worked up a good sweat 2nd day in going well

what kind of jungle do you go for a hike in? sounds intriguing?

im currently in south east asia visiting my dad, ytheres a big jungle right tound the back of our house got a trail throufgh it i think its 6k, did that twice today. its up and down steep hills and over rope bridges while running from the monkeys. good fun and getting me motivated, dont have anywhere to walk back in the uk though

Well done doing the walking , I have had asthma my whole life but you can still be fit and active despite it. Just don't let it get on top of you !

When you are home in London what sort of execise do you do ? or planning to do ?

well im not sure. becuase my asthma comes on as a result of my allergies, and ive been motivated out here in asia becuase my allegies dont bother me here. when back in the uk though ill be sick again. im allergic to dust cats and pollen!!! and my blood tests show that the allergy is extreme, the doctor says he rarely sees the results from my white blood cells so high, and that i should be on steroid inhalers and antihistamines at al ltimes so when i get back to the uk im going to have to take it easy for a while and sort this out the dust problem in my house. as for what i plan to do well it really depends on how my allergies react to going back to the UK. if im on the right tablets it should be bearable but if not ill have to work thru diffrent treatments until i find the right one. i dont want to go on steroids yet as that scares me. its the last resort.

as an asthmaitc can you give me any tips or advice? you must know ways of easing it. ive only had it for 8 months and so far im still learning but its very hard to control when the things that trigger it are all around me.

also i heard that lots of excercise is good as it increases your lung capaity and helps the asthma as you have more room to breathe. is this trune, and what sort of excercise should i do to do this.

im gonna join the uni jim in september and its not so dusty over there but while im back at my mums i need to find something to do that wont give me an asthma attack!!

One of the better exercises you can do with asthma is swimming, it helps to develop your lung capacity and control of your breathing, I always hated being told i should do swimming when i was younger because i don't like swimming but it is fantastic for asthma sufferers. it is also great for weight loss

When i was younger I was in and out of hospital for my asthma. One thing my doctor told me to do when i was younger was to grab a paper bag and concentrate on breathing in and out filling the bag, i think this just helped to take the panic out of having an attack.

How motivated is that!

aww see i love swimming. when im in asia i swim a lot if im near the sea, a month ago we took an isand trip and i went snorkelling with some locals for 6 hours. swimming out in the open sea for 6 hours was liberating and amazing and my asthma was non existant for the next few days.

the problem is in the Uk where i live in london the swimming pools are poorly maintained, they are very dirty and full of piss, and always have too many people in them splasing about. if there are lanes for swimming they are at stupid hours and stupid prices. plus the local swimming pool to me is in a no-go area for a young girl like me. im hoping when i start uni again in september that they can tell me where a pool is. i know theres one about 5 miles from uni but its more and more money that i dont have

i take it your asthma is asthma that is there all the time? thats savage. but how do you deal with it? in terms of knowing that its always there and it can come up at any time? or is there a pattern. im still learning about mine - things that used to irritate me before now cause full on allergy and asthma attacks and im worried becuase its getting worse and more spontaneus. the allergies are getting more random but they are the sort of things i cannot aviod. one thing im very bad with lately is strong smells of purfume, ive allways been allergic to aeresol but now even purfume makes me cry and breathe funny. the doctor in the uk says theres not much i can do, she also misdiagnosed it, and gave me a reliever pump for "hayfever symptoms" boy shes gonna get a shock when i show her my blood results.

also sorry to bother you but are you on a steroid inhlaer? i was told my my asian doctor that i should be on that every day. this is OK but i only know bad things about steroids so i declined so i can think about it more. is it safe (the steroid inhaler) does it change you? any side affects? i only have one kidney (due to removal) and have been taught to be VERY cautious of drugs given to me, even by doctors. uk doctors especially as they just give you drugs without thinking. i got kidney infections again last year yet they perscribed me drugs with stuff in them i shouldnt have. i want to make sure steroids are safe. but i am also desperate to control my asthma.

oh yah and i just weighed myself im 178 pounds?? scales are wrong. but i weighed myself on the same scales last year and i was 190. so ive lost 12 without even trying.

I have used several defferent inhalers, my primary inhaler has been ventolin as a reliever but I am unable to have that one anymore because the primary chemical (salbtamol) is a beta antagonist which is on the banned drug list for competitive drug tested sports so i am now on a new inhaler which is a preventitive inhaler which is not a steroid. but there is no problems that i am aware of health wise from using any of the common inhalers.

A dry climate is worse than the sub tropical one i live in now for asthma. It is still there all the time as a threat that i will have a bad attack but by keeping or slowly getting fit attacks can become less frequent and less severe.

Perfume can trigger an attack for me also, especially if i walk through the perfume section of a large store where people test out lots of different scents.

awe nice one. i thought i was the only one with the purfume thing! ive been in asia for the last two months visiting my dad and were not too far from the equator, its made my asthma non existant. ive not had to use my inhaler once here! but im going bck to london next week...will update on how that goes. but its nice having my lungs and breathing back to myself for a while

an update for yesterday. so i went for another walk through the jungle. but it turned out to be a damn long one! first i did one walk round the track which is about 6 k. then i got to the end and there were all the monkeys out. so i sat about watching them for a bit. then did the inner flat trail and for some reason started jogging? did this for about 3 k, on off on off. then went back fround the big trail inside the jungle, up and down massive slopes. so i think i did about 14k yesterday. i was exhausted, and sweating like crazy. and my feet are killing me as i did it barefoot (i like the feeling of the earth on my feet) so im gonna try and do the same todaY. except im not sure if i can! my legs are aching. im just gonna have to swallow the pain and go. i think if i do this a few days in a row im on to something. i felt great last night.

ok so latest update.

the last three days have been a bit poo. i didnt excercise at all for two days becase there was a big tropical storm and i well scared of lightning. plus its not safe to go into the jungle when its really wet cos of mosquitos and slippery trails and so on. so i rested up ans sat the storm up. today the storm finished this morning and by afternoon i was ready to go out. so i went for the usual 8k trail walk but with no jogging as i bought some running shoes and wanted to get used to them. they really improved my step and made it a lot easier to move. so i felt good even though my ribs were in a lot of pain and ive got the chest infection again.

eating wise ive been doing well. ive been turning down the bad options and making the most of my chioces. like me and my dad grabbed an indian the other night. i just had small bit of boiled rice with all veggies with no curry sauce. no poppadoms or bread. and it was real nice food

ive also discovered how nice warm beans lemon and pepper is. for dinner last night i was at the shopping place and there was nothing vegan for me to eat that wasnt well expensive and bad. i foudn this place that did a pot of warm corn and sweetcorn with toppings for cheap. so i had that. and itwas LUSH! warm sweetcorn and kidney beans with lemon and pepper. was lovely. more of a snack then a meal but ill be eating that more with different beans next time.

Are you still around?How is the weightloss coming?