Many of us wait for physical signs from our body that our health is getting bad before we start to reassess our lifestyles and make attempts to improve it with exercise and an improved diet.

In Paul's case this physical sign was rather dramatic.

On a fateful day in 1986, Paul was having a fairly normal work day. Around lunch time, he was returning to his office after a meeting and noticed that he was unusually short of breath. So short in fact that he had top stop for a few minutes in between the two flights of stairs he was climbing. While there he also started feeling dizzy.

When he finally reached his office, Paul noticed that his previously fresh shirt was drenched in sweat.

Feeling that he was suffering a heart attack, Paul phoned the nurse at the site's first aid office. She immediately called for an ambulance.

Hours later, Paul woke up in the intensive ward of a metropolitan hospital, where he stayed under observation for the next 9 days.

The only physical signs that there was a potential problem in the days before the heart attack were cramps in Paul's upper back muscles which he put down to normal daily aches and pains.

Paul's life before the heart attack

Before his heart attack, Paul didn't consider his lifestyle overly poor.

Sure he had a stressful job, tended to bottle up stress and didn't eat exceptionally healthily. But he played squash (once a week), only weighed 86 kilograms (at a height around 6 feet tall) and generally felt ok.

So what was the cause of the problem?

Most significantly for Paul, his cholesterol was at dangerous levels (7.3) and he had a family history of heart disease (Paul's father died of a heart attack).

Even after improving his diet dramatically after his heart attack, Paul's cholesterol remained very high suggesting that it was hereditary rather than lifestyle related and needed medication to bring it down to safer levels.

The Initial Aftermath

Paul's initial response after his heart attack was to feel depressed and down about the life he felt he had in front of him. His self-esteem also took quite a battering.

Paul thought that his heart attack would mean that he would need to wrap his health in cotton-wool for the rest of his life and that he wouldn't be able to do some of the physical activities that most of us take for granted.

Worst of all, Paul had two young sons he wanted to be able to play with and he thought he no longer could.

Luckily for Paul, his doctor explained that although he would need to be patient and careful to begin with, leading a more active lifestyle and exercise would actually be good for him and his health rather than threatening to his life.

As Paul would learn, our hearts are muscles and muscles get stronger with regular exercise and physical activity.

But he did need to take it slowly.

Paul's life after the heart attack

From a dietary point of view, Paul began eating a lot more "heart healthy" food, like fish, fruit and vegetables after his heart attack.

For exercise, Paul began simply walking around the block and slowly building up the distanced covered over the six to eight months directly after leaving hospital.

After that, Paul began swimming, again starting very slowly and covering very modest distances initially.

On top of the base level of fitness that the walking and swimming provided, Paul then began to enjoy other exercise activities like bike riding and resistance training at the gym.

Over the coming years, Paul would learn how to combine exercise and activity with social and family aspects of life that he had a renewed vigour for.

For example, Paul volunteered as a boundary umpire at his sons' local football club.

This allowed Paul to combine spending time with his Aussie Rules footy loving sons while improving his fitness running around the footy ground boundary on a Saturday afternoon.

Spending quality time with his friends also took on new meaning as Paul began entering swimming, cycling and walking events. As well as being able to enjoy these events with his current friends, Paul soon found that these events grew his circle of friends dramatically as he met more and more people with like interests.

During the next few years Paul entered events such as the annual 'pier to pub swim' in Lorne, Victoria, the great Victorian Bike Ride (a nine day biking holiday which tours around scenic country Victoria) and the challenging 220km 'Around the bay in a day' bike ride (which sees bike riders ride their bikes around Port Philip Bay in a single day).

Incredibly, Paul has completed the latter event on three separate occasions!

Paul's life today

Today Paul isn't significantly lighter than when he suffered his heart attack, but much of his weight today is muscle and not fat. As you can imagine, his fitness levels are light-years ahead of where they were when he was 38, some twenty years later.

But not only has Paul's heart and health been improved by his healthy lifestyle, so too has his whole outlook on life.

Today, Paul has a real zest for life that comes from the confidence that he can do almost anything. As a result he is significantly more outgoing.

Whether its water skiing with the family and friends, bike riding 100 kilometres with mates on a Sunday morning, swimming or jogging with work colleagues during their lunch break, or just working around the house and getting the very most out of life, Paul has the fitness and stamina to do it all.

Although he still exercises regularly, Paul has found like most of us that his motivation wanes from time to time. In fact, as Paul explains it, his exercise routine isn't always plain sailing and staying motivated constantly has been his greatest challenge.

In Paul's experience, letting your fitness levels decline too far makes it that much harder to motivate yourself and get back into top shape again.

"It's far easier to stay fit than it is to get fit again after an unforced layoff" he says with a wry smile.

"I find it easiest to keep fit and exercise when I set myself mini goals. This helps alleviate the inevitable boredom that we all feel from time to time."

What about Paul's diet today? Is he still eating only heart healthy food?

Fortunately, Paul can afford to have a much more balanced approach to his diet these days.

Sure he still eats fish, fruit and vegetables but not at every meal and now because of his elevated level of fitness and cholesterol lowering medication enjoys the odd pizza, hamburger and glass or two of beer or wine.

Mentally, Paul is better able to cope with the stresses of life and is far more single minded about his health. Because he has found ways to combine his exercise with his family, work and social life, being this single minded hasn't caused any problems at all.

Overall, Paul is a happy and healthy person who is physically and mentally able to cope with anything that life throws his way and his outlook on life is better than most people half his age.

Conclusion

So what lessons can we all learn from Paul's traumatic experience at 38 and his approach to life afterwards?

Here are the major points to take from Paul's story:

• Regardless of your age, have regular checkups with your doctor and note any family history of illness or disease, especially heart disease.

• Sometimes what seems like life's normal aches and pains can be a sign of worse things to come and if in any doubt always see your doctor if you feel any unusual or unexplained pain or discomfort.

• High cholesterol isn't always lifestyle related but regardless of cause should be monitored and brought quickly down to safe levels if dangerously high.

• Age shouldn't be a barrier to our fitness; Paul was fitter in his late 40's than he had been throughout his twenty's and thirty's.

• Anyone can get fitter with the right approach; even after suffering a heart attack Paul got fitter and stronger by starting slowly, gradually increasing his exercise times and intensities and sticking to a routine.

• All of us lose motivation to exercise from time to time. Motivation is cyclical, but it is important to remember that it is harder to regain your fitness than it is to keep it. If you get bored with your exercise routine, set yourself new goals or just try something different for a while.

• You don't have to be selfish to exercise regularly. Just look for ways to combine your exercise with family, social and work aspects of your life like Paul did.

Remember, we can all change our lives for the better if we adopt the right approach and stick with it. Thanks for visiting weightloss.com.au.