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Home > Your Champions > Leonie Fryar
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| Leonie Fryar |
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Leonie Fryar was just 39 when she had a heart attack in 2001. Young and fit, of normal weight and health conscious, Leonie was not someone who thought she would ever experience a heart attack.
"I had smoked for the last 15 years and, even though they were only 1mg, I thought I couldn't get cancer. Heart disease never entered my mind," Leonie said.
"Secondly, I rarely had a drink Monday to Thursday but come the weekend, I was binge drinking on a regular basis. And while putting up with that dreaded hangover, it didn’t occur to me it would end up in heart disease.
"Having the awareness of eating healthily, coupled with the importance of exercise, is the only thing that saved my life that Thursday night.
"Raising awareness in the community of heart disease and how to prevent it is my absolute passion. So there can be so many more lives saved, just like mine."
Leonie has been a long-time supporter of the Heart Foundation and the Go Red for Women campaign. She is excited to be involved in the Healthy Heart Challenge. Although she will be overseas for a full month of the Challenge, Leonie will be providing updates on how she continues to meet her goal during her overseas travels.
Leonie has chosen the 'Be active every day' goal.
Week 3 update
Thursday night 10 years ago I never thought I would find myself at 39 lying on an operating table having a heart attack not knowing weather I would live or die. However today is a very different story, and in November this year I am celebrating my 10 year anniversary of surviving heart disease. My goal for the Challenge is to be active every day. So far I have met my objective. Six weeks ago I joined a women’s boot camp for a six week challenge, well I have to tell you after the first week I slept very well and when that alarm went off in the morning no matter how cold it was outside I ensured I still went for a walk, gloves, scarf, hat and anything that would keep me warm. With three weeks in I have to say I definitely have more energy and that twice a week boot camp has definitely moved some inches from around my waist. Next Thursday I am flying overseas and still intend to keep my end of the bargain of being active every day. I will be forwarding you emails from Greece and Paris and letting you all know how I am going. Hope you are all going well and working hard to achieve your own goals. Be healthy. Leonie Week 6 update
Hi fellow challengers, Well it was a magical nine days in the Greek Islands. It is just amazing what you can achieve on a ship! They have this amazing fun and fit team headed up by Eric, every morning at 8am he leads a fun 30 minute fitness class; I would never have thought I could achieve a fitness class on a sailing boat. In addition, lots of walking has been done and I made sure I climbed as many stairs as possible. This not only kept me going to achieve my 30 minute exercise daily objective, but I also had the additional bonus of seeing some truly amazing views. I have now been in the beautiful city of Paris for a couple of days; a little slow the first day, however dragged myself out of bed this morning early and enjoyed a run along the river Seine. Hope you are all going well and achieving your own objectives, it's not always easy. However, with a little imagination, you truly can incorporate your daily activity know matter where you are. Keep well and moving
Leonie Week 9 update
Well I can’t believe the weeks can fly by so quickly!
At the beginning of this Challenge, I chose to be active every day. I have to admit I wasn’t sure how I was going to achieve this, as I was lucky enough to be heading on four-weeks’ leave overseas.
Well, it started with my boot camp even before I left; I have to say, with the boot camp sessions twice a week and still keeping to my goal of being active every day it was a bit of a slog in the beginning. When I came to the end of it and was heading overseas, I have to say I definitely had an extra spring in my step and was quietly a little pleased with my new waistline and toned legs.
Being away, especially as I had 10 days on a ship, I wondered how I was going to possibly keep my goal of being active everyday. On the days that we didn’t leave the boat I joined their gym class each morning and, yes can you believe it, I did drag myself out of bed even though I was on holidays! The days we were in port I made sure that where there were stairs I climbed them and walked everywhere.
After the boat trip, we landed in that beautiful City of Love, Paris. I thought to myself, I will really be able to keep up my Challenge by using the gym each day. Well, I hit another snag - no GYM! So, once again, I needed to improvise. Our hotel room was on the 4th floor, so I ensured I climbed those stairs - all 81 of them - at least four times per day. In addition each day I incorporated sit-ups, squats and push-ups into my daily routine. With all the walking each day, I clearly began to achieve my goal.
We are now back home and, I have to say, I have lost that little tyre around my tummy that I had wanted to move for so long. And I am really enjoying my new-found routine of 30 minutes each day of physical exercise. This will go a long way to keeping my cholesterol at bay.
Thank you all for following my progress, and I hope you have all gone well with your challenges and had the results you were looking for.
Leonie. |
