Latest / Beyond the Pouch / Claire on Weightlifting & Exercise after Stoma Surgery | Beyond the Pouch S3 EP5

Transcript

Claire on Weightlifting & Exercise after Stoma Surgery | Beyond the Pouch S3 EP5 · Beyond the Pouch

0:00
SPEAKER_01: It was a case of I was fine one day and the next day my bowel just totally stopped working.
0:05
SPEAKER_01: Things just got progressively worse very quickly.
0:10
SPEAKER_01: I lost about four and a half, five stone.
0:14
SPEAKER_01: And they said we'll go in, we'll open you up, we'll cut out some of or all of your large bowl, and you will 99% wake up with a bag.
0:22
SPEAKER_01: And I'll never forget someone said to me, Look, you use this moment, you either let it make you or you let it break you.
0:30
SPEAKER_02: How have you built your confidence up and then got into fitness?
0:34
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't work out for three months after.
0:36
SPEAKER_01: So I did just get out and walk.
0:38
SPEAKER_01: Because it's all about confidence.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: You need to be confident in yourself, in your body.
0:42
SPEAKER_01: You can't always be scared of it.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: I want to get stronger, I want to look even, you know, fitter, more defined than I have done before.
0:50
SPEAKER_01: Being able to just get up and move and feel healthy and also a reminder of just how fragile life can be.
0:58
SPEAKER_01: I feel so lucky to be alive.
1:04
SPEAKER_06: Welcome back everyone.
1:06
SPEAKER_06: We are here with Claire today, who is an actual titan in the community.
1:11
SPEAKER_06: 100%.
1:12
SPEAKER_02: Cannot wait to have her on.
1:13
SPEAKER_02: It's gonna be so good.
1:14
SPEAKER_06: And she's had a stoma, she's had reversal surgery, which is something we've never covered before.
1:19
SPEAKER_06: So I'm really excited to see.
1:21
SPEAKER_02: She's building her fitness and her online coaching career.
1:24
SPEAKER_02: So I want to see like how she's managed to quite literally build herself into like the physique, mentally, and physically.
1:30
SPEAKER_06: This is gonna be this is gonna be juicy.
1:32
SPEAKER_02: Cannot wait.
1:33
SPEAKER_06: Let's get her in! Yes.
1:41
SPEAKER_06: Welcome everyone.
1:42
SPEAKER_06: We've got Claire here.
1:44
SPEAKER_06: Welcome, Claire.
1:45
SPEAKER_06: Hey guys, thank you.
1:46
SPEAKER_06: Unless you live under a rock, you should know who Claire is.
1:49
SPEAKER_06: Now you've got your personal account, you've got your fitness account, and we're gonna talk all things fitness and some weightlifting as well, and your online coaching.
1:57
SPEAKER_06: We've got some quickfire questions we're gonna start with.
2:00
SPEAKER_06: Okay, hit me.
2:01
SPEAKER_06: So, biggest myth about stomas from when you had one, because you are in reversal territory now, that you want to bust.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I'm trying to make it quick.
2:12
SPEAKER_01: It would be that it ha stomas only happen to people that are really ill, because I noticed through my story that I was originally really fit and healthy, really conscious about my health, and it still happened to me.
2:27
SPEAKER_01: So, yeah, it can happen to absolutely anyone.
2:30
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, okay.
2:31
SPEAKER_06: And most I'm gonna change this slightly.
2:35
SPEAKER_06: Since having your reversal most empowering moment from going from being poorly having a stoma, then having it reversed.
2:44
SPEAKER_01: I'd say more so than a physical empowering moment.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: It's the moment where you get to speak to other people and help them along their journey, or whether it's a case of they message you and they go, I'm due to have surgery.
2:59
SPEAKER_01: Can you help me?
3:00
SPEAKER_01: What do I pack?
3:01
SPEAKER_01: What do I take in my bag?
3:03
SPEAKER_01: And knowing that you can just give them a bit of help, a bit of advice.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:07
SPEAKER_01: And you've been a part of their journey then, and you know you've helped them.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, super empowering.
3:13
SPEAKER_06: And one word to describe your relationship with your body right now.
3:20
SPEAKER_02: Trust.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: We'll dig into that later.
3:23
SPEAKER_02: That's a really nice one.
3:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
3:26
SPEAKER_06: And finally, a song or quote that always lifts your mood.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: This is this is a really recent one.
3:32
SPEAKER_01: And it's a quote that the owner of my gym uses, and he tends to say, Today could be the greatest day of our lives.
3:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think, and I wake up every morning, and I just think today could be the greatest day of my life.
3:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what's going to happen.
3:45
SPEAKER_02: It's starting well with a podcast, probably.
3:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, if you wake up being like that, you can have a good day.
3:52
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: I reckon a song for you as well is probably going to be tequila, because that's what I hear every morning on the story.
3:58
SPEAKER_00: I know it's a staple, isn't it?
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Even with a coffee.
4:02
SPEAKER_06: So we've got you here today to cover now.
4:06
SPEAKER_06: Obviously, you had a stoma, you lived with a stoma, but you've had it reversed now.
4:10
SPEAKER_06: And reversal surgery and what comes after is something we haven't covered on here before.
4:14
SPEAKER_06: But it is really important that we do discuss it.
4:18
SPEAKER_06: So thank you for being here for that.
4:20
SPEAKER_06: Now we do need to know your story.
4:22
SPEAKER_06: Now we we went out for drinks last night.
4:24
SPEAKER_06: We did.
4:25
SPEAKER_06: There was champagne.
4:26
SPEAKER_06: There was.
4:27
SPEAKER_06: There was quite a lot of emotion.
4:29
SPEAKER_06: It went quite deep.
4:30
SPEAKER_06: But for the listeners and the viewers, can you share how you came to have a stoma?
4:35
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, of course.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: So I'll try and keep a long story quite short, but I'll hit on everything that happened.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: So for me, it was totally different to any story that I've heard or seen online.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: It was a case of I was fine one day and the next day my bowel just totally stopped working.
4:54
SPEAKER_01: No reason to it.
4:55
SPEAKER_01: There's no warning signs, there was nothing.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: I went on holiday and I just didn't feel the need to go.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: I didn't feel any feeling at all.
5:06
SPEAKER_01: It was an all-inclusive holiday, so there's a lot of food going in and zero food coming out.
5:11
SPEAKER_06: Oh no.
5:12
SPEAKER_06: Which makes you worried then, because you think it's got to come out somewhere, hasn't it?
5:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: You kind of think, where's this all going?
5:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, how can I keep putting all this food in and nothing's coming out the other side?
5:22
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, I was there for ten days, so that had been ten days, it had got quite uncomfortable.
5:28
SPEAKER_01: I was trying to speak to doctors, it was during COVID, and they just said, Look, you're young, you're fit, you're healthy, you'll be fine.
5:36
SPEAKER_01: Just take some laxatives, drink some water, don't worry about it.
5:41
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, Okay, fine, you know, I'll just go with that.
5:45
SPEAKER_01: Took some laxatives, tried my best.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: Nothing would move anything.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: And it got to two weeks, and I went into a walk-in and I spoke to them, and they just went, Oh my god.
5:57
SPEAKER_02: Two weeks without having any bowel movements whatsoever.
5:59
SPEAKER_01: Anything.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: There was no feeling of the need to go.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: It was like it was just completely switched off.
6:08
SPEAKER_04: Wow.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, I I went into a walk-in and they just said, Look, you should never have been left for this long.
6:16
SPEAKER_01: Someone should have looked at you sooner.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna refer you on to, you know, someone to look at you to do scans, etc.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: So that all happened.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I was waiting and waiting.
6:29
SPEAKER_01: It was one of those during COVID, you go in, you get some tests, you go home, you wait for the results.
6:34
SPEAKER_01: It's a long process.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: And during that process, I just got iller and ill.
6:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, you get really unwell, you can't, you're not hungry, you don't want to eat.
6:44
SPEAKER_01: It's just very uncomfortable, I'm sure a lot of people can imagine.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: So I took myself off to a private hospital, and I just said, Look, someone needs to help me here.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm I I was starting to get worried, I was starting to get quite scared.
6:59
SPEAKER_01: And I just said, Someone needs to help me, and I was battling for them to admit me.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: And then eventually I sat there and I was just hunched over, and they just said, Okay, we'll get you a bed, you can come in.
7:12
SPEAKER_01: We were just flushy full of laxatives, and I was like, you know, when you just know it's not gonna work.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: The pain was a lot, so they were like, We'll give you some morphine, and I knew because I've looked at it, you know, that that slows things down.
7:28
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
7:29
SPEAKER_01: But in that moment, I wasn't in any position to question a doctor to say that I knew better.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: So nothing went down, it all came up.
7:41
SPEAKER_01: And I was quite low then because I was quite I was struggling with it.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:47
SPEAKER_01: I was a bit lost, I didn't know what the answer was, and I felt like no one could help.
7:51
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
7:52
SPEAKER_01: And they said, We'll send you home because if you go home, you'll relax a bit more, and then things might start working.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: And that'll fix it all.
8:01
SPEAKER_02: Oh so when when think of timelines here.
8:04
SPEAKER_02: Ten days, two weeks, where are we now on this timeline with no bowel movement?
8:07
SPEAKER_01: So this had been I was in the private hospital for just under a week.
8:11
SPEAKER_02: So like three weeks now?
8:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
8:13
SPEAKER_02: So 21 days, nothing.
8:15
SPEAKER_02: Nothing.
8:16
SPEAKER_02: I can't imagine.
8:17
SPEAKER_02: I I genuinely cannot imagine that.
8:19
SPEAKER_02: Like that must have been so so frightening for you as well.
8:23
SPEAKER_01: Like It's just because you feel full up to your neck, completely full up to your neck, you're not sleeping, you you know something's wrong, you know it's all this food, and it feels you feel a bit disgusting.
8:37
SPEAKER_01: Because you're like, I just So you went home?
8:40
SPEAKER_01: Went home and I got picked up and then sent a message before I got picked up and I said, just I don't look well.
8:48
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
8:48
SPEAKER_01: I'm still not well.
8:50
SPEAKER_01: Just don't say anything, just let me come home.
8:52
SPEAKER_01: They've said this is the right thing, just let's just see what happens.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: And I got picked up and I went home and that night I ended up in AE because the pain was just I can't I can't tell you what the pain was like.
9:06
SPEAKER_01: Um got into AE and they just said, right, we'll give you some parasitomol.
9:10
SPEAKER_01: Let's give it some time, see what happens.
9:12
SPEAKER_02: So not IV parasetomol, tablets.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: Tablet.
9:14
SPEAKER_02: Brilliant.
9:15
SPEAKER_06: Even though you're a vomiting stool at this point, not happy.
9:19
SPEAKER_06: Oh, you hadn't been at this point, no, not yet.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: Had the paracetamol, that wouldn't go down.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: And they said, We'll put you on award.
9:27
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: I went on award, they flushed me again.
9:31
SPEAKER_01: For some reason, things started moving, and I was like, Thank God.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh my god, they've fixed me.
9:37
SPEAKER_01: This is it.
9:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, moving.
9:40
SPEAKER_01: 24 hours of movement.
9:41
SPEAKER_02: Floodgates have opened.
9:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
9:44
SPEAKER_01: Intense.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: But I in myself was just like, okay, great, I'm fixed.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: Thank God.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: Just deal with this, I'll be fine, no problem.
9:52
SPEAKER_01: And then felt back to normal.
9:55
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
9:55
SPEAKER_01: Things felt a bit off, but I felt like it was just my body readjusting, getting back into the routine.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, great.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: This was like November.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: And then had Christmas, had a lovely time.
10:07
SPEAKER_01: January felt a funny, funny feeling in my stomach.
10:13
SPEAKER_01: And it was like it the pain, it was the exact pain that I had before, and you can't explain it.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: And I just sat there and I just went, something's not right.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: Um and the part my partner at the time just said, It's not that pain, is it?
10:31
SPEAKER_01: And I just went, Yeah.
10:33
SPEAKER_01: And that was it, but it just completely stopped at again.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: And this time there was just absolutely no saving it.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: Things just got progressively worse very quickly.
10:43
SPEAKER_01: I lost about four and a half, five stone.
10:48
SPEAKER_01: Couldn't eat anything.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I was just no sleep.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: I'd go to sleep at night, I'd go to bed at night, sorry.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: I'd be in bed just lying there in pain, just sweating, sweating, sweating.
11:01
SPEAKER_01: My heart rate was through the roof.
11:03
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: Um and I'd fall asleep at about seven, eight o'clock in the morning for half an hour.
11:09
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you're just exhausted.
11:13
SPEAKER_01: And during that time, my mum was coming over whenever I didn't have someone there.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: My mum would come and sit with me and just make sure I was okay.
11:20
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't really shower myself, couldn't do anything.
11:23
SPEAKER_01: She was taking me to hospital appointments.
11:25
SPEAKER_01: She was begging them, just please, please give us something.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: Like, look at her.
11:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:30
SPEAKER_02: And what were they doing there?
11:31
SPEAKER_02: Were they like, we just don't know, or give her more laxatives again?
11:34
SPEAKER_01: Or they were like, we don't know.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: We'll do blood tests, we'll do stool tests.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: You've got an infection, but we don't know where it is.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: You know, when you kind of when you're that low on energy, you're that depleted, you're that tired, you just you kind of just be like, No.
11:51
SPEAKER_01: Um and I remember so vividly it was Valentine's Day, and my mum had come over just to sit with me.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: And I was just in so much pain, and then leant over on a knee, and I just it was like this scream that I've never screamed.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: And I remember her saying to me, Are you okay?
12:11
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, I don't I don't want to go to bed.
12:14
SPEAKER_01: There's and she was like, Why?
12:16
SPEAKER_01: Are you okay?
12:17
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, No, I just if I go to bed, I'm so scared that I'm just not gonna wake up.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: Like, that's the pain now.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: And she was like, Okay, I'll sit with you.
12:28
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'll just sit with you all night.
12:31
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't long after that that I just got a phone call from this doctor.
12:36
SPEAKER_01: Just take the out of the blue.
12:37
SPEAKER_01: She was like, I'm looking to book an appointment in with you for next month.
12:40
SPEAKER_01: I've looked at all your files, I'm not comfortable with you being at home.
12:44
SPEAKER_01: I need you to come into hospital now.
12:48
SPEAKER_01: And I it was it was relief, but also I was terrified because I just thought, what's that bad?
12:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you're getting a call out of the blue.
12:58
SPEAKER_01: That the bed's ready.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: And I was kind of like, I knew at that moment it was going into hospital.
13:05
SPEAKER_01: The previous experience in the private hospital had been bad.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: I thought, God, this is gonna be the same.
13:11
SPEAKER_01: It's COVID, I can't see anyone.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: I don't I don't want to go.
13:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, but I went and they dropped me off.
13:18
SPEAKER_01: And as soon as I got in, she just said, Look, I'm gonna flush you with loads of antibiotics, we're gonna figure out where it is, we need to give you a blood transfusion, you're bleeding internally, we don't know what's causing it.
13:31
SPEAKER_01: You've been ill for a a very, very long time, and this isn't gonna be a quick fix.
13:37
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
13:38
SPEAKER_01: But and in that moment, you know, and everything just I'd gone from thinking I'm just a bit constipated, I'm gonna be fine, to suddenly you're really not okay.
13:49
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: Something big, bigger is going on and we don't know what it is.
13:55
SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, that was a lot.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: It was a lot to adjust to.
14:01
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
14:02
SPEAKER_05: Wow.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: Um but then it was just one thing after another.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: But they couldn't figure it they couldn't figure it out.
14:09
SPEAKER_01: They had no idea what had caused it.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: They asked me, have I had Crohn's, have I had colitis, have I had bowel issues before?
14:15
SPEAKER_01: Nothing.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then they said we need to just turn your body off completely, we need to turn your bowels off.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: We just can't have you eating or drinking anything.
14:25
SPEAKER_01: We'll feed you through a tube, we'll put a pick line in, don't put any water past your lips.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: We need to stop this because your bow's so distended that it could pop at any second.
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: And then it's an emergency surgery, and we don't want it to be an emergency, we want it to be planned.
14:42
SPEAKER_01: So I was just like, nothing's registering at this point.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: I'm not thinking, what do they mean by surgery?
14:49
SPEAKER_01: To me, surgery is they can fix me with surgery.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: I don't have a clue what that looks like.
14:56
SPEAKER_01: And so they put me on loads of steroids, I blew up, I had loads of water weight, I was just I couldn't move, couldn't do anything.
15:04
SPEAKER_01: Um and this went on.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: I was in there for two weeks, they just kept going, we don't know what it is, we don't know how to help you.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: And I just totally given up on myself, on everything.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: I just didn't want to fight it anymore.
15:23
SPEAKER_01: Um and then they came into me one night and they said, Look, we either operate tonight or we operate first thing in the morning, but it has to be done because if we don't operate, you're not gonna make it.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: And I just said, Okay, great.
15:41
SPEAKER_01: Operate.
15:42
SPEAKER_01: What what is it?
15:43
SPEAKER_01: How what do we do?
15:45
SPEAKER_01: And they said, We'll go in, we'll open you up, we'll cut out some of or all of your large bowel, and you will 99% wake up with a bag.
15:54
SPEAKER_01: And I just I did not I just didn't know what to think.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: I'd never seen a bag, I didn't know what a bag was, didn't know how they worked, nothing.
16:06
SPEAKER_01: I just had this image in my head of what it was and what it would look like and everything that you can imagine a bag to be before you've had one.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: No one even then no one's coming round being like No.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: And I just said I can't do it.
16:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: I said I don't want to.
16:24
SPEAKER_01: I was just, you know.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: And they said, Claire, if you don't have this, that you know, that's it.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: Um so I said, Alright, we'll do it in the morning.
16:35
SPEAKER_01: We'll get a stoma nurse over to speak to you and talk to you, and they bring out the little thing with the little red Yeah, the little model, yeah.
16:44
SPEAKER_01: And I was just like, Oh my god, how I don't I don't understand how it's gone from that to this in quite what was a short period of time, really.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: And then yeah, I went down the next day, had my surgery, woke up just like you do, tubes everywhere, bags, capitas, a lot.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: And then it's a case of figuring out what you do next.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: What what does your life look like?
17:13
SPEAKER_01: You picture all the worst things, you picture the the hardest things you you think your whole life's changed and turned upside down.
17:21
SPEAKER_01: But I was sat there being physically picked out of bed and put on a chair, put naked, being washed with some sponges by two nurses because I couldn't even do anything.
17:36
SPEAKER_01: And it's when you look at yourself in that state and how quickly you can go from being fit and healthy to bump, it's gone.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: That in that moment it's so important to make the decision.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: And I'll never forget, someone said to me, Look, you use this moment, you either let it make you or you let it break you, and you decide that now, and you just stick with it.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and you know, I just went, I'm gonna have to make it, I'm gonna have to let it make me.
18:08
SPEAKER_01: And that was all I thought about when I was trying to get up, trying to walk a couple of steps, and I was so proud of myself that I'd done three steps down the ward, and all the little old ladies were clapping.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: Fine little wings.
18:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's so cute.
18:20
SPEAKER_01: They were all clapping, and I was like, Yay.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: And then it's just the recovery process.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: Um so yeah, it's been a lot of things.
18:31
SPEAKER_06: I won't lie, we heard this yesterday, and it still chokes me up when I heard it less than 12 hours ago.
18:37
SPEAKER_06: It's so oh, I just yeah, it's such a unique story that you have.
18:41
SPEAKER_06: And for people that see you on social media and the way you're so bubbly and so confident, and the way you, you know, just it's important that people know that you have been at the pits.
18:53
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
18:53
SPEAKER_06: You have dragged yourself up.
18:56
SPEAKER_06: It's you know, it's oh gosh.
18:59
SPEAKER_02: So how have you from that like built your confidence up and then started to I mean, obviously, like for everyone that does follow Claire, like big fitness influencer, you definitely are, you do influence a lot of people.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: Like, how have you built your confidence up and then got into fitness and all those things after such big surgery?
19:19
SPEAKER_01: There's a few things.
19:20
SPEAKER_01: So I feel, and it's so cringy, I feel so lucky to be alive.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: I'm not surprised.
19:26
SPEAKER_01: It's not cringy at all, cringy at all.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: But every single day I'm like, I'm so lucky to be here, to have this and to be able to enjoy life and to be able to move around freely.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: I can get out of bed, I can go for a walk.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: They're really simple things.
19:41
SPEAKER_01: Because I'm telling you, when I was in that hospital bed and I was scared that that was gonna be it, the things I wanted more than anything in the world was to go outside for a walk, smell freshly cut grass, and to hear my mum and my sister laugh.
19:58
SPEAKER_01: That was it.
19:59
SPEAKER_01: They were the only things I wasn't worried about work, how much money I had in the bank, cars, nothing.
20:04
SPEAKER_01: That was it.
20:05
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: So now every day I'm like, this is this is incredible.
20:09
SPEAKER_01: And during that process, uh when I started my online account, because it was like, you know, make it or break it, I was like, right, I need to get out there.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: I need to find people, I need to find some positivity so that I can bounce off them and I can do the same for people.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: And during that, I spoke to people from all over the world, speaking to people, helping them, talking them through their surgery, what to pack, what to do, what to expect.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: I've spoken to people that have had reversals, what to expect.
20:38
SPEAKER_01: That part of being able to help people made me feel like I belonged somewhere.
20:44
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that was for me everything.
20:47
SPEAKER_01: I've never felt anything like what I got from that.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: But obviously, that wasn't something that I could do to make money.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't live off that.
20:55
SPEAKER_01: So I went back to corporate and I just felt this nothing felt right.
21:01
SPEAKER_01: I was like, this does not feel like it's the place for me.
21:04
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't feel like what I want to do.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: I feel like there's more.
21:07
SPEAKER_01: I feel like I should be helping people.
21:10
SPEAKER_01: So I sat there for ages and I was thinking, how can I help people?
21:13
SPEAKER_01: What can I do?
21:14
SPEAKER_01: And I'd worked in gyms before, I'd done a lot of fitness before, and I thought I'm just gonna try.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna try and do that again and try and do it online so I can reach everyone.
21:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and so I can help as many people as possible.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: And that's where it got into doing online coaching.
21:32
SPEAKER_06: Online coaching.
21:33
SPEAKER_06: And I love it.
21:35
SPEAKER_06: And and fitness has in the last, is it safe to say, twelve months or so, the guidelines have changed.
21:41
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
21:41
SPEAKER_06: And we had Lucy the Stominess on for a couple of episodes previous to this.
21:45
SPEAKER_06: So if you look back and listen to that, you'll see her say the same.
21:48
SPEAKER_06: Before it was don't do anything, wait six weeks, just don't attempt anything.
21:53
SPEAKER_06: But that's all changed now, hasn't it?
21:55
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: Now it's very much get moving as soon as possible.
21:59
SPEAKER_01: And now Now when we say get moving as soon as possible, it's not get out, go to the gym, get under a heavy barbell.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: It's get up and walk.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: Get your body moving.
22:09
SPEAKER_01: Movement is medicine and cardio is king, whatever that looks like, whether it's walking, whether it's a low drug, whether it's anything, it's just moving your body.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't have to be extreme.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: Well, even when you're in hospital, I'm sure you and yourself would have the same.
22:22
SPEAKER_02: Your nurses are coming around straight after surgery, going, You can't lie down all day.
22:25
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, get up.
22:26
SPEAKER_06: And you So you are moving, and you just you know, if if you are if you it's a planned surgery, you you go home the same day in a lot of cases.
22:34
SPEAKER_06: So you gotta get up and get in the car.
22:36
SPEAKER_06: So you know, it's not it's like a C section.
22:38
SPEAKER_06: You're not lying there, you're going home and you've been cut through seven layers of your body.
22:42
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, God.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, it's um It's just also it's super individual.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: Everyone's stories are different.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: So say for instance with mine, I couldn't work out for three months after.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: So I did just get out and walk.
22:55
SPEAKER_01: The biggest thing I could do was walk, so I just walked.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: I was so grateful for that.
22:59
SPEAKER_01: And then I'd slowly introduce it.
23:01
SPEAKER_01: And it's all just been about being mindful, do what feels right in your body.
23:05
SPEAKER_01: If you're not sure, speak to someone, message someone, message me, get advice, you know?
23:11
SPEAKER_02: So was that you like kind of building trust with your own body and like understanding your limitations a bit?
23:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
23:17
SPEAKER_02: And was that to kind of segue off that, was that the same stoma surgery-wise, and when you had your reversal, was there like slight differences?
23:25
SPEAKER_01: Totally different.
23:26
SPEAKER_02: Oh, interesting.
23:27
SPEAKER_01: Postoma stoma reversal.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:30
SPEAKER_01: It was almost like I hadn't had anything done.
23:33
SPEAKER_02: Really?
23:34
SPEAKER_01: Straight out of bed, I sat up.
23:36
SPEAKER_02: Did a 5k run.
23:38
SPEAKER_02: Went to the gym.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, got to go, guys, sorry.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: Um, no, totally different.
23:44
SPEAKER_01: I was quite shocked.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: I sat up and I was just thinking, oh my god, I've just sat up, I'm fine, I've just had surgery and I'm okay.
23:51
SPEAKER_01: I think I stayed in maybe one or two nights, and then they were like, No, you can go, and I had this big massive bag with me.
23:59
SPEAKER_01: They were like, off you go.
24:00
SPEAKER_01: I thought, oh my god, how am I gonna carry that bag?
24:03
SPEAKER_01: And I just tried it, just gave it a little nudge, and I thought, oh, I'm okay, but I'm fine.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: Carried it out.
24:11
SPEAKER_01: So totally too completely wild, wildly different.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
24:17
SPEAKER_06: So you've gone from having a stoma to not.
24:22
SPEAKER_06: How for those that are thinking about reversal and they've been given that option, how did you come to making that decision, yeah, I'm gonna do it?
24:32
SPEAKER_01: I think it was from a place of curiosity.
24:36
SPEAKER_01: It wasn't a case that I didn't like my stoma or anything like that.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: It was just they had given me the option, they said it's possible, we think it's going to work.
24:45
SPEAKER_01: In my case, I still had my sigmoid colon left, so they said we'll put your small intestine, connect it straight back to your sigmoid colon.
24:53
SPEAKER_01: And the way they described it to me was the body will learn and adjust and your colon will start to do what it needs to do, it'll start to work harder than it would usually.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: So eventually you'll get to a place where things will be much more normal.
25:09
SPEAKER_01: You'll have a more normal pattern in terms of going to the toilet.
25:13
SPEAKER_01: And I just thought, let's give it a go.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: Let's see if it works.
25:18
SPEAKER_06: Because you're not gonna know until you try, do you?
25:20
SPEAKER_06: And and if they're always gonna say to you, we can't guarantee no one can guarantee it's gonna work.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: No.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:27
SPEAKER_01: That was it.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: It was the I didn't want to always sit and wonder what if.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: I thought if I try it now, I've tried it.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: If it doesn't work, can I have to go back to get having a bag?
25:37
SPEAKER_01: I'm fine with that.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: I'm totally comfortable with that.
25:40
SPEAKER_01: If someone told me today you have to have a bag again, I'd be like, okay.
25:44
SPEAKER_02: That's a really interesting perspective because so many people that I've spoken to, and maybe you have as well, and even yourself, people who've had reversals because they they didn't like the bag, like it wasn't for them.
25:54
SPEAKER_02: They wanted they wanted that like reverse for like maybe more body confidence and stuff like that.
25:58
SPEAKER_02: So it's interesting to see your narrative of if I had to do it again tomorrow, yeah, fine, switch out.
26:03
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, because I uh I think people who are looking from the outside in might assume that if you've got a bag, you hate it and you don't want it, but there are far more people than not that are are so relieved to have it because of they were in a position like you and it was the bag, or let's be frank, maybe you not being here, which is just a horrific thought.
26:24
SPEAKER_06: Um So there's there's not many people actually that share their their version of a reversal and how it went for them and what they did.
26:33
SPEAKER_06: And a few people are popping up now and sharing stuff.
26:37
SPEAKER_06: More recently, Beck, who people might be following, she's sharing hers.
26:41
SPEAKER_06: But was there much out there like when you were preparing for surgery, if you were trying to find people that were in that position?
26:47
SPEAKER_06: Oh god.
26:48
SPEAKER_06: Were they out there?
26:49
SPEAKER_01: There was some out there, and it's the Wild West.
26:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's the Wild West.
26:54
SPEAKER_01: Name and shameless.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: You see horror stories.
26:57
SPEAKER_01: I went on you do it, you go on Facebook, you go on Instagram.
27:00
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
27:02
SPEAKER_01: Went on the Facebook groups.
27:04
SPEAKER_01: Oh my lord.
27:05
SPEAKER_06: I'd love to know if people worked in a focus group situation in real life, if they'd say some of the stuff that comes out of their mouth when they're typing.
27:13
SPEAKER_02: They probably would, like some people probably would.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: Do you think?
27:15
SPEAKER_01: Because it was insane.
27:18
SPEAKER_01: I was thinking, I don't know if I can do this.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if I'm prepared to go through what they're saying.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: But it's again, it's zooming out everyone's situation is so so different.
27:28
SPEAKER_06: And people don't share it when it's chill and good.
27:31
SPEAKER_06: They don't, do they?
27:31
SPEAKER_01: Because they like bad reviews, isn't it?
27:33
SPEAKER_01: You never get a good review, you see all the bad ones.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: Um but yeah, I did look, and then it was a case of it's not worth looking at it.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: Just you know, I've got to put my trust in the world.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: Let's just close it.
27:46
SPEAKER_02: Let's just close the lid on that one.
27:48
SPEAKER_06: Oh yeah.
27:50
SPEAKER_02: Don't look like kind of world.
27:51
SPEAKER_01: But like you said before, in terms of people get rid of the bag because they don't like it, I feel totally different.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: I feel like that bag gave me so much confidence and became such a part of me and my identity that it was hard to let it go.
28:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:08
SPEAKER_06: Oh, and we talked about grief last night, didn't we?
28:11
SPEAKER_06: And I think I I said about how I, you know, I miss my toddler's bag because it was great.
28:18
SPEAKER_06: He was he was like, he was awesome with it, you know, it was he had an excellent quality of life.
28:24
SPEAKER_06: And reversal life sometimes is not great, it's fair to say.
28:30
SPEAKER_06: Um, but for yourself, what did what was life like when you, you know, how tell us just give it to us as raw as you can.
28:38
SPEAKER_06: Oh Lord.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: So I got right.
28:43
SPEAKER_01: I'd looked obviously online and I heard when you go to the toilet after not going to the toilet for so long, using everything that's naturally there, it can be quite painful.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: So I was prepared, I got some creams, I put some wet wipes in the fridge, I was like, I've got this.
28:59
SPEAKER_01: I was not ready.
29:01
SPEAKER_01: Oh god.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: I was not ready at all.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: The only way I can describe it, without going into too much detail.
29:08
SPEAKER_02: No, go into the detail, that's the whole point.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: It's like I was passing shards of glass on repeat, but the shards of glass started quite high up and passed all the way through, and I felt every last bit.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: And I remember there was one point where I sat there and I saw the towel on the rail and I rolled it up and I put it in my mouth because I was like Oh wow.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
29:33
SPEAKER_01: Shaking because I was just like, oh my god, oh my god.
29:37
SPEAKER_01: But it's one of those I thought it's gonna go, this is gonna pass.
29:41
SPEAKER_01: My body's adjusting, it's just adjusting.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: Get through it, get through it, get through it.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: And it did, you know, it passed.
29:48
SPEAKER_06: And it shouldn't last forever.
29:50
SPEAKER_06: And and it's important to say if you're experiencing anything like that way past your surgery, please speak to someone.
29:56
SPEAKER_06: Speak to doctors.
29:57
SPEAKER_06: You shouldn't be living like that, and it's not it's not okay.
30:00
SPEAKER_01: No, not at all.
30:01
SPEAKER_01: But yeah, it passes and then things feel all right, yeah.
30:06
SPEAKER_06: And so as you are now, how how I'm not gonna ask you to describe your power motions, but like you know, regular Plenty of fire in your body.
30:20
SPEAKER_06: But I mean i is it is there pain, is there discomfort, or uh are there bouts of it, you know, how how is it?
30:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'd say it's hit and miss.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: It's I'm much more regular than I was before because I was just there was no issues before before all of this, right?
30:37
SPEAKER_01: So much more regular.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: I obviously I'm missing a large section of my large bow, so it flies through me a bit quicker.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: There's certain foods that I've noticed that will shoot through me.
30:47
SPEAKER_02: I was gonna ask you about food and diet as well.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: So, what foods do you pass through quicker than me?
30:54
SPEAKER_01: It's so random.
30:55
SPEAKER_01: Butter, for one.
30:57
SPEAKER_01: Is my body knows as soon as butter touches my lips, my belly growls.
31:02
SPEAKER_01: And I know I'm in trouble.
31:05
SPEAKER_02: But what if it's in like food or really?
31:08
SPEAKER_01: In a sauce or in a anything.
31:10
SPEAKER_01: Even if I can't taste it, my body knows.
31:14
SPEAKER_02: Interesting.
31:14
SPEAKER_02: So what about like things like milk or cheese then?
31:17
SPEAKER_01: They're fine.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: No there's no food group in total that is like No, I've got what have I got?
31:25
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
31:26
SPEAKER_01: I think it's just everything.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: We've got butter, we've got red wine, I've got some Thai curries.
31:32
unknown: Yeah.
31:33
SPEAKER_01: You know, the heat, I don't know, maybe, or maybe there's I don't know.
31:37
SPEAKER_01: There's literally no rhyme or reason to it.
31:39
SPEAKER_01: There's just things that go straight through me.
31:41
SPEAKER_01: But luckily, a lot of it is kind of really fatty, greasy foods.
31:46
SPEAKER_01: My body just goes, No, don't like it.
31:49
SPEAKER_02: I guess that makes sense though, by things like that, I suppose.
31:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:53
SPEAKER_01: Just disrupt it.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: Um but that's yeah.
31:57
SPEAKER_02: If we go to like where you are now then, like you're literally, you know, being so much more into your fitness now.
32:04
SPEAKER_02: Um, like, you know, in recent weeks on your your Instagram you've done like cuts and shreds, now you're in your bulking phase.
32:11
SPEAKER_02: So what I kind of want to ask with this was like, how did you then start to get really confident in weight training, like post-reversal surgery?
32:19
SPEAKER_02: Start pushing the limits a bit more and like yeah, how's that part of the journey been now for you?
32:25
SPEAKER_01: I think personally it was very much proving a point to myself.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: After my initial surgery, it was bizarre.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: After my initial surgery, I didn't work out for six months.
32:36
SPEAKER_01: I got straight back into the gym and I got the strongest I'd ever been in a really short amount of time.
32:43
SPEAKER_01: Thank God to muscle memory.
32:45
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, it's a real thing.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and being able to do that and feel strong just made me feel more protected.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: I was on a mission to get my abs fired up because I was like, I want protection, this will make me feel safer.
32:59
SPEAKER_01: And so coming out of the reversal, I felt exactly the same.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: I was like, okay, I need to prove it to myself that I can get strong.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: And I had really looked for it it sounds silly.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: I'd really looked for people online that had great bodies, great physiques, post-sury, or even with a bag.
33:20
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to see a girl out there that had a set of abs on her that still had a bag and I couldn't find it.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: I'd find the odd guy, you know.
33:29
SPEAKER_02: It's not me.
33:32
SPEAKER_01: Play second, you know, that it was out there a full set of abs, and I just thought, I want to be that person.
33:39
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: I want to prove that I can do it.
33:41
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if I can, but I want to, and so I thought I'm just gonna put everything I've got into this and see where I get to.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: So I hired a coach to put every single thing into it, and I started to make progress.
33:54
SPEAKER_01: And the more you see progress, it's the same with everyone with fitness, you see bits of progress, it fuels you to do a bit more.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and yeah, it kind of went from there, and I just I've got to a point now where I want to see where I can push my my body because I like I said at the start, the trust thing, I totally trust my body now.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: I feel like we're totally connected.
34:15
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
34:16
SPEAKER_06: Where previously you were completely the opposite.
34:19
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
34:20
SPEAKER_06: It's I mean, I I had a reversal as a a baby and then had to have a stoma again when I was 30.
34:25
SPEAKER_06: But I remember when I would got interested in running more specifically and things like that.
34:30
SPEAKER_06: But because I I had a J patch, which is completely different to what you've had, I would worry about needing a toilet in the gym.
34:37
SPEAKER_06: And I'd want to go for a long run, but I'd be worried that I'd need the toilet like halfway in between a 10k and where would I go when I didn't have my stoma?
34:46
SPEAKER_06: And I think that's probably something people are gonna be worried about when they've had a reversal, when they've had that it, you know, that security.
34:54
SPEAKER_06: It is a security knowing if you need a poo, it's going in the bag.
34:57
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
34:57
SPEAKER_06: You don't need a t toilet straight away unless it's obviously a lot and whatever.
35:03
SPEAKER_06: So, how did you navigate all that, especially with working out and pushing yourself?
35:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know?
35:09
SPEAKER_01: It's it's just experience.
35:11
SPEAKER_01: You just have to give it a go.
35:12
SPEAKER_01: You get used to your body.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: I thought the same, I thought initially I had that fear of you need to go, you've got two seconds, that's gonna be the case.
35:21
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't the body's so clever, it got to a point where it felt so normal again because you get the the urge, you know what it feels like.
35:34
SPEAKER_01: We've had it before in the past, that just kind of switches back on.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
35:39
SPEAKER_01: And you do have time and you hear all the horror stories, and it's never that bad.
35:42
unknown: Yeah.
35:43
SPEAKER_01: And there's always something to do.
35:46
SPEAKER_01: You know, if e no matter where you are, you'll be fine.
35:50
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, you yeah, if you think about it in it, if you're worried about say leaking if you've got a bag or having an accident if you're in your position, you will find somewhere you're right.
36:01
SPEAKER_06: It it just, yeah, you yeah, it is a memory.
36:04
SPEAKER_02: Your body learns to tense again.
36:05
SPEAKER_02: We're like, no.
36:06
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it really does.
36:07
SPEAKER_06: I mean, don't get me wrong, I had a lot of accidents along the way as an adult and a child, and it's not great.
36:13
SPEAKER_06: And I I don't want to undermine anyone that's listening to this and have experienced that.
36:16
SPEAKER_06: Not at all.
36:17
SPEAKER_06: But yeah, it's it's gosh, the fact that you've experienced both sides of that is wild and to where you are now.
36:25
SPEAKER_06: And I think that's probably why people can relate to you a lot more, isn't it?
36:28
SPEAKER_06: Because you've experienced both.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:30
SPEAKER_06: And seeing you out there doing what you do, having reversal surgery, if you've been in those Facebook groups, is just so comforting for people.
36:40
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
36:40
SPEAKER_02: And also like you've built your like your your social media presence and even like your body, your physical fitness and your mental fitness from a place that resonates a lot with us because we've all had bags, been in those places, and now you're being a leading light in that space.
36:54
SPEAKER_02: So Well, you are, because you're you're the one that wants to push yourself, you know.
36:58
SPEAKER_01: It's it's a tough one though.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: It's like we said last night, when I got my reversal, I felt very much like I shouldn't be posting about it because it felt it felt almost like I was saying, Ha, look at me, I've managed to get rid of it, and some people can't.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: You know, some people do live with them for that their whole lives, they've got no option.
37:23
SPEAKER_01: And it felt almost like I was rubbing it in their face that I could have a reversal.
37:29
SPEAKER_06: I can't explain it, but I just felt Well, you don't that's not what you come across like.
37:34
SPEAKER_06: It's not the vibe you're giving at all.
37:36
SPEAKER_06: But but I thought that's you know, you could say that about anything in life, couldn't you?
37:41
SPEAKER_06: It's there's always something you've got going on that someone else can't.
37:45
SPEAKER_06: But the fact you're putting yourself out there and you've got confidence, but it's still a very vulnerable thing to do.
37:52
SPEAKER_06: Like we're all every time we all post, we are opening ourselves up to whatever, you know.
37:58
SPEAKER_06: It's not it's not all rainbows and fairy dust out there, is it, you know?
38:02
SPEAKER_02: No, it isn't, especially on those Facebook groups.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: No, no.
38:05
SPEAKER_00: I think we need therapy for that.
38:07
SPEAKER_02: Well, yeah, quite, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: We need a support group.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: So if people are starting to get into fitness, like they've just had reversal surgery, they wanna they've they're now looking at you being like, I want to be her.
38:17
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
38:18
SPEAKER_02: I want to have the six pack abs and all that.
38:20
SPEAKER_02: And if you haven't seen it, guys, like go on our Instagram and look at like, dense, mate, she's dench.
38:25
SPEAKER_02: But how would you suggest somebody gets to that level?
38:29
SPEAKER_02: Like, they've finished, got through surgery, right?
38:32
SPEAKER_02: I want to be you, I want to have a physique like you.
38:34
SPEAKER_02: What tips would you recommend?
38:36
SPEAKER_01: Now the basics first.
38:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:38
SPEAKER_01: Stick with the start the the easy stuff, the stuff that you don't even think of as exercise, depending on where you are, obviously.
38:46
SPEAKER_01: If you've gone into surgery, you're super fit and active, you will likely be able to get into it a lot quicker than someone that wasn't.
38:54
SPEAKER_01: But if we're talking about, you know, starting from scratch, get out and get walking.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: It's the most overlooked form of exercise that is amazing for you.
39:03
SPEAKER_01: Not just because you're moving your body, but it gives you that peace of mind whilst you're out.
39:07
SPEAKER_01: You can clear your head, get out in nature, and just relax.
39:11
SPEAKER_01: And then start with the simple stuff.
39:13
SPEAKER_01: It might be you're doing some knee raises whilst you lay on the floor, it might be that you're sliding your feet out whilst you lay on the floor just to get your body moving and get you getting your switch and your core on again.
39:26
SPEAKER_01: Because it's all about confidence.
39:27
SPEAKER_01: You need to be confident in yourself, in your body.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: You can't always be scared of it.
39:32
SPEAKER_01: And it's doing little things to get that confidence up.
39:35
SPEAKER_01: And if you're ever unsure or if you don't know where to start literally drop me a message or reach out and ask.
39:43
SPEAKER_01: The whole reason why I got into this was to help people that are in this situation, that don't know what to do, that need a bit of help or a bit of support, or just a message, so that they know what they're doing is okay.
39:56
SPEAKER_01: Or so that they know that they can push it a little bit.
39:59
SPEAKER_01: Because we're also, I don't know, the information we get when we leave, it's very be careful, be careful.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: It is, yes, it is.
40:06
SPEAKER_06: And you're afraid that and you don't want to go back there.
40:09
SPEAKER_06: You've got you've you've you've left.
40:10
SPEAKER_06: You don't want to look back, do you?
40:12
SPEAKER_06: And you don't want to end up.
40:13
SPEAKER_02: I mean, we see we said on like this podcast several times that the advice has been don't lift more than a kettle.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: I don't know why a kettle.
40:20
SPEAKER_02: Like kettles aren't heavy.
40:22
SPEAKER_02: Like, you know, maybe one sort of Victorian era.
40:25
SPEAKER_06: So yeah, for me, it's a heavy.
40:28
SPEAKER_02: That's what I mean.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: But yeah.
40:31
SPEAKER_02: But like it's it's advice like that that like will put people off and scare you.
40:35
SPEAKER_02: So like having your presence will actually guys just go for it.
40:38
SPEAKER_02: But do it sense.
40:39
SPEAKER_02: I think sensibly is probably the right way.
40:40
SPEAKER_02: It is, it's because you're not gonna jump out and do a hundred kilo bench press straight out of day two or surgery.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: Sensibly, and it's you don't have to rush it.
40:48
SPEAKER_01: I was so keen to get from zero to a hundred thinking it was going to take me so long.
40:53
SPEAKER_01: If you've built up any sort of muscle mass in the past, that muscle memory switches on.
40:59
SPEAKER_01: It's almost the way it works is when you initially build muscles, it's like you've got a factory there, right?
41:05
SPEAKER_01: Factory there, it's building muscle, building muscle.
41:08
SPEAKER_01: If that factory stops because you get ill, or you you're not nourishing your body correctly, or you're not lifting weights, the factory just closes.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: We're not starting from scratch.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: As soon as you start nourishing yourself again, you get to the gym, you start lifting weights.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: That factory switches straight back on.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: And it's almost like it's like that factory's almost already got the recipe there of how to make the muscles.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: It's not looking for things, it's not going, right, how do we do this?
41:35
SPEAKER_01: What do we need?
41:36
SPEAKER_01: It knows and it gets it kick start straight away.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: And that's why you'll get uh you'll make so much more progress so much quicker.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: So it's just uh having a bit of patience.
41:48
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
41:48
SPEAKER_01: Just stay consistent over a long enough period of time, and you will get there.
41:53
SPEAKER_01: There's no rush.
41:55
SPEAKER_06: I yeah, I think you do feel that if if you've adjusted to your stoma or adjusted to post-reversal surgery, and I think there is pressure.
42:04
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I definitely think there's a lot out there, and we're in a culture now of body positivity, but also seeing fitness everywhere, also seeing be comfortable in the skin you're in, also seeing push yourself to your best.
42:16
SPEAKER_06: It's like what what am I supposed to be?
42:19
SPEAKER_06: What what am I you know it it's overwhelming?
42:21
SPEAKER_06: It's it is oh it's a lot.
42:24
SPEAKER_06: And you and I know I definitely get overwhelmed by it all.
42:27
SPEAKER_06: Definitely when I see my my feed don't know what it wants.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: So it is how am I supposed to know what to taste?
42:34
SPEAKER_06: Do I go read a book or do I go for a jog?
42:36
SPEAKER_06: Do I like do I go and have and read a book once you're on the jog right now?
42:40
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
42:40
SPEAKER_06: Ice cream or banana, like we you know, it's have the ice cream, be happy.
42:45
SPEAKER_06: No, have the banana, nourish your body like my it's difficult, it is information overload.
42:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I say it a lot.
42:52
SPEAKER_01: It's very much person to person.
42:55
SPEAKER_01: You've got to do what makes you happy.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:58
SPEAKER_01: Like when you felt your happiest, what were you doing?
43:02
SPEAKER_01: There's a reason.
43:04
SPEAKER_01: You know, and that.
43:07
SPEAKER_01: But there's a reason why you felt happy then.
43:09
SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
43:10
SPEAKER_06: You um we went out for dinner last night and a waitress came out to the table, didn't she?
43:17
SPEAKER_00: No.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, she didn't.
43:18
SPEAKER_00: You're not from these parts of South Wales, but she literally saw you and what she was.
43:24
SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, like I want a body like yours.
43:26
SPEAKER_00: What are you talking about?
43:27
SPEAKER_00: How do I do it?
43:28
SPEAKER_00: You did have a skimpy little mess, dude.
43:31
SPEAKER_06: But I mean, yeah, she was, yeah, she was asking you like she was, yeah, an issue.
43:36
SPEAKER_01: She was great, wasn't she?
43:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
43:37
SPEAKER_01: She had such a good vibe about her.
43:39
SPEAKER_06: And you said and you said to her, you were she was like, How do I look like you?
43:42
SPEAKER_06: Tell me, tell me.
43:44
SPEAKER_06: And you did, you said consistency and patience and yeah, and she she I think I don't know what she thought you were going to say, but it was kind of like a oh.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, she was like, Do I need to work out seven days a week?
43:55
SPEAKER_06: I thought you need to rest.
43:58
SPEAKER_06: I think you made a day.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: She made mine.
44:02
SPEAKER_06: She did.
44:03
SPEAKER_01: I went back to the hotel.
44:04
SPEAKER_01: I was like, baby, you'll never forget what happened.
44:06
SPEAKER_01: Some winter said I looked great.
44:10
SPEAKER_02: Oh no, no, it's lush.
44:12
SPEAKER_02: So what's next for you then?
44:13
SPEAKER_02: What's the next goal?
44:14
SPEAKER_02: Because it everything's sort of like we've discussed today, it seems to be very goal-oriented and getting to next step, next step.
44:19
SPEAKER_02: So what's the next goal in your fitness career and journey?
44:22
SPEAKER_01: Push it.
44:23
SPEAKER_01: Keep pushing it.
44:25
SPEAKER_01: The idea behind the gain at the moment is to just build more muscle mass.
44:29
SPEAKER_01: I want to get stronger.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: I want to look even, you know, bitter, more defined than I have done before.
44:36
SPEAKER_01: I just want to see how far I can take it.
44:39
SPEAKER_01: And I'm loving it.
44:40
SPEAKER_01: I just love the process.
44:42
SPEAKER_01: I love seeing the progression.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: I love pushing it.
44:47
SPEAKER_02: Well I think like literally hearing your story, and again, this is why this podcast is so great, because you get to meet people, you see you hear their story from their lowest moment to now and you look at the journey that you've been on and um mate, yeah.
45:02
SPEAKER_02: It'll inspire so many other people to start this journey.
45:05
SPEAKER_01: It's honestly the I said it this morning and you saw what I put out, that it just feels like such a full circle moment to be invited to talk about it.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: Because it is when you're in your lowest bit and you it's scary and you don't know what to expect and everything feels a bit overwhelming and you're looking for support, you're just looking for some positivity out there, you will try and try and find it, and you'll come across some stuff along the way that you don't want to see.
45:33
SPEAKER_01: And I was that person.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: I was out there searching and searching, and to have this opportunity to sit here and to speak and to hopefully help someone or to help people.
45:45
SPEAKER_01: You know, inspire someone that it can be done.
45:48
SPEAKER_01: And to just not be afraid and to embrace it and make the most of it, it's just it means the world.
45:54
SPEAKER_06: And it is you're so I don't know, you're so warm and cozy.
45:58
SPEAKER_06: Like you're like a hug when you talk.
46:03
SPEAKER_06: Because when me and I when we met yesterday, I said, Oh, you know, I wonder what they're gonna be like.
46:08
SPEAKER_06: Because you never know, because we haven't met most of the people that come on here, but you're oh you're exactly like what you're like online.
46:15
SPEAKER_02: Genuine.
46:16
SPEAKER_06: A little bit.
46:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, proper genuine person.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: Great hugger, too.
46:19
SPEAKER_00: Oh, thank you.
46:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, a great hugger.
46:23
SPEAKER_00: They really draw you in, you're like, oh my god.
46:25
SPEAKER_00: It's just safe and secure in your arms, Claire.
46:34
SPEAKER_04: Oh God.
46:35
SPEAKER_02: One thing I want to circle back on was like you said that you were doing your corporate job before, um, and now you've like transitioned into your online coaching, which is I think really impressive.
46:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, but you were unwell whilst you're in your corporate job.
46:47
SPEAKER_02: So, how how was work with you being unwell?
46:50
SPEAKER_02: Were they helpful?
46:51
SPEAKER_02: Like, yeah, talk us through that.
46:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean they were supportive, but there's questions in my mind in terms of was it part of the problem?
47:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's interesting.
47:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
47:05
SPEAKER_02: Stress-wise.
47:06
SPEAKER_01: I had just started a brand new job, it was a big step up for me.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: We'd also just entered the first lockdown for COVID, but nobody really knew what was going on.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: I didn't in myself feel stressed.
47:21
SPEAKER_01: I felt a normal amount of pressure that you would expect to take on a new role.
47:27
SPEAKER_01: But when things started to happen and I started to feel unwell, and there was no answer to it, and a lot of the questions I'd get from healthcare profess professionals was, Are you stressed?
47:41
SPEAKER_01: How are you feeling?
47:41
SPEAKER_01: How's work?
47:42
SPEAKER_01: How's the pressure?
47:43
SPEAKER_01: I was like, I'm fine, you know, everyone's stressed.
47:47
SPEAKER_01: This is, you know, this is corporate life.
47:50
SPEAKER_01: And it didn't really click, and I kind of just thought, you know, this is the way it is.
47:56
SPEAKER_01: Um and then it was only since going back to work after I'd had my surgery and everything that I felt that pressure again and that intense stress, and I started to feel bouts of anxiety that I've never felt before.
48:11
SPEAKER_01: It almost felt like I was someone completely different when I was there, and it just didn't sit right.
48:18
SPEAKER_01: And I was sat there and I was working hard, I was doing everything I needed to do, but something just didn't feel right in my gut, and I was sat there and I just kept thinking if this was stress that caused this or had anything to do with it, look, we can't avoid stress all our lives.
48:36
SPEAKER_01: No, but there's different levels, you know.
48:38
SPEAKER_01: This was getting to the point where it was uncomfortable, it was changing me, who I was as a person, and I knew that it wasn't right.
48:49
SPEAKER_02: And you never got a actual diagnosis per se, it was just you about stopped working.
48:55
SPEAKER_02: So, I mean it to kind of correlate, it sounds like the stress of your job at the time, everything else that's going on was a quite a major contributing factor.
49:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
49:04
SPEAKER_02: And now you're in a place where no stress, chilled.
49:07
SPEAKER_02: I mean that's what it looks like anyway.
49:08
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate it like it will be stressful.
49:10
SPEAKER_02: Stuff in the morning, being like, hey guys, sitting on Davina this morning, which is the cycling bike just for clarity.
49:16
SPEAKER_02: Yes, I was getting coffee.
49:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I ride Davina like a mad woman.
49:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
49:22
SPEAKER_01: But it's it's so good.
49:23
SPEAKER_01: It's you know, it's quite stressful because it's juggling trying to build your own business when you you've never done that before.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
49:32
SPEAKER_01: And all the pressure's on you, and you're trying to figure it out, and everybody's got different ideas.
49:38
SPEAKER_01: Again, you look for stuff, you look for support online.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: There's too much.
49:42
SPEAKER_06: There is, and and I think a lot of people that you see can be quite intense with it, and it can feel quite not threatening, but quite like, oh my gosh, if I went with you and I didn't hit my goals that one week, am I gonna feel really crap about myself?
49:56
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, whereas I think you know, your clients must love being coached by you.
50:01
SPEAKER_06: Like it must be good.
50:02
SPEAKER_06: Well, you show you the messages, don't you?
50:05
SPEAKER_06: And you share it, and it yeah, it's so wholesome.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: So that's it.
50:09
SPEAKER_01: The stress now is just stress wanting to do the best for my clients, and it's a great stress.
50:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I was gonna say that's that's the difference.
50:15
SPEAKER_02: It's a great stressor because it's you being successful in what you really want to do and being really passionate about it rather than corporate deadlines, KPIs, OKRs.
50:23
SPEAKER_02: What are we gonna do for half-day this year?
50:25
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's it.
50:26
SPEAKER_02: But yeah.
50:27
SPEAKER_01: Completely.
50:28
SPEAKER_01: So different stresses, stress that I would have a million times over in comparison.
50:33
SPEAKER_06: Amazing.
50:34
SPEAKER_06: What a story.
50:35
SPEAKER_06: We uh we asked you to bring in a photo that means a lot to you.
50:40
SPEAKER_06: So can you share?
50:41
SPEAKER_01: I've got two, obviously.
50:42
SPEAKER_01: I couldn't just have one because one of them seems a bit depressing.
50:47
SPEAKER_01: So I thought I'd bring in another one.
50:49
SPEAKER_01: This is me with my skinny little legs three months after surgery, my first uh surgery, when I was first trying to see if I could do squats again.
50:59
SPEAKER_01: I look very serious.
51:00
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of concentration going on.
51:02
SPEAKER_01: But that's that one.
51:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you look very back garden there.
51:08
SPEAKER_02: Just and what's that?
51:10
SPEAKER_02: First squat attempt?
51:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, first ever.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: First never.
51:13
SPEAKER_01: I was very, very scared.
51:14
SPEAKER_01: This is part of the video I'd try doing push-ups on my knees.
51:18
SPEAKER_02: Why did you want to record that then?
51:19
SPEAKER_02: Was it to reflect back on it in the future?
51:22
SPEAKER_01: I recorded it because I thought I'm gonna get the strongest I've ever been.
51:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
51:26
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
51:27
SPEAKER_01: And I want to remember where I was.
51:31
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, right, let's just see.
51:32
SPEAKER_01: And you can see all my little skinny legs and everything.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: Bless me.
51:36
SPEAKER_01: But that's what I mean by starting off easy.
51:39
SPEAKER_01: Move your body, do some little squats, try a little push-up.
51:43
SPEAKER_01: Just start moving your body again, get your muscles to wake up again.
51:47
SPEAKER_01: That's all it has to be.
51:49
SPEAKER_01: And then this one is um it's quite crazy looking at it.
51:55
SPEAKER_01: This one is me just after I got home from my first surgery, just two weeks after.
52:10
SPEAKER_00: I think we just can I hug her?
52:19
SPEAKER_06: Can I can I hug her?
52:20
SPEAKER_06: That feels wrong.
52:21
SPEAKER_06: I can't remember.
52:27
SPEAKER_00: It's too much and hugger for me, I can't move.
52:30
unknown: Okay.
52:31
SPEAKER_02: Look what you've done, look what you've achieved.
52:33
SPEAKER_01: And uh just as a reminder to just be grateful, you know, a reminder to be grateful for being able to just get up and move and feel healthy and also a reminder of just how fragile life can be.
52:48
SPEAKER_02: 100%, 100%.
52:49
SPEAKER_01: And you don't know what's round the corner, and it's not to scare anyone, but it's just to be grateful.
52:55
SPEAKER_01: And I think if I got through that, I can get through it in the end.
53:00
SPEAKER_02: Well, you said it earlier, you're in hospital, and the things you wanted to hear most were the birds, your mum and your sister's laughter, yeah.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: Like smelling freshly cut grass, stuff like that.
53:11
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's to your point, it's the stuff you take for granted that's actually probably the most precious.
53:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
53:16
SPEAKER_02: Especially your health.
53:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
53:18
SPEAKER_02: Especially your health.
53:20
SPEAKER_02: So yeah.
53:21
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's emotional, sorry guys.
53:23
SPEAKER_01: Please don't apologize.
53:24
SPEAKER_02: That's the whole point of Beyond the Pouch Podcast.
53:26
SPEAKER_02: It's raw, it's emotional.
53:28
SPEAKER_02: Sometimes talk about shit, sometimes we can't.
53:30
SPEAKER_06: It's just incredible, isn't it, where you are, you know, today.
53:33
SPEAKER_06: It is it is it's it's not cliche, it's not corny, it's truth.
53:37
SPEAKER_02: Like it's And your story will inspire so many people.
53:40
SPEAKER_02: Because they will be in a hospital bed now, maybe even looking similar to as you are in that image.
53:45
SPEAKER_02: And then looking at that image and going, I want to get there.
53:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
53:48
SPEAKER_02: And then I'll look at your other images and be like, well, if she can do it, so can I.
53:51
SPEAKER_02: And that's that's it, right?
53:52
SPEAKER_00: That's all I could ask for.
53:54
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
53:55
SPEAKER_06: Well oh well, we've got a final question, and it's what would you advise would you give to someone that's adjusting to life with a stoma and then after having a reversal?
54:08
SPEAKER_06: I mean, we've covered a lot of it, but any final words from you really?
54:12
SPEAKER_01: I would just say just don't do it alone.
54:15
SPEAKER_01: Just speak to people.
54:16
SPEAKER_01: Speak to people as much as possible.
54:18
SPEAKER_01: Find people like any of us that have been there that have positive outlooks on things and that can help, rather than trying to do any of it on your own, trying to figure it out on your own.
54:32
SPEAKER_01: Because it can feel like a really lonely place.
54:35
SPEAKER_01: Just speak to people as much as possible.
54:37
SPEAKER_01: The more you speak to people, the more it feels normal, the more you realise it's not maybe this huge cloud that it once felt like, and that it is something that you can get through.
54:49
SPEAKER_02: Help's always out there.
54:50
SPEAKER_01: There is, yeah.
54:52
SPEAKER_02: 100%.
54:53
SPEAKER_06: Oh, Claire, we love you.
54:55
SPEAKER_06: I've loved this.
54:56
SPEAKER_06: Thank you so much so much for coming on and being so raw and open, and it's just been an absolute pleasure.
55:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
55:03
SPEAKER_06: And just thank you.
55:04
SPEAKER_06: Oh, thank you both.
55:05
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
55:06
SPEAKER_02: It's been great, thank you.
55:08
SPEAKER_02: Right, we'll see you all next time.
55:09
SPEAKER_06: Thank you.