Keeping fit pays dividends for Gwendraeth Valley heart attack victim
A Gwendraeth Valley woman has lost three and a half stone in weight thanks to a Carmarthenshire Actif Fitness programme and healthy eating.
Ruth Lloyd was forced to rethink her lifestyle after suffering a heart attack two years ago. She was just 50 years old.
The thought of not being around to see her sons again spurred the mum of two into action and turn her life around. She gave up her full time job in the bank, changed her diet and joined Carmarthen Leisure Centre gym after her weight ballooned to 13 stone.
Now Ruth from Pontyberem is more active more often and fits neatly into a size 10 dress size.
Ruth Lloyd was forced to rethink her lifestyle after suffering a heart attack two years ago. She was just 50 years old.
The thought of not being around to see her sons again spurred the mum of two into action and turn her life around. She gave up her full time job in the bank, changed her diet and joined Carmarthen Leisure Centre gym after her weight ballooned to 13 stone.
Now Ruth from Pontyberem is more active more often and fits neatly into a size 10 dress size.
She also eats healthily, walks her dog and works part-time from home.
Ruth said: “At the time of my heart attack I had been under quite a lot of stress and my weight had escalated to a dress size 18.
“One Saturday morning I woke, got out of bed, and started getting ready for work. I bent down to put my socks on and had the most excruciating pain in my chest. My husband was in bed, so I went upstairs and got in beside him. I asked him to phone my works to say I’d be late going in. Luckily for me he was a psychiatric nurse and spotted the symptoms before calling for an ambulance. Up to that point I’d had no symptoms whatsoever so it was quite frightening really. With no family history of heart problems it was put down to stress caused by my busy lifestyle and obviously being overweight didn’t help. I was so worried I wouldn’t be here to live my life with my two boys that I was determined to do everything I could to make sure I was. It wasn’t an easy move going to the gym as I had perceived it to be full of young people looking fit and wonderful. I thought I would be laughed it, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. There are people of all ages there and they are just ordinary people keeping fit.
“I love coming here, the staff are wonderful and so are the people I’ve met. I’ve made some great friends and mixing with people in the same position as myself is very reassuring for me.
Ruth said: “At the time of my heart attack I had been under quite a lot of stress and my weight had escalated to a dress size 18.
“One Saturday morning I woke, got out of bed, and started getting ready for work. I bent down to put my socks on and had the most excruciating pain in my chest. My husband was in bed, so I went upstairs and got in beside him. I asked him to phone my works to say I’d be late going in. Luckily for me he was a psychiatric nurse and spotted the symptoms before calling for an ambulance. Up to that point I’d had no symptoms whatsoever so it was quite frightening really. With no family history of heart problems it was put down to stress caused by my busy lifestyle and obviously being overweight didn’t help. I was so worried I wouldn’t be here to live my life with my two boys that I was determined to do everything I could to make sure I was. It wasn’t an easy move going to the gym as I had perceived it to be full of young people looking fit and wonderful. I thought I would be laughed it, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. There are people of all ages there and they are just ordinary people keeping fit.
“I love coming here, the staff are wonderful and so are the people I’ve met. I’ve made some great friends and mixing with people in the same position as myself is very reassuring for me.
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