Marion’s Wellbeing Journey

Marion has completed the Mid-Sussex wellbeing service and has been happy to share some of their experiences with us and the positive results they have seen since taking part.

What did you enjoy about the programme?

I really appreciated the encouragement. I had a general idea of what I had to do, however, the support offered in the programme pushed me to take action.

What changes did you make to your lifestyle?

I joined and completed “Couch to 5km”. I joined the programme on the 2nd week of this course. However, I took part after 2-3 weeks into it as it was all so new. I was slowing down, and day-to-day activities were getting harder and fatiguing me. I did start off with dynamic stretches by myself as encouraged by this programme. I felt more physically capable after this and I knew I had to get fitter.
I also tried mindful eating, reducing the amount of regular snacks and buying more healthy foods.
I found that dynamic stretching helped me a lot with feeling more physically able. Unfortunately, I had Covid half-way through my time on the programme; I was incredibly tired and the pure effort of
doing everything was much harder. I had to use an asthma pump, but I slowly got back into it and could eventually do 5km without the asthma pump.

What changes have you seen in any measurements that have been taken?

Where before I would rate my fitness as a 4/10, now I would rate it as a 7/10 and I can do things I wouldn’t even consider before. Day-to-day activities have been a lot easier and I find I’m not aching the next day – after my 5km I recovered quickly.

Do you have any advice for those starting the programme?

It gives you gentle encouragement, the coaches and the advice on the programme are not condescending and it really encourages you to think about things.

“I can do things I wouldn’t even consider before”

To find out more about the Mid-Sussex Wellbeing programme, click here.