Yes not only difficult but so boring!!!! Ask your doctor about gym but the best thing you can do immediately is change your diet and start walking daily. When I started my walks post stent I could only do less than five minutes and then breathless and feeling sick. I now do forty minutes five times a week. Judge your activity by time not distance as it is more encouraging.... I am intrinsically lazy but I do Stage 4 rehab twice a week too (me on a bike/rower in the sports centre - I would not have believed it possible). I daren;t miss a day as I think that would be the beginning of the end - I;d find excuses not to do it. When I was admitted to hospital for a few days I decided to entertain myself /exercise by doing disco dancing in my bed for five minutes - turn on radio 2 and lay flat on back and do the arm and leg moves as if dancing (yes I was in a room by myself). Severe disapproval from staff but keep moving daily is the key to improvement however little you do. work on your diet and reduce sugar, fat and amount you eat. I missed cake but a lovely man on this forum (you know who you are) sent me a cake recipe and it is brilliant. It is a mind set change and cardiac rehab has been really good for me - I am probably thinner and fitter than I was before my STEMI heart attack. Start with walking and get your GP on board he could refer you to rehab, get you on stage 4 maybe - honestly it is worth the effort and the biggest tip of all, learn not to care what anyone else thinks of your efforts and gym attire. Good luck.
Oh! Thank you. This is really helpful. I will try someone this. I currently walk from parked car to work about 7 minutes. And I'm like....puffed heart racing. I will keep on plodding !
hi calliope. i wonder if you could be so kind to forward me recipe for cake. i’m finding it really hard to stay away. although i am and have been for the last year. but i’m finding my resolve waining a bit. cake is my thing and i really miss it❤️shiona
1/4 teaspoon almond essence I also put a bit of ameretto in
45g caster sugar
60g truvia
Heat oven to 160c
Soften Marg/spread in pan or microwave
Combine flour ground almonds, sugar, truvia and baking powder in bowl
Beat 2 eggs and almond essence in another bowl
Combine flour mix butter and egg to make a thick batter like consistency.
Add 3/4 of the mix to lined round cake tin and spread it out. Lay cherries on top then add the final 1/4 mix. Bake for approx 50 mins.
The cherries sank to the bottom of my cake but I just turned it upside down. I also used the basic recipe for a sultana cake and then branched out and made a banana one using 3 mashed bananas - you have to add additional self raising flour if you use bananas - add until mixture drops off spoon. Happy baking all!
Totally agree with Gunsmoke123! After I developed angina, I had an angiogram, stents were planned but ended up having a bypass because of calcification. During the whole process I was advised keep moving and maintain as much fitness as you can BUT do not push yourself to a cardiac event! So really it is a case of work in your diet (most GPs can prescribe an initial WW or Slimming World course) and walk within your limits. You should get rehab where you will be guided on what you can do. I have just started the next phase. The timings of the cardio in my area is not overly convenient so I checked out some other options but concluded the average gym employee was not up to our conditions!
When you look at the paltry amount of calories that are burnt during exercise it's clear that restricting food intake is always going to be the most important part of weight loss.
I know it's hard. I'm finding it REALLY hard, and the weight is coming off more slowly than I'd like. But the alternative to weight loss is pretty awful,
If we're overweight then our chances of a further cardiac incident are massively increased. And of course type 2 diabetes and heart disease go together like a horse and carriage, so unless we want to run the gauntlet of diabetic amputations then we absolutely have to shed those pounds.
In your place I'd get your GP's opinion before exercising, but I'd start dieting with a vengeance right away.
I was told to take my pills / carry the spray and keep doing my thing. But I couldn’t - was too scary for me once I knew. I went into self preservation mode. I’m 4 months post stent and now able to do pretty much everything i want physically. So think you can take either approach....the one that fits your mindset.
Check with the doctor and if he says ok to go then also work with the trainers at the gym. Explain your condition and ask them for a suitabl exercise routine. Then stick to it. My cardio surgeon said that it was the strength of my heart muscle that saved my life when I had my attack. I have four dogs so I have always had to do a lot of walking. Part of my "prescription" for the rest of my life is to walk a minimum of half an hour a day, preferable uphill.
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Angina or not 
Short Angina. Advice please
Angina with clear arteries 
Micro vascular angina 
Possible angina-symptoms? 
