My husband, my family doc and my psychiatrist have all been telling me since I was diagnosed in 2009 that I should exercise. They said it would help me with my bipolar swings as well as help me lose weight. I've been resistant. I work so hard at behaving well and trying to stay productive that I couldn't force myself to do another thing.

At the beginning of this month I finally got sick and tired of having a tired, sluggish and fat body on top of all the mental and emotional stuff with bipolar. I decided to join a gym that is friendly to people of all sizes and ages. I started working out on April 8th and do it 3 times a week. My body feels a lot better already and I've lost 3 lbs so far. I've been drinking a lot of water which is necessary anyway when taking the potent drugs I'm on. Already I'm finding that doing heavy gardening and some chores around the house are becoming easier.

I'm so glad I made the decision to do this. Granted, I was a little hypomanic when I did it, but lately I've been depressed. At times it's been a real chore to push myself to go, but one I get there and start to work out I find it calms me. When I'm done I feel calmer and my body feels better and awake no matter what kind of mood swing I'm in. It feels good being there with other people who are working out too. Even though I don't know any of them, we all have similar goals to get fit or fitter. The young people are very respectful and seem to respect that the older folks like me are working at getting in shape again. I'm glad I made the decision to add physical fitness to my health regimen.