Page 44 Summertime Workouts

By Kerrie Lee Brown

Editor-in-Chief, Epic Fit Magazine Wellness Advocate, Mom and Heart Attack Survivor.

To commemorate Heart Health Awareness, I’d like to share my personal story to help you realize that listening to your body at any age is imperative. You can find this excerpt and many more chapters about the importance of self-care in my book: “My Heart, My Self: A Heartfelt Guide for Women Who Do Too Much.”

Get 50% Off This Book! Use Promo Code EpicFit50 on Print & Digital Copies. VISIT “Shop” at RedLilyLife.com

I have worked as a health advocate ever since I can remember. Particularly, during my time as the editor-inchief of Oxygen Women’s Fitness Magazine and American Health & Fitness. In other words, I have been around a lot of fitness and nutrition experts—and interviewed numerous models who know a thing or two about looking after their bodies. (However, just because someone may look good on the outside doesn’t mean they are healthy on the inside.)

Take me for example: I don’t smoke. I eat fairly well and go to the gym. I’m not overweight. I have no previous history of major health issues. The list goes on and on. And yet at 39 years old, I had a heart attack.

It all started on Christmas morning in 2012. My family was eating breakfast together and I experienced a tightness across my chest that I had never felt before. It took my breath away.