Tom: “It’s one step at a time”
A dozen cupcakes to a half marathon: walking changed Tom’s life
Working at the supermarket one day in 2013, Tom Bishop kept stumbling. He left early, taking a dozen cupcakes with him for consolation. By the time Bishop reached home, he felt so awful that he crawled up the stairs.
“I ate the cupcakes – all 12 – and went to bed,” he says.
When he got up, he scheduled his first check-up in 25 years.
At nearly 136kg and with a HbA1c of 103mmol/L,
Bishop was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
THE CHANGE
After his doctor put him on metformin, Bishop radically revamped his eating plan, ditching whole pizzas and fuelling his body with lean protein and fresh produce.
But the real transformation came when his doctor advised him to take a 10-minute walk after meals to help control his BGLs. Slowly, 10 minutes became 20, and in 2014 Bishop walked his first 5K as part of the Illinois Marathon.
The following year, he completed the event’s 10K.
The next two, he walked the half marathon – 21km.
THE REWARD
As Bishop focused on lifestyle changes, his weight dropped to 99kg and his HbA1c stabilised at 41mmol/L.
Taking control of his diabetes helped prepare him for further upheaval: diabetic retinopathy, which emerged one year after diagnosis. He’s working to save his eyesight with just as much dedication, undergoing four rounds of laser surgery, a steroid implant and injections into his eye every four weeks. Bishop’s vision has improved dramatically.
“I take the same approach to the marathon I do with the eye chart,” he says. “With the race, it’s one step at a time; and with the chart, it’s one letter at a time.”
WHAT WORKED
1. Build in physical activity. Bishop disconnected his TV and internet. He only watches TV on the treadmill at the fitness centre and walks 3km to the library to look things up.
2. Find inspiration.
‘Climb Ev’ry Mountain’, the classic tune from The Sound of Music, keeps Bishop going. “In my life,” he says, “I’ve climbed many mountains.”
3. Seek challenges.
A 10-minute walk led to two half marathons – and now skydiving. Bishop has already completed three jumps and is planning his fourth. “Keep reaching,” he says. “You can do more than you think you can.”