In my late 40s, after my kids became more independent, I joined a gym and decided to lose some weight and get healthy. Over time, this goal shifted to being fitter at 50 than I was at 20.

I was on track to meet this goal when the earthquakes changed everything. We lost our home, and the land was red-zoned. Between finding safe places to live, dealing with the stress of battling the insurance company, and the gym I attended closing for repairs, I became very unhealthy, very quickly, and reached my heaviest weight ever.

On Christmas Eve 2013, I was very unfit and overweight. Realising this, I had recently rejoined the gym and started exercising. That afternoon, while stretching in the lounge, I suddenly stopped breathing and collapsed to the ground. I didn’t breathe on my own for the next 45 minutes. I had a blockage in my left descending artery. Several things aligned that day. An ambulance was less than two minutes away, the local fire station was also nearby, and a lead ambulance officer arrived within 10 minutes. When I arrived at the hospital, some of the leading cardiac surgeons delayed the start of their Christmas holidays to clear the blockage and insert a stent. I spent a few days in a medically induced coma, followed by a couple of weeks on the wards before being released.

After receiving the all-clear, I spent many months regaining my health and fitness. I started with gentle-paced walks, gradually increasing the distance and time I walked. I also monitored what I was eating.

From personal experience, I know that two of the hardest things about losing weight and getting fit are starting the exercise and healthy eating habits, and then being consistent with the changes you make. Both take time and effort. There will be days when you don’t feel like putting in the effort to go to the gym, and those days are tough. But generally, once you’ve completed your workout, you’ll feel much better. If you skip a gym day, it can be easy to skip another. So, you need to stay positive, avoid falling back into bad habits, and make a little effort each day to be better than the day before.

To turn something into a habit, it takes between 10 and 15 weeks of consistent effort. During this time, you’ll have both bad days and good days. But it’s about persevering, being resilient, and not beating yourself up if you slip up. Remind yourself that you’re on a journey of change and discovery—and great things take time.