My husband bought me a heart rate monitor in December. I love it, and have been learning how to use it to get the most out of my workouts. For example, when I lift now and my heart rate starts to drop too low, I stop and jump rope just to raise my rate 10 or more beats back into my zone. I have been using it often and checked my resting heart rate this week, it was 54.
A decade ago, my doctor took my heart rate, it was 111. He asked if this was high for me, but being young and not seeing a doctor very often I didn't really know. He said nothing else about it and I left the clinic and didn't really think about it again until today.

What this means:
For a 36 year old woman, my heart rate is now in the athlete zone! Athlete! I went from being in major risk for some serious heart issues, to someone with a healthy heart. I still have genetic predispositions for heart issues, but Sparkpeople has helped me overcome many of the other risk factors, being overweight and sedentary. I love you, Sparkpeople. Thank you for helping my heart to be healthy and strong for this Valentine's Day, and many others.