{"id":2741,"date":"2026-04-10T09:43:32","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:43:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/?p=2741"},"modified":"2026-04-10T09:43:46","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:43:46","slug":"2741-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/2741-2\/","title":{"rendered":"New chapter: stronger, lighter, more me"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Last September I went through that not-so-fun \u201cplot twist\u201d: I was diagnosed with a lumbar herniated disc\u2026 and when I say I was stuck, I mean really stuck \ud83d\ude05 terrible pain radiating down my right leg, I could barely stand or walk for long, let alone keep up with my normal routine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was two months without working, running from one specialist to another (neurologist, orthopedist, family doctor\u2026) and surviving on injections and very strong medication. Zero glamour \u2014 just pure struggle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that time, I had to stop doing one of the things I love most: swimming. And that hurt \u2014 literally and emotionally \ud83d\ude05. I remember one practice where I had such a bad episode that I left the pool in tears, in so much pain\u2026 but I was lucky to have my coach, Bibiana, there with me. She didn\u2019t let me give up and encouraged me to look for other paths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comecei a fisioterapia, cheia de medo, porque no fundo eu s\u00f3 pensava: \u201ce se eu n\u00e3o sair disto?\u201d\u2026 era dif\u00edcil, cansativo e \u00e0s vezes desanimador.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October, I still had a swim crossing in Sesimbra, and I almost gave up. I was still in a lot of pain, and just thinking about the 500-meter walk on the sand to the start line made me want to laugh (or cry \ud83d\ude02). But I went. Slowly, struggling a bit, but I went. The race actually went fairly smoothly, all things considered\u2026 even with the pain and not being able to kick properly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, I kept going with physiotherapy and ended up stepping away completely from pool training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only at the beginning of February that I started to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. I decided to leave physiotherapy and venture into the gym\u2026 and wow, it\u2019s been challenging \ud83d\ude05 I\u2019m overweight, I still feel pain sometimes, but at the same time\u2026 it\u2019s been giving me this amazing energy and a will to live that I can\u2019t even explain. I\u2019m so much happier now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the funniest part? About six months ago, a neurologist told me I\u2019d have to stop physical activities \u2014 that I wouldn\u2019t be able to run or do any high-impact exercise\u2026 well \ud83d\ude02 today I already run 3 km (slowly, of course, no rush lol), take body pump classes with weights on my shoulders, do RPM\u2026 and I feel great!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And this past Sunday I went back to do the Set\u00fabal swim crossing. It was simply amazing \u2014 not just physically, but especially because I felt so good mentally. That feeling of \u201cI\u2019m back,\u201d you know?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I still have a long road ahead, especially when it comes to losing weight \u2014 it\u2019s still a big challenge. But today I know that with support, determination, and one small step at a time\u2026 we keep moving forward. One day at a time. \ud83d\udcaa\u2728<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lara <\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Em setembro do ano passado levei aquele \u201cplot twist\u201d nada divertido: fui diagnosticada com uma h\u00e9rnia de disco na lombar\u2026 e quando digo que fiquei travada, \u00e9 TRAVADA mesmo \ud83d\ude05 dores horr\u00edveis, a irradiar pela perna direita, mal conseguia ficar em p\u00e9 ou andar por muito tempo, quanto mais fazer a minha rotina normal. Foram … <\/p>\n

Read more “Cap\u00edtulo novo: mais forte, mais leve, mais eu”<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sem-categoria-en"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/image-2.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Clube Swim4fun","author_link":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/author\/geralclube-swim4fun-pt\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2866,"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2741\/revisions\/2866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clube-swim4fun.pt\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}