Lifestyle changes

I mentioned in my prior post that I learned on Dec. 29 that I have diabetes.  The good news is that we caught it early, and my numbers aren't terribly high.  My wonderful doctor, Kate Osterloh, feels confident I can make changes and reverse the diagnosis.  I'm working hard to do that!!!

Most of my life, weight has been a battle for me.  Mom says that even as a baby, I never seemed to be satisfied after feedings; I was always hungry!  Well, that has continued on through my life up to this point; I still have a ravenous apetite.  I am working hard to learn how to work around this.  I met with a nutritionist last week and she gave me some wonderful guidelines about how to structure my diet taking into account carbs, protein, and calories.  As a diabetic, the carbs are most important to maintain a healthy blood sugar.  In my weight loss efforts, the calories are important.  Protein is also very important in many ways.  It's a challenge to learn these parameters, but I'm doing my best to rise up and meet the challenge!  I have always struggled in this. I'll get a burst of "will power," and will do really well for a month...maybe 2, or even 6! But then, I get exasperated and fall off the wagon.  Right now, I'm doing really well.  I'm managing the diet well.  I'm exercising 5 days a week.  I feel great, have more energy, and do not crave the "bad" foods I have soooo loved.  How long will this last?  I pray it will be a lifetime thing!  The thoughts of being an uncontrolled diabetic terrifies me.  I can't imagine losing my eye sight and not being able to see the ones I hold most dear, my beautiful home, and all the wonderful things God has created in this world.  I also can't fathom losing parts of my body, like toes, feet, legs, etc. and not being able to walk beside my husband and hold his hand, run to scoop up my grandson, or enjoy a long, lazy walk with Ruby.  THESE things give me more motivation than I ever imagined!  The thoughts of losing my abilities terrifies me.  I have to beat this disease!!!

A while back, I came up with an acronymn about my weight.  I stated that I know my weight is controlled by "M & M's."  My MOUTH and my MOTION.  I have now added another M to that acronym.  MOTIVATION!!!! 

As a footnote...we returned to our gym, CAIR, last Monday.  I have worked out there 9 times since.  I feel GREAT and am so happy to see my friends & instructors at CAIR, and appreciate their encouragement!!!

Monday, Jan. 24, 2011

Well, they say that the only thing that remains the same is that everything changes.  Oh, so true!!!  My life has been full of a lot of change recently.  Aside of daily changes (like where I'm working at, daily activities, etc), the biggest change as of recent was my grandson, Noah, and his mom, Autumn, moving from near us in NW Georgia to upstate New York.  I was utterly devastated. Today is the first day, so far, that I haven't cried since they left 5 days ago.  The day is young...

Another major change for me is that I learned on Dec. 29, 2010 that I am diabetic.  Although I knew I had several major risk factors including my weight, my mother being diabetic, and the fact that I had a 10 1/2 lb baby, I had been hoping & praying I would dodge that bullet.  As it turns out, we caught it early; it is "mild & reversible" according to my physician, Dr. Kate Osterloh.  I was very encouraged when she said that, and it motivated me to beat this!  So, I have been working very hard.  Since Dec. 29, I have lost at least 15 lbs, have altered my eating habits, and have begun working out at the gym again.  I feel better already, and in the last week since I began testing my blood sugar twice per day, I have only had 1 abnormal reading.  I'm very encouraged.

I hope to document my progress on this blog.  Stay tuned!
Mel