This journey has been a bit of a roller coaster. But let me back up. I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was eleven years old. It was a rocky road for a long time. When you're a kid, you cannot comprehend the meaning of the phrase "long-term." That concept is at odds with being young for most of us. Well, it certainly was for me. I'm embarrassed to admit how long it took me to get myself together and actually start giving a damn about myself. It wasn't until I was 26. January 2011 was a real turning point for me. I realized, however, that to succeed, I was going to need to surround myself by people who could help me, because I seemed to be incapable of helping myself. The first person I went to see was a counsellor - after all, if you know what you need to do for 15 years and you just don't do it, something is wrong upstairs. I also saw my regular doctor, a nutritionist (who was amazing), and an exercise person (I don't know what her official title was.) I was able to really turn things around for myself and my HbA1c quickly came down to 6.8% in the first 4 months. That was extremely motivating.
While I was learning how to give a shit about myself, I had no delusions of grandeur, shall we say. I was covering what I ate with insulin and trying to stay away from really stupid food choices, but I was in no way trying to lose weight. In fact, by May 2011, I had put on 10 lbs. I attribute it to the fact that my blood sugars were not running high all the time anymore, which can cause weight loss, or, in my case, it was keeping my weight slightly lower than it should have been. I graduated from college that month. My pictures aren't pretty.
In June 2011, I went on a trip with a really good friend of mine. She tries to eat pretty healthy, and I sort of noticed. Again, I wasn't trying to make any changes. I remember, however, we were swimming in a pool, and she told me about a website where you could log your food intake and count calories. I figured, heck, I'll give it a whirl. It wasn't like I had some epiphany. I just though, why not? My starting weight was 192 lbs. I got the first comment about 10 lbs of loss into my journey. I started graduate school in August 2011, which involved a move halfway across the country. I kept going. By March 2013, at 164 lbs, I had lost almost 30 lbs.
I decided to start on an insulin pump. This was the best decision in regards to my diabetes that I have ever made. It was a struggle for me to exercise while doing insulin shots, because I was taking Lantus insulin. Lantus is a long acting basal insulin. While that's all well and good, when I went to exercise, I had no flexibility with it, and if I didn't eat almost as many calories I would burn, my blood sugar would go low. Now, with a pump, I just turn down my basal rate before I work out, and often can avoid those lows without having to eat a bunch beforehand. However, starting on the pump was a process, and I had to put my weight loss goals on hold while I sorted out my levels.
By May 2012, I was ready to keep going. I set a goal to see 154 lbs on the scale before going on a trip in July, and I met that goal with a few days to spare - 154.8 lbs. Unfortunately, that was the lowest I ever got.
This past school year, it has been difficult for me to stay motivated. By Christmas of last year, I was up to 167 lbs. The highest I saw was about 4 weeks ago - 173 lbs. I decided that I really needed to get myself under control. I absolutely refused to go back to where I started.
I'm training for a half-marathon! It's in September. The training has helped to jump start things for me. I weighed in yesterday at 162.8 lbs. My ultimate goal is 130 lbs. The point of this blog is just to have a place to talk about my goals and frustrations, to celebrate my progress, to vent if I need to.
Here are some progress pictures. The first one was 192, the second was 166, and the last was 156. Obviously, I'm still trying to re-attain that. Wish me luck!
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