Day 30: Weigh in Day ~ SLOW and Steady Wins the Race

Weigh In Day Results:
225 down 1.5 pounds  Total weight loss 4.5 pounds

Blood Sugar Update:
258   down  125 points 

Ok, so not the big weight drop I was hoping for.  But still a move in the right direction.  
I have been avoiding processed food, fast food and exercising at least 5 days a week .... So I find myself wondering why am I not thinner yet?   Of course I am being sarcastic but on some level I feel like I should have made more progress by now.  But feelings don't always serve us in reaching our goals.  I need to be realistic and celebrate the small successes.
Yes, in one month I have only managed to lose 4.5 pounds. BUT in that same month I have brought down my blood sugar over 100 points without medication and by changing my diet.  I have begun to change my eating habits to the point that I have stopped having daily cravings for fast food and soda.  
Because I have been focusing on muscle building exercising I am going to pull out the tried and true "I've been building muscle which weighs 3 times as much as fat"  to make me feel better.
Also,  my metabolism has been in hibernation for years and it is unrealistic to expect it to turn around in 1 month.  It takes time to turn a ship. 
Regardless of the slowness in my results I refuse to give up!  Changing my lifestyle has NOT been easy so far, and I know that it will get harder but I'm tough, I can handle it!

Day 29: Getting Back on track

So ... I haven't lived up to my expectations of posting daily about my progress.
I was feeling overwhelmed with life and didn't feel like writing and the more behind I got the more overwhelmed I felt.
At first I intended to catch up by writing 2 posts a day but today I have come to the realization that I just need to get back on the horse, make a fresh start and not look behind.

For the most part I have been sticking to avoiding processed foods ad exercising daily.
I am feeling less dizzy and have more energy and my clothes are fitting better.
Looking forward to weigh in day tomorrow.

Blood Sugar Update: 298 ... down 85 points in 3 weeks.

Day 21: Riding Out a Bad Day

So today is not going quite as I would like it to.  Work, kid, and physical issues have come together to create the perfect storm of a Crappy Day.


The specific issues aren't nearly as important as how I handle them.  My litmus test for worrying about an issue is to only waste time worrying when it will matter in 5 years. The career and physical issues that I am having today most likely will not matter in 5 years but I have to admit that I can lack perspective when one of my kids is pushing my buttons and it is throwing me off course for the day.
The kid issue is that one of the twins is refusing to do his homework.  I mean he is giving  a homework protest worthy of Malcolm X!  Normally, I would spend the day fighting with him until the work was done. Fueling my rage with whatever food I can stuff in my face and justifying it with "I'll get back on track tomorrow"  but today I took a different approach.  I closed the door to my room (which I almost never do) and took time to do yoga, calm down, write, and reflect.  
And here is what I came up with...
I am spending way too much time and energy focusing on minute details and I am missing the big picture.   I realized that the issue is his.  He will have to learn how not doing his homework will affect his grades.  Don't get me wrong, I am screaming on the inside because it drives me nuts that this smart kid is wasting precious time when he could be done and on to fun stuff.  But instead of trying to control every little aspect of today I am only focusing on controlling the devices that he does not get to watch or play with because of his poor choice.  Picking my battles is giving me the perspective I need to focus on what matters.  
While I am still having a bad day.  I know that tomorrow will be better and I can ride out the storm without giving into my old habits.

Day 20: Taking a Cue from the Dogs

 I am learning to take every chance I have to be more active.  Today I went to my mom's house with the boys and our dog Nugget.  I was tired from getting everyone up and out of the house by 7:30 but as soon as we arrived t my mom's house Nugget and her cousin (my brother's dog Emma) went crazy begging to go for a walk.  All I wanted to do was sit down and rest but the dogs were so eager to get out of the house and one of the twins, Matthew, was excited to take them on a walk so out we went.

It was a good thing that I bought Matthew because I still cannot

Emma loves to roll on a nice green lawn.

walk fast enough to please the dogs so Matthew ran ahead with them.  As I was watching him run the dogs up the street I thought of how good it was to see Matthew outside running and playing instead of sitting and watching TV and how  I set the tone for my family's level of activity.  We aren't nearly active enough as a family and I have to make a daily choice to keep moving.  
My becoming more active isn't just about improving my own health.  It is about my setting a good example of healthy eating and activity for my kids, which is some pretty powerful motivation.

Day 19: Cutting Myself Some Slack

I Have Come to the Realization That I Can Be a Bit Hard on Myself.  

I want to accomplish a lot.  Exercising daily and eating the right foods take focus and planning.  On top of that there is the house, kids and transitioning careers.  
Being the person in charge of all of the major (and minor) decisions in the house in itself is a lot, but when you throw all of  life's other responsibilities in there it's impossible not to be overwhelmed.  And when I feel like I've failed at something  it has become a trigger for me to stuff my face.
So, I have decided to pick one goal to focus on right now.  Lowering my blood sugar by avoiding processed foods.  The exercise, the clean house, the writing, everything else is important, but if I don't get my blood sugar under control I won't have the energy and clarity of thought to do the rest.  
It will all fall into place but if I miss a day of exercise, cleaning, or writing I am not going to beat myself up.  And if I feel like a failure  (because that will happen at some point) I can choose to take a walk, clean in the garage or work in the yard until the urge to stuff my face passes! 

Blood Sugar Update
Today it's at 300.  Not great but I have been seeing a steady decrease daily with the limited processed foods.  So, moving in the right direction. Yay!

Day 18 : What is a Salad Without Salad Dressing?

I don't really need salad dressing on my salad but it does help liven up the same old veggies on my plate.  Of course what I want to do (ok what I normally do) is use blue cheese dressing so that I don't feel deprived.  Yes, I realize that it defeats the purpose of a salad.  But I don't really care for the low cal or balsamic options.  Instead I like to use salsa.  Normally I make my own salsa fresca which is basically like a salad on top of a salad  😄 ... 
But I haven't had time to make that lately so I have been using the next best thing .... Although I can't really call this the "next best thing" because this is pretty much the worlds most perfect food.  It literally makes all other foods taste better.
Herdez Guacamole Salsa works perfectly as a dressing.  There are only 60 calories per 2 Tablespoons and it has no oil in the ingredients list so the fat and calories you are getting look to be coming mostly from the avocados. And best of all for me there are barely any sugar or carbs!!

Available in any store but click here if you need help finding stores that carry this.

Day 17: A Nightly Ritual With a Cup of Tea .... or Maybe Wine

In trying to curb my late night eating I have thought long and hard about starting a night time tea drinking ritual to calm down.  I am mainly a stress eater so I figure anything that can bring the stress level down can help with the extra eating.
I'm not sure if it's the extra time it takes to boil the water or the mental block because a cup of tea is just not that exciting or if I'm just too lazy, but I have not been able to even start the habit until tonight.
Much easier and more exciting is a nightly glass of wine ritual.  In my researching Diabetes, I came across a study that said that one glass of wine a day has benefits for the heart and MAY lower blood sugar.  Well I jumped on that bandwagon real quick!  Pouring a glass of wine is so much easier than making a cup of tea! 
But to keep myself to one glass of wine I've started following it with a cup of tea.  Yes, I am starting my tea ritual as a way of stopping myself from drinking too much wine. Whatever works!   I will say this is... it does help with defining an eating cut off time so I stop stuffing my face at night....
Baby Steps 🙊🙈

Day 16: Training Myself to Like Healthy Food Again

Jillian Michael's Southwest Chicken Salad

I have to admit that so far on this journey  I have avoided using the term "Clean Eating" mainly because in my mind I have equated clean eating with boring bland food.
Which seems silly because my whole strategy is getting healthy by avoiding eating processed food.


So, I've come to the realization that if I want to be successful in getting healthy that I need to embrace this thing they call Clean Eating.
I can actually feel my taste buds changing already.  I am finding it easier to resist fast food and the processed snack foods that seem to find me just when I get hungry.  
Don't get me wrong, it is still a daily struggle but I am focusing on my successes to keep my motivation to build healthy habits.
Today's Successes were 
1) Taking my breakfast of an apple and a protein drink into work at church this morning instead of buying a fast food breakfast.
2) On the was home from church I stopped at Circle K for a Coke Zero and was able to resist the immediate urge to buy a Slim Jim or Breakfast Sausage they had on that mesmerizing junk food rolling cooker.

Click Here to View the Recipe in a New Window

So to celebrate my successes I decided to make some clean food that I could eat during the week.  I decided on this long time favorite that I haven't made in a few years.  It's a recipe from Jillian Michael's Master Your Metabolism Cookbook  from 2010. 
I can't find my copy and I can't remember any of the other recipes in the book but this one for her Southwest Chicken Salad I absolutely love.  It's a wonderfully simple recipe packed with flavor and ton of protein ... 64 grams per serving !!

I've come to think of this as a hidden treasure because as amazing of a dish as this is I would think it would be posted everywhere. But I have to hunt to find it on the internet and there isn't even a picture of it so I took my own.
Finding time to make this was a struggle because our Sundays are packed with activities and by the end of the day I am exhausted and lately sore from the daily exercising.  So it makes it all the more delicious eating this with the knowledge that I persevered through complete exhaustion to make this healthy meal!

Recipe Tips:

* Dicing up the chicken instead of slicing makes it easier to eat on the go.
* Pounding the chicken breasts flat between 2 sheets of wax paper will make grilling faster.  If you don't have a mallet the back side of a ladle will work.  Start in the middle of the chicken breast and work your way out to the sides.
* Double the Cilantro and put half in a blender with the salad dressing and the other half chopped into the chicken.
* Blending the salad dressing instead of shaking it will emulsify it and meld the ingredients.

Day 15: Weigh In Day

Weigh in Day ... down 3 pounds to 226.5 
I know that it is only a number but it feels so good to see it go down!
It feels like the first steps on a very long journey.
Taking it one day at a time.
Thankful for a good day !

Day 14: Reflecting on What I've Learned So Far

Two Weeks in and I Have Learned that:

• The actions needed to trade in my unhealthy lifestyle is not as easy as talking about it.
• I still have a lot to learn/relearn about diet and fitness.
• Exercise is ridiculously hard when you are overweight and diabetic.
• Being honest, vulnerable and recognizing how bad my health habits are is the ONLY way to improve them.
• I don't need to be perfect to be improving!
• No matter what the scale says tomorrow, I have made progress this last week in my Journey to Get Healthy!!!

Day 13: Why I am Not taking Diabetes Medication

I realize that many people manage their diabetes by taking medication in addition to diet and exercise.  Because of the following reasons I have decided that I will not take any diabetes medication:

1) I have type 2 Diabetes which I have been able to control in the past with diet and exercise.  And I want to give this a serious try again before I resort to medications.

And Most Impoprtantly

2) My father died at the age of 58 due to an attack of pancreatitis brought on by an interaction with a medication he was taking for his type 2 diabetes.  Watching him deteriorate in the ICU for 3 weeks is an experience that I will not forget. 

3) My ex husband had a serious pancreatic attack 2 months after he began taking diabetes medication.  The doctors cannot confirm or rule out that his diabetes medication caused his pancreas to flare up. He required months in the ICU and multiple surgeries.  And after more than 18 months he is still recovering.

Every time I look at the possible side effects for any new diabetic medication, I see pancreatitis listed and I cannot bring myself to think of taking it.  My greatest fear is making my children go through the pain that I went through loosing my dad before his time.
That being said, I do realize that everyday that my blood sugars are elevated is doing damage to my internal organs (pancreas included). 
So I guess I am digging deeper to find more motivation on this Journey to Get Healthy.

Blood Sugar Check in: 280 today.  Down 103 points from yesterday which is amazing.  One weird side effect is dizziness from such a big drop in one day. But Yay!

Day 12: So .... There's Good News and Not So Good News ...

Good News! 

I finally found my blood monitor kit so I can actively monitor my blood sugar levels!!






Not So Good News

When I took my fasting blood sugar it was 383.  To put that in perspective normally fasting blood sugar should be under 100.

So clearly I have some work to do! 

But now that I have my monitor I can keep a closer eye  on my blood sugar as motivation to eat better.  

It's so easy to brush away my symptoms as simply fatigue or maybe even a cold or flu.  But with that 383 staring me in the face it's hard to avoid the fact that the constant dizziness I feel daily is because of my elevated sugars. 

I have been diagnosed as diabetic since 2014.  And for about a year I was able to manage it extremely well with diet and exercise.  I managed it so well that my doctor diagnosed me as being in remission. 

Obviously, I have fallen off the wagon!.

Time to get back up and leave behind all of the foods that are making me ill.  My body responds best when  I avoid all processed foods so here I go ...... 

Day 11: Small Victories

Today I am celebrating being able to stop myself from eating late at night.
I have done enough self evaluation to know that much of my extra eating is done as a reaction to stress.  As a rule I don't outwardly stress about much but for me, being the only decision maker in the house is stressful and my go to coping mechanism has been shoving whatever food I can find in my face.
However, since I have been exercising regularly and started looking in the mirror again I have been able to begin to be honest with myself about how I got to be this big. And the simple act of recognizing the behaviors that are keeping me unhealthy is pretty big.  When I go to reach for the chip bag something is finally clicking in my head to remind me that I don't really want or need the chips.
So .... Hooray for victory over that bag of Taki's in the cupboard that did not become part of an emotional late night binge and will live to make it into my kids lunch!

Day 10: PIYO for FREE !

Getting motivated to exercise daily isn't the easiest thing.  The companies behind late night infomercials know this, as they work hard to continually produce these amazing testimonials to the latest exercise fad.  
The infomercial that sucked me in recently was for PIYO by Chalene Johnson.  For those who may not be aware, Chalene Johnson has been a force in the exercise industry for awhile.  I first discovered her in the late 2000's with her Turbo Jam series which really helped me to get motivated to get in shape after I had the twins. But she is so much more than a fitness instructor. Her business endeavor's are too numerous to list so if you want to get her whole story you can check her out at her website.
 PIYO is a workout formed by blending Pilates and Yoga.  What intrigued me is that you can get a serious cardio workout with no impact and since I have had serious  Bursitis flare ups since the age of 8 low/no impact workouts are really important to me for long term joint care. 
Chalene has a way of making her latest fitness program feel like the most amazing club that you can join if you only purchase her videos.  So naturally when I saw her infomercials it felt like seeing an old friend.  I normally don't watch infomercials but I have to admit I watched hers from beginning to end. And I was enthralled by Chalene's description of how SHE developed PIYO over years and carefully honed it into the amazing routine that she is currently selling. I actually went on Amazon and BeachBody.com to price check the package. But since I have committed to not buying any new diet or exercise product for a year I resisted and stumbled onto a real gem!  
I wanted to check out this new fitness craze for free so I turned to YouTube praying that Chalene had posted some workouts that I could check out.  Of course, since her  PIYO workout was just released by Beach Body (a huge exercise conglomerate) most of the  PIYO videos from Chalene are infomercials with one instructional video that is way too advanced for my range of motion and one full workout video filmed on her friends phone while they did a workout in front of a hotel in Hawaii.  That video is beautiful but hard to follow because none of the instructions are loud enough to hear.

What I did not expect to find was a treasure trove of PIYO workout videos from other instructors dating back 8 years. There is literally something for every fitness level.  It turns out that while it is low impact PIYO is HARD and you need to develop lung strength to do it.  Luckily on YouTube I found plenty of videos for super beginners which is the level I am at. I still LOVE Chalene and after my year of buying abstinence is over this PIYO set will most likely be my first purchase.  But I am glad I did not run out and buy her packaged PIYO program right away because I probably would have given up after a few weeks ... or to be honest ... days. 
I am sure that exercise videos on YouTube are not new (judging by all of the views) but I have to admit that it had never before occurred to me that I could do a different video every day literally for years for free.  Thanks YouTube!

If you think that this PIYO workout will be easy 

because the instructor is pregnant ... Think again!!

Day 9: I Want Cake !!!

So, this is how I feel today.  
9 days in and I can't stop thinking about cake .... the Diabetic Kryptonite. 
I especially am craving a gooey piece of chocolate cake.  
Visions of sheet cake pieces shining in their own personal pristine plastic clam shells in the bakery section of the grocery store have been dancing in my head. 

Obviously, I'm not going give in this early on and eat cake but I need to do something to cut this giant craving.  So here is my work around .... Sugar Free Jello Instant Pudding with a twist. 

While I like chocolate pudding.  On it's own it isn't usually enough to  satisfy a craving so following the directions on the package I replace the milk required with a mixture of half Greek Yogurt and half Almond Milk.  
Depending on your personal taste you can add in 2 Splenda packets or use the Vanilla or chocolate flavored Almond Milk.
Because I am watching my Blood Sugar I used the Original Almond Milk which has 30 calories and 0 grams of sugar per 1 cup measure.
The trick to getting this pudding to come out smooth is whisking together the yogurt and Almond Milk first to get all of the lumps out. Then add in the Pudding Mix.  The mixture sets almost instantly to a consistency of buttercream frosting (Yum) and you don't need to refrigerate it before eating.  I eat it with some Cool Whip Lite on top.
And while I know in my mind that this is not cake, it is so filling and delicious that it really satisfies my cake craving.