Hello 2016!

Let me give you some information 2016 so that you are prepared for what is to come!

First of all, I know in the past I have said, “I was going to get healthy.” I didn’t well, this will be my year 2016! I am making changes to improve my health, see this year is going to be great!

This past week I received a phone call asking me about getting checkup & current labs. I went in to have lab work, I weighed early that morning I was 220. When I spoke to the nurse about 2 of my labs results, my fasting blood sugar from that morning was 306 and my A1c which was 10.7. All 3 of these numbers are way too high! With this being said, it is time to get my act together! You ask why now, well let me tell you!  I have a husband who loves and adores me, I have 6 grandchildren and 1 on the way, I have our children, family, friends who I love along with life! I will to be around, as well as be able, to do these things to enjoy time in everything I do! I will be sitting on the porch in a rocking chair with my hubby when I am 92 drinking Root Beer!

With this being said, 2015 is behind me! 2016 is a new beginning on a fantastic foot…in fact 2 great feet. My love, my hubby and I went on an amazing 3-mile hike today January 1, 2016!  Our plan is to begin hiking at least once a month.  

So 2016 let’s get this year going and have a blast doing it!

Friends,

Frances

I found "Onederland"!

I posted last in January so let’s see what has been going on since then. I have found my way to “onederland” I have reached 192.5. I am super excited about this. It has been long time getting here but since my highest weight in 13 years was 254 in 2009 since then I have lost 61.5 pounds.

I have done this by watching the amount of food I eat, what I eat which includes cutting back on carbs and increasing my protein and I also take ACE which I have been doing since March 24, 2012.

I have had a small setback on my medicine. I was taking Byetta which is a twice a day shot to help my body deal with the sugar it makes correctly. They have come out with a new one that has the same medicine in it as Byetta does but it is once a week. It is called Bydureon. My doctor told me about the medicine and I jumped on it. The thought of only taking one shot a week sounded amazing to me. The first four weeks were exactly that amazing. Week five brought on something that has begun more of a bad dream. I began have horrible abdomen pain and back pain on Friday. I tried to ride this out but by Sunday night I was in tears and doubled over in pain. Ray took me to the ER to find out my pancreatic enzymes were elevated. I was given something for pain and sent home to ride it out. Since we were not sure at this time if the Bydureon was related to this for sure I took the shot on Thursday. By the next day I was in pain again. This time knowing the cause I rode it out. By Wednesday of the next week I was feeling better. I had a doctor appointment for that day with my doctor. When I got there we discussed the medicine. It was decided that I would no longer take the Bydureon and go back to the Byetta. I waited till Friday morning to begin the Byetta again. I took it every day for 5 days, by Thursday I was in horrible pain again. I went in to see my doctor and was told that I can no longer take the Byetta. The one thing I found out on this visit is that the Bydureon has a half-life (which most meds do). This means that from the last day that I took the last shot of Bydureon it takes 10 weeks, yep 10 weeks to get out of my system, so therefore I suffer still from this medicine. As of today I am about 6 ½ weeks away from having this out of my system until then I deal with the abdominal pain, nausea, and back pain.

Please understand me I do not blame my doctor for any of this. She is amazing. She gave me all of the information, I read it, I spoke to a pharmacist and I made the decision to take it. For some people this medicine is works great for some, it just was not for me.

Now I continue my journey on to reach my goal of being healthier and getting off of my diabetic medicine Janumet. In time it will happen.

Until next time, please keep me in your thoughts and prayers.   I pray for each of you and thank you in advance for your prayers.

Take care…Remember your words have creative power. Say it, believe it, and you’ll see it!

New Year...Get back on my change of lifestyle and move forward...

Well it has been awhile since I posted. Here we are on January 4, 2013. It is a new year and my goals continue. I have slacked off during the holidays but I am ready to get back into it. My plan is to begin exercising and get my weight off and be healthier.  I did an interview today with the Caller Times Newspaper. They are going to run articles on diabetes over the next year. www.caller.com/diabetes  I want to share my story with others in hopes of helping someone. It is an important subject and those that are diabetic need to know all the information that they can get even if someone is pre-diabetic. My goal remains the same to lose weight, get healthier and get off of my medicine for my diabetes for good.  I plan to keep this updated more often. I will post my progress. What are your goals and plans for 2013? If you have Facebook you can follow me on it https://www.facebook.com/LovinFifty?ref=hl

Thank you to everyone for your support.

Reaching a goal...

I want to say Thank You to God first then to my husband, my mom, our family, my friends here on Facebook and at work for their support.  

This is a lifestyle change not just a moment to lose weight. This is and must be a lifestyle change so that I can get off of my diabetic medicine. That is my goal. Seeing my new numbers in November will be key to any changes I need to make in my lifestyle change to make this even more successful. I have been working on making healthier choices. I am watching my carbs and I am also taking ACE by SABA. I am watching the amounts I eat making sure not to overdo it. Every once in a while I have an ice cream or a piece of pie---Key Lime pie is my weakness. I have to say I also found something else I like Strawberry Cream Slush from Sonic. However when looking at the carb and sugar content I decided very quickly this was something that I cannot make a habit but every once in a while as a treat will be okay.

I feel so much better and it is only going to get better. Ray and I have a plan for sitting on our porch when we are in our 80’s in our rocking chairs drinking Root Beer. Besides the fact of having to purchase clothes I have also had to have my rings sized from a 9 to a 7 1/2 .  This has been an awesome feeling. Today marked me hitting one of my goals.

WOW!! Ii feels good to look at the scales this morning. I am 42 ½  pounds down since Feb. 7, 2012 the day we started the Biggest Loser completion at work. I went through my weight history at my doctor’s office and I found that in August ’09 I weighed the most I have since Sept. 2000. In August ’09 I weighed 254 lbs. which is 57 lbs down. This morning I went below the 200 mark with 197 lbs. I have lost from a size 24 to a size 18 with a couple of 16s. I have been able to purchase some XL shirts and a dress out of the ladies department as well as a pair of jeans size 16 from the ladies section not the women’s section.  

It is not just about the sizes of clothes or sizing my rings. The best part of this is how I feel, watching my sugar numbers go down and knowing I am doing something to improve my health. Improving my health is not just for me it is about living longer and being here for my husband and family. I love my husband, our children, their spouses and our grandchildren!

There is still a road to continue down but I know with God all things are possible, it is God that has given me the strength to be able to do this.

These two pictures were taken about a year apart.

September 7, 2011

 September 26, 2012

 

 

Clothes Go Bye-Bye!

July 3, 2012

I am sitting down to write this in a couple of sittings because I have cleaned out one closet now to clean out the second. Each closet is at least 6 feet long. One closet has 2 bars in it.

Well I did it! I have begun the closet clean out. I will post pictures with this also. It feels good. I went out to my closet in the laundry room, took off my capris and started trying on pants, shorts, capris, tops and skirts. I emptied half of the closet. It feels good to have done this but it also feels good that I found some clothes that I had not been able to wear in several years and they fit. I think one of the most welcoming moments was I put on a pair of my size 22 pants which allowed me to realize where I have come from. It was most definitely a WOW moment for me.

Now to move on to the last closet with 2 bars.

Closet number 2 that is in our bedroom is finished. I think that I can put all of the clothes I have left in one closet on 1 clothes bar but I only have about 4 pair of jean capris, 1 pair of pants, 1 pair of white capris, 1 capris suit-(jacket, capris, shirt), dresses and skirts and lots of shirts.

Now that is complete and clothes have been given it away it feels good. There were a few things that I had to ponder over but making myself really think about it I did the right thing.

I go to the doctor on Thursday July 5, 2012 for the complete results of my lab work. I already know that my A1C is 6.2 which is the lowest it has been since I was diagnosed with diabetes which was in July 2005. I am excited about it.

I am posting a picture of how many clothes I gave away. They are in Ray’s recliner in the picture. I am also posting a picture of me in the pants I found.

30 pounds down, sugar level so much better and still working on both.

Clothes and My Dilemma

Hello again!

Well I have officially purchased some size 18 capris and shirts! Super excited!

I have lost a couple more pounds!

I am having one dilemma ---I recently went through my closets and I donated a lot of clothes. Now that I am seeing a difference in the way my clothes are fitting brings about my dilemma. I go look at my clothes to pick out a shirt and I look at the shirts I have and realize that I have very few that fit the way a shirt should fit. I have worn baggy shirts to cover up me up for so long but now that I see a difference I want to wear shirts that fit better but still are long to give me that cover I still need. You would think that I could just walk to my closets and get rid of the shirts that don’t fit anymore……but I can’t. I am not sure why but I can’t. Ray has asked me several times about being scared to not have them. Ray is so supportive and just tells me he does not care what I look like as long as I am healthy so we can be 80 sitting in our rockers on our front porch drinking Root Beer, he is incredible about all of this. I do not have plans to regain my weight by any means. I have got rid of the pants that don’t fit for the most part. I have kept some of the 22 capris because I can wear a belt with them. I don’t want to purchase a bunch of clothes in smaller sizes until I reach the weight that I desire. Back to my dilemma—getting rid of these shirts that I own which are baggy on me. I know some may say just go in there, take them, put them in a trash bag—donate them. For me it is not that easy,,,,maybe they are my crutch I don’t know.

As I have sat here and typed this up I have had the thought come to my mind to go in there ---with Ray as my support—put them in a bag but then put them in storage for  a while. At least they will still be “mine” and I will know where they are for a while. 

I have not kept up with watching what I eat like I should but I am maintaining my weight. Now is time to get back on track and get this weight back in the disappearing mode. I love the changes I feel and see. I feel better—I can bend over forward to tie my shoes, paint my toes and things like that. I see my collar bone that was hid for a while.  My feet have lost weight, my fingers—it is the little things as well as the big things like being able to wear a size 18 womens I asked the question recently as to what is the difference between a size 18 ladies and 18 womens so I was told there is a big difference because the women’s size clothes are made fuller.  I was never sure what the difference is but now I know.

My sugar numbers are still down from what they were. I used to wake up with my morning sugar level around 190 now I wake up and I am under 120. I am careful about how much sugar I eat and drink. It took me some time to adjust to the feeling of having a lower sugar level because it had been so high for so long. I felt like I was going to become a pin cushion because I was testing so much because my body was used to staying with a high sugar level all day and since March adjusting to being at 110 during the day or in the 90’s I was testing often to make sure I was not too low. I only had a couple of incidents where I went below 80, those were in the evenings at home. Now I am used to my new numbers and it feels good. I used to dread going for my lab work and then to see my doctor for results but at the end of this month I go in for my labs and visit….I am excited!

For now this is how things are going with my weight loss and my diabetes.

I am still a winner even though I came in thrid...

We just completed Biggest Loser at work. I came in third…but for me I am first because I still win because I am making changes in my eating, bringing my blood sugar numbers to the best they have been and on top of it I have lost 26 lbs as of now.

This is just the beginning. Most of my pants and capris are size 22 and I can take them off without unbuttoning them.  I tried on some jeans today the first pair I put on was a size 20 they  fit so I tried on a size 18….I could button them they were just a little tight. I did not buy any but it felt good. On March 24, 2012 I started taking a supplement called ACE. Since I started taking it I have lost 21 lbs. I feel so much better and know that I will continue to feel even better as I continue to lose weight.

There are days that I feel deprived but I know that I can do this. I recently read somewhere that one night a week should be a free night with some moderation.  Tonight we went to Chili’s I ordered beef fajitas. I ate one with guacamole, cheese, meat, fried onions and tortilla. It was so good. Then I fixed a second one and ate about 2 bites. I was done.  We stopped and got ice cream at Marble Slab. I got a medium cup of sweet cream with strawberries. I left about 2/3rds of it. The 1/3 that I ate was great but could not eat anymore.

Even though I feel like I am deprived at times and at times I am so hungry it is all worth it. I want to be healthy so that when my awesome hubby and I are in our 80s we can sit on the front porch and drink root beer. Unless I make changes to my health at this time I will not be healthy sitting on that front porch.

I am so blessed to have family and friends that support me in my weight loss and making life changes with my eating as well as my health.  I know that I still have some road to travel to get to where I am healthier but I will get there this time. I look forward to getting rid of clothes and getting to buy more in smaller size.

I see the changes in my body in weird ways. For instance I have collar bones that are appearing, my rings are too big, my ankles and feet and my boobs. I know there is a difference in my waist cause of my pants and the way they fit.

Keep watching for new updates as I go down this road to getting healthy and hopefully getting off all my diabetic meds.