A week or so ago, I had my first visit with a dietician. Before even discussing with the dietician, I had a pretty strict idea of what I am supposed to be eating for managing my diabetes. However, I felt a need for a "reboot". When a plan or idea is not working, you just have to go for the reboot. What is it that is wrong or causing you not to be successful at what you are attempting to do or achieve?
I admit, I am also seeing a counselor to help with any emotional issues. I read a story about a man who was overweight, like myself. He was enduring a lot of back issues and just was unable to keep up. Being a reporter/newspaper writer, I would presume that he needs to be in better shape. Then, again, in all jobs, I am sure we should all be in better shape.
When it came to the decision to get weight loss surgery, he chose to do it the old fashion way - diet and exercise. Weight loss surgery comes with a lot of "don'ts" and "nevers" or additional things you will have to do in order to avoid losing your hair and what have you. Sure, it helps reverse type 2 diabetes, but when you were trying to get off of medications, you are loaded down with taking more vitamins and so forth due to the extreme nature of your surgery. Basically, you are unloading one burden for another. That is not acceptable to me.
I have lost large amounts of weight in the past. However, something triggers me to either give up or just quit making the good choices. That can be emotional as well as burn out. For example, you bust your butt trying to lose that 5 lbs, but just cannot - that sick game of down 3 lbs, then back up 2 lbs. The frustration of it and feeling like a failure.
On a personal note, I would like to thank the jerk who stood me up after I lost 125 lbs many moons ago. What a kick in the pants that was for me emotionally. My mother called it - she knew that what he had done would hurt me so badly that I would start gaining the weight. She was right. I had. However, why? Why did I let someone who treated me so badly affect me like this? That is what I need to figure out and determine how to avoid it.
Negativity seems to be a huge thing with people. I remember when I found out I had type 2 diabetes. I went to the education class and the nutritionist there basically stated that I should have 45 g of carbs for my largest meal of the day, then 30 g of carbs for the other two meals, and snacks would be 15 g of carbs. However, each meal, for a woman, should be 400 calories, at most. Men were able to have more calories in their meal. 1200 calories for all three meals, then 300 calories for all snacks together - 1500 calories for the entire day. Small wonder I lost 13 lbs that first month. I will admit, I was really surprised when I found that out because I had lost the most in my small group.
I continued to eat properly according to the nutritionist and was losing more weight. I felt really good about myself and was getting more confident. However, a co-worker was talking to me about my weight loss and starts in about "Well, it is going to get harder now. What you lost was just water and now, losing the real weight will be even more difficult."
Sure enough, I started hitting a plateau and all I could hear was those words. In addition to that, I had just adopted Bo and was going to school. Talk about all of the added stress - trying to work out a schedule with Bo and I and dealing with school. School ended up getting the low end of the totem pole and life began to unravel as I ended all of my efforts by going to Braum's for a hot fudge sundae. I was tired and frustrated.
I gained back all of the 50 lbs I had lost. I quit exercising. Why? I did not have time. I was too busy. The real issue was that I was allowing others to take over my life and I had no control over it. For that, I am truly ashamed of myself. I allowed other people to dictate to me how I should be living my life or who I needed to serve before myself.
Anyone who uses the "I'm so busy" excuse needs to take a step back and re-evaluate their life. If you are so busy that you neglect things, you need to determine if those things, events, or even people are worth your time or not. My life and health are worth something to me. Upon the events of people I know passing away due to illnesses and such, it has been a real reality check for me about my own mortality. Brutal honesty, it freaking scares me.
So, here I am with my own health issues. Managing type 2 diabetes is one monkey I probably will never get off of my back. However, I can keep it at bay. Now, I am working on how to manage the back and knee pain. The best way - lose weight.
Therefore, I am trying to rearrange my life to be not only more positive, but look for ways to be healthier. No more diets. Diets just do not work. Small lifestyle changes do work. If anything, I have been better at drinking more water over the past 2 years than I ever was when I was dieting. I made an effort and, to be honest, drinking just water actually pays off, especially when going out to eat. I save myself the extra money by not getting a diet soda or iced tea.
What other lifestyle changes do I need to make? First, I am booting all of those ideas that the first nutritionist provided. It is not that necessary to make things so strict. My take away goals for this month from the dietician are:
1. Log all drinks/food in MyFitnessPal. Strive for 1800-2000 calories/day.
2. Eat 3 meals and one afternoon snack
3. Limit starches to 1 cup with a meal or carb count
4. Avoid liquid calories - I think I have this one down, but keep going.
5. Exercise 2 times a week for just 10 minutes.
Let's be honest. Since the injury to my back in June 2014 and subsequent knee (severe osteo-arthritis) pain since Labor Day weekend September 2015, I have not been very active. From what the FitBit tells me, I am pretty lucky to hit the mid-point of the 10,000 steps per day. I am not being very active. Also, the pain has really dragged me down emotionally. What do I do when I feel depressed? I turn to food for comfort. So, that needs to end as well.
I need to quit worrying about money issues. That simply means that I will continue to pay the bills on time and work on reducing debt. Use cash when going out to eat and be more restrictive on purchases. I did a lot last year to reduce my debt. Now, I need to continue to crack down. Once that get cleared out, then I can add more to my savings account.
Clear the clutter in my life - emotionally and physically. Do the best I can with clearing clutter in the apartment. Today, I will probably pick up another folding chair. While the Sinvisc appears to be working (Yay!), my back is starting to pull. I have already ordered both a back and a knee brace for an overweight person to help me. However, if I have a chair, I can sit in the folding chair, work on tossing clutter, sorting out laundry and so forth.
Work on eating out less and cooking more. I do enjoy cooking and like to try new recipes. I will start checking Cooking Light and Clean Eating for interesting recipes to try. I am working on the weekend to do meal planning for the week. Maybe that will also help me in making sure I eat properly. I know I need to gather up my measuring cups again for use. I also still have the food scale available for weighing meats and such. In that area, I am prepared.
I feel that rearranging my life will help me with incorporating the small lifestyle changes I need to be successful with losing weight. I will need to remind myself that my weight loss is not about vanity as much as it is general health. The less weight on my frame, the easier it will be to move about with my back and knee.
Since this web site is about my changes, let's reboot this and see how successful I will be on this journey. My hope is that these changes will stick and life will become much richer for me physically and emotionally.
No comments:
Post a Comment