When I wrote Trust Your Gut part 64, I was struggling. Immensely. I was having difficulty with managing my day to day life, and with controlling my type 2 diabetes. Since then, I have worked really hard and made some positive changes.
I have been unemployed for two months, and I was feeling lost, in many areas of my life, health included. I have had blood work, and the monthly average had gone up again. It was over 10 in the last 3 months, and that is considered high. The three-month average should be under 7 or lower, to be considered as under good control.
I was falling further and further out of control. This had me in such a state that I almost went into full panic mode. I knew I had to make some drastic changes or things would continue getting worse and worse. The complications of diabetes are well documented, and poor blood sugar control only exacerbates the issues.
I had another appointment at the Diabetes clinic, that is when I found out that my blood sugars went up again. The first thing I did was talk about medications. I have had a prescription for a new medication since the last time I saw my doctor in January. With the job loss, and my husband in a new job, we did not have medical coverage for the new medication, and it was expensive. I had to wait before I could start it.
Meanwhile, my doctor is now aware of the increased 3 month average of my blood sugars. She may not know that I lost my job, and
I started to take Victoza. It is an injectable drug, taken once daily. At the diabetes clinic, I was asked if it would be better for me to take it once a week, which required a different prescription for a different drug, or if once a day would be manageable. I decided to stick with the once a day option, as I know myself too well. If I picked Monday for the once a week, and forgot, then as a result, I wouldn’t know what to do. I have been doing really well remembering to take it once a day, with the new system I have had some help to set up at the clinic.
Today, I had to call the clinic, only 5 days after starting the new medicine. I have had a blood sugar low, and this means that the new medicine is working SO well, that I have to lower my insulin amounts to compensate. Hallelujah! Progress in the right direction! What a relief!
There are side effects of the new medicine. They are not as bad as they were when I started it. My stomach is settling down, as there were a few upset days. I am hoping that I continue to tolerate it well because my sugars are stabilizing.
Furthermore, I asked at the clinic for help to keep track of what I am eating, and my medicine intake. Since I have 2 agendas, I am now using the larger one as a food/water/medicine intake journal. I have kept up with it, and it is helping me to stay accountable. Really, I wasn’t kidding when I wrote that I have proof to bring to my next doctor’s appointment. Sometimes it is okay to ask for help, as long as you are willing to do the work once you get it.
Until this year, I have been asking for help and not getting the right kind of support for my health. I have tried things and been told that I am doing fine, and the appointments would be less frequent, or just stop, so I am pushing harder for the help this time. It is still up to me to do the work, but it feels like I am going to have the right kind of support this time. I just need a little help, to figure out the best way for me to take control of my health. I am happy to say that having a plan, finally, is just what the doctor ordered.
Most importantly, I am working on a lot of things right now. I am not only working on my health, but I am also learning how to organize my days, to have more structure. I needed help with that. Next week I will be seeing a dietitian. I hope things keep going well. For now, I am celebrating a little bit. Something is working, and as a result, it seems like I am going to be able to keep progressing in the right direction for a change.
Don’t give up. Keep asking. Maybe like me, you haven’t found the right person to help you yet. It only took me 20 years. Sometimes it pays to be stubborn.
#TrustYourGut
Trust Your Gut this week is a review of sorts. It will be a review of what I have learned so far. I wanted to make it a special edition, because of the number it has in the title. I also want to share what this category has done for me.
It is helping me to write Trust Your Gut every week. I know that other people read it, and can relate to some of the things that I write about. Those are both good reasons for me to keep going.
I have challenged myself to lose 50 pounds by July. It is harder than it sounds. I have to really focus if I am going to reach my goal. Getting back on track by going to Zumba tomorrow (I am writing this really late on Sunday, and I can make it to Zumba tomorrow, depending on the weather) is going to be a big help. I am not always able to make it twice a week right now, but I am hoping that will change. Nicer weather means I can start walking. That is why I want to get a dog. It will force me to walk.
I am in my winter slump. It does seem to be a rough winter this year. I have not been able to snap out of it like last year. I know what I have to do, and I just don’t. That makes it hard to get anything done, and hard to stay focused. I am not happy about it. I just have to work through it. It is hard to explain. I know that I don’t like going outside in the winter any more than I have to. I am terrified of falling down on the ice, even with all the extra padding I have built in. I survived 1 fall this winter and was quite sore for a few weeks. I wanted to hibernate.
I did talk to my doctor this past week. My sugars have gone up, and I basically knew that, as I had stopped trying so hard. I read today that the clock moves forward in 4 weeks. That means spring, and it means I will start coming out of the slump. My new doctor was wanting me to understand that I need to get back on schedule for bloodwork every 3 months. I am feeling better about that now that I have found that my new doctor is a really nice person, and wants to know about my life, not just about the health issues I have. She is really working towards building a healthy relationship with me as a person, and I really feel good about it.
She asked about bariatric surgery. I am still in the hell no camp, personally. I know it is not going to be easy to lose weight to become healthier, but I can still move. A friend told me that if I am not able to move anymore it will be too late. To me, it is at that point that I will need help because I am not able to help myself. My friend had a point, but I do not want to take that step.
When I get to the point where I have the excess skin after I have lost the weight, then I will ask for help with surgery. That is something that will make the journey complete, so to speak. It will mean that I need the help at that time. Now I just need to focus and do the work to get me there.
I learned that I need to work harder at committing to becoming healthier. I am roughly back to where I was a year ago. I have changed slightly, in either direction, but I have not lost a significant amount of weight. I have to work harder. I know I can get results if I just work on it. So I know what I have to do, to move forward and to keep writing my story.
#TrustYourGut
Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues. It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on. Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real. The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale. If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Homepage for this blog. I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.
The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name. If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story. The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors. I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.
This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.
Here is Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 37
This week I have not stepped on the scale, or measured inches. I did go to Zumba Monday and missed it Wednesday because of circumstances beyond my control. I hope to start going twice a week again starting Monday. The day I made it I had 5,187 steps. That might be the highest step count I have ever had at a Zumba class.
I mentioned that last week I was on the scale at the doctor’s office. I was up. I didn’t want to face it. Bahahahahaha! My chocolate chin is where it all went. I swear. I wasn’t going to put a number on it, but as I am sure that I lost half of it already, I can face it now. 😉 I had gone back up to 312 lbs. I knew things were bad, and not as bad as the worst, but I was right. Making small changes to ease myself back into eating more on plan than off plan is working. I am sure the 12 lb chocolate chin is 6lbs or even less right now.
If I don’t laugh at it, I will curl up in a ball and cry as I eat the rest of the Halloween chocolate and chips. I am going to have my Thursday glass of wine with some Smartfood Gouda & Chive popcorn. Maybe more wine if I want to, but not necessarily. I need to get back on track one meal, snack and day at a time. I am happy today that I made BigMac salad for lunch yesterday. It was SO good. I am probably having it for lunch tomorrow. I made a pot of chili tonight. I am trying. That is better than not trying, and I can live with that. I couldn’t live with a 12 lb chocolate chin.
I think it is time to look at a new NSV. If you are new here, that is a non-scale victory. I admittedly love chocolate. Chocoholic, right here. I can make chocolate treats on the plan. But I am thinking about something bigger. Bolder. Goal achievement status.
I keep seeing commercials that catch my attention. Something I saw tonight made me think I need to get focused, and I think I found my next reward. I am not going to have to only go to twoville for this, I am going to need to be in onederland. That big.
More than one goal. As if I am just working for the big one, I am not going to make it. If I set the goal too high, I will fail. I know it. I can plan clothes shopping trips as I need them in the short term. I am also gearing up to start wearing more makeup. So those things can be small goal rewards. This may have to be the end of the journey prize! What on earth am I planning?
Well, I think it is time to set my sights on some other forms of chocolate. The inedible kinds. There are chocolate coloured dogs. I want a dog. We aren’t ready yet…sad, I know, but it is a major decision, and I want to be sure that I am 100% ready for the responsibility of taking that dog home. I now have an idea. How do I make it bigger?
BLING! I make beaded jewellery, and I am working on my website to launch it. I am not expecting it to be an instant source of income (although I wouldn’t have a problem with that), but I rarely make jewellery for myself. Bigger. Have you figured it out yet?
Diamonds, my friends. I am going to talk to my husband and set some realistic goals, and buy myself some diamonds. But not just any diamonds. For this plan to work, it has to be chocolate diamonds. I want Bling rewards!
I might be too far into the wine to be rational at this point, but I don’t think so. I am planning to up my game and work hard for something tangible. Something that won’t affect my blood sugars, and won’t cause me to be morbidly obese anymore. I have been saying that I am worth it, and it is high time I start planning to show it. So there you have it. I am setting the chocolate bar for myself, 😉 and you know what? I am looking forward to saving up for something really special.
#TrustYourGut
P.S. I am on time with this one!
Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues. It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on. Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real. The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale. If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Homepage for this blog. I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.
The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name. If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story. The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors. I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.
This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.
Here is Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 27
Summer is slowly sneaking past us, and soon it will be fall. I have seen other people do challenges, and I have a few things I need to get back on track with. One of them is my zig-zagging on the path less travelled to living a healthier lifestyle. I don’t have kids, and I am not going back to school. But September can be a new start for this and other areas of my life that are lacking commitment right now.
In THM, there are many different groups to belong to. You can join based on food types, health issues, location, budget friendly, beginner, very fluffy, the main THM group and allergy issue groups. There is even one for people that Blog about THM. I am involved in several and have not been contributing much lately. I can share my Blog stories on their pages, but not if that is the only thing I am contributing. I think that is fair.
I do write this to keep myself accountable, and also to help other people. If you don’t have the same issues I have with being morbidly obese, then reading this Blog might help you learn how to be a better friend to someone like me. It may even help you figure out what you can do to help them.
Let’s go with a big one. Do not be the food police. Every person that is capable of feeding themselves is also capable of deciding what to eat, what not to eat, and how much of that they are going to eat. If I am having a piece of cake at a social gathering, and someone makes me feel bad about it, I am going to eat two or three times the amount of cake I allowed for with my meal plan and insulin doses. Saying nothing and judging by silence or a look is no better. I eat the guilt instead of feeling it. That is a dangerous option for me. I am trying so hard to make better choices, but a simple thing like me having chocolate to get through a rough work day can compound to a box of chocolates at home later on. Yes, a box, not one or two pieces. If I bring them home, I want to gobble them up so they aren’t there to tempt me anymore. When I think about that, it is really messed up. But it is how I think.
I hid being a type 2 diabetic for a long time. Now that I am open about it, I feel like people are always watching what I eat, and judging me. If I was realistic, I would think that I am not so important in other people’s lives that they spend time critically thinking about what I am eating. I have answered a lot of questions regarding what I am eating for lunch at work, and when it is a healthy recipe, I am proud to share. Even if the cauliflower that I had to heat up is stinky, or someone is grossed out by the way I am assembling my cheeseburger pie. If it tastes good, fills me, and doesn’t make me feel bad after eating it, then I am happy to share about what I am eating, and even share the recipes I love if people want to try them.
Back to September coming up. I am going to focus more on me, and the THM plan. What do I mean? It is going to be hard. I am going to have a 30 day no cheat challenge. Eek! I have commitment issues when it comes to being 100% on plan, but it is about time that I really put an effort into it. At the same time, I am going to post in the groups more in September, so that I can share the blog posts that relate to THM in the groups more. Finally, to get myself on track and stay there, I will have to prep cook. That also needs time and energy. If it is focused, it does not have to take a lot of either, because I am prep cooking for me, and sometimes for my husband, not an army. Leftovers are handy for lunches, as long as I have the means of storing them properly.
One thing that concerns me is maintaining a solid balance of my blood sugars. I am worried about lows and treating them while staying on plan. That is a tricky path in the brambles and may require bending of the rules a bit. If I have to pick a quick source of the wrong kind of sugar to avoid a hospital or death, I am going to have to be OK with that. Before I start, though, I am going to hang out in the THM Diabetes group and ask some questions to make me feel better about how to treat the lows. I am giving myself time to do this, before the official start. I will need to start recording my blood sugars, insulin doses and keep a food diary to make this work because if I don’t know what the patterns are, it is hard to manage the blood sugar highs and lows properly. This sounds like work to me, but if you do something consistently for 30 days it becomes a habit, and I am trying to develop better habits for a healthier lifestyle. I wrote it here, so now I have to follow through.
Accountability. It is time to take things seriously again. Writing it all down every day will help me track patterns and find out how different foods affect my sugars. I know I am not going to be 100% on plan, being me, but if I can give it my best attempt, I will have something I can be proud of working on. So I am going to make a real effort in September. I need to refocus on a few things, and this is one of them. Time to start planning. Anybody else getting ready to start fresh in September? I will cheer you on as I share my progress every week, here. It’s time to refocus.
#TrustYourGut
Trust Your Gut is a series of stories about real people with weight issues, and complications arising from those issues. It will explain what the person is facing, what their options are, what they have decided to do to take action, and why they chose the path they are on. Each person’s story will be based on truth, so it won’t all be happy, but it will be real. The goal of this series is to get people talking about options that are available for people who have weight issues, on either end of the scale. If you would like to contribute to this series, there is a contact form linked on my Home page for this blog. I know there are people out there that want to help people like them; as I do.
The names here may or may not reflect the person’s real name. If someone wants to remain unknown, we will choose a different name for that person’s story. The goal is to help people, and anonymity is a valid personal choice for contributors. I will use a person’s name only if they give permission to do so.
This week I am pleased to share another of my own stories.
Here is Trust Your Gut: Tish’s Story; Part 16
My hormones have gone CRAZY! When I was sick my body got a little confused, and now that it is getting on track, I WANT CHOCOLATE! Not the square or two of the 85% cocoa that is on plan, but regular, easy to find, totally bad for me chocolate. I am fighting with myself a lot right now. I know what I should do, and then there is what I want to do. Sometimes, the want is more than average, and my brain makes it a need. So this week I gave in a little.
I also made the lasagna last Sunday, and I have been eating a piece a day for lunch this week. I needed suppers, and I have planned an adventure in my kitchen that happened yesterday…
I love making Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole. I don’t have any chicken breasts ready in the freezer to make it with. So I poached some salmon pieces and made Salmon Bacon Ranch. It turned out really good. I swapped the chicken for salmon (poached in water with onion powder, dill and garlic) and made the recipe. I doubled the dill, added spinach, and extra Miracle Whip and Plain Greek 0% fat yogurt. I used extra old cheddar, and bacon bits. I kept the parsley, cream cheese, garlic and pepper as per the recipe.
I was surprised at how good this turned out. It is rich and heavy, but carb free. I checked my sugars right after supper, and they were at 10.2. For after eating, this is really close to normal range. Considering that it was a Zumba night, and I had a juice box, a G2 and a snickers bar before supper, (I was hangry and dropping) this is what I needed to see. It means that I was correct about being low, and I didn’t do too much to overcompensate. YAY!
So what I am getting at this week is that sometimes, chocolate is a necessary evil. More importantly, it is good to experiment in the kitchen with healthy recipes. You might surprise yourself.
I am not going to have Zumba classes for a few weeks. I am in charge of keeping the Zumba Crew motivated until class starts up again. I have a few ideas, but I need to get the gumption up for me to work on it as I need to be active too, especially when classes are cancelled. Dance off, anyone?
#TrustYourGut