NSV

Since my weigh in is tomorrow I think today I will talk about some of the Non-Scale Victories I have had recently. That way if the scale does not like me tomorrow I will have these to remind me that I am getting healthier and there is more to this than a number on the scale. So my top 5 NSVs in no particular order are:

1) I can wear pants that I have not been able to wear in a year. These are non-elastic waist pants. I think I have gone from a big 26/28 down to a 26. Heck these button/fly khakis can be taken down without undoing the button or fly. Last year I could not even button them and they were living in the back of my closet. Heck I have a whole new wardrobe now!

2) I was able to get the beach towel around me after I showered at the Y!

3) Holding the 5lb weight out in front at chest level for 1 minute during water aerobics has gotten easier. Today I wanted to hold it longer just to see how long I could.

4) My average walking time on the treadmill is getting faster. Last night I did another mile in just under 25 minutes.

                                                    5) I have kept a food diary for 3 months.

I am feeling proud of what I have been doing and the progress both scale and non-scale I have made. This week I have been to the Y 4 days. (Mon-Thurs) I have signed up for the biometrics at work that we have for our yearly health track. On April 22nd I will get poked and find out my numbers like blood sugar and a lipid profile. I will definitely post the results.

The changes they are becoming habit.

Who knew that I would get this excited about getting a swimsuit? I ordered a swimsuit from just my size 2 weeks ago in a size 24 and when it got here it just did not fit right. I did not feel at all comfortable in it. I decided to return it and get a different one. I am so glad I did. The new one came today. Instead of being a 1 piece I went with a 2 piece skirtini in a size 26.

Active Skirtini Two Piece Swimsuit

This is the picture from the Just my Size website. I never use to like the skirts on my swimsuit or even want 2 pieces but I think this is going to be really good. I tried it on and I love the way it fits. I think it will hold the puppies just fine as I run, jump, kick and swim in the water aerobics class. The purple is so cute. I even think I look good in it. Wow, what a surprise. I plan to get some pictures taken. I have been putting off taking my picture and posting it to my blog. It is something I have been dreading. I never like the way I look in pictures. I think though I have found something I will not mind taking a picture in and posting. (so look for that soon. *grins*)


Dinner tonight was McDonalds. Now I have not had McDonalds since I started my journey on 1/15/11. I went to the site the other day to determine what my 'usual' meal was like from there. Sometimes I could get a Filet Meal and add a McDouble or a double cheeseburger. With the McDouble it came in at 1150 calories. I knew the calorie count was large, but did not realize it was that bad. That is over 1/2 what I am aiming for most days. Today when I went I got the Filet sandwich but without tartar sauce. I got a small fries instead of the medium fries, and then my usual Diet Coke. The calorie count came in at 520. So I cut the amount by over half. I can make smarter choices when I am just not feeling like cooking. Right now my calorie count for the day is 1330. I will probably make some spinach later and have a small snack before bed. I have found that to keep my blood sugar in line I need to have something small before I go to water aerobics so after the class my blood sugar is not too low, and I usually need a small snack before bed so that my morning blood sugar is good.

I am starting to wake up each day wondering how/when I am going to exercise. I work on planning it into my day or deciding that it will be a rest day. Today was to be a rest day but if I get the dishes and other household chores done I may go do 25-30 minutes on the treadmill at the Y.

Websites I read

I like most people use the internet for fun and research. Below is a list of a few of the websites/blogs that I am reading at this time as I work on my weight loss journey.


Spark People :I love the exercise section with the exercise demos and the workout generator. I need to use the site more and really explore what it has to offer.

100 lbs 2 lose : This is a livejournal community that I have been a member of for years. The people are very supportive and great. The community does challenges to help keep the members motivated. There is a great mix of members with those just starting on the journey and others who are almost to his/her goal weight.

YMCA of Central Ky  : I frequent this site so I can find out what my Y is offering and to sign up for classes. I am starting Tai Chi on Saturday.

Noel Lynne Figart : I have been reading her posts online for years. She writes about fitness and many other things on her blog. She is a free-lance writer and a really cool person. I have never met her in RL but would love to.

Skinny Emmie  : When I was on a tour at Whole Foods a woman mentioned Skinny Emmie and how she has lost 100 lbs. I love the fact that she is in town and enjoy reading about her Race.  I really hope to get to meet her someday.

I can't link to it, but my work also has a website for employees that has been great. I can get recipes, workouts, videos, tips and a bunch of information to help me on my weight loss journey. Also by participating in the yearly health challenge I can earn an incentive.

Do you have any favorite websites or blogs?

Weigh In

Another Friday is here and it is time for my weigh in. This first time I stepped on the scale it read 299.8.... Oh my word! Wow!! The 2nd, 3rd and 4th time I checked it came in as 300.0 each time. I can so live with that. I may need to adjust my goals since my first goal is to be 298 by 4-17. I think 2lbs in 3 weeks is very doable.

Woo Hoo!

My food diary in pictures

I decided to take some pictures of my food diary notebook to let you see more days of what I write down right now. So for the past 5 days here are my stats.

 3-20

The end total is about 1650 due to not knowing what dinner was and guessing on the Target popcorn. I missed recording my blood sugar and my blood pressure before bed.  Sorry this one is not that readable. The first column is the calorie count for the item and the 2nd column is the running total.

3-21
As you can see I use some short hand for my food when I eat some things pretty regularly. 

 3-22

This one was posted earlier when I was talking about my eating plan.

3-23. I decided to show off my hand holding my book in this one. *grins* Another day within my goal. Doing good! 

 3-24 And then tonight was the bowling banquet with catering from Fazoli's. YUM! I am not sure about the totals but based on things in the past with pasta I went over my goal of under 1800 but doubt I was over 2500

And to end here is a picture of one of my 4 cats. Her name is Serendipity and she is the hardest one to get a good picture of.

Now it is time for bed.

What are you doing?

Ever since I started talking about losing weight and working out people keep asking me what am I doing. I have heard it asked from coworkers, other Y members, friends and family. I have heard others ask it to people who mention they have lost weight at the Y. Heck I have even asked it. This woman at water aerobics mentioned she has lost 90lbs. The first words out my mouth were What are you doing? The other day at Lane Bryant this woman was trying on clothing and she thought a dress she was trying on was too small and 4 people told her No- that it was fitting great. Then she mentioned losing 50lbs. I heard someone ask her how did she do it? It seems to be the most common question when people start to talk about losing weight. I almost feel bad when I do not have a great/grand plan to explain. I am not doing any pay plans. I am not doing any strict diet. This post I am going to talk about my eating plan. Another time I will post about my exercise plan.

My eating plan is pretty simple but so hard:

Eat less calories than I need.

Seems pretty simple right? Just has taken me YEARS to be able to do it for any length of time. I am by no means a pro at it. Below is a list of my 'rules':

1) Write everything down even if I do not know the calorie count

2)Try to stay under 1800 calories each day

3) Use the 80/20 or 90/10 rule. 80-90% of the time eat healthy and nutritious and just know that 10-20% of the time it won't be. With 21 meals in a week  that means that 2-4 meals a week might not be healthy. 

4) Limit Fast Food

5) Enjoy my food and savor it

6) Take all my meds, check my numbers and schedule follow-ups with my doctor

Now to expand some on my self-guidelines.

1) This one keeps me accountable. I have to think about what I am going to eat and not just mindlessly eat. I give each meal some thought and work to plan meals and snacks. Some days I know about what my calorie count will be. I am only keeping track of calories because trying to keep track of fat/carbs/etc stresses me out and just makes me want to give up. I needed something I can do.

2) Based on the multitude of equations out there to determine BMR and calorie needs 1800 seemed to be a good number to start with to be able to lose weight with a starting weight of 328 lbs. I figure when I hit a plateau I will adjust the figure.

3) This lets me 'cheat'. I can have Fazoli's tomorrow night when I am at my bowling banquet. I can have movie popcorn and a dinner out with my significant other. It also makes these times alittle bit more special. I am deciding what I want to savor on my 'cheat'. This is one reason I was so annoyed on Saturday when we went to the bland Chinese food place. I wasted one of my 10-20% meals on this crap? I can make better stuff at home.

4) This is a big one for me. There was a period that I was eating fast food 2-3 times a day almost every day of the week. One of my bigger meals at McDonalds would be 1200 calories (Filet, Double Cheeseburger, Medium Fries) add to that a breakfast and another meal and I would be at 3000 calories no problem. One nice side effect of not eating fast food as much is that I am saving so much money. Money I can use to buy clothes or books. *grins* When I do get fast food I do not order by number. I pick and choose what I want and usually forgo the fries.

5) I am still eating in front of the computer or eating in the car. What I am doing is chewing more so I can taste my food. Not just shoveling it in. When I have chocolate I let it melt in my mouth and I go for the good chocolate and not just any old chocolate.

6) This one should be higher in the list. I was really bad about not checking my blood sugar and not taking my meds. It was big time DENIAL! Nighttime was the worst. I would take my pills in the morning but just not do it at night. I am much better about this now. My numbers go in my food diary. I dreaded going to the doctor because I know she was going to mention my weight. I love my doctor she is one of the good ones. She didn't push but did let it be known I needed to lose weight. She would mention plans and when I said I did not have the money for Weight Watchers she came right back and suggested spark people.  I am actually excited to see her on 4/13 and see what she has to say.

I know there are a couple of more guidelines I am using but these are the big ones for my eating habits. I am also trying to try something new at least once a month. It is how I found out I like avocados and eggplant but not a big Brussels sprouts fan. Maybe if they were cooked differently. I am trying to decide on what to try next. Any Suggestions? 

Water Aerobics and other Exercise Things

Tonight was a water aerobics night at the Y. I got home about 5:15 and packed up my gym bag. I had a small snack so that my blood sugar would not go too low and puttered around the house to kill time before I had to leave. Then at 5:50 I had a thought to check what time the class was. I had been thinking that it started at 6:30 but then my brain went wait a minute it could be 6pm. I am so glad I checked. It did start at 6. So at 5:55 I headed out to the car and booked it to the Y. I am so lucky that it only takes me 2-3 minutes if the 3 lights are right to get to the Y. I changed really quick and made it out to the pool by about 6:05. Even though the time on the schedule says the class starts at 6 it really does not start till about 6:05 due to the change over from swim lessons to open swim and water aerobics. I am just so glad I did not decide to just skip it today. The instructor kicked my ever shrinking ass tonight. I love that we do both cardio and strength training. My arms are going to be sore tomorrow.

The other thing I did today was sign up to take beginning Tai Chi at the Beaumont Y. The class starts Saturday April 2nd from 9am-10am. I have taken Tai Chi before but it was years ago. I vaguely remember some of the moves but not enough to be able to do it on my own. It will be a good workout and relaxing at the same time. I just hope it does not get canceled. That will happen if not enough people sign up. Yesterday was the first day to sign up and that was only for Y members. Non-Y members can sign up starting Thursday

Exercise Recap

Tonight I went to the Y and did 25 minutes on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the elliptical. I found my MP3 player the other day and put 3 albums on it so that I would have something to listen to as I did my cardio. It made a BIG difference. I am usually a slow walker and one of my goals is to be able to work up to where I do can a 20 minute mile. Usually I average a 28-30 minute mile. Tonight with the music I did 1 mile in the 25 minutes I was on the treadmill!!!

Yes a 25 minute mile. I was ecstatic!!

 My heart rate was up for most of the time. There was one time that it got a bit too high but I was able to back it down.  My knee did not hurt and my legs did not burn in a bad way. I am still giddy about the mile!

Now when I got home after the workout I checked my blood sugar and it was down to 68. I probably need to start taking some hard candy with me for when I finish a workout since my blood sugar is going below 70 most times.

Edit: I had some Grape Juice and after 15 minutes it was up to 89. I got my info about blood glucose levels from: http://diabetes.niddk.nih.gov/dm/pubs/hypoglycemia/

The start of 2011

My first post gave a brief bio and ended with me talking about Dec 2010. "The end of 2010 brought me to the mindset that I can be healthier and that I deserve to be healthy."

With the start of 2011 I decided to really work on my resolution which was the same as last year..

To be more active!

This is a general goal/resolution. It is for all aspects of my life and not just health. I want to be more active emotionally, spiritually, socially, physically and educationally.  This blog will help me because I hope to meet more people and be accountable for my activities.

On January 2nd I started my food diary. It is the one thing that has worked in all the years I have been trying to lose weight. I decided to start slow and each month add something new. For January it was working on my eating. I pretty much cut out fast food and started to measure and account for everything I ate. I also started talking about my plans to be healthier and get off my meds. I have reawakened my love of veggies. Spinach has become a snack at times instead of chips. I realized that frozen veggies are much easier for me than fresh. I have a problem with fresh veggies going bad. I buy them with all good intentions and the forget they are in the drawer. With the frozen I can steam some up anytime. In being more accountable certain foods that I would eat on a regular basis are now more for a treat like cereal and chips. Each week I have been searching the grocery to find something new to try. One week it was brussell sprouts. I am still not sure about those.

For February I started to exercise. I joined the Y and also signed up to do the activity challenge at work. I committed to walking up the stairs at work. February was all about the cardio workouts. I went to water aerobics. I used the treadmill and the elliptical machines. I of course also kept up my food diary and more defined what my goals are. I worked out my mini-goals to get me to 250 by my 40th birthday. I am hoping that by then I will be off most if not all of my meds.

March was suppose to be about adding weight training. I have not been as active on this as I would like. I believe this will be more of a 2 month process. I get so overwhelmed with weight training. I am also apprehensive about doing strength training at the Y. I know it is my own fears. Noone at the north Lexington Y has given me any reason to feel that it would be a problem. I just am so petrified about the machines at times. I use to love some strength training and want to get that back. At home I have a bench as well as dumbbells in various weights. (1/2/3/4/8/10 lbs) I also got a book the other day at Jo-Beth.

I am hoping it will help me to set up a routine that I can do at home. The problem I have is that I keep thinking I am not going to be doing the right exercises. This fear keeps me from doing anything. I am working on getting over the fear. I have also printed out some of the programs on spark people for strength training. I did do 5 upper body exercises at 2 sets of 12 reps for about 2 weeks.

The quick glance I have been able to do of the book gives me hope. It has some routines and gives a good/easy way to set up a routine depending on fitness level.

For April the goal will be to get a dumbbell routine for a full body workout. I also plan to sign up the Tai Chi class. I took it once before years ago and enjoyed it.

Food Diary

Saturday 3/19
I do not know my calorie count for Saturday due to eating out twice. What I did have that I know the calorie count was the Smart Ones breakfast sandwich, the Wendy's double stack, Wasabi Seaweed, Chocolate, Ice Cream, Popcorn, and some 100 calorie snack cookies.

The first place we ate out at was the Garden Cafe at Flag Fork Herb Farm. I had a wonderful slice of Ham and Cheese Quiche and some pasta salad. Once again I am bummed that I did not bring my camera since the food was lovely! I love the food and it is great that the place is within walking distance. They do not have much parking so the 3 of left the car at home and walked to lunch.

Dinner was a different story. JD and I went out for our date night and ended up at a chinese food buffet. It was one we have not been to in a long time and eating we remembered why. It is very bland. I started to beat myself up for having one of my off meals at suck a crappy place.

3-20
Today I am at about 1600. My dinner count is an approximation since I know all the components but not the calorie count or if it was portioned exactly. I think I had about a 1/4 of the meal but not sure.

LaDonna made the dinner and it was good. We had ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta that was mixed with chicken breast, red pepper and mushrooms and then the new philly cooking creme (pictured to the left) It was filling and I probably will not have a snack later.

The biggest problem I had today food wise was that at about lunch time I started to feel shaky and alittle out of it. I decided to test my blood sugar and it was on the low side. I am glad that at that point I already had a Smart Ones in the microwave cooking for lunch. I am wondering if when I have my doctor's appt in April if she might be able to lower some of my diabetes medicines.

This is a picture of my favorite snack right now. I can only get it at Good Foods or Whole Foods. I eat at least 1 pack a day. It is crunchy and spicy. The interesting thing is that I am not a big spicy fan. I realized awhile back that even though I do not like pepper spicy I do like horseradish and wasabi spicy. I use to eat wasabi peas and I have also had wasabi cashews. The roasted seaweed snack has been the best so far. There are 2 servings in a pack, but I usually just eat the whole pack for 60 calories.

Exercise

I have a Y membership that I started on February 1st. It has been great to go to some of the water aerobics classes and also use the equipment. I need to remember that it is not the only way to get exercise. This morning is a case in point. I wanted to get about 30 minutes in before I had to take my boyfriend to his gaming group. He likes to be there about 1pm and I knew that the Y did not open till noon. To get to the Y, exercise, then come home and shower would be cutting it way too close even if I got there right when it opened. Then I realized that I needed some things from Dollar Tree and wow it is within walking distance. It took me 10 minutes to get there. I quickly went up and down the aisles for about 10 minutes and then walked home. I made it a bit longer by going past my street to the next light and then back tracked to my street. It got me another 20 minutes of walking and was home by 12:15 so I could shower and be ready to take JD to gaming.

With the walking workout I did today I got to my 80 points needed for my work's exercise challenge. Below is the rules for the challenge. It is so cool that I got the 800 minutes of exercise in 7 weeks and not the full 8 weeks!

This also means by completing this challenge I have earned enough points to earn the incentive my work does for participating in the wellness program. They have been doing the wellness program for at least 3 years now. The website for the program has a lot of good information with articles, recipes, exercises, etc. I have participated all 3 years, but this year is the first time that I feel I am not just doing it for the incentive money.

Side note I got a pair of 10-lb neoprene dumbbells at Target today. They were on sale! Now I have dumbbell pairs in 2/3/5/8/10 lbs for weight work at home.

3-18 Food Diary

I started this post last night on 3/18 but then our internet went out probably because of the rain.

I really wish I had my camera with me when I was at Panera for dinner. I love that they have the calories right beside the food on the order board. It made it nice and easy to decide on what to get. I had some idea since I had printed out the nutritional info before heading out. My indulgence today was chocolate. I had it 3 different times. For breakfast I had a smart ones sausage wrap and lunch was a smart ones pasta and spinach meal. I ended the day with 1575. This week I have had a bunch of smart ones meals since they were on sale at Kroger for a really good price. You will see that my food for a week will at times coincide with what was on sale at Kroger. We food shop on Sunday morning right as the new sale starts. This week I was able to get 10 smart ones for like $13. They were on sale and I had a coupon for $3 off 10.

Below is a picture of the notebook I use for my food diary. I have not been able to get into keeping a log online. Maybe if I had a smart phone it would be different. The book is called a Dollar and Cent memo book and I picked them up at Staples. Since I use 2 pages a day it lasts about 2 months. I have a description of my food, the calories and a running total of my calories on the right page and on the left I write my blood sugar and my blood pressure numbers. I also note any exercise or issues I am having that day.

Weigh In

I weigh in on Fridays. My highest weight ever was in September at 339. My first official weigh in was on 1/15/11 and I was 328. I decided then that my goal was to be 250 by my 40th birthday which is 10/27/2011. That is a goal of losing 78 lbs. The mini-goals that I have break down as follows:
April 17th: 298
June 21st: 282
August 24th: 266
October 27th: 250

I love the graph that ticker factory does so that I can see my weight loss. As of today I am down 24.6 and almost 1/3 of my way to my goal. 

Health Issues

In the past year my health issues have gotten worse which is a big reason for me losing weight. At this time I have 4 major health issues:

Type 2 Diabetes: Just diagnosed in the past year but was pre-diabetic for at least 2 years. I am on 2 medications- Glyburide at 5mg twice daily and Metformin at 1000 mg once daily

High Blood Pressure (HBP):  I have had this for years but recently had to add another medication and increase my dosage. I am on Furosemide as needed in the morning since it is a diuretic and Losartan once daily at night.

Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS): This is another thing that I have been diagnosed with for years but no real treatment other than Metformin for years. I use to blame this on why I am fat and why I was not losing weight. My convenient excuse that I would trot out at times. It also causes me to have some hair growth and acne.

Osteoarthritis (OA): I have been thru 2 rounds of physical therapy for this in the last 5 years. I have been on prescription pain meds and over the counter meds to treat the inflammation and pain. It makes my knees pop and grind at times and sometimes makes it hard to exercise. Last time I went to the doctor he wanted to inject some stuff into my joint to help with the movement and pain. I am not ready for that at this time. I am bad about keeping up with the exercises. It did not help that 2 weeks ago I tripped when I left the Y and fell. My knee popped bad and I was in pain and had swelling for about a week. I am still not 100% but much better. 

That is my health issues in a nutshell. All should become easier to deal with as I lose weight. I am being very proactive about checking my numbers daily so that when I have my next appointment with my wonderful doctor I can see if we need to adjust any of my meds. That appointment is scheduled for April 12th.

3-17 Food

I have been working on the 80/20 or about 90/10 rule with my eating. 80-90% of the time I am eating healthy nutritious food at each meal and for snacks. Today has not been one of those days. It started off good with a breakfast sandwich of 210 calories. Then I got to work and they had cupcakes for March birthdays. I only had 1/2 of one because it was pretty sweet and that was all I could handle. Then for break I also had a piece of string cheese and my wasabi seaweed. YUM! For lunch there was a potluck due to being St Patrick's day as well as the first real games for the NCAA and UK played. My team lead brought in burgers and fries and I have a burger and some fries as well some macaroni salad I rounded out my lunch with the carrots I had brought. For dinner my boyfriend had picked up pizza and I had 2 pieces of Domino's pizza. I might have a snack or 2 before bed but not sure yet. It all depends on how I feel after bowling.

Of course my weigh in day is Friday morning, so tomorrow will be interesting. It is not that I overdid it today it is more that I am not sure what calories I have had. I believe I am over 2000 but maybe not much. The burger and fries I have no clue on calories since it was not from a chain place. I do not have any pictures of my food today.

I have other post ideas in my head and plan to post more this weekend.

3-16 Food

I am planning to post my food on most days if not all days. Today I stayed home sick from work and did not start eating till about 10am. I will probably have a snack later since at this point I am only at 1160 calories for the day. I have been trying to eat between 1500-1800 a day. Today was different since I did not have a normal breakfast. I started the day with 2 pack mini-wrap from WW Smart Ones and some Cheez-its. (320 calories) Later I had a snack of a mini- dark chocolate bar at 70 calories. Lunch was a double stack from Wendy's (360 calories) and some Wasabi Roasted Seaweed. (60 calories) I really like the seaweed since it is spicy and crunchy. It makes it easier to not have chips.


Dinner was a stir-fry that had a bag of Kroger frozen mixed veggies, a serving of shrimp, a serving of fake crab and a stir fry sauce I got from Whole Foods. It has 350 calories and is pictured below:

It was very yummy and quick to make. It took all of 10 minutes on the stove. I love quick and easy!

Edit: I ended the day with 1570 calories. 

And So the blog begins

And as most blogs begin I will start off with talking alittle bit about myself. My name is Denise and I have been fat all my life. I can not remember a time that I have not been overweight and my photo albums pretty much confirm that I have always been pudgy. I remember going with my mom to a weight loss place and I had to be under 10 years old since it was before we moved to Kentucky. I can not remember the name of the place but it had equipment to work out on and we had to keep a food diary. I think they had me on 1000 calories. This would have been in the late 70's. I sometimes wish I could remember the name of the place. I think my mom might even have some of the paperwork packed away in the attic. I believe this was my first commercial diet. I found looking in my baby book that the doctor at one time gave my mom a low-carb diet food list for me. It also has in the notes about that I should not be more than 63lbs before I was 6. On 10/20/77 (7 days before my 6th b-day) I was at 64.5lbs. Whoops. So the records in my baby book support that I have been overweight all my life. The picture below is when I was 7 1/2 years old. The summer of  '79.

Fast forward to high school/college and the teasing. I was the big girl and turned to food. I have blocked out much of my school years. With facebook I have been reminded about things and people even have some pictures of me from that time. I was in band and was active because of marching band. I do not know how much I weighed but I know I was shopping in the plus sized section.

I still have a dress from my senior year and if I wanted I could go upstairs and check out the size but not really interested. In college I swam each year since we had to take PE at least 1 semester. I loved the fact that it was something I could do by myself and not have to be in a group sport. I so did not want to have to do a group activity like in high school. That fear of being the slowest or last to be picked. With swimming I would go to the pool 2-3 times a week and get my laps in and be done. Well that was for 3 of the semesters. 1 semester there was a new teacher and he wanted to make it more group. We had relays and other things. I hated that semester.

Now I am almost 40 and over 300. I remember years ago saying to myself that I never wanted to see 300. I have been over 300 for over a year now. The biggest tipping point happened alittle over 2 years ago when my boyfriend moved out. I know I went into a depression and just did not care. Fast food became my friend and eating became almost everything in my life.

In Sept 2010 the scale at the doctor was 339lbs. Also at this appointment I was officially diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Something clicked in my brain and I started to make small changes. Instead of having fast food for lunch I was bringing my lunch. I figured out that the back stairs at work were easier to go up and down than the front so I started using the stairs instead of the elevator. My work has a health program that does challenges and in Nov/Dec they had a maintain dont gain challenge. I did the challenge and started to think about joining a gym and other things I wanted to do. The end of 2010 brought me to the mindset that I can be healthier and that I deserve to be healthy.

I think the end of 2010 is a good end to this post. Next will be about the first quarter of 2011 and the changes that I have had.