100 Pounds or More To Go

Hi to all,

     I woke up this morning thinking that a way to help myself lose weight would be to start a journal or blog. I haven't been to this website in probably a year. I would read postings and journals and always wanted to join in but very rarely would I. Everyone here is so supportive, but I guess I just wasn't ready then. Most of the time I would visit it, I wouldn't write anything.  So here I go, hopefully I'm ready - giving this weight loss thing yet another try.

     My name is Liz, but there are a couple of journals already being written with Liz or Elizabeth in it, so I am going to use my User Name of Hippychick. I am not of the right age to truly be a hippie - I have always loved the music and the clothes and have been given this as a nickname of sorts over the years.

     Where do I start? This morning I got up and tested my sugar. I know it is not a good thing when my blood sugar matches my weight, or is close to it - 256. My weight is about 248 and I would like to lose 40 pounds to start out with. I remember being around 204 and being heavy but still fitting in regular clothes. I realize that may not be the case right now 3 children and 20 years later, but I need some sort of starting goal.

     The diabetes was diagnosed when my eight year old was 11 months old. I had been overweight and had gestational diabetes during her pregnancy. I should have continued following the diabetic diet after she was born. The doctors never told me that but I am not a stupid person. I should have done some research or just used common sense. Either way, here I am, 8 1/2 years later very overweight and still without my diabetes under control. I was thinking yesterday what if i needed to just lose weight without the extra part of having to lose it so that my glucose levels would be better, I think that would be a bit easier for me because if i did cheat once in a while, it wouldn't carry the extra burden of what is it doing to my body. I know being overweight by itself is dangerous, but throwing in the diabetes really makes it so much more mentally hard. So maybe for now I will just think of losing weight for the sake of losing weight. I will still take my meds and test my sugar (ironically some of my diabetes meds put weight on me, so I am fighting against those meds, too). My levels have been all over the chart even when I am trying to lose weight for the diabetes, maybe a mental break when I just focus on weight loss wouldn't be such a bad idea.

     Life at home here is very stressful, and sometimes I just say 'Who cares?' and eat whatever I want to. Sometimes, truthfully, I eat something when I am not even hungry or particularly in the mood for it. It just may be a food item that I usually enjoy. How sad is that?

     Anyway, so here I am ready to start again. It's about 10:30am on Nov. 5th. I will weigh myself now so that I have a starting weight. How ironic. I started this entry by mentioning my blood sugar level as 256 and nearly being the same as my weight. Well, according to the scale right now, I weigh 255.8. I will use that as my starting weight, though I believe my scale is quite a few pounds off my doctor's scale. At least it is a starting point, and it is based on the scale I will be using to weigh myself on regularly.

     Thank you for reading this.

                                        Take care,  Liz

     Thank you for your words of encouragement! I know the 'journey' ahead is a long one, and I appreciate you support.

     Oh, and I really like folk music, too. I'm a big Arlo Guthrie fan!

     I am using my signature and, hopefully, a ticker for the first time. We'll see if I set it up correctly.

Hi Liz, I hope this will help you. This is info someone from another board gave me on the ticker problem. I did it and it still didn't work for me, then my son helps me and does exactly what it says also, and it worked! Go figure! lol I hope this helps you..If not, hopefully someone here can help you out.

Arlo Guthrie is great! I like Peter, Paul & Mary and I'm a huge John Denver fan, who started out in folk music. I don't listen to any of todays music. It's all noise to me. I love oldies and such..especially from the 50's and early 60's. Sam Cooke is definitely a favorite!

I hope you have a successful day today!

 

Hi Liz and welcome to our board.  Yes, the ladies out here are great and when ever I feel like I need a little extra motivation, I come out here and read and post and "hang out".  I hope that you can join our team here and have fun on your weight loss journey.  It sounds like you've been dealing with the diabetes for a while and you probably already know alot of the "shoulds" and "shouldn'ts".  But I will suggest the same thing to you that I suggest to most of the new-comers here.  That is to take a long, hard look at what you consume and try to zero in on ONE thing to change first.  For me, my biggest weight issue was PORTION size.  Once I learned to manage that better, I went on to particular foods - what I needed to eat more of, or less of, or eliminate altogether, etc.  And, as you said, stress is a big factor.  Identifying emotional eating and finding non-calorie ways of dealing with it might be very helpful.  I love SJ's journals when I feel like I'm having a snack attack because of something other than hunger. 

Anyways, again, welcome aboard and hope to see you around a lot.

Liz