On July 7, 2017, I was diagnosed with Type-2 Diabetes, and I weighed 220 pounds. The diagnosis scared me enough that I knew I wanted not just to manage it, but beat it into submission. This morning I stepped on the scales, and they said 175 lbs. How did I do it?
I started walking and used the Livestrong MyPlate app to monitor my caloric and carbohydrate intake. Instead of Coca-Cola, I began drinking more water. And, for breakfast and lunch, limited calories to less than 300 and carbohydrates to about 25g at each meal. For snacks, it was carrots or apples instead of Reese’s or Ice Cream. My goal at dinner is to keep it under 750 calories and 50g of carbohydrates. With the app and the walks, I was able to set up a healthy weight loss that maintained blood glucose levels where they needed to be.
Finally, I had a lot of support and encouragement. After 21 days, the new diet had become a habit, and it was easy to stay on the program I had chosen. I built my diet so that I could ‘cheat’ and have my beloved Longboard Beer and Sammy’s food when the spirit moved me, but then return to the diet the next day without any guilt. If you guilt yourself into dieting, then you won’t be able to stick to it for the long haul which is what I required because of the Type-2 Diabetes diagnosis.
To everyone who has encouraged me on my journey, I want to say thanks. And, if you need encouragement, I’m here to tell you, anything you set your mind to, you can achieve. I am looking forward to finding out what my A1C is in the next few weeks.