Funny how a story takes on a life of its own... I'll get to a basic routine, recipes, etc etc in future posts, but below is the beginnings of what inspired ME to take control of my health. As previously noted, I was having trouble losing some excess weight, weight that besides during my college years trying dangerous weight-loss fads, was always there...
I mentioned earlier that my husband was on board with health as well-this wasn't an amazing awakening out of nowhere-this was from a health scare of his own years ago with his heart, so ultimately we both decided to just feel good-I had only been interested in "diets" for weight loss in the past, but as I got older, I had much bigger concerns in mind.
We started small-extremes usually fail. We cut unnecessary carbs from our dinners, and usually from our other meals as well. We filled up on proteins, veggies, and a reasonable amount of fats-cheese and oils allowed!! No, this wasn't a "no-carb" diet, because we got plenty in fruits/veg/dairy/some whole grains throughout the day... you'd be surprised at how many you get WITHOUT bread and pasta. Bread, pastas, and potatoes were gone, with the exception of a thin crust pie we split Friday nights and maybe dabbled on a Saturday dinner out. It was satisfying, yummy, and soon didn't crave them at all. And, if I did end up eating the "good" stuff on special occasions, my body bounced back extremely easily once back on track, as if it was sighing a breath of relief-thank you for feeding me what I actually need again!!!
Within the next year, though, I became pregnant. First tri nausea and protein/veg didn't quite mix for me:) Also, I had seen one too many adorable preggo friends stuffing their little faces and bumps as if it were the best thing in the world-so, I'd walk to Starbucks with a bud during a lunch break and indulge a bit-not in caffeine, but in the other goodies they devilishly hold, and enjoy myself! It helped temporarily subside the nausea, and sure enough in tri #2 I was craving salads again-I am SO GLAD my body wanted this, and that I stayed pretty dedicated to my health after a few weeks. Mid-preg, I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes, a topic I'll get into more in future blogs, so I had to really be sure that my carbs and sugar were super-low. This was a blessing in disguise, as I controlled my blood sugar with food and exercise alone, and only gained the "healthy 25". And, once the baby came (early!!), between the stress of the NICU and nursing-actually weight less than my pre-preg weight within weeks. The reason I'm sharing this part of the story is that 5 months down the road, I had a scary low blood sugar episode, and was told I still was having issues-with nursing I had been eating more carbs than I would've liked but I was hungry!!! I quickly changed my diet back to the lower carbs and lots of small meals throughout the day, and got my blood sugar under control once again. I had some doctors telling me it was GD lingering, but an endocrinologist telling me it was genetic and that I cannot gain any weight without ensuring Diabetes Type 2 way too young. This in itself scares me enough to stay healthy, and my body responds. So, while it's not fun worrying every time I taste a sweet, it's possibly the best thing for me. And while I slipped a bit the past few months, it wasn't a permanent slip, for many reasons-external and internal wishes for my body. Basic lifestyle rules of thumb to come-the pounds will melt away...
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