Progress so far

Today I have been reflecting on how I have been doing since I started Optifast and what things were like prior to making this change in my life.  It is not an exaggeration to say that it has completely changed everything.  At the beginning of this year, I really was living in a secret form of hell.  I had a smile on my face but really I felt like I was heading to death.  I'm not trying to be morbid, but just being honest with myself.  I weighed 417 pounds at my highest.  Even though I'm 5'9", I can't claim to say that my weight was evenly distributed so it really wasn't a problem.  Get real!  I always had shortness of breath and broke a sweat when others around me were not.  I could not get control of my blood sugar levels no matter how hard I tried or how much medication I was taking.  My type 2 diabetes was raging out of control.  Just to give you an idea of what kind of medication I had to take to attempt to control my blood sugar, I was taking 850mg Glucophage tablets three times a day, 5mg Glyburide tablets two times a day, injecting 35 units of insulin in the morning and 75 units of insulin at bedtime.  Yet, the best I could do was have a daily reading of around 250, sometimes 225.  My A1C number, which is the three month average of how well a person maintains their blood sugar control levels, was at an 11%.  That translates to an average daily blood sugar level of 269.  There were times I went into the normal range of 80-120, but it was because I purposely injected more insulin.  It wouldn't last, though.  And anytime I tried to adjust my diet, it wouldn't help.  So, after a while, I stopped trying.  I'd still take all the medications, but I wasn't putting effort into eating the right kinds of foods any longer because nothing was working and I was left highly frustrated.  Along with that was high blood pressure, high cholesterol and a constant feeling of fatigue/tiredness from sleep apnea.

Now, with all of that said, I want to report where I am today.  Since starting Optifast On February 7th, as most of you know who have been reading this blog routinely, I have lost 105 pounds.  My blood pressure is normal, my cholesterol is normal.  And what about control of my diabetes?  When I test my blood sugars, they range from about 88-125.  My last A1C test came out showing me at 7%, which is a daily average of 154.  I do take a little bit of insulin, 6 units in the morning and 6 units at night.  When I test my blood sugar every day, it is in the normal range, so I suspect that A1C number includes the period of time when I was coming down from the high numbers.  I'm sure it'll be lower the next time around, but even if it stays where it is at now, that's an amazing difference.  I have so much energy.  I don't have shortness of breath, I hardly ever sweat unless it's when I'm working out.  In fact, I'm normally cold.  I don't feel like I'm going to fall asleep behind the wheel of the car from the sleep apnea.  Prior to this, I was going to go on the C-PAP machine, but now I don't need to do that.  I tried on the outfit that I had on during my body assessment and the pants don't even stay up.  They are ridiculously gigantic on me.  And speaking of working out, I look forward to exercise now.  As I'm typing this, the sun is coming out and I am dying to get out there and get my grove on walking down the street with tunes in my ears. 

I was watching this mini-series on HBO called "Weight of the Nation".  If you have HBO, you've got to DVR it because it really is so insightful as to the severeity of the obesity epidemic we are facing.  It also has real people in it, describing the things they are going through or have gone through to lose weight.  One thing that was fascinating to me was this man that decided to go through the gastric bypass surgery.  With a glimmer in his eyes, he smiled as he said that in 5 months, he has lost 109 pounds.  I was so happy for him, then I realized, Oh my gosh, I've done that in 3 months.  Not only that, but I didn't need surgery for it to happen.  This is no disrespect to people who have had the surgery - just that it is happening without that.  This is not a race to the finish line, but it just amazes me every day how fast this is happening and that it actually is happening at all.  I know there are people who are reading this that compare their weight losses to mine, but you also have to remember that I had a significant amount of weight to lose.  Every person and every body is different. 

As I continue on in my journey, I have such a renewed spirit.  The smile you see on my face in my pictures either on here, on my Facebook page or in person is one I don't have to fake.  There is a glow about me now that is a genuine part of who I am.  I still have physical issues I'm dealing with and I do still have a lot of weight to lose, but it doesn't feel like some obscure dream I will never attain.  With God's grace, my life is changing.  Truly, the beauty of God's love for me brings tears to my eyes.  I feel like dropping to my knees and thanking Him at every opportunity.  I just am so grateful.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I have walking to do!