Diabetes runs in my family. All of my mom’s siblings but her have been diagnosed with it at one time or another, as did their mother. It was always in the back of my mind that these disease could happen to me but I didn’t do anything to make sure that 100% it didn’t.
It’s no secret to my friends and family that I have struggled with my weight off and on all of my life. Looking back, I was a normal, healthy and active girl but I always looked at my taller, thinner girlfriends and wanted what they had. I wanted to look like them! In high school I got into my best shape ever as I was in my third year on our school’s rowing team, running and eating pretty low-carb. Flash forward 12 years to graduating to the Real World and wondering why there wasn’t a bar called ‘The Gym’ so my friends and I didn’t feel so bad about our happy hours! “I’m off to The Gym for a few wine sets!”
In college I quickly turned the freshman 15 into the graduation 30 and then some! Once I turned 26 I started to get serious about my weight and I began to try everything. My Fitness Pal, Calorie Counter, South Beach Diet, etc! I found during this time that Weight Watchers worked great for me and I got down to a healthier weight and started to feel comfortable again in my own skin again. Then, it took a turn for a worse a few years later. I was diagnosed with Chronic Hives and taking prednisone just to be able to get out of bed for work. I got a new job that was pretty stressful and my team and I coped by happy hours at wine bars. That turned into drinking almost every night at least a glass of wine and eating dinner way too late.
A few weeks before my 32nd birthday I started to feel really weak, lightheaded and zapped of all my energy. My mom knew it was the warning signs of prediabetes but I brushed it off and wanted to blame it on a thyroid condition that clearly was not diagnosed yet (My thyroid is fine fyi). During this time, I would only feel better if I ate something loaded with carbs and shortly after eating I would fall asleep for 30 minutes or so. It was almost as if the act of getting my blood sugar up was too much for my body.
A 5-hour blood test and mulitple doctor visits later I found out that once again, my mom was right. The last few years of struggling with my weight were no joke. I was becoming high insulin resistant and my body was holding on to every ounce of fat it could find. My body and I were most definitely not seeing eye to eye on this fact. My endocrinologist barely looked at my lab results and knew what was wrong with me: prediabetes. But he also gave me hope with a few quick words “We can fix this and you!”
He was 100% right, I needed to be fixed. And in that moment I realized it wasn’t just my health that needed to be fixed. On my way home that afternoon I stopped off at my friend B’s house. She just had a baby and knew that cuddling her little man was exactly what I needed after a pretty emotional day. Talking to my friend of 10 years, in her home, holding her I child I knew I could revamp my life for the better and my health was only just the jumping off point. Over the next few weeks I celebrated my 32 birthday, I started therapy and worked hard to find the ‘me’ I had somehow left behind on my way.
I started My Revamped Life as a way to document and share with others that change is possible. I don’t live in a big city, though NYC has my heart. I work Monday to Friday, 9-5 and sometimes more.
I am not a chef. I love meat, cheese and damnit gluten, too!
I am not the kind of girl that just loves to spend her Sunday meal planning for the week. I’d much rather enjoy a brunch with girlfriends on a gorgeous afternoon soaking up the Florida sun. If it’s not bottomless mimosas, why bother?
I think that hummus should be a food group and I know how hard it can be to go to the gym after a long day of work where the only fitness you want to do is pouring a glass of wine.
For my life right now I am currently the Glycemic Index diet (learn more about it at Diabetes.org). I am also on medicine to help me regulate my insulin and weight. But that alone will not change me. I have to have a say in my life.
I know it needs to be done and I know it can be done. So, join me…let’s share our stories of revamping our lives from food, to fun, travel and fitness and everything else in between.
What do you say?
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