Healthy Living in Connecticut Blog

I love food and have a big appetite. This was part of the reason I was so obese just a few short years ago. Excessive eating of candy, bread and processed foods caused my weight to balloon to over 350 pounds.

I was like many of you... I thought I could exercise my way to a healthier weight. I walked the treadmill, sometimes 40 minutes with knees that were sore from the excess weight. I took swim classes because I heard that swimming was a good way to lose weight. I didn't exercise as consistently then, but still, I did try, only to discover, you just can't lose weight by not changing your eating habits.

Last Sunday, I began a seven day challenge of eating only plant based foods... no animal products at all. This was the second time I did such a challenge in two years. Here's what I found out...

I loved the way I felt being vegan!

I had so much energy and my workouts seemed to improve. My strength increased, when I had my body fat check ed the other day and actually gained three pounds of muscle.

As you probably remember, I decided to challenge myself to be vegan for a week. This happens to coincide with my body fat percentage getting checked this week. I wanted to prove that muscle gain is possible, even without animal products.

So I went to Southern CT State University for the seven site skin fold test. The technician weighed me and it read 3 pounds higher than last time. I wondered if this was a good or bad sign.

It has been a while since my last update.  Back on October 20th of 2015 I wrote about my desire to get back on the wagon to lose 91lbs. I mentioned how I haven't been feeling all too well and I was also at my heaviest weight of 274lbs. Knowing I had something wrong going on, I still decided to ignore it for a month or so without taking my own advice about seeing a doctor to check out what was ailing me.  Eventually, I saw a doctor and was able to get myself back on blood pressure medicine along with a statin to manage my cholesterol. Once back on the medication, after not having been on it for well over 2 years, I figured I was ok to continue my eating habits for a short time, sort of as a "last hurrah" before I kicked in my weight loss regime with the start of the new year.  With a follow up visit to the doctors to run some blood work to determine whether or not the medication was causing any havoc in my system, that is when the bomb dropped.  The abuse of my body had taken its toll.   It was discovered I had a high fasting blood glucose reading. (138) My A1C had me dipped into the insulin level of a diabetic. (9.6) Aside from all of this I also had an ear infection that was going on for some months and would not fully go away. 

I wasn't surprised and I almost suspected that something like this was happening based on how I did not feel well even after restarting the blood pressure and cholesterol meds. It was enough to give me a kick in the pants when it comes to making some key changes in my life.  Millions of people live with diabetes and many die due to complications of the disease.  This fact alone is enough to narrow my focus where I am to engage in battle against the disease as well as lose weight. In times past there was some wiggle room for excuses such as the "I can start up my diet tomorrow" which would roll from day to day, had turned into a "holy crap, you have no choice having two young children, you need to get your butt in gear and try to rid yourself of this disease so you can watch them grow up!".  Realistically, I realize I may not be able to get rid of diabetes if it is discovered that my pancreas is no longer creating sufficient insulin. Still, I need to give it a shot and see if I can conquer the disease that so many seem to fail and fall victim. Fortunately, it appears to be Type 2 where the cells in my body may be resisting the insulin my body may be creating.

I've been maintaining my weight for about three and a half years now. I think so many people are used to me at this weight, I thought I would remind people how far I've come.

The picture on the left I barely remember looking like. When I showed a doctor my before picture last week, her reaction was I look nothing like that. She never would have recognized me from my fat picture.