[Radii]

Hi again. I've posted in this thread probably 3 or 4 since it started back in 2006, but in retrospect its always been at a point of fright or desperation about my health, feeling like I have to make drastic immediate changes which of course never last.

In September 2010 I finally accepted completely that I'm not gonna fix my problems on my own and went back to my family doctor after avoiding him for ~2 years. I'm 6'4" and weighed 350, a weight I've stayed at pretty much since post-divorce weight gain. My blood pressure and cholesterol were slightly high, vitamin D levels low, and I was diagnosed as a diabetic, something I knew was coming with my diet, weight and genetics. My A1C at the time was ~9.5%, indicating an average blood sugar of 250 which is not good at all! I also had low testosterone which is apparently common in male diabetics and even more common in obese male diabetics. Add all this up and I basically just physically felt like shit all the time and have no energy at all.

We didn't really specifically talk about weight for a long time. It took awhile to find the right meds (testosterone and shitty insurance don't mix well at all) but by July 2011 all of those levels were back to normal, for all of 2011 my A1C's have been between 6.1% and 6.3%, indicating very well managed diabetes. I didn't really make any changes other than sticking with doctors appointments and making sure I stayed on top of things, learning how my blood sugar fluctuates and when things aren't quite right.

After July though 1-2 pounds a month started coming off, again without me doing anything but having all of this stuff properly regulated/managed. At the start of December I'd dropped 10 pounds and was at 340. December itself really pretty terrible in almost every other way... combine not being as hungry + taking lots of walks to try to clear my mind/fight off depressive feelings and I'm now at 330. So:

7/1: 350
12/1: 340
1/3: 330


There's a TON of things I can do to continue improving, but honestly all I'm doing right now is just dealing with one decision at a time and not caring past that, which is something completely new for me. I've been doing a little better at saying "Why not go for a walk right now" instead of "oh man I should go for a walk sometime today" and never doing it. Or grabbing a water instead of a Dr Pepper, or taking an extra few minutes to add some veggies to a meal, etc.

I'm not quite sure why I feel compelled to post this now, in part b/c some other stuff has been so bad and I want to focus on some positives, and in part b/c I'm so happy to have gotten a little momentum going without being completely obsessive about it. I'm taking the lowest doses available of almost everything I'm on for blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol. There's pretty good chance I could get off of all those meds. I'm self employed and paying a severe premium for really poor insurance b/c of my weight, with more progress I could request a review and potentially improve my rate/plan/both. So those are things to shoot for. I intend to keep updating this time, whee!