GOAL!

NO, I am not writing about football – despite the World Cup taking place in Brazil as I write.  To be honest, I am not really bothered about football,  Like most sports, I don’t want to sit through a full game, but like to know who wins (not England this time!).  We’ve had a glut of TV sport in this house, Isle of Man TT motorcycle races, Moto GP, football and now tennis at Wimbledon, then there’s the Commonwealth Games in a week or two! How about you, do you like watching sport on TV?

What I want to write about is my personal goals that I set for myself.  I joined www.simplify101.com a few years ago and regularly join in with the goal setting class each January.  This year, I included the kitchen remodel, and losing weight.  More on the kitchen remodel later, but today I want to tell you about my successful weight loss.

I joined Weightwatchers in January, and yesterday reached my goal weight after losing 26lb!  I have dieted on and off for years, going up and down about 1 to 1.5 stones (14-21lbs).  It is a long time since I have been this low weight- possibly before I had the children!  It feels really good!  Hope I can keep it off!

Here’s the before:

And the after:

However, it is not all good news.  I started off in January losing 0.5lb – 1lb per week, then suddenly in March (about the time of my birthday) the weight started to fall off dramatically at 2-3lbs each week!  This coincided with feeling very thirsty and going to the toilet lots, especially at night.  I went to the doctors to get some blood tests done, and have just been diagnosed with diabetes!  I am going to see the diabetic nurse next week to go through everything and get medication if it is necessary.

So that does explain the rapid weight loss. I have to be honest, I can’t tell you that I lost weight by cutting down and not eating certain things (biscuits!).  I have been eating more or less normally.

I feel rather unlucky!  I haven’t been massively overweight, and I eat reasonably healthy, lots of fruit and veg, not lots of sugar, just a few biscuits here and there, and I generally avoid puddings.  And I exercise a lot.  Now we don’t have the dog to walk, I go to the gym 4 times per week.  It’s unfair!  I am guessing that there is a genetic component to Type 2 diabetes, as my Dad had it.  I have been doing some research – there are some nasty complications if the blood sugar levels are not controlled!  I hope I can control my levels well. 

I feel unhappy that I now have a medical condition that will always be there.  I am well and truly ‘in the healthcare system’ for the first time in my life (excluding pregnancies). However, there is a good nurse-led diabetic clinic at my local GP’s surgery.  There are lots of regular check ups eg, feet, blood pressure, cholesterol etc.  So I will be well looked after!  As many people have said it could be worse, so I am grateful for that.

So, the diabetes plus my new kitchen have given me renewed enthusiasm for healthy cooking.  Have you got a favourite website or maybe a Pinterest board where you go for new recipes?  Do let me know!

To end on a positive note,  here’s a happy photo of me in my latest me made dress, standing in front of my new border in the garden.  It’s the Staple Dress from April Rhodes, dead easy to make with only 5 pattern pieces!