I have had a struggle with weight since my teenage years. I've lost weight and put it on several times. I've had gratuitous advice from may people about great ways to lose weight, including a GP I was seeing for the first time suggesting I have gastric banding even before I'd had a chance to sit down and tell her what was really wrong with me.
I have a family history of diabetes and high cholesterol. I have a personal history of cancer. Just over 12 months ago, I was told I had a fatty liver. Mind you, a fatty new liver which had regrown after I'd had over 60% of my liver lopped out. I was devastated. I couldn't believe that I'd been given a whole new lease on life and was pretty much free of detectable cancer, but I had turned my liver into what one of my doctors called fois gras! There is a strong connection between fatty liver and diabetes and having seen my dad struggle with diabetes management over many years, I just didn't want to even think about the possibility that I was heading down that track.
So I decided I needed to take myself in hand and sort out my health. I started seeing a personal trainer and modified my diet in bits over time, starting with reducing soft drinks and not eating biscuits for breakfast with a focus on reducing my intake of food that contributed to my fatty liver. What I found was that for the first time ever, I started to fall in love with exercising. I enjoyed walking, and building up pace over time, and weights and boxfit exercises and becoming more balanced and just being outside. All of a sudden my life started being opened up to great new opportunities. Opportunities to be fit and strong and able. That was all pretty exciting. I found myself doing things I would have thought insane a year ago, like signing up for 50k walk and swimming lessons. And over the past 12 months I lost about 13k without even really trying.
A bit of a double crunch came for me earlier in 2013. I found out that my liver was not fatty - so good things had happened there! But I also found out that my bad cholesterol had overtaken the good. And that I was struggling with learning to run which is something I've been wanting to be able to do for some time now. My GP put me on a low dose of statins and that just made me feel ill and muscle sore which wasn't helping with not just running but even walking and swimming. So I stopped taking them.
What to do. I knew the only way I could make a major change and turn my life and health around was with help, support and discipline. The Michelle Bridges 12 Week Body Transformation program kept popping up on my FB page. I'd had a look at it before and decided that there were just too many rules. I went and had another look.
I know that by following a healthy eating plan I will be able to reduced my bad cholesterol. I will also bring my blood glucose levels from bordering on high to the middle of the healthy range. I will also find it much easier to learn to run without the extra weight. I am still carrying around the weight of a healthy young teenager extra and my BMI is 37 or thereabouts!
I love food. I really really love it. I come from a family of great cooks. I find eating extremely pleasurable. So this is going to be hard for me. I don't really want to do it. But I do want to limit the potential for me developing a nasty chronic disease which affects my ability to fully enjoy life. And I desperately want to be able to run! So I know I have to change the way I think about food, and feel about food. I have to change my eating behaviour. And thus, I have signed up to the 12WBT. And I fully embrace learning a whole new way of eating and living.
I have started this blog as a way to keep accountable. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up to date as I travel the Round 2 2013 12WBT journey. I am also going to use it as an opportunity to explore some of my history and how that has made me the person I am. I hope some of you enjoy reading it.
Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.............................here I go, spinning into a new way of life.....
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