My weight loss story...

athrax

Hi everyone. My name is Anna and I joined the site in January after an unsuccessful time with another weight/fitness tracking online tool. Here's my "story", for anyone who is interested...

I was always a big kid and ate a lot, but was active in karate for four years and liked playing outside. Still, I was heavy, and when I was in high school, I was 231lbs at my heaviest. Through exercising on a regular basis after joining the marching band (grades 9-11), becoming a vegetarian and watching what I ate, and keeping a daily food journal, I lost approximately 80lbs and felt great.

Two years ago on December 29 and just 2 weeks away from turning 21, I donated my kidney to my mom who had acute renal failure due to years of uncontrolled hypertension, caused by stress and obesity (a result of both genetics and poor lifestyle choices.) To put things into perspective, she went from approximately 240lbs to 110lbs as a result of her illness over the course of maybe two years. She was going to dialysis three days a week and by the time the surgery rolled around was practically "on death's door," so to speak, after severe complications compromised her immune system and quality of life. The doctors were concerned that she might not make it through the surgery.

At the time of the surgery, I was 165lbs and I felt ok at that weight. In the year following the surgery, which I am very pleased to say was a success for both of us, I gained approximately 20lbs back from stress and limited activity. I didn't think a lot of it because I knew that I was stressed from trying to finish up school and I was confident that it would be temporary; I knew I lost it before and could lose it again.

Around March of last year, I started noticing that I was losing weight without a reasonable explanation and had other symptoms. In June, all of the symptoms were explained when I was told my blood sugar was through the roof and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Come to find out, I was borderline back in January when I went for a post-surgery checkup and was never notified. Needless to say, it has been a struggle and I am STILL angry about not being notified when there was a point where I could have done something to reverse it, but it definitely made me change my eating and exercising habits... yet again.

That brings my story to present day.

In the 8 months or so that I have been seeing the endocrinologist, watching what I eat and exercising on a semi-regular basis, my blood sugar levels went from sky high to practically normal again. At my last checkup, my doctor said she now considers me "type 1.5" and not a true type 1 or type 2 diabetic because my levels are now in a better range, very close to normal.

While I am thankfully (!) nowhere near the weight I used to be, it is my desire to drop 20-30lbs more. My current weight ranges from 165-172lbs and I feel I can be comfortable and healthy in the 140-150lbs range. I am still a vegetarian, which helps, although I am not as strict as I used to be; I'll eat foods that have gelatin in them or have things which might have chicken or beef stock in them.

That's about all I have to share. If you'd like to chat, please feel free to send me a message, and good luck to everyone on their own personal weight loss endeavors!

hlw19

Your story is truly amazing. I know from my own personal experience/experiences what stress an depression can do to the body and it's nice to hear that you have pulled through your obstacles positively