I just posted an intro in the diabetes portion of this great site, but I thought I would share my story with the board at large.
I am 5'6 and I can't really say what weight I started at. I didn't start my diet plan to lose weight. I started it to get control of my diabetes. Therefore, I hadn't really weighed myself. I was 256 when I did weigh myself. I know that at some earlier point I was heavier, I am just not sure. I was diagnosed with diabetes in March of 2006. I freaked out, I was only 34. I didn't even know when to start.
At Kaiser, I received Diabetes classes and they recommended controlling my carbs. I don't have a formal diet, I basically do Jennifer's Advice (google it, can't post links yet). I ate and wrote everything I ate down and if my blood sugar spiked, I reduced the amount of carbs. I found out this way how many carbs my body could handle. I became determined never to spike over 140, even one hour after a meal. Breakfast was especially hard for me but giving up cereal was ultimately what I had to do.
In retrospect, I think this was exactly what my body needed. I started dropping insane amounts of weight. I walked a treadmill probably 4 times a week for about 35-40 minutes. I would sometimes lose 5-10 pounds a week. In the year and a half of this process I have had a couple of stalls, one at 200 or so. I reduced portions on everything and that seemed to work. I also stalled at around 175. Lots of demands on my time had stopped me from exercising. Re-introducing walking seemed to kick me into gear.
I am very close to my goal now. I still eat less than 20 grams of carb per meal, less at breakfast. I don't count the carbs in veggies (except peas, corn, winter squashes). I make it my goal to have my plate be half veggies. I've learned to love asparagus, green beans, spinach, brussel sprouts. Anyway, I am sooo close to my goal. Actually, my goals have always been moving targets. At first I just wanted to get to be a size 14 (I was 22, now I am 10). Then I wanted to be under 200. After that, I didn't really care. But I kept losing and then this summer I realized I could probably hit normal BMI and now I am about 7 pounds away. I was hoping for the end of the year but I am giving myself till March to do it. I am about 5 pounds away from losing 100! I don't know what I'll do with myself hee. Probably treat myself to some nice low carb cheesecake!
And congrats on doing so well!
It helps to celebrate all our goals doesn't it? 