I'm a mom of 4 girls, and I currently weigh way too much! I'm reluctant to say, but I'm going to say it for the first time. I weigh 274.6lbs. I'm about 5'5 so it's needless to say I have AT LEAST 100lbs. to lose.
Since my first daughter, I've been at risk for diabetes, and had gestational diabetes with my first 2. Also, during the first and last 2, I had stillborn twins. The reason I'm telling that detail is I think it's important to mention how many pregnancies I've had because I gained an extraordinary amount of weight with all 5 pregnancies, losing only a small amount after each delivery. Also, I had C-sections with all 4, which has made it a little harder to lose weight after the births. My lower abdomen is literally numb completely, from belly button to pubic bone, and from hip bone to hip bone.
Okay, now fast forward to today. I am newly diagnosed with diabetes, and I'm getting some info from the dr, of course, but I'm afraid and I want to make immediate changes!!! I stopped drinking pop a few days ago. Cold turkey. Normally I would drink at least 6 cans of pop a day, so now I'm on just water. That's been my first big step. May sound small, but to me it's huge and I hope it will make a huge difference.
The next thing is obviously the eating habits I have. I want to eat right, and more importantly I want my kids to eat right. I have also started to have a small increase in blood pressure. It's prehypertension, but I'd like to get healthy before it becomes full blown hypertension! The problem is I don't know how!!! As I said, the dr is helping a little with this by giving me the food pyramid, but that really didnt' help too much. I want REAL people to tell me things they know are good to do from experience. I want to learn from others who have done this and knwo what they're talking about.
I guess mainly I wanted to come in and introduce myself and give a little background so I could hopefully find people who can relate, and then hopefully find resources to help get me through this! My goal is to one day be one of the people answering posts to newcomers who are in desperate need of support and guidance in here.
This is my first step in many to come, and I hope I can learn a great deal here.
So, if anyone here knows a good starting point for me to jump in I would greatly appreciate any help and/or advice! I'm having trouble finding how you eat right with diabetes AND high blood pressure. I find "diets" for both conditions, but I don't know exactly how to combine the two.
Thanks for reading, it really feels good to just ramble a little.
Thanks!
Carly
