Star, what a great thread. It's nice to see the deeper element in people that sometimes you just don't get during the chat. Thanks for this.
My moment started to come last November when I was diagnosed with Diabetes. I was bawling uncontrollably in the doctor's office. It was awful. I tried to control it w/diet and exercise, but it just wasn't working. I ended up on two pills a day. I saw a dietician who put me on the diabetic diet, which totaled about 135 carbs per day. His recommendation for losing weight was to just decrease my fat intake until the weight started to come off. This probably won't surprise you, but the weight didn't come off and my motivation really lagged.
So, I stayed on the pills, kept exercising, kept the carbs to 135 a day, and the weight didn't move. Then at the beginning of March, my Dad died. That completely knocked the foundation right from under my feet. I never expected it. I was 30 and he was 58. Way too young to die, way to young for a daughter to lose her father. Then I really started to look at it. He and I have always been very much the same. Same disposition, same body time, same fight with weight all our lives. He developed Type II diabetes several years ago, and died after a major stroke (same scenario w/his father at 60). Having developed diabetes 20 years prior to his age when he got it, it really shook me. Time to make something positive happen out of a very negative situation. If I don't do something, my son will be watching my funeral when I'm 58. I'll miss so much, but mostly, I don't want to put him through all that. SO not fair.
So, now I'm tearing up at work, so I'm ending this, but that was my aha, where everything clicked into place. I must say though, that without this diet, I would be struggling and I don't think I could do it. This website has also been essential for keeping me on track. Thank you chicks!!!
P.S. Having lost 20lbs since being diagnosed, I'm now down to just one pill per day, and hopefully no pills soon.