New Person
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!
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And congrats on doing so well!
It helps to celebrate all our goals doesn't it? 
