Hard to believe it’s been 5 years since I’ve written in this blog. Oddly enough, this post will be similar to the last post I wrote 5 years ago.

I won’t go through what’s gone on in the last 5 years because it’s really pretty boring and irrelevant. It’s been full of ups and down just like it seems to go with everyone. I have learned a lot about what and who I want and my life and what and who I don’t want it my life. Some lessons are hard and take time to finally “get”, but there’s not going back.

I won’t spend time in this post on the negative things in the past few years that have led to this point in my life. It’s the past and it has nothing to do with what’s going on today.

The most important thing I want to say in this post is don’t wait to take care of yourself. It’s OK to focus on yourself. You don’t need a “support team” or encouragement from anyone other than yourself to start focusing on YOU. I mentioned previously that I had previously lost weight then gained it back after my Dad passed away, and then I started to lose weight again, eventually. By 2016 around the time my nephew graduated, I had lost a good 50 pounds. Then, slowly but surely I gained it back. Eating Reese’s peanut butter cups will do that. 🙂

Some things transpired in the years in between that made me just reevaluate things in my life. There are just some behaviors from others that just aren’t acceptable and that I kept putting up with and there was a turning point in 2018 that just showed me I was putting up with it for nothing. Again, that’s another post for another time.

Then the pandemic happened, and I started working from home. It wasn’t until November 2021 that I got to thinking how I could take advantage of my time working from home to really start taking care of ME. I got back on a healthy eating regime. There was no specific diet or anything. I just started concentrating on not eating so many carbs. I didn’t restrict myself other than cutting on sugar (damn, I do miss those Reese’s). I also started focusing more on cooking at home instead of ordering in. Because there is diabetes in my family and my mom has really bad vision issues because of hers, that was one thing I wanted to start focusing on. I had already been borderline pre-diabetes back and forth over the last 8 years or so, but this time I really wanted to make sure I got ahead of it or on top of it.

In January 2022, I saw a telehealth doctor on Doctor on Demand that I had been seeing for a couple of years for refills and other things. I told her my concerns about diabetes, and I did lab work. By then, I had also lost about 25 pounds or so. My labs came back and my A1C was 10.6. Yikes! She put me on Glimepiride and Metformin Extended Release. Fast forward to this week when I redid my labs. My A1C was…ready for it…5.5! That is a NORMAL level. Even the doctor was shocked. She said in 20 years of her being a doctor, the most she has ever seen anyone drop their A1C within 4 months is by 2 points and mine jumped down by 5.1 points.

I have now, as of this writing, lost a total of 55 pounds. I’ll hit my personal “first” goal after I’ve lost another 10 pounds and then I’ll choose another goal after that. I am focusing on NOT restricting myself (minus sugar), but just watching portions and carbs. I’ve found substitutes for my sweets, which is working just fine. I don’t really even have cravings for sweets anymore. Oh, and I drink a LOT of water, at least a gallon a day. I also don’t let the scale get me down if the number goes up on it. I just keep pushing ahead.

In addition to these things, I’ve gotten some dental procedures done and went for my annual eye check (had to do that anyway since my glasses broke).

During all of this, I never had a support team or anyone I called or texted to “celebrate” these things with.

You can be your OWN cheerleader. You don’t need anyone else’s help or encouragement. You just have to get off your ass and decide to do it for YOURSELF.

Surviving Reality is what I named this blog many years ago when I started it, and that’s exactly what life is about.

Sidenote: Go see Top Gun: Maverick if you get a chance. It’s even better than the original! I saw it 3 times in the last 4 days. Haha

Take care of yourselves and God bless.