@BooJewels thank you for your response. Yes indeed I think for some reason I have focused more on the weight loss than the blood sugars. My BG is good by my reading but I feel like I miss so much.
You do miss out to some extent - and I find walking down whole aisles of junk in the supermarket wishing I could try some of the goodies. But then I remember how much better I feel when I don't and that feeling of desire is very fleeting. You will adjust, I promise. It will, with time, become second nature and not trouble you so much. And despite what some will tell you, the sky will not fall in if once in a while you succumb and eat a donut! Just make sure that it's once in a while and that you really **** well enjoy it. And I actually suspect that you won't as much as you think.
Weight loss and better control are inextricably linked - each will benefit the other. If you can steadily do both, you will benefit long term - and hark at me, still significantly overweight, despite losing gradually over 20 years. But I know from personal experience that when you get it right and eat well, exercise well and drop weight and get BG under control, you will feel very much better and every improvement, no matter how small, will reap rewards long-term.
[...]the short version being we spent nearly 4 weeks in hospital with baby spread througout the year [...] We lost sight of all routine and began a period of fast food; every tuesday pizza night for example, out and about on the weekend MacDonalds, some home cooked meals and me and hubby eating a variety of sweet things like cakes, chocolate, things that made us feel better or gave us quick energy from one appointment to the next.
I understand that perfectly and no-one will judge you on that, least of all me. My MIL had an accident three years ago and was put into a rehab home for 4 months to recover, 50+ miles from here. We visited, looked after her flat, did shopping, paid bills etc etc. for all of that summer, 3 times a week. We travelled something like 400 miles extra a week - we ended up grabbing a snack before we left after work, visited, ate dinner late at her flat, travelled home and repeated 48 hours later. I totally lost control of my good practices, didn't have time to exercise and my health paid the price. So it's very, very easily done and I'm not in the slightest bit surprised that was a turning point for you. Add the stress (more so for you, I was just perpetually annoyed) and tiredness to that equation and they soon become ingredients to a change in your well-being.
So what I'm meaning to say is that this has given me an opportunity to get back into routine, to stop the downwards spiral of health problems.
As with a lot of these things, making that first decision to change and embrace what needs to be done, is the tricky bit. You've already done that, so you've taken the hardest step already.
I totally blame myself for not being able to control myself and for not being strong enough to cope with some of the changes in our lives.
And young lady, you can stop that right now. You are
not to blame, life is simply ****** sometimes and lobs bad fortune in your path.
Thank you for mentioning about the treats, I am a little scared of doing that right now as I don't want to upset what I am doing.
And that's a good thing, if you refer to my opening paragraph. You do actually reach the stage where you don't want to, but it's okay once in a while if you do. Bribe yourself if necessary - set goals to achieve in order to have a reward. I would like a really nice leather jacket, having slimmed out of one I loved. So if I lose three stone, I am going to get one. But shorter term, if I do a number of miles on the bike in a week I allow myself something small. There's a real sense of satisfaction on reaching a set goal, regardless of a reward/bribe. I did a fibromyalgia management course a couple of summers ago and one of the things we covered was setting targets and I wrote down some targets I had (unrelated to diabetes as such - at that point I was walking with 2 sticks) and having that document with them written down that the physio had singed was a contract I had to fulfill. I absolutely smashed the one big target I set and bloody hell did that feel good! So maybe write down some targets you'd like to achieve, improvements you'd like to make. Writing them down in black and white is really therapeutic and helpful. Maybe involve the whole family in the discussions and make them part of your support team, it already sounds like the older 2 are supportive and willing - make use of that resource. A family is a team and a very, very powerful one - you sound like yours are on your side, I'm not sure that everyone else enjoys that - I do, so I know the power of it. So take advantage of it and make it work for you.
I really don't think you need Slimming World, I suspect [bluntness alert again] that you were looking for the emotional crutch of a formal framework of a plan to work within, a comfort zone of structured eating so that you didn't have to worry about it alone. But you actually just don't need it - you've already proved that. AndBreathe gave you some great pointers about meal planning - it really, really does help. I don't have a spreadsheet, but we do think before we shop and plan meals for the relevant days ahead, so we only buy what we need and - perhaps more importantly - don't buy inappropriate things.
Pep talk done. I think you already know in your heart what to do - and we're here for you if you waiver and need support.
