As I mentioned recently, I’ve hit a plateau.  I’m still losing inches, or fractions of inches anyway, but I’m not losing pounds.  Several people have told me that spinning class is a great way to break through a plateau in weight loss.  I have to admit, I’m a little intimidated by the notion of a spinning.  For some reason, I’m just not sure I’ll be able to keep up.  Spinning sounds really hard. 

On the other hand, cyclists usually have really great legs, and while I have excellent leg strength, my legs are the area of my body that still need the most slimming.  That brea

When I first started trying to lose weight, I felt that many of the medical people I encountered were less than encouraging.  The big advice for people with diabetes is to make small, incremental changes in their lifestyles.  To lose just 10% of their body weight, to add very low key exercise, to aim low.  That didn’t sit well with me, so I ignored them and did my own thing.  So far, it has worked out pretty well.

Still, there are times when setting realistic expectations can be good.  I get so frustrated at how long all of this is taking sometimes, even when I can see how much progress I’ve made.  The thing is, I want to have a baby, and I can’t even start trying until I lose 11 more pounds.  This was supposed to be the year I got pregnant, and instead, it is the year I spent trying to lose weight and get in shape.  When I see that Janet Jackson lost 60 pounds in four months, or Britney Spears lost 26 pounds in one month, I wonder why it is taking me so long. 

Nothing good anyway.  I’ve only lost 1.4 pounds since my big declaration that I was going to lose 15 more pounds by January, so it feels like that goal is already slipping out of reach.  My body looks good.  The running I’ve been doing is really changing my shape, even if it isn’t speeding up my weight loss, so it isn’t a complete disaster, but I really wish the weight loss would stay steady.  I’ve been pretty good about my portion control, and my blood sugar has been looking good.  Perhaps I’m paying for my vacation indulgences from two weeks ago.  Hopefully it will pick back up again before the end of the year. 

Me, on a night like this one, a year ago: Work ‘til 8, leave my office with at least 5 different projects that really needed to be done today still unfinished, be stressed out, pick up takeout on the way home, eat too much of it, probably include some kind of dessert, walk the dog, and then sit on the couch watching TV.

Me, tonight: Work ‘til 8, leave my office with at least 5 different projects that really needed to be done today still unfinished, be stressed out, come home, chat with husband, work out, get actual stress relief, cook quick healthy dinner, no dessert, then watch previously recorded episode of Lost. 

When I’m in positive mode, I can bring myself around to thinking that I owe a huge debt to my diabetes.  After all, it is what finally got me up to start making the changes I new I needed to make to my life.  I may have been in denial about just how much weight I had gained, but I knew I needed to lose weight and get in to better shape.  Knowing the health benefits, wanting to be thin for my wedding, and learning that losing weight might help me get pregnant, which is very important to me (and still on the list), wasn’t enough to motivate me. 

And ultimately, I think it is my diabetes that will help be continue to lose weight and keep it off.  Because eating healthy and being active isn’t just a matter of willpower and motivation for me.  It’s a quality of life issue.  If I get thin and stay thin, I can have a normal life, and avoid many of the complications that come from diabetes.  And there are some big scary complications, like losing limbs and going blind and being more prone to strokes and heart disease.  Well, not me baby, not if I can help it!  And that’s what will keep me working out, finding ways to be more active, and making healthy choices.  That’s what will make me ask myself, “what will this do to my body and my blood sugar” before I dive in and devour half a sleeve of girl scout cookies or go for that third piece of pizza.  That’s what will keep me from getting takeout and sitting on the couch after a long day at work instead of doing a workout video and having a salad.  And then I wonder, is that the way it is for people who never get fat in the first place?  Do they have some inner filter that I’m missing that keeps them from overeating? 

Tonight I consumed: 

1 fun size 100 Grand bar

6 SweetTarts

1 strawberry Laffy Taffy

2 mini-packs of Milk Duds

1 fun size Nestle Crunch bar

Batman Pez 

I resisted as much as I could.  But there I was, handing out candy to superheroes and witches and football players (and my personal favorites, the 18 month old who wobbled up in an alligator costume and the teenager in a massive cardboard box wearing a fancy hat “I’m a Jack in the Box!” he said) from this enormous bowl of candy for two hours, and my willpower wasn’t quite strong enough. 

I did work out afterwa

I haven’t precisely been bad while I’ve been on vacation.  I’ve eaten more sweets than I usually would, and I did skip a couple of workouts, but on the whole, I’ve tried to stick with my portion control and exercise plan.  I think I was pretty successful.  My husband and I just had a last night of vacation dinner complete with cheese fries and pizza.  I only had a small serving of the cheese fries though, and two squares of pizza.  They are pretty small squares, so I think that would equal about a slice and a half of pizza.  Where I went wrong was in having an apple cupcake. 

I’m on vacation this week, which is making it a little difficult for me to stick with my usual healthy eating.  I had been worried about breaking routine and being able to eat right while we were traveling.  As it turns out, we ended up staying home, so I have a little more control over my food choices.  Still, my brain is in vacation mode, and since my trip didn’t happen, I think I do deserve a treat or two.  My blood sugar is looking fine, but I have not been doing so great with the healthy choices so far.  Today I had five Reese’s mini peanut butter cups, two handfuls of candy corn, a couple of servings of veggie chips and a glass of ginger ale.  Not too bad, but not fabulous either.  Plus we got takeout, which, while tasty, was most definitely not good for me. 

We did it!  My friend Becky and I ran the Baltimore Race for the Cure today with the local branch of my college alumnae club, which raised a total of $500 for breast cancer research.  And it was fun!  Who’d have thought I’d ever say that about running?  But really the worst part was trying to find everyone at the beginning of the race.  Well, that and getting up at 5:40 am.  Except for Seamus (my dog), who was thrilled that I got up that early.  “We’re going for our walk now?  Awesome!”  Of course, that’s pretty much always his reaction to going outside.  John and I managed to get out of the house on time, which is quite a feat for two people who hate mornings as much as we do.  We made great time getting to Baltimore, even with having to follow a state trooper for a large chunk of the trip, because who the hell is on the road at 6:30 on a Saturday morning?  Everything was going great until we got to the Inner Harbor, where they had all these roads closed off – not the roads that the race ran on, no, no, these were the roads you take to get to the starting line.  Because people wouldn’t be trying to get there or anything.  But John valiantly fought his way through the traffic and dropped me off at the stadium, where I had instructions to meet the team captain and Becky at the Johnny Unitas statue.  Unfortunately, everyone else had the idea to meet there too.  All I knew about the team captain was that she had red hair and would be wearing a navy sweatshirt.  I wandered around and around asking people if they were Meg.  I was really starting to panic, thinking I wouldn’t find her, or Becky, in the crowd, and I wouldn’t have my registration packet, and they wouldn’t let me run and I would have done my training and gotten up early for nothing.  So I resolved that one way or another, I was running the race.  And then all of a sudden I found Meg (who was wearing a NAVY sweatshirt, not a navy blue sweatshirt) and Becky almost at the exact same time.   Becky had been making the same resolution about running no matter what, which just goes to show you why we’re friends. 

I don’t weigh myself on any set schedule.  I hop on and off the scale as I feel like it, although I try not to get obsessive about weigh-ins.  Well this morning was a hop on morning, and I’m pleased to say that I’ve now lost 30 pounds.  I’m halfway to my goal, and it feels really, really good.  Good enough to get me downstairs and working out tonight even though I didn’t get home until after 8 pm.   

I sill wish the weight loss was happening faster.  I certainly won’t break any land speed records for dropping pounds quickly, but I tell myself slow and steady wins the race.  Fitness-wise, I’m light years beyond where I was when I started this project back in March.  I’ve dropped 4 sizes.  Ok, sometimes only three sizes – it depends on the item of clothing.  Still, that is excellent progress.