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Side Effects

I’m sure most of us, if not all of us, have experienced them. If you’ve taken any type of medicine, you’ve likely had some type of side effect. In actuality, just breathing gives us some kind of side effect. 

The way I see it, it’s a “cause and effect” issue. “If this…, then that…” If you’re a math nerd, then you understand. Any engineer gets it, or chemist, or, well, you get it. Change one or more parts of an equation, and it changes the outcome. The results can either be a good reaction (a blessing, if you will), or one not so favorable (or a curse). 

Side effects…this is what guided me to want to lose weight. Not that I was experiencing a whole lot of them, well, actually, I was, but had grown accustomed to them. But, I wanted to avoid more of them. 

The side effects of most diabetes medications usually include some type of weight loss, which seems like a good thing, but it also includes high blood pressure, digestive problems, like acid reflux, and other such side effects. The answer, from the doctors anyway, is to add more medications. You take one for diabetes, then add blood pressure meds, then comes the cholesterol meds; oh, and the omeprazole (for the acid reflux). If you’re not careful with what you’re eating, you then need to add more diabetes meds, increase the dose of this, add another med for that, and this will lead to…you guessed it, more side effects. 

What are the side effects for taking insulin? Well, you stand a chance of taking too much, and then your glucose levels might drop too fast. Thankfully, this was not the case for me, my first (and hopefully last) does of insulin. Though, I was highly monitored after the does was administered. God was certainly looking out for me. 

What are the side effects of “dieting”. Well, in truth, we all “diet”. According to Wikipedia, diet is the sum of food consumed by an organism. So, if you eat a food, and digest it, you have a diet. But, most people associate that word with weight loss programs. Most of the programs out there are what I would consider fad diets, meaning, they work, for a while, but once you try to change back after reaching your goal, you will gain most, if not all, of the weight back. Look at that, a cause and effect scenario. Side effects. 

You change something in your diet, your body reacts to that, in a positive way, if you are trying to lose weight, then when you change it again, it reacts, again. 

What did I change, to allow me to lose 76 pounds (that’s right, as of today, I am down 76 pounds). I changed my mind. I decided that I wanted to be healthy. What did I need to do to get healthy? I needed to eat healthy. I needed to eat less (and I piled food in abundance onto my plate). I needed to move, get active, get off the couch, and get that metabolism burning again. Sounds like a lot, but it started with one change, my mind. 

The side effect from that one “small” thing, weight loss. I do eat less, and more healthy foods. On occasion, I do allow myself an indulgence, but definitely not as often as I used to. 

Another side effect, I don’t hurt as much as I used to. At 213 lbs., I felt a lot of pain in my hips, knees, feet, back (especially in my back). Once I started moving, even for 15 minutes, I felt more energy. I started feeling better about myself, more confident. It took a while, before I started moving, working out, for more than 15 minutes. Once I did, on a regular basis, I noticed that the weight began to melt away. I believe that I ignited that metabolism, just be getting up and moving. Since then, I have included at least 30 minutes a day, for 6 days a week. Usually, my workouts are videos, either DVDs, or streamed from Amazon Prime. These do not cost a lot of money, and better than that, it’s a “one time” price. I also walk a lot, in the neighborhood (that is free). Some people choose to join a gym, or a running group, which is fine, but for me, I’m an introvert, and prefer to work out on my own. Side effect…I’m feeling stronger, less pain. Though, I’m feeling new pain in my arms, but that’s likely from age. 

Another side effect to weight loss is shopping. Not for groceries. Everyone has to do buy those. Well, actually, everyone needs to buy clothes, too, but not a whole wardrobe, at one time. I shrank out of my old clothes. All of the clothes I wore last January are gone. I am very thankful that I have friends that have donated “hand me downs” during my journey. That has saved me a lot of money, since even some of those clothes are too big. I did purchase some clothes, which I have now donated (passed on), since I shrank out of those as well. I tend to think of these as rented clothes. If you go to a thrift store, purchase the size that fits you at the time, and then donate them back to the same thrift store, well, that’s rented clothes. HaHa. At this point, with only two pounds left to lose, I am at the size that I will strive to stay at, for the rest of my life. So now, the clothes that I recently purchased, will likely stay in my wardrobe for years to come. So, if you like shopping, there you go. LOL (By the way, I am not a fan of clothes shopping) I will say, when you are on a weight loss journey, and succeeding in reaching your small goals (more about those in a later blog), it is terribly overwhelming to even think about trying on a size that is smaller than what you have been used to. I nearly cried, and felt pains in my stomach, when trying on a size 10, after wearing a 16/18 for so many years. So, another side effect in this, is the emotions of realizing that, yes, you can get smaller, we sometimes will face a self-denial.

The above side effects are definitely positive ones. Though spending money on new clothes can be difficult, when you are not accustomed to this. There are some tough side effects, unexpected, to say the least. You see, there is one side effect that I did not know about. One that nobody has ever talked about. That is the effect of hair loss. Remember that cause and effect thing I mentioned? Well, you change the equation, and there will be a change in the outcome. I lost the weight, and my body changed its chemistry. I started noticing about 6-8 months ago, that there was a lot of hair going down the drain, and getting left onto my hair brush, being left on the bathroom sink. At first, I thought maybe it was stress, or something else. About two months ago, I decided to check the internet, to see if there is a connection in losing a large amount of weight, and hair loss. Turns out, there is. I had never heard about that before, but now I know. The good news is, that the hair will eventually return, as long as I maintain my weigh, and healthy eating. Don’t misunderstand me, I still have hair, but it is a lot thinner than it used to be. I will be patient, and wait for the hair to return. 

One more side effect is the loose skin. If you have ever watched the show “The Biggest Loser”, I’m sure that you have seen the part of the season, where they discuss the surgery needed to remove that loose skin. No, I will not get that surgery, and have never even entertained the idea of having it done. You see, Jillian Michaels, one of the former trainers on the show, had made a statement, years ago, that sticks with me to this day. Stretch marks, and loose skin, are actually rewards, and reminders of where we have been, and a trophy of the success in weight loss. Now, the older a person is when they lose a lot of weight, the harder it is for the skin’s elasticity to allow the skin to “bounce back”. But, the good news is, it does start to get back to normal (in a sense). I am not seeing the skin as loose as it was a few months ago. The stretch marks (or scars, if you will) will always be there. But, they will not be as prominent. They will remind me of the children that I bore, and the large amount of weight that I lost. Of the good health that I have chosen. 

This may sound strange, but I will always be thankful for every scar I have, as they are reminders of where I’ve been. In life, we learn from mistakes we make, trials we have experienced. We can also learn from other people’s mistakes, and their wisdom. What an amazing God we have, that He allows us to grow in such a way. 

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, and I pray that God will bless you.

Please feel free to leave a comment, as others may learn from your wisdom.

“Might as well face it, you’re addicted to…” FOOD

The dictionary defines addiction as “the state of being compulsively committed to a habit or practice or to do something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming, as narcotics, to such an extent that its cessation causes severe trauma.” When most people think of addiction, they think of drug use, or alcohol. In some cases, it applies to any type of habit or practice. For example, a person can be addicted to their phone/tablet, and have problems when separating from these devices. Can a person be addicted to food? Of course they can. I believe that I have an addiction to sweets, which leads to a multitude of health problems; obesity, diabetes, heart disease, and the list goes one. 

But, let’s face it. How many of us can live without food? Not me, and I’m sure you can’t either. I had a conversation with a gentleman about a month ago, who was telling me how impressed he was with my progress. You see, this man (who shall remain nameless), as well as many of my friends, has never known me to be thin/skinny. When he met me, I weighed more than 200 pounds. Because of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place, self-quarantine, days, many of my friends, including him, and his wife, we don’t always get to see each other as often as before. During our conversation, this man mentioned that he has great respect for the progress I have made. This man knows how difficult it can be. He has tried many diets in his lifetime (he is not a young man), and he was successful in quitting smoking more than 30 years ago. 

He said something that sticks with me, and will for many, many, years to come. While he admits that quitting smoking was very difficult, it is not as difficult as losing weight, and keeping it off. You see, as he pointed out, we can live without cigarettes, we can live without alcohol, and we can certainly live without drugs. So, quitting these things will improve our lives. But, try living without food. This is something that we need to survive. Sure, we can live a few days, even weeks, without food, but, the body (our internal organs) will react to the lack of sustenance, and cause damage, that could last a life time. 

So, what do we do to reach, and maintain, the perfect weight? And, how do we know what the perfect weight for us is? If we stop eating, our body will go into survival mode, and will likely be counter-productive, and cause more frustration. If we set too high of a goal for ourselves, it can leave to frustration, and we might give up, and might even gain more weight than we lost. 

Noom taught me that balance is important, along with setting reasonable, and small, goals. My take away from that, is face the truth. I am a glutton. That’s the truth. I ate too much food, especially too much food that is not good for me, i.e. junk food, sweets, manufactured foods. I have learned to leave those things at the grocery stores, and shop the outside of the store. Fresh veggies and fruits, instead of what’s in the middle/aisles of the store. 

Don’t get me wrong, I still will have the occasional sweet, which I call treats, but I have noticed that they really don’t taste as good to me as they did before. 

So, I mentioned balance. If you’re my age, you might remember the “balanced diet” term that was used in schools, and on TV. Gotta have your protein, grains, fruits and vegetables, dairy/cheeses, that sort of thing. Well, that’s not the only thing we need to consider when looking at balance. I think of whole foods, instead of processed foods. 100% whole grains, instead of “enriched” (after all, bleached, enriched flour, means that they bleached the wheat, taking away all of the nutrients from the grain, and then added back in the nutrients). Guess what, turns out enriched is bad for the body too. Our bodies don’t need to work very hard to process this enriched food, causing more damage. Whole, fresh fruits and veggies help our bodies as well, and make us feel fuller, with less calories, not to mention the water that comes with it. We also need to balance our diets with exercise/movement. Remember, we are balancing, not one more than the other. But wait, there’s more. We also need to balance all of this with our spiritual life. I am a Christian, and my faith is in God, and my Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ. Prioritizing my spiritual life, with family life, and getting my workout in, and being mindful of what I’m putting into my body, has helped me to be successful in my journey to good health, during the COVID pandemic. There are so many people who have complained of depression, weight gain, or other problems, and they blame the pandemic. 

So, it is possible to fight the food addiction, and control what goes into the body, as long as we are mindful of our actions. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. 

Please feel free to leave comments. Thank you for reading my blog. 

First Blog, written December 31, 2020

Think back to a year ago. What were you doing? Were you setting your New Year’s resolution? Were you, like me, excited to face 2020? I mean, think about it. 2020, when said in a different way, 20/20, seems like we would have a clear vision and, maybe even hope. Many of my friends were exited for the new year. The election was ahead of us. For some, they were hoping to see Trump win a second term, for others, they were hoping that Trump would be voted out. It was a 50/50 chance, but hey, some are happy, some are disappointed. 

For me, 2020 seemed like an adventure. My husband and I would celebrate our 30^thanniversary. We made reservations to go on a cruise in February, to the Bahamas. How fun is that. Our daughter who lives in California would be booking a flight for her and her family to visit us. We hadn’t seen her in over a year, and we haven’t seen her son (our grandson) or her husband in almost two years. We sure do miss them.

I am not like most people. I understand that resolutions are easily broken, so I don’t make them. I do, however, choose some character trait or habit that I would like to improve or break, but I don’t wait for the new year to start those improvements. I resolve to fix those right away. One thing I do start at the new year is the reading the Bible, in a year. Which I have done for the past ten years. 

So, Monday, December 30^th, 2019, I woke up, ate my breakfast, took my medication for diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol, and drove myself to work. All 215 pounds of me. I was overweight (some would say obese), and not healthy. My blood sugar levels were out of control. I was on two different types of diabetes meds at that time, and about to start a new one. That Monday, I felt fine, yet my daily glucose levels were higher than they should be, I had no complaints, and no plans to change what the course I was on. 

Tuesday came, and more of the same. I went to work. Taking with me the usually self-packed lunch, including snacks, as my typical day would include three meals, and three snacks. My choices were not unhealthy (so I thought), but they were not the healthiest choices either. That night, my husband, Carl, and I were planning to spend our New Year’s Eve as we had for the past few years. Just the two of us at home, either watching a movie, or whatever we could find that was entertaining, on TV. I had gotten up off the couch to do something, and felt very weak, dizzy almost, and began to sweat. At first, I thought it was just another hot flash. I have had them for the past 8 years, what was one more day, right? The dizziness, and weakness did not subside, and I became concerned. I did not say anything to Carl, but decided to check my glucose levels. The reading, at that point, was 450+. For those of you who have diabetes, you understand that that is not good. You see, in my fight with type II diabetes, I had only ever experienced hypoglycemic episodes, and never hyperglycemia. This was my first time (and I’m hoping my last). When I told Carl, he rushed me to the ER, and it was still high. They gave me my first dose of insulin. While there really is no side effects from taking an insulin shot, this is something that I never wanted. Just another medication to add to the list. This experience scared me. If my glucose levels were any higher, it could be very dangerous. This was not the way I wanted to spend my New Year’s Eve. It was an eye opener, to say the least. I did follow up with my doctor, or I should say, the doctor who was standing in for the one who I had been seeing. You see, my regular doctor was no longer practicing, due to his own health issues, so the doctor I saw was not as familiar with my diabetes status. So, like most doctors, he just added another medication. Now I was taking three meds for diabetes, one for blood pressure (which, by the way, is due to diabetes), and cholesterol, as well as acid reflux, due to the side effects from all of these other meds. L I was taking the highest dose of metformin. This means that I am taking medicines in the morning and in the evening. 

Even though I was so excited to see 2020, this visit to the ER, and the follow up at the doctor’s, I was quite discouraged. I spent the next 5 days praying, meditating, and researching as to what I could do to reverse this disease. 

I had looked at all sorts of diets. Many of my friends have been, and were currently on, a variety of different fad type diets. I am not one for the fad stuff. I prefer to see the long term of the situation. Once you reach a goal on a fad diet, and try to go back to how things are, you end up gaining again. And, sometimes, more than you lost. This was not the plan for me. I knew, at that point, that what I needed was a life time change, and it was going to involve a psychological change as well. I had looked at Noom about three months prior, but still wasn’t sure if this was what I needed. I didn’t know anyone who had tried it, so, I had no knowledge of a success rate for this. What I needed was to take a leap of faith. 

On January 4^th, I did just that. I took a leap. Noom was offering a great deal, as well as the first two weeks for free. I figured that if I wasn’t seeing any results in two weeks, I can cancel, and I wouldn’t be out any money. The only thing I really knew about Noom, is that they focus on psychology. It really is not a weight loss program, but a series of small “courses” to help you focus on improving your overall health. This would be physical health, mental health, and, for me, spiritual health. They do address some of the fad type diets, but they really let you choose what you want to eat, and how much. One thing Noom did have me do is decide on my “Your Big Picture” (or YBP). My YBP is to get off of medication. I did not choose a specific weight loss goal, no certain amount that I wanted to lose, just that I wanted to be off of my diabetes meds, and get my A1C levels down to non-diabetic level. The A1C is the test they give to see what the average glucose level has been for the past three months. The highest I had was 7.3, which isn’t an extreme amount, but not the best either. I wanted mine to get below 5.7.

Keep in mind, I had plans with my husband, just about 5 weeks after I signed up for this program, to go on a cruise. If any of you have ever been on a cruise, you know, it is a veritable smorgasbord. Literally, it is a floating buffet, filled with all sorts of foods that could feed a city. In those 5 weeks, I lost 15 pounds, and had already gone down one size. My average weekly weight loss was 2.5 pounds. I was elated, and thanks to Noom, approached the cruise with a plan. I went on this cruise, planning to make sensible food choices, even if it was the buffet. They do have fresh fruits, and veggies, so those were my choices. When in the dining room, I chose foods I would enjoy, but only ate half of what was on my plate, and yes, I had desserts as well. The menu always included a sugar free/fat free option for desserts. Another choice I made was to take the stairs, most of the time. My husband was not always wanting to do the stairs, so we did take the elevator, especially when going up, but I would always take the stairs down. I also walked around the ship as much as possible. During excursions, we did a lot of walking. After returning from our one week vacation, the scale proved that I was making sensible choices, as I had not gained anything. In fact, I lost weight. 

Keep this in mind, our cruise was around the beginning of the pandemic. News of the virus had been in the media, but mostly in other countries, but at the time of our cruise, at least two other ships were quarantined off the east, and west, coasts of the U.S. We were constantly washing our hands (to the point that my skin was badly irritated), but we were not required to wear masks yet. At the beginning of March, about 15 days after we returned from our cruise, the company I worked for announced that anyone who would be going on a cruise, or out of state (or country) would be required to quarantine themselves for 15 days after their trip. I had just reached that 15 days, so it didn’t affect me. 

Toward the end of March, we were still working from the office, but many of the schools were closing, due to the virus. Mind you, at this point, the stats in our state were not as bad as other states. We would be considered one of the better states to be in, since the outbreak wasn’t as bad. Some of my co-workers were getting the opportunity to work from home, as they had school-aged children, who needed a parent at home. Other people were gaining this opportunity, due to their health conditions, making them high risks. Being diabetic, this put me in the high-risk category as well. I requested that I be allowed to work from home, to keep me safe from exposure to the virus. Due to a lack of laptops available (you see, many of the other corporations were buying them up for their own employees to work from home), I was told I needed to wait. At that point, the officials were still not convinced that wearing a mask was the best way to keep safe, but they were starting to make it mandatory. 

On April 8^th, I was finally provided with a laptop, and allowed to work from home. I stayed at home for 5 months, working from home. I was productive, getting things done, and attending meetings via conference calls. Not everyone in the company had access to computer cameras, so video conferences were not an option. 

During my time at home, I was hearing of other people, within the Noom community, and in the social media, complaining that the pandemic, and staying at home, was causing people to gain weight. They were not exercising, or eating right. I couldn’t figure out why, since I was not just getting more workout time in, I was eating sensibly, and less food. I went from six meals a day, to 4, with one of those meals consisting of only one fruit. I was feeling more energy, shrinking out of my clothes. I managed to get in a workout 5-6 times a week. When my boss finally advised me it was time to go back to the office, I had lost around 65 pounds. Upon my return, many of my co-workers didn’t recognize me. My starting weight with Noom was 213.6, and I returned to work weighing around 150 pounds. I went from a size 16/18 to a size 10 (at that time). 

Through the holidays, my weight continues to go down. I now have the goal of reaching 135. That is a total of 78 pounds lost. As of the writing of this first blog, I am down 75 pounds. Only three left to reach that goal. I am wearing a size 8, but will likely fit into a size 6, I just haven’t tried. And the best part of it all, as I approach my one year anniversary of the start of my journey to good health, is that I am officially off of all diabetes medication. Noom has helped me learn more about myself, and what I am capable of doing. I have learned so much about what I need to do to keep myself off of medications. This is not a cure, but a way to control type II diabetes with diet and exercise. As the doctor puts it, I am still diabetic, and still need to be mindful of that, everyday. My last A1C was 5.6, lower than the goal of 5.7, and well within the normal range. My YBP has been achieved, and I am so thankful. I know that Noom provided me with the tools, and that I am the one who has learned how to use them, but I credit God with providing me with the strength I need to use those tools. The journey to good health takes a lot of courage, to face the truth about yourself. 

This is just the first, of many installments of my blog (or, as I like to put it, musings, or journalings). I will share more information, and things I have learned during my journey, in the weeks, and months, to come.

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