Healthy Living 101

[yield2me]

I’m 31 and had my first baby 6-1/2 months ago. When I was 27 weeks along, I had the mandatory test for gestational diabetes. My OBGYN was shocked when my blood sugars were off the charts. I was not the typical pregnant lady who would be diagnosed with it (overweight before the pregnancy, diabetes in the family, etc.). I’m about 5’ 4-1/2” and weighed about 125 before I was pregnant. I was already a fairly healthy eater before the pregnancy, but when I found out I was pregnant, I started eating even healthier. Then when I found out I had gestational diabetes, I was almost depressed because I had already been eating really healthy and now I had to be on a special super low carb/no yummy stuff at all kinda diet. It sucked. I had to check my blood sugar 4 times a day and call in my blood sugar numbers twice a week along with everything I had been eating. The doctors/nurses/dieticians were pretty strict. The first 5-6 weeks I was on this diabetic diet, I didn’t gain a single pound. I only gained 18 pounds total for the whole pregnancy (baby boy also decided to show up almost 6 weeks early). So after delivery I went back to eating like I used to and the last 5 pounds of baby weight just would not leave. So I incorporated the diabetic diet, lower calories & portions and a little bit of an Atkins-type diet and I use myfitnesspal.com. The only difference is that if I’m really craving something, I’ll eat it, but in a much smaller portion and then go right back to eating healthy. For me, if I crave something, that craving does not go away until I eat it. Talk about torture for a pregnant lady with diabetes! That was about 10 weeks ago I started that lifestyle change and I have lost 12 pounds. I now weigh 118 which is 7 pounds less now than I did when I got pregnant! And that’s next to no exercise! (hard to find time for that when you have a 6 month old!). 118 is what I weighed back when I was 23 when we got married (almost 8 years ago). So I’m good with this weight. Now it’s just maintaining it and incorporating exercise to tone up when I can find the time.

And the hubby is doing awesome too! Ed (pokey64) is down 30 pounds in the past 10 weeks and down a total of 64 pounds from his heaviest!

Good job everyone on the progress so far! Keep up the good work!