Information is Key

I'm realizing that if I understand the "why," it is much more likely to resonate and stick with me.

I had a great teacher at the clinic the other day, a nurse, sit down and explain to me about insulin and carbohydrates. I'll try to summarize my learning...

When we eat carbohydrates, complex or simple, the body produces insulin to help regulate the sugar in our blood. It carries sugar to the cells, and the muscles (if you are exercising)... and they only will take a certain, fixed amount that they need. Then the door is shut. The reserve area, for any leftover sugar, gets taken to the fat cells. Fat cells have no limit. They just get bigger and bigger. And bigger.

Insulin spikes and lowers- the length and amount depend on the quantity and type of the carb. Complex carbohydrates like whole grains, for example, are lower on they glycemic index and the insulin leaves the body more quickly.

Insulin is also a hunger hormone, It's a stimulant that tells your brain that it's hungry.

The hormone that uses up fat and gets rid of it is called Glucagon.

So here's the kicker...

Glucagon doesn't work in the presence of insulin.

Raw Honesty

Photo Evidence 

Ok- time for some serious humbling. This is me at my heaviest. (The one on the left). 255. That's my thin, 6' mom beside me and then my dad beside her in the yellow.  Wonder if genetics play a part? Which parent's body shape did I get?

This was last summer. After a year of going to gym and thinking I was really "doing it." This pic makes me cringe but it's me, through and through. 245.

Okay, so the newer pictures are coming in some future posts. But I wanted to save it for a bit later.
But keep in mind I don't do drastic. I do slow and steady for the long haul.

(On a side note, damn I wish I could do drastic sometimes. I cannot. This is me doing the very best I can. )

A long journey

So it's been a while since I've sat down to write here. But what is a year or two in this never-ending, life-long journey? That's what it has become for me- not a thing I'm trying, but little changes every day that are becoming permanent routines in my life.
I hit a point about 5 or 6 months ago, where I got completely, utterly discouraged. I was going to the exercise clinic 2 times a week, putting in what I felt was my best effort, and I had gained back all the weight I had lost the year prior (10 lbs?). It has been a really big deal for me to cut that time out of my life- away from my family- to drive half an hour each way to go exercise. I was very frustrated. I looked up lapband surgery again. I was back where I started.
(It's interesting that the absence of any blogging coincided with my seeming failure at this whole 'healthier' thing. We don't tend to reflect on and discuss our failures until much time has passed.)

The exercise clinic that I belong to takes a multi-disciplinary approach to health. It is unique because it is one of the only medically supervised clinics that also focuses on the preventative side of medicine. You must be referred by a doctor, and it reaches all walks of life- focusing on treatment and prevention of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and other health concerns such as cancer and depression.
Exercise IS the medicine. 
I have seen many health benefits over the last year and a half. My energy and mobility have increased, and my joints and pains are much better than they used to be. I have cut my antidepressant medicine by 75% and feel amazing!

The problem is that the weight is still there. And so is my constant, crippling pain in my foot (plantar faciitis), which forces me to limp most days. Lose the weight if you want it to go away, the doctor says.

It was time to see the clinic's medical director, Dr. Ali Zentner, to go deeper into this journey. She has rocked my world in so many ways. She, herself, lost 175 lbs and is an internal medicine specialist- focusing on obesity - she knows what she's talking about. But she's not easy on me in any stretch of the imagination. My next blog posts will focus on my journey with Ali and all the things I'm learning.

Til next time!