just like starting over

Holy crap on a cracker, I cannot believe how long it has been since I've posted here!

Admittedly, my journey to a healthier me has taken lots of twists and turns over the past year. Lots of restarts, lots of derailing...

At the moment, I'm taking a kinder, gentler approach to things and both my husband and I are doing this together.

For the longest time, we've been complaining to each other about how far off track we both got. Neither of us has been thrilled with how we've been feeling, unfit and generally yucky. He's a type II diabetic and we're both overweight. This is not good for anyone.

Last week, he had what ended up being the flu but a few trips to the doctor and the diabetic clinic for some pretty extensive tests was a bit of a wake up call for both of us.

Over the weekend, we talked about it a lot and crafted a plan I think will work for us. It's pretty simple, we both eat very reasonable and healthy breakfasts and lunches - I eat breakfast at home and always take my lunch to work, he eats both meals at home because his work schedule permits that. Dinner and the evenings in general is where we get into trouble. Our food is not necessarily high in fat but our portions have been way too big. We also both are snack addicts in the evening while watching tv. Dangerous combo.

This week, we've been having smaller dinner portions and not been snacking in the evenings. So far (and it's only been two days) it's going very well. He is noticing a difference in his morning blood glucose reading already.

The other part of this is exercise. We have really not been doing anything remotely resembling intentional exercise. We have a perfectly good recumbent bike sitting in the basement which we hadn't used for ages. The second part of our deal is this: when we get home from work, I do my ride while he makes dinner (I don't like to ride on a full stomach). When dinner is over, he rides (which is what he should be doing as a diabetic so we've been told). Riding the bike and eating smaller meals is what helped me lose 75 pounds a few years ago and I know it'll work again. Already today, I'm looking forward to getting back on the bike when I get home tonight.

I think we are off to a great start and because we are doing it together, we can help keep each other on track. I have some short term and long term goals that I'll talk about later. The one I will mention is posting here more often. I realize I miss writing and do like to share my small victories and challenges as I do this.

If anyone is still out there reading this, I plan to be back for the long haul!!