62lbs in 297 days https://imgur.com/gallery/mLyqv0f
SW: 230lbs TW: 168lbs GW: 150lbs Method: CICO A1c: 5.1% Favorite NSV: COLLAR BONES! 😍😍😍
My journey started at the end of September of 2018. I have type 2 diabetes and was forced to find a new PCP since my current one was leaving the state. I located a new doctor and had our "new patient" visit including the reading of current blood work.
He tells me that while my A1c is still considered "ok" (at 7.1%) but that it, and my weight, had been trending upward from my lowest of 5.9% back in 2012. He proceeded with the standard lecture about weight and diabetes I'd heard my whole life (I was diagnised T2D 2011). I fully planed to ignore him and get some Arbys after this because I'm starving. Then he goes off script and tells me the ONLY way I'll EVER get back on track is to go vegan. And proceeds to lecture about dairy products and red meats for a solid 15 minutes. He wants me to watch a documentary about forks and knives. I'm barely paying attention, thinking about curly fries. We make a follow up appointment for early December.
Fast forward a week, and I have a new patient exam with a gynecologist in the same office and I tell her what he said (since she asked how I'd liked my new PCP). She said that he tells ALL of his new patients that because he's a vegan too, but that while THAT method isn't necessarily good for everyone, that the necessity of the reason is true (thanks for telling me I have a fat vagina lady 🙄). But, then I got MAD. How DARE he push his lifestyle on me like it's a miracle cure? I already shouldn't eat carbs or sugar, and now he wants me to cut out meat and dairy? And I rage about the pretentious nature of vegans. And I decide that by the time I see him again, I'm going to be 200lbs or less.
I'd never really ever TRIED to lose weight. When I was first diagnosed T2D in 2011, the meds and life changes made me drop about 40lbs. But I definitely gained it (and then some) back. So I did some research and discover the concept of base metabolic rate. I'd never thought to apply SCIENCE to weight loss. Novel concept, I know 🤷. I surmised that with a BMR of about 1,850 that I could consume that many calories and maintain. Anything less would let a loss. I settled on 1,000 to 1,200 calories a day as a goal. That settled the CI part of CICO idea. I found a calorie tracker app called LifeSum and I love it. I like it's user interface better than MFP and the fitbit app. The other game changer for CI is using a recipe nutrition calculator so I could meal prep and track calories instead of only eating Lean Cuisens and Smart Ones for every meal.
Calories out was harder. I work at a Home Depot store full time and am on my feet nearly the whole time and my job is to be all over. My phone, which I nearly always had on me tracked steps and told me an average of 8,000 or so steps. I don't know if that's a lot but I feel like it was a fair amount. Deliberate exercise is more complicated. In October of 2017, I had pretty significant hip surgery and I need another. The first brought my daily pain from around an 8 to about a 3 on the standard pain scale. But it is always worst with use. Bad days, even after the first surgery could still be a 5 or 6. So I needed something low impact. I hated the idea of a gym so I needed something at home. Treadmill was out because it was too high impact. I loved the idea of an elliptical, but like I said I work at Home Depot, I'm not exactly rich over here. I settled on this thing called a Gazelle (google it, haha) - it's basically a simplified elliptical machine that I found on the Facebook marketplace for $80. I aimed to do 1 hour or 600 calories burned, which ever came first, 3 days a week. I also bought a FitBit Versa to better track steps and calories. My work step average has been 10,000 to 12,000 a day depending on how busy we are.
Come December when I saw the new PCP again, I was exactly 199lbs! He was blown away. He said he'd never seen a patient lose that much weight on their own, after one lecture from him. He asked if I'd gone vegan or watched his dumb movie. I proudly tell him absolutely not and that I just used science. My new A1c was 6.3% and he was very pleased and told me I should be proud of myself.
I have continued to follow this method for 297 days thus far and don't plan to stop. I have dropped off the workout wagon a bit due to increased hip pain. It's the busy season at work and I'm regularly burning more than 1,000 calories over my BMR anyway. Plus it was taking me longer and longer to reach the same calories burned. I need new equipment or maybe finally join a gym when the busy season dies down at work and my hip pain subsides a bit. I do still need the second surgery though. Which will mean 6 weeks no weight bearing on the hip. That's got me terrified but we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
Thanks for reading this far! I look forward to the help and support this group can provide!
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