Feeling Good!

Alright so the first couple diet days were hell. But, I've been handling it better the last couple days. Still sticking to it. I'm not eating NO carbs & sugar (that's damn near impossible) but I'm cutting them (drastically) wherever I can. I could compare, for you, what I used to eat vs. what I've been eating, but I won't bore you with that. Just know that I'm eating waaaaaaaaay healthier than I used to. And that I plan to stick to it!

Last night, I made country fried steak, using whole wheat flour. The fried food messed with my tummy! That never happens, and it's an indicator that my body is adjusting to the healthier food, and that's a good thing. Also, I haven't been taking vitamins butt my pee has been vitamin yellow! TMI, I know. But it's a good sign, I think! Is it possible to get too many vitamins?

And I've finally found the real bright side. The things I can get excited about now, not things that we'll achieve down the road. I am excited to start playing with new diabetic recipes, and substitutes! Like, tomorrow for lunch, I'm gonna have a pizza with a cauliflower crust. I made the crust today and had a nibble. It's pretty good! I got the recipe from Angela. Now I just hope that its okay that I made the crust the night before! I have also heard of mashing cauliflower instead of potatoes. I also want to try to make some diabetic cookies eventually (that'll be later). There's lots of recipes in that book I got that I look forward to trying out, and maybe finding something new that I (and hopefully Clint) love!

Today was day 2 at the gym. Day 1 I did the elliptical for 30 minutes, burned over 300 calories. It was NOT easy. I am so beyond out of shape. I kept telling myself I'd stop at 20 minutes, 25 minutes.. But I made it the full 30, and was so proud of myself for that! Today I did the bicyle thing and I didn't like that as much. The seat is so uncomfortable, it doesn't require arms at all, it burns much less calories and is somehow more difficult. Tomorrow I think I will try the treadmill. Then once I get more comfortable I want to start mixing it up. I go in the afternoons, and my goal is to eventually be able to burn all the calories I've had that day... breakfast, lunch and any snacks. I think it'll be a little while before I get there, though. Also, I should say that our FREE gym (gotta love this town!) is really nice! It's clean and all the equipment is in good shape, AND there isn't many people there when I go, which is awesome! I much prefer to have the place to myself!

So, I have accepted that this is how my life will be now, for the rest of my life. I hope to become one of those people who has to go to the gym every day. But that may be a stretch. I think that knowing that my health is acutally in danger is the motivation I needed to get going with a diet & exercise routine. I am thinking about starting a new blog for this topic. My hope is that I'll lose a bunch of weight, reverse my pre-diabetes diagnosis, and be a success story that maybe people will think, "If she can do it, I can do it!"

And I feel good after going to the gym. This is gonna be good for me in many ways!

So, would you like to know what I've learned about pre-diabetes from the book I got? No? Well, too bad! I'm going from memory here, so I can't promise that it's 100% accurate, LOL.
*Pre-diabetes is reversible, Diabetes is not! This is why it's important for me to take action NOW, instead of later.
*Diabetes brings on heart disease, stroke, blindness and all kinds of things that I didn't realize.
*When looking at nutrition labels, you want to look for products in which the calories from fat are 30% of the total calories. So, if something has 100 calories, you want it to have 30 or less calories from fat.
*Also when reading labels, you want to look for products where the sugar makes up 25% or less of the carbs. So, if something has 40 grams of carbs, you want it to have 10 or less grams of sugar.
That's some of the main things I got from that book. That, and a little bit of science, that I would surely get wrong if I were to attempt to remember it right now. So I'll leave that out.

Now, to change the subject... Tomorrow morning I'm babysitting my nephew Jace for a couple hours, then having lunch, then the gym and then I have to start getting ready for my Easter trip to Safford! I'm going with Robin & her kids, since the husbands have to work (who needs them, anyway?). We're leaving Thursday morning and coming home Monday. It should be a fun weekend! We're gonna spend a day in Tuscon, at the fair... and the stores, no doubt. I'm only a little worried about my diet while away (especially at the fair!). I will have less control (although my MIL has already asked lots of diet questions) and we'll be eating out some, so that'll be a challenge too. But I figure, as long as I can get a salad, I should be oaky!

I've been making Mother's Day cards, and realized something...
I send out way too many Mother's Day cards! Of course I send them to our moms, grandmas and sisters, but I also send them to my friends that are moms. So it turns out I know a lot of moms. It was never a big deal when I bought them, but now that I'm making them it's a lot of work! But I am almost done. Now, if any of my mom friends (and its not allll my mom friends, just the close friends, I guess) read this, it's not a super fancy card, but it was made with love! :)

Well I guess that's all this rambly lady has to say! Till next time...