My Name is Betsey and I Love Food

My name is Betsey and I have a love affair with food.  Simple as that.  I'm not a foodie really.  I hate to cook.  I like baking a little bit.  Mostly I enjoy the eating part.  I prefer someone else do the prepwork.  I was a picky eater as a kid.  My diet consisted of macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese, cheeseburgers, bologna and cheese sandwiches... see the trend here?   I have become more adventurous as an adult and have a much longer list of veggies I enjoy now besides just peas and corn.   OH and broccoli with yeah, you guessed it, cheese.  It wasn't a coincidence that I married a man from Wisconsin! 

 I've always struggled with weight.  I was "cute" in high school but certainly not one of those girls who could wear a bandanna as a belt!  I gained and lost in my 20's and thanks to Gestational Diabetes when I was pregnant with Kayla, I ended up thinner after my pregnancy than before.  Why is it so easy to eat right when it effects someone else but so hard when its just your life at stake?  I always stayed within 160-180 lbs.  That seemed to be ok.  My clothes fit fine and I didn't have any health issues.  Then I got pregnant again.  Pregnancy agrees with me.  I enjoyed wearing maternity clothes and not worrying about sucking in my tummy.  But about 18 months after the baby came, my thyroid went a little crazy.  I was diagnosed as Hyperthyroid in June of 2007.  One of the symptoms was supposed to be rapid weight loss but I wasn't "lucky" enough to experience that one.  I just had the crazy heart beat, mood swings, horrible anxiety, hair loss, skin rashes, and muscle weakness.  I went on anti-thyroid meds for a year and then had radioactive iodine done to kill off my thyroid gland which made me Hypothyroid and basically killed my metabolism.  I was 182 when I was diagnosed and I sit at 195 today.  There it is in black and white... 195.  Five pounds away from two hundred.

Last week I went to a new endocrinologist.  I've been letting my GP check my thyroid levels but felt like I needed to get a specialist back into the mix.  My parents both have Type II Diabetes and I knew it was a possibility that I may be diagnosed with the same at some point.  First thing the nurse did was stick my finger to take my fasting blood sugar which was 113 (it should be below 100).  The doc came in and asked all sorts of questions related to thyroid but also related to Diabetes.  He said my blood sugar was definitely higher than he'd like and after a physical exam he diagnosed me Pre-Diabetic and also with PCOS or PolyCystic Ovary Syndrome.  He gave me a prescription for Metformin and told me to diet and exercise and come see him in six months.  (I got my bloodwork results in the mail yesterday and it turns out my thyroid numbers are actually high, not low.  Doc doesn't want to change any meds right now though.)

I posted about this on Facebook and was overwhelmed by the support I got.  I wanted to be held accountable for this new lifestyle change and I thought putting it all out there might help.  A few friends suggested I blog about the journey so here I am.   Please feel free to comment on any post and share with others as you see fit.   As self centered as it might sound, I need your comments and encouragement!!  Its the biggest motivator for me. 

* The title of the blog is courtesy of my 9 year old.  It goes along with my philosophy that diets don't work.  The only changes that work are lifestyle changes and you have to take baby steps.  Don't deprive yourself of the things you love or it will be so much easier to fall of the proverbial wagon.