It took me over 2 hours to do the first part of this blog! I finished it at 2am this morning! I started it before midnight on Saturday! I was so tired I forgot to say how many calories I ate and what I did for exercise so here goes!

I am a type 2 diabetic with Hypothyroid and Asthma! I get IBS from time to time!
On my wedding anniversary on July 12th 2009 I was over 13 stone. I tried the Ducan diet which I had read about and bought the book! But the oat bran and protein did not agree with me! I was only on it for about a month, but became very ill as it brought on my IBS. My constipation had got much worse but at times I was getting terrible diarrhoea! I felt really bad! But I WAS losing a little weight!

I was weighed in by the diabetic nurse in November 2009 at 12stone 13lb. She said I needed to lose weight and I told her what I had been doing! She gave me a few pointers, like eat low fat and wholemeal! I HAD been eating wholemeal when not on the Ducan diet! I had started weight lifting with a pair of plastic milk bottles filled with water as suggested in the Ducan book. They weighed 5 lb each. She told me to keep up the exercise! I had been walking every day and lifting Tiana and pushing her in the buggy! And she gave me a lot of encouragement!

I read the book I bought at the diabetic clinic at the hospital about losing weight as a diabetic! I started on a strict 1200 calories a day regime. I was eating vegetables, such as celery, cucumber and tomatoes with protein such as ham, egg or cheese for breakfast with a slice of wholemeal bread. I was taking psyllium as I am Hypothyroid and was having bad constipation. The IBS had cleared up after finishing with the other diet!

I started walking every day up hill near us! At the beginning I had to stop half way up and then sit on the seat at the top for 10 minutes before walking on! Then it gradually got easier and I was just sitting on the seat at the top. I started doing aerobics every day and some yoga stretches. About 30 minutes a day.

In July 2010 I had lost 2 stone (28lbs) when weighed at the diabetic clinic! But had hit a plateau and stopped losing although I was still on 1200 calories and exercising well. Adrian had seen spark people a couple of months before on the internet and shown me the site! I had read some of the articles and decided to join at the end of July!

I started tracking my food with Spark and my exercise too! I read up on strength training on the site and started doing that too! I did my own exercise routine and was doing about 1 hour aerobics a day! I cut that down to 30 minutes and did strength training as well 3 times a week. I was still walking every day. I started losing weight again.

I explored the teams spark had suggested and joined some more too! I joined the Mediterranean diet team after my friend Sheryl invited me! I had been eating quite a lot of that type of food! I am now eating a Mediterranean diabetic diet most of the time and really enjoying it!

Adrian and I started hiking! Not too far at first, but now we can do about 7 or 8 miles in a day. I have continued with my strength training and spark put up my calories a number of times. I was losing weight still!

I started joining challenges! The Official 10 minute exercise streak challenge was my first and I got my trophy! Then I joined the 5% weight loss challenge and have done several of those! Also the Dandylions team and challenges! I have been doing a number of streaks, but my walking one went to pot when we had snow last year! I joined the Facial exercise team and attempted the challenge! I am still trying to fit that in 5 days a week! It is definitely making a difference!

I started gardening again and in 2011 I grew my own vegetables without much help from DH! That was amazing exercise and I was really feeling fit and healthy! I was doing a lot of heavy digging! LOL! And entering it in my tracker!
Spark put my calories up to over 2500! I rarely eat that many! But I do have over 2000 now! I have been trying to lower it a bit as I cannot garden much in this cold weather! I have been spring cleaning instead so I can go out in the garden when it gets warmer and not worry about the house.

I have started using the exercise ball and resistance bands! I am able to use my son's weights and weight bench now! I exercise in the playground when we go there with Tiana. In the summer I use the free beach gym at Hayling Island and the ones in Portsmouth! I have been jogging in 2011 and can now run quite fast for short sprints. It helps a lot with chasing Tiana as she runs quite fast too!

I have put on a bit of weight over Christmas and am now trying hard to lose it!
This year I will grow more vegetables and some wild flowers! I am hoping to be able to swim with Tiana! I shall continue to train so that I can run and jog further for longer periods! I would like to enter a fun run, but probably not till next year! The one at Butser would be good, but its up a steep hill! Here is a photo of it between the trees in the distance which shows how steep it is! I hope!


I would like to lose a few inches off my waist, but its not happening yet!