When people see pictures of me from before, they comment on how much weight I have lost and asked me how I did it. I usually respond with “I got diabetes,” which typically results in an “I’m sorry.” I love this response; it’s like I told them I have a death sentence, but I quickly let them off the hook by says, “It’s okay, I reversed it.” Now they are intrigued and start to ask me more questions.
Weight Loss
The weight loss part of my transformation is the easiest to see and understand, so most people ask me how I reversed my diabetes. I tell them about losing 85 pounds and how that got me on the right path. They always want to know, what “diet” I used to lose all my weight.
This part is when I get to shock them again; I tell them “It’s not a diet, it’s a lifestyle.” For most people, I find that they are looking for that pill, method or food that will help them to lose weight. This reason is why the weight loss industry sells billions of dollars worth of products every year. Living like a person with Diabetes isn’t a diet plan or unique formula to weight loss, it is all about a lifestyle change.
Lifestyle, not Life Altering
Much like the first shock of why I lost weight, the knowledge that my weight loss success is not a diet but a change begins to make most people start to gloss over with the thoughts that they have to change their lives so drastically as to make this life-altering decision. This alleged fact is just not true.
Making a lifestyle change does not have to mean life-altering. In my case, it was life-threatening, but I did not find the lifestyle changes to be difficult or unreasonable. Diabetes is a disease of choice. Diabetes in its type 2 form, is not going to kill you today or tomorrow, it’s going to die you slowly over more extended periods of time. This one is why so many people accept taking medication or insulin as reasonable options. They don’t see the effects of the choices until much later.
Think, Eat, Move
The Live Like a Diabetic lifestyle is defined by the three components that make up this site, Think, Eat and Move like a person with Diabetes. All three parts are necessary to live like a diabetic and more importantly to continue living like a Diabetic. Living like a Diabetic is a lifelong process, not just something thing that happens now and then ignore it later. Living like a Diabetic, when done correctly, is a lifelong commitment to thinking, eating and moving to keep your diabetes under control. This lifestyle requires you to get your mind, appetite, and body in shape to live out a full and long life.
As I was told by my doctor in the hospital, “If you take care of your diabetes, you have a higher likelihood of die-ing from something else, than you do from diabetes.” Think, Eat and Move like a person with diabetes to live a full and abundant life.
Do you live the diabetic lifestyle? Share your experiences with living like a person with diabetes with use.
