tiffgetsffit

[tiffgetsffit]

Hello, hello!

Not entirely sure what will become of this, but hey, you'll never know unless you just do it right? So, here it goes! I'm Tiff! I’m older than I’d like to be (34) and I live in the Midwest with my husband and our two pets (aka, The Overlord (the cat) and her Court Jester (the dog), lol) and I've been on a journey to a healthier lifestyle for quite awhile. I've lost weight, gained it back, lost it... and so on. This yo-yo journey came to a screeching halt in July of last year exactly where it needed to and not a moment too soon.

At that point, I was already down about 27 pounds from my highest weight of 345 pounds, but I wasn't doing much past that. My activity levels were absolutely atrocious, too. So, in July, my husband and I decided to enlist the help of a dietician to make another attempt at getting healthy and it ended up being that dietician that saved my life. As a part of the program we signed up for, we had to have our biometrics done to see where our starting point was. Prior to this, all of my blood work had always come back as slightly elevated, but nothing that diet and exercise couldn't fix. I had always been lucky in that I didn't suffer from any major health issues other than being significantly overweight. Well, this time, not only was it elevated, but my A1C was 10.4, which had my dietician recommend that I follow up with my doctor. I think I knew, deep inside, that this was where my luck had finally run out; I was likely diabetic.

We immediately switched the diet/meal plan we were working on (calorie counting alone) to one that significantly reduced the amount of carbs I was eating. I found out all of this the day before I was supposed to leave on vacation to Nashville, and I wasn't going to be able to see my doctor for almost 2 weeks. During those two weeks, though, I tracked everything. I knew I couldn't change what I had done to myself, but I wasn't about to make it worse, either. When I returned home and saw my doctor, she ran her own lipid panel to the same disastrous results, although I had managed to pull my A1C down to 9.7, though I've learned now that there is a slight discrepancy between the dietician's test and my doctor's test. She laid down the law at that point and I had an official diagnosis: I was type 2 diabetic. I also had cholesterol levels that she didn't like. I tried to plead with her not to put me on medication for either, and she shook her head very quickly. "You realize that I can put you on insulin with that A1C, right?" I really didn't want that, so we compromised: I went on the medication she wanted me to (metformin and lipitor) and if I could manage to bring my A1C down more, she wouldn't put me on insulin.

In 3 months time, I brought my A1C from 9.7 to 6.4. She was absolutely blown away. It's worth mentioning that I also brought all of my cholesterol levels closer to normal range and dropped 35 pounds.

Fast forward to my last set of labs in February: my cholesterol levels were all normal, my A1C had dropped again to 5.9, and I had lost an additional 17 pounds. I'm still on my medication and will continue to take it for as long as she feels is necessary.

As of today, I am down 97.4 pounds, overall, from my highest weight and I am SUPER stoked about getting to that 100 pounds lost, however, I’ve hit a bit of a plateau that I’m trying to work through. That being said, I am healthier and happier than I have ever been and my activity levels are through the roof. I pull 10+ miles multiple days a week on my bike. I used to have problems walking 5k and now I recently managed to jog a whole 5k without stopping, nabbing a PR for both my mile and for a 5k. It's been an amazing ride.

As for my diet, I'm still on the low carb train. It's not quite keto, as my doctor recommended that I not do that, but I use a lot of keto recipes. I average anywhere between 50-70g of total carbs a day, with a calorie intake between 1300 and 1600. I track everything with the Lose It app. My activity spans at least a half an hour a day, 6 days a week between my bike, my running, and dance fitness.

I'm stumbling into the Tumblr world for more accountability and because I need somewhere to ramble about whatever is on my mind. My journey since July has been documented on Instagram (same username) but lately I've been wanting to write more....so here we are! Not really sure what tags to use at this point, so I’ll just throw some in there that I tend to use on IG, haha.

If you took the time to read this whole post, then you are awesome, haha. I hope you have a spectacular day and feel free to follow or message me if you have any questions. I'm no expert, but I love to help people out anyway that I can! I’m still very much a work in progress, but I’ll get there - little by little, bit by bit, day by day. I’m excited for what’s in store!