My name is Heidi. I live in South East London, work full-time, am married, and am a mother to a 10-year old girl. I turn 50 this year. This is my story about how I walked away from diabetes.
I’ve always been conscious about my health and how I look. For over a decade I’ve been proud to say that my family and I eat seasonal and organic, fresh meat, fish, vegetables and fruit. We cook healthy family meals at home most nights, and my husband and I might open a bottle of wine with our dinner. I’ve never smoked and have always been active, exercising in a gym once or twice a week, running, hiking/biking with my family, or more recently practicing yoga. So when I was called into my GP surgery last September following some routine blood test results, I was shocked to hear I was pre-diabetic. In fact, I just didn’t believe the results. The nurse at the surgery showed me results going back to 2017, and in reality, my glucose and HbA1c levels had increased year-over-year. And to be honest, so had my weight. I had gone up one or two dress sizes over that time, but so had my friends and I blamed it on my age.
As I had my daughter a bit later in life (at 40), this was a real wake-up call for me. I really want to be there for her over the next twenty to thirty years and I want to remain active and be able to keep up with her. So when the nurse asked if I was interested in the “Walking Away from Diabetes” programme, I said yes, but was still a bit doubtful that it was something I really needed.
With COVID, I had to wait a bit for a virtual class offering, so I decided to go ahead and start my weight loss journey in the meantime. I opted to use a phone application that tracks what I eat, my exercise and how many steps a day I take. I was progressing fairly well and came to terms with the fact that although I was making pretty smart food choices, in all aspects I was over-eating and drinking too much wine (super high in calories). I had to start measuring my food and learn portion control. I was also encouraged to make some food swaps, changing white basmati rice and pasta for brown rice and whole wheat pasta. I also came to terms with how I hardly get up and walk during the week. Monday to Friday working from home, I was remaining mostly sedentary in front of my computer for at least eight to ten hours a day.
I attended the WAFD virtual classes in January 2021. I was still in denial about my results but attended the programme anyway. I learned all about insulin and glucose and the relationship it had to my energy levels, hunger and health. I was beginning to understand a lot more about the risks my weight and diet were having to my health and longevity, so was motivated to remain on the programme. Here’s what I did:
- Set a very clear and tangible objective (mine was to lose at least 10 kilos to reduce my BMI and no longer be pre-diabetic).
- Shared my goal and motivation with my family and close friends so they could offer support when I needed it.
- Increased my activity level to at least 30 minutes of some type of activity, six times per week.
- Reduced my wine consumption to two small glasses just two times per week (only if I had calories to spare that day).
- Swapped short car journeys with walking or bike riding where I could.
- Changed my sedentary behaviour – got up from the computer during the day to walk on an errand or during a conference call and made running errands part of my daily exercise plan.
Results:
In March 2021 I took my follow up blood test and am super proud to tell you that I went from an HbA1c level of 6.2 to just 5.4 and am no longer pre-diabetic. I’ve lost 12 kilos and am down one to two dress sizes. I am more flexible than I have ever been in my entire life and have had more fun playing with my daughter now that I can keep up with her. More importantly, my new eating habits have become my new norm. I’m done using my weight loss app and was worried I wouldn’t be able to maintain the weight loss, but so far I have. I don’t have to measure and count as much as I’ve learned what a healthy portion looks like. And some of my food swaps have become my family’s, some haven’t, but I am proud to say that I stick to what I need to do in order to be healthy. I’ve learned how to take care of myself so that I can be there for my family.
I’d like to thank the WAFD team. Before the programme I was in denial about the risks to my health and have learned so much about how to maintain a healthier lifestyle.
