Much to talk about...

...well, actually not that much. We'll see what happens after I get started here.

I have now lost about 40 pounds since my insulin resistance syndrome or syndrome X diagnosis! I'm still way too fat but I'm a whole lot less way too fat than before. It sure feels good to have less than 50 pounds to try to shed. Before this diagnosis I tried every diet known to man and had very little success. I was even gaining weight when I was on a very strict diet and working out at the gym! How frustrating is that?!

Let me tell you, the internet can often times give too much info but in this case it was very helpful. About 5 years ago I was trying to diagnose myself and had read about Syndrome X and thought this sounded like what my problem had to be so I went to my Gynecologist for my regular annual check up and boldly told him that I wanted to begin taking Metformin/Glucophage and he shot me down! He said "you don't need that, you can lose weight without that" and referred me to a nutritionist whom I did not bother to see mostly out of defiance and knowing that I had already done everything I could to try to lose weight. Meanwhile the pounds just kept packing on, only five or so a year but they do tend to add up over the years and I became quite unhappy about the whole situation and used to cry with frustration over it but I did not give up! Periodically I'd search for more info and I found some great info, one thing being that I should find and go see an endocrynologist which is exactly what I did! I found Dr. Black on the docfind feature at my insurance company's website and I looked him up on Kudzu.com and he had some good comments so off I went... After much talk and nearly draining me of half my blood he told me what I thought I had and sent me on my way with a follow up appointment in two weeks. Sure enough, it was indeed what I'd suspected all along and I was immediately put on Metformin/Glucophage! Dr. Black referred me to a nutritionist and I went; turns out it was the same one that the GYN referred me to. I told her that I'd mentioned this to my doc 5 years earlier and she said "he knows better now".

So I'm well on my way to being thin again! I've given away many of my giant clothes since they hang on me and I'm doing my best to hold off on buying anything new until I get closer to my goal which is only 35 pounds away now! I weigh less than I have in about 8 years!

On the travel front: The team leader for my Macedonia trip in December just informed us all that they were having difficulty getting us back home on the 8th of January and did we mind spending a day in Zurich at the end of our trip! Nope, I don't mind at all! I'd love to see another city in Europe even if it's only for a day in the dead of winter! Ha! I now have 99.5% of my funds in and the promise of more from several other places so it does indeed seem as though the Lord really wants me to do this! It's getting more and more exciting every day!