It’s been a week of medical offices and State of My Body revelations. And, honestly, it has kinda sucked.

I have known that I regained all the weight that I lost in The Great Reduction; however, there’s a difference in knowing it by the size of your pants and knowing by your BMI. My doctor calculated my BMI this week and I nearly fainted. In the words of the Sheriff of Nottingham in Walt Disney’s animated Robin Hood, “Criminently!”

Doc also ran some blood tests which show that I am not only obese again, but also pre-diabetic now.

Oh-ho, but no! No. Thank. You.

I resolved the instant the doctor gave me that little tidbit of news to go back to eating the way I did during The Great Reduction and get this weight back off. Then, on the way home, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up something for dinner and picked up a piece of carrot cake for one last treat.

Then I put it back down.

Because “one last treat” never is. “I’ll start tomorrow” becomes Monday, then after that dinner party or holiday. There is ALWAYS a reason to delay making healthful choices. Always. And for me, those reasons are often found in the freezer section in pint containers or in the bakery in single cake slices. Or, you know, if it’s been a trying day, I’ll swing by both departments!

But an A1C of 5.9 means that the time for dinking around and snagging slices of cake on the sly is over. It’s time to decide what I want.

Do I want a life of daily injections, increased medical expenses, circulatory issues, with a potential case of neuropathy, amputation, blindness, or organ failure the side? Do I want to decrease my risk for breast and colon cancer, heart disease, and stroke? Or do I want another slice of cake?

As my mother used to say, “It’s time to shit or get off the pot.”

So, I put the cake down because I want a life of better mobility, decreased joint pain, lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol, and fewer medical visits. I am going to fight like hell to decrease controllable cancer risks.

So I replaced the cake with a bag of Cara Cara oranges that were on sale and I picked up some plain yogurt and cottage cheese to eat with the them. It’s not ice cream or cheese cake, but it’s sweet and creamy; so, my body won’t freak out. In a couple of weeks, I’ll phase out the dairy, but at this moment, my body wants sweets; so, I have to make healthful food choices that will increase my probability of successfully getting through the first six weeks of this lifestyle change. The first weeks are always hardest as my body adjusts to lowered or no refined sugar or carbs. To get through this stage, I will be eating a lot of fruit and things like yogurt, cottage and hard cheeses.

Once my body stops freaking out over not having daily ice cream, I’ll start replacing the fruit with vegetables and I’ll use smaller portions of strong tasting cheeses like parmesan or Romano in place of butterkäse  or provolone. Leaner meats will take the place of beef and fatty cuts of pork. Whole grains will replace refined grains. It will take a while, but I’ll find the balance again.

I know I will. I have already begun.