This morning, I passed below the "lost 15 lbs" line on my tracking graph.

I've reached that stage where everything I'm doing is starting to snowball, in a good way. A diagnosis of diabetes means I've taken things to a deeper level than ever before, because, with IF added in.

I've got my tray of morning supplements laid out next to my desk -- and more to the point, I've been taking them. And I discovered a 24 hour gym tucked into a little grocery-store shopping center, 1.3 miles from my house.

Picked up a new scale eventually, and started my daily weighing, using a doctor's office visit on Nov. 20 (several weeks in) as a starting place. So when I say I've lost 15 lbs.... it's probably really more than that. But I can document 15 lbs.

Going back and reading these early posts.... I was hungry, so grabbed nuggets with my daughter. That was clearly on one of those, "It's the small-paycheck" weeks when we'd just had our auto insurance taken out, and I was struggling to feed us both on a budget. And I was hungry.
Several months in, I'd probably be able to just skip that meal, now. Heck -- yesterday, we had a 3 hour martial-arts work-out at my house, heavy enough that we were frequently gasping for water, and sweating well. Afterwards, everyone else was digging into the meatballs I'd cooked up a day or two before. Me? I hadn't decided if I was going to eat or not. (Two hours later, finally decided I was legitimately hungry, and had some lunch.) Right after, when everyone else was happily eating... all I needed was water.

We have, in house right now, the makings for one of my favorite LC "indulgence" meals -- we have pork fat, and collard greens. Had some on my birthday on Friday, and I think I plan to have more today. (Cook up bits of fat... throw collard greens in the hot pan... Enjoy. You won't eat MUCH, but you'll savor every bite!) We also have the coconut flour that let my husband bake super-decadent chocolate cupcakes for my birthday. (With the special-ordered Ghirardelli cocoa powder I'd ordered, that was even better than the stuff we used to buy in the stores). (We love good-quality dark chocolate around here... We used 100% stevia for what sweetener there was, and we cut the recommended amount by 50%. Just let that rich chocolate, the hint of coconut from the flour, and the butter stand on their own. Floated three feet off the floor on the smell alone. And yesterday, when my DD wanted to know if she could have one of the leftover cupcakes (batch is 6, there are 4 of us) I told her only if she gave the other to her brother. They were delicious, but nothing to spark cravings.)

When I started, hunger was a thing. If my options were limited, I'd have to cheat. (the nuggets). I'm past the hunger place, finally. If my options are limited... I can skip eating until later.

We've been doing jujitsu once a week (roughly) since October or November. (Our old sensei, in California, had a student who's now a black belt move here for college). Yesterday? I'd been to the gym for the previous 3 days in a row, and there were some things I could normally do that just didn't happen right.... things that take a lot of core strength to do properly, and I've been working those muscles hard, at the gym. We agreed, it was probably muscle-fatigue, since I'd gone for 3 days straight.

On the other hand, I was able to do "butterfly" for the first time since we started this. My bad knee simply wouldn't, before. The increased movement led -- as it always does -- to increased range of motion.

My blood-glucose readings are in the normal range when I wake up, and throughout the day. They've become what I'd expect to see for a "normal" person, instead of having weirdly timed morning spikes that only made sense in terms of diabetes.