How I Lost 45 Lbs In A Year

And Got My A1C From 5.8 To 5.5

I woke up one day weighing 203 lbs.

It gets worse. Routine tests clocked my A1C of 5.8 (hello pre-diabetes), and my inflammation markers were through the roof. My mind was foggy, and my body was falling apart.

No wonder. I was eating my way through a stress shit storm.

My portfolio was underperforming (I ran $2.5B in equities), I was in the throes of both a divorce and menopause.

Then something snapped, and self-preservation kicked in. I stopped eating carbs and started keeping quantitative and qualitative data.

I weighed myself daily and wrote down what I ate, not to obsess but to be mindful. My weight dropped steadily, in small increments. This created a reward loop, making giving up Doritos easy. Changing my lifestyle became an affirmation of worth, not a sacrifice. I lost 45 lbs in a year.

Two years later, I also track my fasting blood sugar and blood pressure. These fluctuate but remind me of the impact of my daily food choices. Tracking helps me maintain a normal A1C of 5.5.

As to my mental state, if I’m not snapping photos, it’s a red flag. Something’s wrong when I can no longer see beauty and wonder in the world, and I need to attend to my psyche.

I also find that how I approach the New York Times Spelling Bee puzzle tells me a lot about my headspace. If I struggle, mechanistically trying out letter combinations like a safecracker, then I know I need more sleep, more movement, or more joy in my life.

When the words float up into my consciousness like a Magic 8 Ball, then I know I’m in a good place cognitively.

I also don’t wallow in couch-potato-dom, binging on Netflix and ice cream, when I’m in a good place so observing behavior as an early warning system is priceless.

Collecting quantitative and qualitative data in a simple and non-judgy way makes self-care an easy priority.