Beautifully Well Conversations with Nik
Curated conversations for women with National Board Certified Health & Wellness Coach Nik Sweeney. Transparency meets community with engaging topics surrounding self-care for busy women.
Beautifully Well Conversations with Nik
Breaking the Diabetes Cycle: One Woman's Journey
What happens when you receive news that your A1C has reached prediabetic levels? For Rita, this diagnosis became the catalyst for a remarkable health transformation that not only reversed her rising blood sugar but completely changed her relationship with her body and health.
Rita's journey begins with a deeply personal motivation. With a family history of diabetes complications—including relatives on dialysis and others who passed away—she refused to accept this as her inevitable fate. When her A1C reached 6.6, something clicked. Rather than starting medication, Rita committed to natural approaches through the Beautifully Well Lifestyle Program, determined to break the generational cycle of poor health outcomes.
The results speak volumes: Rita lost 24 pounds, dropping from 182 to 158. More importantly, her A1C decreased to 5.8, removing her from the prediabetic range. Her blood pressure improved significantly, allowing for medication reduction. But beyond these measurable outcomes, Rita experienced profound changes in her energy levels, stamina, and overall quality of life. Her approach wasn't extreme—she focused on sustainable changes like tracking nutrition, finding healthier alternatives to foods she loved, and discovering enjoyable exercise through YouTube dance workouts she could do at home.
What makes Rita's story particularly powerful is her mindset throughout the process. Despite people telling her "you're not that big" or warning her "not to waste away," she stayed focused on her personal health goals rather than external opinions. Her advice to others starting this journey resonates deeply: take advantage of support systems, take it slow, make simple changes first, and remember that health transformation is about self-love at its core. If you're facing similar health challenges or simply want to take control of your wellbeing, Rita's journey proves that with consistency and the right support, you can create lasting change that extends far beyond numbers on a scale or lab report.
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You just got the news that your A1C is elevated to a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. It could be. Your physician is concerned, you're concerned, but you become overwhelmed trying to figure out how can you lower your A1C A1C Well, if you've ever been in a situation where your health needs to be a priority but the overwhelm makes you wonder if you can naturally reduce your A1C, take charge of your health and lose weight in the process. Well, beautifuls, this conversation is for you. It's your girl, coach Nick, with another Beautifully Well conversation.
Speaker 1:In this conversation, I'm going to tell you it is fire, and I know I say that about every conversation. But I promise you, by the end of this conversation, when you meet one of our beautifuls, rita, and learn her story and when I say her story, we're not just talking about eat some vegetables, go and work out we're going to dive deeper into the psychology of how we go through this process, of being able to create this mindset. I mean, you got to hear her mindset mastery to where she is today. I'm telling you, listen carefully, rita. Let me tell you it's so great to have you on the podcast. I know our listeners will more than likely put your story on repeat, but let's start out and tell us a little bit about how you even got to the Beautifully Well Lifestyle Program. Walk us through a little bit of that.
Speaker 2:Okay, so last year, sometime in the summer, I was diagnosed diabetic. My A1C was 6.6. My physician she said she wasn't really too concerned, but it was a concern for me because diabetes runs in my family. All of my, my dad's side of the family, have diabetes. So I was afraid of that. I mean, my A1C was inching up here and there but when it got to 6.6, I don't know why that just like set off a bell for me.
Speaker 2:So when I left the doctor's office I was like I don't want to be on any medications, I want to do everything on my own. And you know, just try to work things out. And I was trying to figure out how I was going to do it. And then one day, right after that, I got a phone call it was amazing from the program and it was like asking me you know, did I? I want to join? And I got a call a year before that, but I guess that was probably wasn't the time yet. So you know, I was like working out the logistics of the days and that we can meet on Mondays and it really worked out for me and I was like, okay, so that was great.
Speaker 2:I want to say I started last year, june the 28th, but I didn't officially start my weight loss journey till probably. I started tracking my weight July 7th and so I took my initial weight, which was 182 pounds, and I wasn't happy with that either. So it was like OK, you know, you got to lose weight, you got to eat right, you got to do the right thing. But I think when I first joined the program, I was sick that week so I couldn't really start that time. So after that I started going on a major journey of trying to lose weight.
Speaker 2:Being in a program. I said if I'm going to be in this program, I have to be serious, not just about the program but about myself. I'm 40 plus and I'm, like you know, I'm not getting any younger. So at the end of the day, it's like you got to do the right thing now. So I started eating better, tracking what I eat on this my Fitness Pal app and then finding other little apps where I can, um, find good, healthy foods and recipes and stuff, not even just like, just like where I cut out everything, but like that was sensible. I wasn't trying to do no keto diets or none of that stuff. I wanted to do something that would be more conducive, where I count my calories and watch my carbs and sugars and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1:So, but that's. You know what's interesting about what you said? A couple of just PowerPoints, in that you knew you were going to do something about it. You knew about all the other options, from various fads with diets. You started out at 182 pounds. Interestingly, like the first week of class you weren't even feeling your best.
Speaker 1:No, and right then and there and I'm sure you realized this later that not feeling well didn't stop you from deciding that I'm going to get serious and make this work. But let's go back a little bit, right, because you get this 6.6 lead where it comes to you. Let's talk family for a second, because I know when I read your story I was like how many of us can relate to these patterns and these generational traces within our families that paint pictures that can either propel us to want to take charge of our health or maybe even put us in a position where we just feel like that's just the way it is, like I'm just next in line, so tell us a little bit about, if you don't mind, you know, just some of your why related to this push to make your health a priority okay.
Speaker 2:so my paternal grandmother had diabetes, wound up having to have triple bypass surgery, passed away not long after that. Um, I had an aunt who had was on dialysis. She passed away, a couple of family members who had poor control diabetes who passed away or, and, like my dad, now he has a kidney disease. He's now he just recently was put on dialysis. So it's like I saw things going bad with him and I work in health care so I also know what poor control diabetes, poor control high blood pressure all of that stuff can do for you and I just didn't want to be one of those people. I want to break the cycle.
Speaker 1:Breaking a cycle that's generational health yes, right, what you saw. And then being a health care that, like you said, we see it every day. You see it every day and you hit that word uncontrolled. There are some people with type 2 diabetes that don't even realize they can control it. Look at her. They can't control it. So your why is strong, it's deep. But let's get the ladies excited about some of the steps that you took in order to make change happen. But let's tell them the change first, right, let's tell them the outcome. You started the program at 182. Where are you today?
Speaker 2:158.
Speaker 1:Whoop.
Speaker 2:Yes, 158.
Speaker 1:And did you starve yourself Like? What was food like for you to go from 182 to 158? You're talking about a 24-pound weight loss. That is incredible.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, I did a few things. Um, I changed. So initially I went on like a cleanse because you guys offered it in the program. You offer that option of doing a smoothie cleanse. So initially I started out with like a two-week smoothie cleanse, which really helped, by the way, because my weight came off tremendously in the beginning.
Speaker 1:The boost the momentum right when you see it. Whoa, this is great then I downloaded this.
Speaker 2:I went, I started going on instagram and all different people were telling me all different places you can find recipes, but I found my, my perfect one, which was this app called Lemon 8. Love it. You can find people on there to show you different ways to still eat the foods that you love, but eat it in a healthier way. I even started switching out my pastas, like I went from eating enriched pastas. I stayed away from those enriched pastas because I follow a lot of healthy people and I started eating things that were more natural, less, you know, had less carbs or try to eat more protein packed pastas and stuff like that. I just made like simple changes no, actually starving myself, just you know, portion control, calorie counting, all that good stuff. I got to a place where I'm like if it got so much calories, so many carbs, so much sugar, it's not worth me eating it.
Speaker 1:It's not on a list of nourishment.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:You found your formula and it sounds like the goal was to keep it simple. I mean, you're a busy person. You have a monster schedule, so I share that, because a lot of us, as women, our schedules get tight. We have obligations, responsibilities on top of work. You're a hard worker, so I know they try to make you work, work, work, work, work in my Rihanna voice, but it's like for you. You knew that foundationally that you weren't going to go on a starvation diet and that a few tweaks like lowering those added sugars, switching out some of those pastas not eliminating them, but having more nutrient dense foods that you could grow to love was key and it was not hard. But now your A1C was 6.6, june of 2024.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:What is it now?
Speaker 2:5.8.
Speaker 1:Hold up, wait a minute, take a pause. Let me get you to say it again 6.6, where is it today? 5.8. I just wanted you to say it again for the sake of them hearing this again, because it didn't take a whole year to get to 5.8. It didn't take a whole year for you to stretch from 6.6 to even the lower sixes right, we didn't even talk about that. That didn't take a significant amount of time.
Speaker 1:And the changes that you made in your full plan. You know in the program we have multiple meal plans. You know, each week we're talking about different topics. I love that in a program, you would be in that chat If you weren't in a chat, giving suggestions or talking about what worked for you. Then you come off mute and share that. The community around the program sparks motivation on two sides, right, and you are definitely an internal motivator in a program. So I just wanted to take the moment. Um, you're here on this podcast because I know if Al Bidafusa motivated every woman listening to this, I don't care what country she's in, because we're in what's like 29 countries. Maya India is going to be like I'm a lord, my A1C. So let's talk about that exercise effect, though, because Rita would be on the meeting on the virtual class while working out. So tell us a little bit about the routine you've developed in terms of your workout.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that was another thing I had beforehand.
Speaker 2:Before I started, I was dibbing dab a little bit in this extreme hip hop class that I found on YouTube because I bought a supper from off of Amazon a while ago. But you know, sometimes you don't really get serious until you got to get serious, serious. So there's this guy that I follow, um, his muscle 216 extreme hip-hop that I absolutely love because I hate traditional workouts, like I don't like going to the gym because I always have to find a focal point for something to help me out. But when you're doing it on YouTube and I can do it in the comfort of my own home, no matter what the weather is, I don't have to worry about leaving out going anywhere. You know, I have my focal point because I'm watching them and it's like dancing, it's like doing zumba, which I love as well, but it's like I get so much energy out of this class. It's amazing, um. So I've been doing that religiously since last year and it's been working for me. That religiously sits last year and it's been working for me?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, the pattern, the consistency. Not too long ago there was this question, almost like there's the chicken come before the egg, when we talked about discipline versus motivation to build to consistency. Right, what comes first, the discipline or the consistency? Right, what comes first, the discipline or the consistency?
Speaker 1:Each person is each person is different, but what I strongly believe, and based on what you shared, is that first comes the why. Why am I even doing this? That? That why has to be so strong that once you start building the momentum, then the consistency comes because you're even seeing results. Now we started this conversation with a focus on A1C because we know people are not talking about diabetes enough and yet it's affecting. It affects the entire world. It's crazy in the United States, and especially for people of color, it's taken us out. Just as you mentioned in your own family history, I can say the same for mine.
Speaker 1:I mean, both of my parents were well, my mom still is a type 2 diabetic and my dad was too. But let's talk heart health. When you started the program, you were aiming to manage your health overall. So if you don't mind, sharing a little bit about how this transition in this program has also supported better heart health for you.
Speaker 2:Well, blood pressure has went down tremendously. I went from taking 100 milligrams of Losartan which I still take which that had increased around. All of this was going on at the same time. My blood pressure was getting higher, my A1C went up. Everything was happening all at the same time. And then and then, um, I'm now at a hundred milligrams of Lasartan and only a half of a 25 milligram.
Speaker 2:Like all of my medicines that got increased, but now I'm able to decrease one of them. I take a half a pill now on top of that. I just feel better, like I can. I just have energy and just feel so much better. I can do more things. I didn't realize how I thought I was skinny, but because people always say you're not that big, but they're 182, right, yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess to them I didn't look that big, but you know, um, it's like now. You just feel so much better. I'm not so winded all the time, I have more energy for things, I'm not as tired. I just feel better overall and I just love who I am now.
Speaker 1:I love the person that I am beautifully well inside and out and know, like you said, rita, at 182, everyone around you was like you good. You are good, I mean, you're fine, you don't even need to lose weight. They mean well, well-intentioned, but we're a culture of thick right, no-transcript.
Speaker 2:Yes, absolutely, absolutely yes, Cause it's like um, I mean, although other people felt that way, I didn't feel that way because when you put your clothes on, you know like, oh no, just on the brain, my stomach looked crazy, and that's this, is that and the third. So it's like, you know, even now, people say to me um, don't lose too much weight, you're going to weather away. Well, that's your personal opinion. Going to weather away? Well, that's your personal opinion. At the end of the day, I have to do what's more healthy for me. So to you, on the outside you think I'm super skinny, but for me there's still more work to do.
Speaker 1:And your energy level. You know the things you've done have just added. It's added to your longevity and it's added to your quality of life.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:So let's give these ladies some advice. If you could think of the top three things and I always say three things, it could be two, but there's something about three things right, so that if somebody picked one to work on first, at least they're in the game, but the three things you would share with a woman who right now could be in the situation you were in back last summer before you joined the program. She's looking at her lab work. She doesn't like what she sees. Life is a little complicated and crazy between work and family and, just as you mentioned you know, perimenopause is taking over in so many ways and affecting our mental health, emotional health, physical health as well. So she's a little overwhelmed, not quite sure what to do. What are the three things? Or I'll even say just what advice would you give her so that she can watch herself gradually and naturally lose weight, lower her A1C, get her blood pressure controlled and even have conversations about medications that may concern her, because she's starting to do the work?
Speaker 2:first of all, take advantage of beautifully well for sure, because this program is amazing. Like you get great tips. Like being on here every week, every monday was motivational for me. Listening to the women, other women's stories, it was like great and just hear what other people do, versus we share stories and all of that good stuff. Um, take it slow, absolutely 100% take it slow. Keep up with anybody else. You know, don't burn yourself out. Just take everything one day at a time and you know, you know what you can handle at the end of the day.
Speaker 2:Simple changes first, um, because at the end of the day, this is a lifestyle change. This is not a diet or a fad. I don't. You're doing it for, uh, eternal life. So you know you have to pick something that works for you, because every what works for everybody else might not work for you. I've done weight watches, I've done I mean, and weight watches've done I mean, and Weight Watchers was great. It gave me some good pointers and let me know some things with that too. So, but that's not a permanent fix. I'm paying money for something I could do for free on my own. So, at the end of the day, just love you. You know what I mean, and once you get to the point of loving yourself and do everything you absolutely.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, so good. It's like the reminder you have support. You're not by yourself. You're looking for accountability. You're looking for a program that's going to help continue. You know, to provide the resources you need is number one. You are not alone. Um, second, go slow.
Speaker 1:Slow is what wins the race and especially for my 40 and over beautifuls y'all, we are not running like we're 31 and 32 again, taking our time with it and embracing, as you mentioned, the lifestyle effect of it, like it's no quick, fast flash.
Speaker 1:Let's develop this lifestyle around it and I will tell you, you hit it on the nose at the end with the love self journey. That is really what this is and, if you like, you notice you're loving you even more because you're loving this next version of you that you've worked so hard to get to. And I will just tell you, on behalf of Amani, nicole Wellness it's been a pleasure and we don't take it for granted when we are given an opportunity to hang out and ride along for the journey. It's a huge deal for us and especially when you take it seriously, you jump into a program, you recognize your commitment level, not necessarily to us, but your commitment level to yourself. Not necessarily to us, but your commitment level to yourself. So an absolute delight, and I just know so many women already within the current tribe and those women who virtually and from afar will tune in. You just never know how far your impact will flow with this story, because it's an incredible one.
Speaker 2:Well, this program is a blessing because you don't really find especially women of color.
Speaker 2:You don't really find the sisterhood in what you have in this program and I feel like this is more than just a program to get yourself together. It's a sisterhood because you don't preach to us like you're a doctor or talk to us like we, you know, in a medical term of way you talk to us to say, hey, listen, you know you're going to eat this fruit or you're going to eat this certain thing. And that helped me along the journey too, because I was sitting there so busy, focused on you know. Well, this fruit got a lot of sugar in it, or this fruit, but I will prefer to eat this fruit than to eat this candy bar. So you know that helped me along the way, just hearing like conversations from Monday in my head as I'm going along and that's what I think about as I go along Just keep boosting yourself and telling yourself, okay, you can do this, you got this, you know. And then just the lovely ladies just help out as well.
Speaker 1:Just a beautiful synergy all the way around. I appreciate, appreciate the kudos as well. Well, rita, again thank you for setting aside the time. I know we're getting ready to jump into your workout time. Because your dedication is so strong, I just might decide to work out a little bit myself. So, as I'll recap as the recap, I want y'all to put this on replay. I want you to download it multiple times. If the sound got a little fuzzy here or there, I'm just telling you y'all just rewind it and replay it all all day, every day, because, at the end of the day, what you have been able to listen to one is motivation. That is confirmation that, no matter what place you are in from a health perspective, you have the ability to naturally, holistically, make a change. You can do it and you have the support and place to do it. So, rita, super claps to you, kudos all around for you. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:We look forward to this. Thank you for being an amazing coach that you are. Thank you so much and late beautiful.
Speaker 1:Stay tuned for another episode of beautifully well conversations with your girl coach nick.