For most of my life I have struggled with weight challenges. For many of those years I tried every diet I could read about and, although successful in getting the weight to drop off, I was never able to keep the weight off for any length of time. To me it was all about the weight—get it off and all would be great in life.
For many of those years, especially over this past decade, my doctor has told me annually that I was borderline type 2 diabetic. As she would go over my test results and I would ask, “What do we do now?” she would always say, “One day you will have to take medication for type 2 diabetes,” but she never explained the cause and effect of how I was putting myself in harm's way. Each year I would put the information in the back of my mind and never give it another thought.
I was at a clinic one day and had my blood work completed, as I had done with my prior primary care provider for over a decade. However, this time I was sent a savior by the name of Dr. Dorce. As I sat in the waiting area to have someone take me back to discuss my results, Dr. Dorce summoned me to talk with her. She explained that my bloodwork, just as in years past, signified I was borderline type 2 diabetic. I assumed her job was to let me know that one day I would be on medication once I crossed over into type 2 diabetes, and I decided to listen to what she had to say and go on about my day.
However, this experience was different than what I had before. Dr. Dorce was genuinely concerned about my eventual need for medication and discussed how we could help change this. She asked if she could get me involved in a project she was doing with the CDC National Diabetes Prevention Program to help people like me reverse this trend toward type 2 diabetes. I was a bit shocked because, why had my regular primary care provider never discussed with me the things Dr. Dorce was speaking of?
Dr. Dorce met again with me later and gave me a weight scale and a binder with the program information she had encouraged me to join. My initial thought was, “Great—here we go again, someone focusing on my weight. Let's see how this diet program works!” However, we were just a few weeks into our program, where we met weekly via Zoom to discuss modules from the binder, when I realized she was not focusing on “lose that weight and life will be perfect.” I learned week by week that this wasn't solely focused on losing weight; it was about lifestyle change—changes in how I was eating and what I was eating, realizing how certain foods affect my sugar level, and what works best for my body.
Each week our small group would discuss with Dr. Dorce what we had learned in that week's module and how we were applying it to our own lives. Once I understood my food choices and how better to appease my cravings versus giving in to them, I knew my body and my mind were liking this.
We also worked on how to get more active. In my mind, getting more active meant getting out of my comfort zone to drag myself to a gym, work out, and be miserable. During our meetings, Dr. Dorce pointed out that there are so many ways to be more active that do not involve going to a gym. Soon I was parking as far away from the grocery store as possible to give myself more steps for the day. When I would go to Walmart or Home Depot, I would allow enough time to walk the entire interior boundary of the store before shopping. I joined a walking group that walks at the park three times a week. I even started using my idle TV time to march in place and use resistance bands instead of just sitting and watching mindless TV programs.
All these little changes I had not connected in my mind as viable options for exercise soon began to spur other ways to enjoy this newfound energy level. Initially I wondered if this was going to work to help me get healthier and stop inching toward type 2 diabetes and medication, but little by little, one day at a time, all these small changes began to add up.
Thankfully, with Dr. Dorce cheering us on and teaching us the right way, the good little things began to be what really mattered to me. I started the preventing type 2 diabetes program with Dr. Dorce in early 2025 when I weighed 164 pounds. Now, in October 2025, I am at 143 pounds and am no longer prediabetic.
At this stage of the program, with learning from Dr. Dorce and these modules, as well as lots of soul searching, I realize now that weight loss is just a side effect of healthy living. I don't focus on weight loss; I focus on healthy living, keeping active, and eating the right foods, and the weight stays off. This is the first time in my life that I feel confident I can continue this healthy lifestyle and keep the weight off without focusing only on weight loss.
Will I have minor setbacks along this journey of life? Maybe. However, with the tools I have learned from Dr. Dorce and her type 2 diabetes prevention program, I feel confident I am prepared to deal with any temporary setbacks and get my healthy living back on track. Thank you, Dr. Dorce, for teaching me what I needed to save my own life!
