“I'm back doing the THINGS I LOVE”

After losing 45kg, 62-year-old Lyn Keppler has put her diabetes into remission, is dancing again and has started advocating to help change the public’s perception of overweight and obesity, one step at a time

- KAREN FITTALL

I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 13 years ago, but I actually suspected I had it a few months before that. I’ve got three children and even when I was pregnant, I never needed to get up in the night to go to the bathroom. I noticed that I’d started doing that, so I knew something wasn’t right.

“I went to the doctor, but the tests didn’t pick anything up. I wasn’t convinced. I had a friend who had diabetes, so I started borrowing his blood glucose monitor. That’s when I began noticing some irregularities. I went back to the doctor and finally it was confirmed – I had diabetes.

“I knew a fair bit about it, because as well as my friend having it, my mum has diabetes, too, but I don’t think it’s until you’re the one who’s diagnosed that you start to appreciate what it means and what it might mean for your long-term health.

“Initially, I simply used my diet to control things and that worked pretty well for a little while. But eventually, I had to start taking metformin and before long that wasn’t controlling it either, so I started injecting insulin as well.

“By that stage, I’d also gained quite a bit of weight and I knew I had to do something about it.”

Learning to take control