Weekly update, 12/22/08

Busy-but-fun week ahoy: Worked yesterday, working today, off the rest of the week. We're having "virtual Christmas" on Christmas Eve, because we have a long drive on Christmas Day to go to my parents' for the long holiday weekend.

This past week, I *felt* like I slacked off, although I wasn't too far off from goal. (SeaBreeze, feel free to say "I told you so." :-) Probably too many video workouts; even the ones I like tend to make me feel like I slacked. The bike worked well, though...it has what I call "the noodge light," which lets you know when you need to work harder/less hard, and I feel like I get a good workout when I pay attention to it. Last week's run was disappointing in a way: I ran slower, and about 25 minutes in Nature called...and sometimes ya can't just let her leave a message, either. :-/ Good thing I was close to home. I've always worried about that on longer runs....On the other hand, I hadn't eaten breakfast. Today's run was right on target. (And it was nice to feel like I had the time to run "just a little longer," since I'm the only one on a schedule today.)

Oooo, and cool news! I won a prize in the "Diabetes Mine Holiday Survival Sweepstakes!" The topic last week was how to offset holiday stress. One big thing for me this year was that Mr. Handsome-and-Handy took it upon himself to do most of the gift wrapping and cookie baking. I was a little bummed to miss the baking--I was "the baker," you know? But he & the kids did a fantastic job, and it did keep stress levels a lot lower. I think he appreciated that I did most of the shopping tasks and the card assembly, which aren't exactly his favorite. (And we got our cards done before the seasonal craziness kicked in. For some reason, the prospect of doing the cards really stresses me out. And I don't know why! We have the process 95% automated, and we just do a photo card.)

Progress last week:
7-day blood glucose average: 109 (met goal of 120 or lower)
Fasting blood glucose: last 6 of 7 days were less than 120 (yesterday morning was 125; ouch!); average was 112
Weight: -1 (met goal of maintain or lose)...Wait, what's this??? I just updated my "Ticker Factory," and lo-and-behold, my BMI number just dropped into the "overweight" category! Yippeee!!!
Food: 5 meatless low-fat, 2 fish meals. (met fish goal...sort of. I read that the place we picked up our fried fish from uses rice oil, so I'm going ahead and counting last night's fried fish in the "fish meals" category...not exactly low fat, but "healthy oil," from what I've read. Next time we go, I'm asking to confirm.)
Exercise: 30+ minutes cardio 5 days, but only one run. 2 days of arms and abs strength training. (Missed running goal by two days, strength by one day. One of the days missed running was due to weather, the other was that I just felt like using the bike.)
Misc: Didn't track sleep, but I felt well-rested in general. Gym decision? Going to go for it!

Goals for this week:
7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain or lose.
Food goals: Taking the week off for the non-meat/fish goals; otherwise, sticking to the plan as close as possible.
Exercise goals: At least 30 minutes of activity (walking, running, swimming, biking, or video workout) 5 days. No specific running goals; will start training for the February event the following week. At least one day of upper body and abs strength training.
Misc. goals: Be present in all ways with my family during the Christmas weekend.