Weekly update, 8/4/09

"Are We There Yet?" - Some Thoughts on Goal

Juice posted a link to an NPR article ("BMI is Bunk!"), and the article discusses the origin of the ubiquitous BMI charts. I think that her post was partly spurred by the following comment I made in response to her pondering, "At what point do you decide, 'This is the weight I am.' ?".

Tough to say...I like your approach of keep giving it effort, yet being happy at what you've achieved already. I'm currently "practicing maintenance" (*I'm trying to put my positive spin on my plateau* ;-) at 20 pounds (give or take a pound) above the maximum "healthy" BMI weight for my height, but given that the *other* numbers (blood glucose levels, blood pressure, cholesterol levels) are telling me that I'm a healthy pup, I'm also wondering if I should just be content with where I'm at.

This is rather timely, because I've been hanging out around 3 pounds within the same weight since April, and I've also been wondering lately if my goal weight (143 for 5'8") is realistic for me. I know I've read elsewhere that BMI charts are rather suspect, because they rely only on height+scale weight, and we all know that a regular scale cannot distinguish between fat and muscle. But, when I was starting out, it was a useful tool for setting the initial goal.

So, putting aside BMI charts, how am I feeling in my own skin? Generally content, although pinching around my midsection, I think there are still at least about 20 pounds of excess fat that need to go, which is 20 pounds more than my current "41.2 to go". I'm not feeling in a particular rush to reach goal, nor am I sure yet how I feel about adjusting my goal range. Will I feel like I've let myself down/settled for less than my potential somehow? Or will I be relieved? Is it too soon to tell? Will losing more fat greatly increase my quality of life? Athletic fitness-wise, I believe it would; but I don't think it would get me any more of the "quality of life" items than I have now (health, love, respect, tropical vacations, and the like). Setting vacation/crunch time detours aside, I feel like I'm doing well on my fitness goals, but I could be making a better effort in my food choices...my food plan is now functioning as "guidelines" for intuitive eating, rather than a hard-and-fast plan...which isn't necessarily a bad thing, as long as I stay mindful and eat more for fuel than for fun.

30-Day Shred Review

Hey, I finally did Level 3! So while I have not done 30-Day Shred for 30 consecutive days, I have done all three levels. Oddly, I liked Level 3 better than Level 2 (which had too many burpees), and it was full of posterior-kicking goodness. (Literally. My buns were really sore today.) Level 3 had a lot less chatter than Level 1, I think because Jillian Michaels assumed that people were less likely to "phone it in" by Level 3. If you have an aversion to exercises that involve a lot of bouncing and jumping--there are lots of jumping movements in the cardio segments--then you might not enjoy this DVD much, although the nice thing about a DVD is that you can modify it to suit your own preferences.

Reader poll: Should I keep the coffee goal?

For at least a couple of months now, I've included the food goal of "switch to tea and plain water after that first cup of coffee." I set it mainly as a way of paring down extra calories and saturated fat--I prefer mine with half-and-half--but I rarely meet it, and I'm not sure that the extra 40-80 calories is worth getting excited about. (As for coffee and diabetes, there are a lot of contradictory articles about its effects...some say the caffeine increases insulin resistance, others say that coffee's other components have mitigating health benefits.) So I'm debating on whether to bother keeping that goal. What are your thoughts on coffee?

Progress last week

7-day blood glucose average: 94 (met goal of <120)
7-day fasting blood glucose average: 97 (met goal of 100% FBG <120)

Weight goal: No change (met goal of progress/maintenance)

Food goals:
- Got in 5 meatless meals, no fish meals. (missed by 2 fish meals)
- Not meeting the coffee goal. I did not even try to meet it this week.
- Not quite back on track with fiber; 3/7 days were over 30.

Exercise goals:
Not met. I think I underestimated how long it would take me to readjust to being home again and getting back into the exercise groove. I got in two proper workouts this past week, one of which included strength. (Thursday-40 minute run; Monday-DVD workout, level 3 of 30 Day Shred, and a 20 minute run.) In the something-is-better-than-nothing fashion, Friday featured a dog walk in the morning and 50 bicycle crunches in the evening, my compromise between doing some exercises with my hand weights and utter sloth. :-) I also got outside for about a half hour of playing catch with the kids on Saturday, which was much fun and needed for us all. Sometimes the most important workouts don't involve working up a sweat.

Even so, I've been struggling with "I should have done more!" feelings, especially since I have my tri in 7 weeks. Doing level 3 yesterday helped me reclaim a "shred" of dignity (har har). I was back to spin class today, too, so I feel like I'm regaining momentum...at least of showing up. I felt really slow, although I snuck some peeks at myself in the mirror, and I felt happy about my legs looking nice & strong.

Misc. goals: Did well getting back on track with the sleep this week.

Goals for this week

7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain or make progress toward goal.

Food goals:
- Keep tracking.
- 4 or more meatless, low-fat meals and 2 or more fish meals.
- Track fiber. Minimum 30 grams fiber/day. (Include both insoluble and soluble sources.)

Exercise goals:
Minimum of 30 minutes of workout 5 days/week, with 1 spin class, 1 BodyPump class, 1 swim, and 1 run.

Misc. goals:
- 7 or more hours sleep/night.

Weekly update, 7/29/09

Whew! We're Back! (Again!)

Well, we're back! This past weekend we did the final leg of our Summer '09 Parent Visit Trifecta! We went to Michigan to visit Mr. Handsome-and-Handy's plethora of family. Lots of visiting and yummy food, lots of time for the cousins to play and bond with each other, just a general good time with family. We saw one of my nieces performing in Peter Pan, played miniature golf, went to the pool (hotel one morning, community pool with water slide another day), played at parks, amply fed the apparently undernourished mosquito population of Michigan, and divided forces for a train show (boys)/shopping day (girls). Michigan is so beautiful and green in the summertime, lovely wildflowers blooming, and the weather was pleasant (albeit rainy, which messed with some of our plans but worked out okay overall).

Again, the kids proved to be excellent travelers, in spite of a red-eye flight on the way there and a stressful time at the airport in Chicago that turned out to be okay after all. Hearing the Beach Boys song "Sloop John B"--you know, that one that goes, "I wanna go home/let me go home"--on the Avis bus sort of alerted us to impending doom...our ORD-LAX flight was delayed more than 3 hours. We would have missed our LAX-SFO connection and been stuck in LA in the middle of the night, but thanks to the persistent Mr. H&H and the kind United staff and some nice folks on the plane willing to swap seats so we could sit with the kids, we got in on standby for an ORD-SFO flight and ended up getting home around the same time (still around 1 a.m. Ugh.) as we would have, without the LAX layover. Whew!

Part of our delight in Michigan are some of the foodstuff that can only be enjoyed properly when there. I did make a couple of excellent food finds. Uncle Ray's Dairyland, a long-time favorite of mine, has no-sugar-added soft-serve vanilla frozen yogurt, which they use to create any flavor on their regular frozen yogurt menu. It's not sugar-free, of course; no frozen yogurt is free of milk sugars, and when they mix in the fresh fruit, it adds fruit carbs to your dessert. But it worked out well for me. I had a small combo with both banana and pumpkin pie flavored yogurts; I shared some with my family, but enjoyed a nice portion for myself. I got a few bites of the Mr.'s sundae, too, which satisfied the chocolate tooth. Post-treat blood glucose level was 112 about 1.5 hours later, so I consider that a success! (I'm sure the impromptu dance party our kids started there on the patio helped a little....who can say no when one's son asks one to dance, and is bustin' a move so joyfully?) Honorable mention goes to Dairy-Go-Round in Plymouth and their surprisingly good fat-free, no-sugar-added soft-serve vanilla frozen yogurt. (Any frozen dessert that makes me go, "Wow, is *this* no-sugar-added?" is a winner in my book.)

Progress last week

7-day blood glucose average: 97*
7-day fasting blood glucose average: 95
* This does not really tell the whole story. I had a nasty (for me) spike of 146 post-meal after eating 3 White Castle burgers, some onion chips, and a sip of chocolate shake. I probably had some unmetered variations that would have surprised me had I tested...it would have been an interesting week to have had a continuous glucose monitor. Too bad one can't rent something like that for going on vacations, or for when one is first diagnosed...it would be a great tool for educating people about how their food/activities impact their blood glucose levels.

Weight goal: -1.6 lbs. (My goal was to maintain this week, so I'm tickled that it went back down to where it was a couple of weeks ago. It seemed counterintuitive, because I was not working out at all this past week, but I wasn't totally sedentary, either, even though it felt like it in comparison. I made a lot of healthy food choices, and some not-so-healthy ones.)

Food goals: I didn't track this week at all. It was a nice break to have a *planned* week of not tracking. (As opposed to slacking off non-tracking.) Does that mean I totally abandoned my food plan? No, of course not. I had my general game plan (to make lower-carb, health-as-possible choices at each meal), and then I had some planned indulgences. Things that I considered worth it:

• Some of a Villa Bakery deluxe pizza roll. (They're huge, so I can only manage half at a time.)

• A taste of ice cream from Uncle Ray's Dairyland. (Which turned out be able to be so much more than just a taste, thanks to their new-to-me menu item! Yeayy!)

• Better Maid potato chips. (Like any truly great chip, easy to overdo, and fortunately not readily available west of the Mississippi. Surreal moment: downing a handful of BBQ Better Maids while fielding questions about my fitness routine: [*crunch*crunch*crunch*] "Yeah, I'm still running, and I take classes at my gym. I really love my BodyPump class.")

• A White Castle cheeseburger. (What *is* it about these things??? It's not nostalgia, because I was well out of college and not going on a post pub-crawl munchie-fest when I first had one.)
  

Otherwise, there were no foods that I felt like I had to have, and so it went pretty well: we took fresh veggie and fruit trays with us to several of the pot-luck family gatherings, and there were some really good choices. (Thanks for the healthy homemade cabbage rolls, J! Yum-o!) One nice surprise was that our first hotel we stayed at had hot protein items at their free breakfast bar. They had cheese omelets and sausage patties two of the days, eggs and bacon another one...yes, somewhat prefab, but they were nice variations on the week of oatmeal+peanut butter I'd planned on. I think my only food regrets I had were eating too many potato chips in general and the White Castle overdo day. (The next time we went, I half of one, and then I ate chicken with most of the skin stripped off.)

Exercise goals:
*sigh*...This is where I felt a little disappointed in myself, even though I'd planned to take it easier than I usually do. But I had expected to do more work-up-a-sweat exercise. I did get in a half hour on the treadmill at the hotel. And that was it. I think it made me feel a bit antsy toward the end of the week, too. I did dangle on the bars at the playground the few times we went, and I got in some pool time with the kids a couple of days. I'm a little bummed that we didn't get in a day at a lake, but the weather didn't cooperate with us for both that and the train show. Oh well. I just keep having to tell myself: my muscles will NOT be totally atrophied after a week off. I just need to not overdo it when I get back to my classes. I tend to not overdo when I work out on my own, but classes really make me push myself, so perhaps a couple of weeks away from the gym will have actually been a blessing in disguise, from a recovery standpoint.

Misc. goals: Plenty of sleep! I had not expected to sleep in as late as the kids did, so that's where my workout time went.

Monthly Measure

Oh wow, it's that time again. This month, it was -0.5" off my hips, +1" on the bust, and +1.5" on the ribcage, with no change elsewhere. Weird, but I think it's the bra. I will remeasure the the bust with the bra I used last month, to confirm the result.

[Update: Remeasure showed that bust was the same, +.5" in the rib cage.]

Goals for this week

7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain or make progress toward goal.

Food goals:
- Back to tracking.
- 4 or more meatless, low-fat meals and 2 or more fish meals.
- On work days, switch to tea and plain water after that first cup of coffee.
- Track fiber. Minimum 30 grams fiber/day. (Include both insoluble and soluble sources.)

Exercise goals:
Minimum of 30 minutes of workout 5 days/week. This week, I want to do whatever 30 minutes of cardio fits into my schedule, plus 2 days with some strength training. (Might not be BodyPump class, but I need to do *something* this week, other than yesterday's dangle from the monkey bars before we jumped on the airplane.)

Misc. goals:
- 7 or more hours sleep/night.

Weekly update, 7/21/09

Quick update this week; it's been a crazy-busy one! I'm shaking it up during the coming week week: PLAYouts/active rest and no food logging. Just felt like doing something a little different. We'll see how it goes....

Progress last week

7-day blood glucose average: 100
7-day fasting blood glucose average: 98

Weight goal: +1.2 lbs. (Oh well...that, despite Friday's "no nuts" challenge! Although maybe that helped prevent it from being more...?)

Food goals:
- Got in 5 meatless meals, 1 fish meals.
- Not meeting the coffee goal. I did not even try to meet it this week.
- Fiber was better this week; 4/7 days were over 30.

Exercise goals:
I didn't meet my training goals. I got in at least 30 minutes of activity 5/7 days.

I missed going to the gym this week--I was too busy to go during the day--but I did get in two good runs, a long bike ride, and a shorter bike ride over the weekend. For strength, I did about 20 minutes on my own with my hand weights at home, and I did a little "playout" strength items at the park yesterday. I'll try to do some tonight, too...at least a few abs exercises! No swim this week, but there should be plenty next week.

Misc. goals: Did well with the sleep this week.

Goals for this week

7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain current weight.

Food goals: I'm trying "intuitive eating" this week, and I'm taking this week off from logging my food.

Exercise goals:
I'm also taking this week as an "active rest"/PLAYout week. No intense workouts, unless I feel like it, but getting a minimum of 30 minutes of activity 5 days/week.

Misc. goals:
- 7 or more hours sleep/night.

"I just want to ride my bike!"

Well, last Wednesday was one of my less fine moments as an athlete, saved by the timely intervention of Mr. Handsome-and-Handy.

I'd been reading "Every Woman's Guide to Cycling: Everything You Need to Know, From Buying Your First Bike to Winning Your First Race" by Selene Yeager. I've been doing spin classes once a week in preparation for my triathlon, and I was feeling that uneasy feeling. That little voice in the back of my head said, "Yeah, you can keep up in spin class, but how will you do on the road?" Another one hissed, "You can't even change your tire."

It was time for action!

So I told the Mr. that I'd be going for a bike ride that morning. Still half-asleep, he muttered, "But I haven't checked the tires." "That's okay!" I chirped, "I'll do it!" Gotta take care of my own ride, right?

"Tire gauge is in the second drawer in the toolbox."

I went through *all* the toolbox drawers. And the workbench drawers. And the workbench. I could not find the gauge. Frustration mounting, I thought to myself, "Heck with it. I'll use the gauge on the foot pump."

So I got down the footpump, and the gauge said 25 psi. I needed 45 at least. So I started pumping. *squeek*...*squeek*...*squeek*... After about a minute of *squeek*, the needle had barely moved. I was looking for cardio, not resistance, darn it! And feeling pretty tight around the temples...

And then there he was. My knight with the tousled brown hair, in t-shirt and shorts. "I heard the foot pump," he grinned.

I burst into tears. "I JUST WANT TO RIDE MY BIKE!" And then I started blathering about other stuff I was stressing about, while he calmly rooted around the toolbox and found the darn tire gauge--the pen-looking one rather than the roundish one I was expecting to see, fired up the air compressor (which woke Thing 2 and probably half the neighborhood), and then we pumped my tires.

"Have a good ride!" he said.

It was, even though it was in thick, drizzly fog. (Where's that sun we had on Tuesday morning?) I felt the tension melt away as I puffed along, wiping my glasses every now & then.

It took me 50 minutes to ride 10 miles. Rather humbling, that. Sure, I have a heavy, cruising bike (29.8 lbs, according to the 1991 Bridgestone CB-1 catalog listing; different saddle than purchased with--more wide and cushy, although I think I've gotten used to the smaller spin saddles--wonder if I have the old one? Plus I need to lose the big ol' rack mounted on the back. And maybe get some road tires; I was a wanna-be mountain biker back when I bought the bike.) I also hit a bit of a head wind on the way back, with no way to bend lower. *sigh*...And here I thought I was becoming such the jock. My fault for letting myself be dazzled by the spin class monitors. Now to do more road rides to keep it real. (And I must learn how to change my tires.)

"What Do You Do?"

Recently, Fitness Surfer asked for my advice for a friend of hers with prediabetes.

I'm not a medical person [BIG OL' STANDARD DISCLAIMERS APPLY!], but I'm happy to share what's been working for me. Naturally, your mileage may vary and you should discuss with your doctor, do your own research, etc.

Type 2 diagnosis itself sure put the wheels in motion for me. Being diagnosed made it mandatory for me to get myself back to good health. What I didn't realize at the time was that the disease symptoms themselves were working against me: I felt tired and fuzzy-headed a lot, and that made it hard to feel motivated to exercise and to eat properly (which involves a bit more effort and clear-thinking than eating whatever, whenever).

But what do I do, specifically? Here's a list:

I monitor my blood glucose levels and strive for normal blood sugar levels.

If you kinda sorta suspect that you *might* be at risk for diabetes, it is tempting to keep your head buried in the sand about it. (I did. Bad idea.) Not everyone who is overweight, obese, or
morbidly obese develops type 2 diabetes; from what I've read, there are other factors involved.

That said, I would recommend getting screened. I had been reluctant to let a doctor test me, but I did a health screening at my local drugstore and it confirmed that I had diabetes. (I had the
HbA1c test, which shows the "average" of the past few months, not just the fasting blood glucose test.) I also had a pretty awful cholesterol panel and low bone density.

Faced with these facts, I didn't feel like I had a choice: I needed medical help. I suppose I could have ignored it, or researched it and tried to control it on my own. But without a blood glucose meter, I knew I would be flying blind...and would possibly *become* blind if I wasn't successful. I went to my doctor, and got a prescription for a blood glucose meter; this tool tells me how what I eat affects my blood glucose levels, by giving me a "snapshot" of my blood glucose level at the time of testing. I was instructed to test once in the morning before eating, and once after one of my daily meals, between 1-2 hours after the meal. I ended up testing more, to see how certain foods affected my blood glucose levels, and sometimes when I felt not quite right.

Yes, that means it's now part of my permanent insurance record. Yes, it meant a lot of hassle and stress and appointments at first. But boy, if I could bottle up the feeling of "Before" vs. "Now" and let people try it, the difference would astound them.

So...what's a "normal blood glucose level"? Surprisingly, it's subject to debate. The American Academy of Clinical Endocrinologist levels (http://www.aace.com/pub/pdf/guidelines/OutpatientImplementationPositionStatement.pdf; it's the 3rd page.) recommends a Fasting/Preprandial of Fasting/Preprandial of less than 110 mg/dL and a 2-hr Postprandial of less than 140 mg/dL (source: http://www.phlaunt.com/).

I exercise at least 30 minutes/day, 5 days/week. It doesn't have to be super strenuous (although it usually is now, because I'm training for a sprint triathlon). I aim for mix of cardio and strength.

The biggest eye-opener for me when I went to see my diabetes educator was her "prescription" for 30 minutes of exercise 5 days/week, to help reduce my blood glucose levels. "You need to view this as being as important as taking medicine," she said. I took up running--which, ironically, raised my blood glucose levels after running at first. (However, this wasn't as much of an issue once I got into shape, and as I figured out how to fuel my body before I ran.) I needed something high impact for better bone density, but moderate exercise would have had a similar effect on blood glucose levels. I also started doing light strength exercises for upper body bone density, but developing some muscle mass also helped with the diabetes, I believe.

I became an athlete.

I was going to write, "I am becoming an athlete"...I still don't know which phrasing I prefer, because I don't know what one has to achieve to say, "I AM an athlete." I train for and participate in events, rather than it being a one-time thing. But anyway, it's more about the mentality of training for a specific goal rather than the mentality of "I'm on a treadmill to nowhere...." I wrote about this new mentality before my first 5K (other than my one high school cross country season) here:
http://oppositelife.blogspot.com/2008/10/detest-running-try-walking-5k.html

I found that having an event scheduled helped me stick to my new exercise habits. This blog entry has links to training programs for a 5K walk. I myself didn't follow the ubiquitous couch-to-5K program; I felt it was too intense for my level of fitness at the time. (Er, pretty much zero, and morbidly obese, clinically-speaking.) I set my own pace, more along the lines of the Zen Habits article "Beginner's Guide to Running" (http://zenhabits.net/2007/05/beginners-guide-to-running/). Once I did my first event, though, I was hooked! I decided to do one event per quarter. My 2009 race schedule (and reports) are down at the very bottom of the blog page, if you're curious about them.

The downside is sometimes you feel like you need to do more, more, more...but don't fall for that one. MizFit had an excellent article last Wednesday, "Overtraining: Less Can Be More." Excellent discussion in the comments, too.

I developed a food plan. Yes, for me, it meant developing portion control and other sensible eating habits.

I started with my gestational diabetes food plan, but then I did a little research online and found that a lot of people with diabetes were finding good success with lower-carb diets. (Varying from
Atkins-style low carb to more of a South Beach-style diet.) I based my food plan on the Low-carb Diabetes Diet on Prevention.com's web site (http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/the-low-carb-diabetes-plan-that-works/548c68f271903110VgnVCM10000013281eac____/weight.loss/popular.diets/low.carb.diets/0/),
although I adjusted for a little more dairy. (I like my yogurt!)
Having an understanding of food exchanges helps with this; refer to
this document for more details: http://dtc.ucsf.edu/pdfs/FoodLists.pdf

Other articles that helped me:
"How to Get Your Blood Sugar Under Control": http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/14045524.php
"What Can You Eat When You Are Cutting Carbs?" http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/18856280.php

At my meals, I ensure that I have a balance of protein and not too many carbs; at least one serving each per meal or snack. When I had gestational diabetes, I learned from the nutritionist that one can maintain a more even blood sugar by spreading out one's carb servings throughout smaller meals and snacks during the day and by ensuring that you eat a little of your protein when you eat your carbs. (Similar to the recommendations made by the insulin resistance diet authors.) I eat a lot of non-starchy vegetables, sometimes omitting a starch serving in favor of more non-starchy vegetables. I eat as "clean" as possible: fewer processed foods, more "real" foods. Oh, and I kicked the diet soda habit...not sure how much that helped, but I suspect it did.

I don't have any "forbidden" foods. (In fact, I just ate a tiny, totally-worth-it, chocolate-caramel truffle.) Forbidding foods totally backfires for me. I may choose to not eat or drink certain things in general (e.g., diet soda) or at certain times (e.g., Hmmm, I had a piece of bread with dinner, so I will postpone having dessert until tomorrow night.). This doesn't mean the choice is always easy and painless, though! I've had plenty of times where I thought to myself, "Oh, why can't I just eat any ol' thing I want???" I may choose to eat smaller portions of a food, so that I don't screw up my blood sugar readings. So far, that has worked for me.

I found a backup plan: the plate method.

If the above seems like way too much analyzing, try a "plate method."

Here's one: http://www.dlife.com/dLife/do/ShowContent/inspiration_expert_advice/expert_columns/rondinelli_jan06.html

Here's the Zone system version: http://www.zonediet.com/EATING/QuickStartGuide/tabid/108/Default.aspx

I find the "plate method" very useful when dining out or on vacation. I weigh and measure portions when at home, but when I can't, this works nicely.

I found some alternatives for when food cravings hit.

I was super-strict when I was working to get my blood glucose levels under control. It probably took about a month to get rid of the intense sugar-cravings. (It was worth it, because now I find a lot of the foods that used to trigger me are sickly sweet to me now.) When I got hungry in between meals, or felt like I wasn't quite satisified after a meal, I went for "free foods" that were high on flavor and low on calories: Good Earth Original tea (strong, sweet cinnamon flavor), good-quality broth (beef and chicken when I was getting used to reducing my portion sizes), lots of non-starch veggies. The occasional sugar-free candy,
popsicle, jello, or gum. (Here's the Mayo Clinic's Free Food exchanges list, since the ADA web site is not responding: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/diabetes-diet/DA00076)

I take 2 fish oil capsules and 2 calcium+vitamin D pills per day.

I started doing this a few months before diagnosis, because my husband's doctor recommended this to improve his heart health and cholesterol. I figured it would probably be good for me, too. I believe it's helped my low bone density and my cholesterol, in combination with the other changes.

I take metformin, as prescribed by my doctor.

The Diabetes Prevention Program study indicated that lifestyle changes plus metformin therapy can prevent or help delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes. (UCSF's Diabetes Education Online summarizes this study here: http://dtc.ucsf.edu/type2/health-management/what-trial-research-shows/dpp.html) I balked at the idea at first, but it became obvious (about 1 month after trying) that exercise and dietary changes alone were not reducing my blood glucose levels enough. It seems to work well for me, though. Metformin regulates how the liver releases sugar into your bloodstream. It requires a doctor's prescription.

No, I did not have any surgery.

I'm a wuss. From what I've seen personally, observing people I know who have had this surgery, it does get the weight off, and pretty quickly. But it's not what I'd call the "easy" way...the surgery itself is probably the easiest part, actually. Adjusting to life after surgery is extremely challenging. So I'd definitely recommend giving lifestyle change the "matter of life or death" try before going this route.

There has been a lot of press about gastric bypass surgery "curing" diabetes. But what does a "cure" look like? You might want to read this and decide for yourself:
http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2009/07/real-truth-about-gastric-bypasss.html

I track everything...more or less.

I created my own health log to keep track of it all, because I was writing it all down in a notebook and that got onerous. I have a single sheet, with each day being a column, and rows that track my two blood glucose readings, my food intake, supplements/medication, water, exercise, and some misc. things (flossing, foot care, fiber intake). I've gotten a bit lax on the food tracking lately, and my weight tended to rollercoaster over the last few weeks. But when I stick to
my plan completely, I see good results.

I gained inspiration from the health and fitness online community.

So many wonderful sites; I have all of my regulars in my Blogroll.

Bloggers in this space who successfully manage their type 2 diabetes are Biz of "The Biggest Diabetic Loser" (http://biz319.wordpress.com/) and Foodie McBody of foodfoodbodybody (http://foodfoodbodybody.wordpress.com/ - she was first diagnosed with prediabetes, and then diabetes...very inspiring story and similar to my own). I also like Alan's "Type 2 Diabetes - A Personal Journey" (http://loraldiabetes.blogspot.com/), although he doesn't post as
often. I'm a dedicated follower of Jenny Ruhl and her excellent work ("Blood Sugar 101" book and web site, plus her "Diabetes Update" blog provides excellent research summaries/discussions, see http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/). And there's Amy Tenderich's "Diabetes Mine" (http://www.diabetesmine.com/) which includes blog + additional resources.

You'll probably see me quoting the MizFit and Cranky Fitness blogs a lot, because I enjoy their humor, perspectives, and the insightful comments they inspire.

Even before diagnosis, the tiny seed of "hey, it *is* possible" was planted by reading (and re-reading) Lynn Haraldson-Bering's story on cnn.com: http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/diet.fitness/02/08/weightloss.lynn.bering/index.html, and then reading her full story on her "Lynn's Weight-Loss Journey" blog (and she continues on her "Lynn's Weigh - The Journey Continues" blog, which sustain my "hey, it's possible to maintain, too!" thoughts).

I have lots of help from my incredibly supportive family.

This blog focuses a lot on me and my journey. But deep down, I was motivated by my desire to be as present and functional as possible for as long as possible for my family: my husband and my two children, whom you'll see mentioned as "Mr. Handsome & Handy" and "Thing 1" and "Thing 2" (ala the Dr. Seuss pranksters). My husband thought that the Healthpoint article made it sound like I was a single mom, and nothing could be further from the truth. He takes care of our home and our kids, and he cooks wonderful, healthy meals for us all. I often work late, and most of the time there's a pre-measured dinner in the toaster oven waiting for me, as well as a lunch packed for the next day. (He's also frugal, and this helps keep me out of Whole Foods! ;-) Because he handles a lot of tasks, my stress level is lower (and stress is bad for your blood glucose levels). If I make it look easy, he's a big reason why.

Anyhow, hope this summary helps, both Fitness Surfer's friend and anyone else out there who's looking for their own answers about how to deal with type 2 diabetes.

Weekly update, 7/14/09

Whew! We're Back!

Well, we're back! This past weekend we did the first two of our Summer '09 Parent Visit Trifecta! We met up with my dad and step-mom in Buellton, and then visited my mom and step-dad in Lompoc. Excellent visits all around, and the kids did pretty well with the trip. (We're hearing more "how much longer" and "are we there yet?" than we used to, in spite of the DVD player. Must find fresh videos....) Lots of food, but lots of walking and pool time, too. Lots of fun! I need to get some photos posted.


Tri Ladies!

I have to give a shout-out to this past weekend's "tri ladies," Lori of "Finding Radience" and Christie O. of "Baby Tea Leaves." They did their first sprint triathlons this past weekend, while I was dodging danish pastries and chocolate shops. Head on over to the links to read of their incredible experiences! So inspiring and exciting, to see how far they have come in their quest for fitness. I felt especially encouraged that although both felt it was hard, they are hooked and will be doing it again. Was it possible for me to feel even *more* pumped/scared about my own tri in September? Guess so!

Progress last week

Back in action with the test strips!
7-day blood glucose average: 97
7-day fasting blood glucose average: 94

Weight goal: -2.4 lbs. (Met goal of either maintain or make progress toward goal. This was weird, because I didn't feel like I ate less, and I didn't do any hard-core workouts after last Wednesday.)

Food goals:
I ended up tracking 3/7 days last week.
- Got in 4 meatless meals but no fish meals.
- Not meeting the coffee goal.
- Fiber...not met. 2 of the 3 days I tracked were over 30; my eating during the non-tracking days was pretty sporadic with respect to fiber.

Exercise goals:
I didn't meet my training goals, but I got in at least 30 minutes of activity 5/7 days.
I did 1 spin class on Tuesday, 1 BodyPump class on Wednesday...and was horribly sore the next day. I suspect I overdid it a bit. I rested on Thursday; did DVD workouts on Friday (the 10-minute segment "Fat Burning Blast" on the Kickboxing Bootcamp DVD, with "supah ehffective" burpees! And 20 minutes of yoga). I spent 1.5-2 hours in the pool each day on the weekend and did a lot of walking.

Misc. goals: I think I was a little short on the sleep.

Goals for this week

7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain or make progress toward goal.

Food goals:
- Track, track, TRACK already!
- 4 or more meatless, low-fat meals and 2 or more fish meals.
- On work days, switch to tea and plain water after that first cup of coffee.
- Track fiber. Minimum 30 grams fiber/day. (Include both insoluble and soluble sources.)

Exercise goals:
Minimum of 30 minutes of workout 5 days/week. Workouts to include at least 1 bike, 1 run, and 1 swim per week, plus 2 strength training per week.

Misc. goals:
- 7 or more hours sleep/night.

Weekly Update, 7/7/09

Greetings!

We enjoyed a wonderful holiday weekend; our Independence Day was terrific. Things 1 & 2 wanted to be in the 4th of July parade, so we joined the "kids on bikes & trikes" contingent, sponsored by one of our local businesses, Cameron's Restaurant and Inn, and we even got coupons for free ice cream! The kids loved it--their scooters were quite festive!--and a couple of their friends from the neighborhood were also in the parade. Then in the afternoon, our neighbors a couple of doors down had their 25th annunal "doo dah" party: yummy potluck food, volleyball, and a musicians' jam session (folk & blues) in the back yard. We skipped the fireworks, because it looked foggy, but then we saw some of them over the rooftops of the houses, so we probably could have seen a decent show across the highway at the beach. OH well! We were pretty tired by the end of the day, and the kids aren't that into fireworks yet.

Progress last week

My test strip prescription ran out on Thursday, and I'm still waiting for the refill. So I'm flying blind currently. The readings I did get were good (88-92 for fasting; 90s post-meal).

Weight goal: +1 lbs. (Did not meet goal of either maintain or make progress toward goal. Up a total of 2.6 from my lowest. Darn!)

Food goals:
I ended up tracking 3/7 days last week.
- Got in 4 meatless meals but no fish meals.
- Does extra coffee count if you throw a couple of tablespoons of chia in it? Er...thought not. I didn't meet this goal at all.
- I rocked the fiber! On the 3 days I tracked, I got 30 grams or more, and I'm pretty sure the non-tracking days were at least in the 20s.

Exercise goals:
Met goals: Accomplished 1 spin class, 1 BodyPump class, 1 swim, 1 walking/strength, 1 run+strength, and 1 exercise DVD ("Tae Bo for Kids") with Thing 1.
Met my Women's Challenge goals for the week.

Misc. goals: Got adequate sleep. Mainly because I slept in, sloth-like, over the 3-day weekend.

Goals for this week

7-day blood glucose average goal and fasting numbers: below 120.
Weight goal: Maintain or make progress toward goal.

Food goals:
- Track, track, TRACK already!
- 4 or more meatless, low-fat meals and 2 or more fish meals.
- On work days, switch to tea and plain water after that first cup of coffee.
- Track fiber. Minimum 30 grams fiber/day. (Include both insoluble and soluble sources.)

Exercise goals:
Minimum of 30 minutes of workout 5 days/week. Workouts to include at least 1 bike, 1 run, and 1 swim per week, plus 2 strength training per week.

Misc. goals:
- 7 or more hours sleep/night.