Weekly Update 4/14/10 + Review of Pilates Class

Hello to you all!   Well, Thing 2 is thoroughly enjoying her 6th birthday...although "day" implies one day.  It's been more like a "season!" 

What better way to kick off the birthday season?

We had a just-the-family party on the actual day (Friday), her aunt and uncle came over on Saturday for more family celebrating, dual celebrations in Kindergarten class and in after school care Monday, and the big kids' party this Sunday at the gymnastics place.

Whew!

And wow. My "baby" is 6 years old already.  How the heck did that happen?!?


I also spent Sunday afternoon catching up IN PERSON with my best girlfriend!  *squeeeeee!!*  We've known each other since jr. high school, but sadly, she lives out of state now.  We talk on the phone regularly, but it sure doesn't beat just hanging out.  It's been a couple of years since we got to do that.  I dragged her to my favorite coffee house and to a yummy Indian food buffet place.

Girls' day out!

Pilates Class Review

First of all, thanks so much for the feedback!  Lori was right about it being harder than it looks.  SeaBreeze was right about the core work.  Core is my weak spot, so I was glad the instructor had some suggested modifications on some of the moves.  Some parts are definitely harder than yoga, but not all; some of the yoga poses are really challenging and need a lot of upper body strength.  The pilates class I took focused on abdominal and leg-lift exercises, with pretty much no upper body strength work.

Some parts of the class really tickled my funny bone.  (And no, not just the part when I farted.  Yes, out loud, but apparently not loud enough to make other people laugh.)  As I wrote on Daily Mile:

Survived my first pilates class. Whew! It was hard. We did some of the moves laying on a foam roller, and there was a ton of ab work. The move in which we sat up, pressing a ring between our knees, pulsing our arms up and down and breathing in and out in puffs made me want to shriek, "It's a BOY!" afterward. I can also see how pilates is effective functional fitness, wink-wink, nudge-nudge.

It's more like childbirth class, I guess, rather than actual childbirth...certainly less painful on certain parts of the anatomy (unlike spin class...to which I'm dreading going back just a little bit).

What I ended up loving was that my obliques were mildly sore for days afterward; they are obviously not getting worked.  And there was a lot of inner thigh work; it's an area on me that doesn't get toned from the exercise I do now, so it sure wouldn't hurt to exercise it and see what happens.  (Although I realize it may be like my chest, in that all of the chest work in the world is just not going to bring back the former glory of that region...the right bra, however, can still do wonders.)  I've read that spot reduction doesn't work; has anyone ever had experience to the contrary?

In conclusion, I'm weird.  I know, I really ought to save this space to tell you something you *don't* know. I spent much of pilates class watching the clock, wondering if my abs could hold out until the end.  I walked out feeling like, "Meh, I'm not sure I would do this again."  And then after letting it sink in, I started wishing I could work it into my schedule, envisioning a "Summer of Core" (Peace! Love! Leg lifts!) since I could make this one and the other 7-8 a.m. pilates class when the kids are out of school, and it would still give me time to fit in some triathlon training for August.

Changing Doctors...Again?!?

Well, our doctor is in a different medical group now, so we changed back to a doctor we liked from the medical clinic we used to go to.  (Long story--the clinic ran out of money and closed all of a sudden...even the doctors didn't find out until they tried to show up for work that day!)  I really liked the doctor we were seeing, but I like this one, too, so a win-win situation.  I went to check out the tail end of my cold (which we suspect is being aggravated by allergies), and it was fun to see her reaction to how I'd done since I'd last seen her.  (She was the doctor I'd started seeing when I was first diagnosed; her standards for my numbers are very much in line with the control I like to see, so we're good there.)  She said I could try scaling back on my metformin dosage if I wanted to do so, and so I might give that a try after I'm in the clear with my other stuff.  It's worth a try, anyway; I can always go back on it if the numbers get out of range.  Given that my largest meal of the day is at night and that my morning numbers have always been the hardest to control, we decided to keep the night time dose and try eliminating the morning dose.  I'll of course be posting how this experiment goes.  A1C testing is still every 3 months; she'd like me to stop in every 6 months for check ups, since I've been doing really well for the past year.

Oddball Thought for the Week

Did you ever notice that the French word for "yes," oui, sounds just like the English word "wheee!"?  Of course, it sort of loses that nuance if you say "oui" in a bored, detached way.

Progress This Week

7-day blood glucose average: 106 (met goal of less than 120)
7-day fasting blood glucose average: 104 (met goal of less than 120)
Going back down; yeay!  I've also noticed that fasting blood glucose is affected by my cycle; I've found that it shifts up during PMS-time and drops as soon as menstruation starts. 

Weight goals: Whoops, forgot to weigh this morning, but I'm sure it's up.  For the record, fully clothed and breakfasted but shoeless at the doctor's office appears to run about 4 pounds over the home scale.  Oddly, my height appears to have increased by about a quarter inch; I'm assuming that's due to better posture.

Food goals: Started out the week okay and tracked for 3.5 days; stopped for a few days, and picked it back up today. As for the hunger thing, I'm laughing ruefully at what I wrote last week.  Hunger came roaring back when Mr. Handsome-and-Handy made ribs last Wednesday. 
Fiber: Averaged 22 grams/day.  Need to do better there.

Exercise goals: Feeling much better this week.  It's funny, because I was sitting here today feeling like I'd totally blown it, having done zippity-do-dah on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, but then once I looked at Daily Mile, I realized that I didn't do too badly this week with my goals.  Only one missed day, and I got strength into two of my workouts this week. 
Total mileage for the week was 16.73 miles.
Wednesday - 40 minutes (7 mi.) - 15 minute walk at lunchtime (.75 mi.) and 25 minutes on stationary bike at home (6.25 mi)
Thursday - 90 minutes - 60 minutes pilates class and 30 minutes on recumbent bike (5 miles)
Friday - 75 minutes (4.73 mi.) - 40 minutes walk at lunchtime (2 mi.)  and 35 minutes run/walk at night (2.73 mi.)
Saturday - Nothing
Sunday - Nothing
Monday - Nothing (Ack!  Shouldn't have had that double cappuccino late on Sunday afternoon; I didn't get to sleep until after midnight and was dragging today.)
Tuesday - 35 minutes - DVD extravaganza!  "Dance Off the Inches: 15 Minutes Express" + two segments of "10 Minute Solutions: Kickboxing Bootcamp," basic (I added some hand weights) and the abs segment.

Sleep: Ahhh...kids on vacation=more sleep for me in the morning!  That came to a rude halt on Monday.

Goals for Next Week

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

Food goals:
* Track food intake.
* Track fiber, aiming for at least 30 grams/day average.

Exercise goals:
* 30 minutes of activity 5 days/week.
* Get back to spin class!!! (groan...)
* 2 strength sessions (BodyPump + something on my own)

Misc. goals:
7 or more hours sleep/night.
It's Stanley Cup season - get home in time for Mr. Handsome-and-Handy to watch the Detroit Red Wings playoff games.  (Go Wings!)