Quotable Friday*!

*because, by the end of the week, I can't think of anything clever to say myself!

A common theme in blogs I'm stumbling across this week seems to be this: Don't wait until you've arrived at your health goals to enjoy life; do the things you like to do now. So true! Where are my plane tickets to Hawaii?!?!? Oh, er, right, the day job and back-to-school and all that....I've been really impressed by the other truths and humor in blogs I've been reading lately. I might ramble more on that later, but for now, the quotes:

"We are all worms. But I believe that I am a glow-worm." -Winston Churchill

"Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely." -Rodin

"Life is tough, and if you have the ability to laugh at it, you have the ability to enjoy it." -Salma Hayek

"The most wasted day of all is that on which we have not laughed." -Sebastine Chamfort

"When a think thing is funny, search it for a hidden truth." -George Bernard Shaw (<-The hidden truth? Do not fully trust your spell-checker.)

True or False: Does most of the weight we lose come straight off our busts?

There I was, standing in front of the mirror after my shower, feeling a little sad at the state of the girls. "Wouldn't ya know it...I always lose it straight from the bust!" I growled. But looks can be deceiving, so I decided to put this weight loss myth to the test. (Yes, the show Mythbusters is huge in our house...Thing 1 wants to be Jamie or Adam.)

So, I got out my measuring tape. And I measured. Well, well, well!

"You're not really going to share your measurements, are you?"

Well...(*gulp*)...yes. In the name of Science!

"Are you nuts?"

(probably!)







Myth confirmed! I really DO lose it more from the bust than anywhere else. Poor girls! I'll have to cheer them up and get them a pretty new bra or something. But real science types would hardly call my results conclusive...any challengers to these findings?

Weekly weigh in: -35!

Down one pound during the past week. At least it's still heading in a downward direction, but the rate of loss has gone down a bit. Well-oh. I think it's the dreaded "Decade Effect": the closer you get to going past a number that is a multiple of 10, the slower your rate of loss. At least I'm no longer lying about my driver's license weight anymore!

My blood glucose levels continue to do better in general--I even got one of my fasting numbers within range last week--but today? Ugh. Hard to pinpoint the cause: my post-dinner numbers were great last night, but my fasting was 143 and my post-breakfast, post-exercise was 152! (Which isn't too bad, but I'd been seeing some nice post-meal numbers in the 130s and was feeling smug.) I'm sorry, but 1/2 cup of cottage cheese and a little cream in my coffee shouldn't do that sort of thing. I did get a twinge in my calf when jogging this morning, so that might have affected things...I looked at some bread at Whole Paycheck Foods this morning and even picked up a pack of brioche buns (and--no worries--set it down)...I took a big, long loving whiff of the breakfast bar and its insidious chorizo hash...Please-o-please tell me it wasn't the cup of Good Earth tea I just drank!

And tomorrow, True or False: Does most of the weight we lose come straight off our busts? Stay tuned!

Quote Day!

I love collecting quotations. Here are a couple of favorites from Mae West:

"You're never too old to become younger."

and

"I only have 'yes' men around. Who needs 'no' men?"

Happy Friday!

The Near Occasion of Pistachios

It used to be sugar that drove me wild with desire, but now...

...they're in my desk drawer...

...naked...

...salty...

...green...

...pistachios!


A 16 oz. bag of them...well, 14 oz now, I've ate a couple of ounces so far (not in one sitting, thank goodness!). Shelled, roasted, salted...no, I did NOT have the good sense to get the ones in the shell, so I'd have to remove them one-by-one.

I got a really bad craving for them yesterday. What to do? I'd already had some with lunch, and I knew I needed to choose my usual yogurt/flax+wheat germ/fruit snack. I thought, "Try the scent-tasting trick." So I dug out the bag and inhaled deeply three times. Mmmm, salty goodness! Then I got myself a cup of tea. So far it seems to have worked, but there are still 14 beguiling ounces in there....



In other news, I found it really difficult to drag myself out running today. "Thing 1" had a rough night last night and woke us up after having a bad dream. ("Thing 1" refers to our 6-year-old son; "Thing 2" is our 4-year-old daughter; both affectionately dubbed from The Cat in the Hat's mischief-makers.) I think he's anxious about starting school next week. It's been thickly foggy all week long in the morning, and it was like jogging through an Impressionist painting, except I'm sure Monet's garden didn't have drought-stricken lawns and gopher mounds. I did stick with it and did my 2 miles (in 40 minutes...I'm going to get so lapped by the 5K walkers at the Pumpkin Run, but my goal is to simply finish before they pack up everything and leave). I'm not sure whether the inside or outside of my jacket was more wet. (Ew, too much info, I know!) But I felt very good afterward.

Moving my Metformin dose to the morning seems to be making a difference in my fasting blood glucose. Today it was 134, which is the lowest it's been since I started tracking (about 10-15 less than usual). Unfortunately, I got more of a spike from my workout (145) than breakfast (131). I wonder if any studies have been done to figure out how much weight loss affects blood glucose numbers. The current thinking is that losing 5-10% of your body weight (if overweight) and 30 minutes of exercise daily can make a difference for preventing diabetes among those with a predisposition for it (58% less likely, per the Diabetes Prevention Program study), but I was unable to find numbers for how much your blood glucose would go down as you reduce your BMI. Maybe it's not something that's possible to track, especially among newly diagnosed people who are doing everything at once: exercise, sensible eating, and (in some cases) medication.

Visit with my diabetes educator

Had a pleasant visit with my certified diabetes educator (CDE) at Mills Peninsula. The overall blood glucose numbers are looking good and are dropping.

last 60 days: 149 average
last 30 days: 145 average
last 14 days: 142 average
last 7 days: 141 average

Considering that my a1c was 9.5 when diagnosed (which means around 255 average), this is a great trend. She said that the trend should continue and that it's looking really good; I have high hopes for getting those morning fasting numbers knocked down. She did say to try not to get too frustrated with the blood glucose monitor; like the scale and the measuring tape, it's a tool, not something to get obsessed with. We're moving my metformin to p.m. instead of a.m. My CDE said that insulin resistance can increase at night while our bodies are sedentary. Exercise, exercise, exercise!

On the other hand, when I told her that my numbers had gone up after a particularly intense workout, she noted that harder isn't always better when you've got diabetes. Longer is good, as is exercising frequently (5 days/week minimum), but higher intensity can increase stress, which can increase the blood glucose immediately after. However, the activity generally makes for better numbers during the day.

Regarding weight loss, she was impressed with my progress. (Here's what the nutritionist showed me last time I visited, after I got off her scale. Revolting, no? I'll have to get a photo of me with it next time I'm there!) She asked a good question: "This might not happen, but are you prepared for how you'll feel if you don't see a loss?" Gulp. I was getting a little anxious about not seeing as much of a loss as I would have liked, never mind no loss or (gulp again) a gain. I'll have to think about that one.

We discussed the shortage of certified diabetes educators in general, and my dismay that there are so many people on the online discussion boards who are newly diagnosed yet are not given much information on how to take care of themselves or referrals to diabetes educators or nutritionists. I did find a really good online resource on the Diabetes Mine blog: a link to free online education hosted by University of California San Francisco called "Diabetes Education Online". The diet information follows the ADA diabetic exchanges program; and it explains diabetic exchanges and food planning very well and offers sample information, such as how many exchanges/day for given numbers of calories. It's general sensible eating but not low carb, so one's mileage may vary on the nutrition info if one is taking the low carb route.

Weekly Weigh-in: - 34 pounds!

Yippee! Down another 3 pounds this week.

"Hello, my name is Pubsgal, and I'm a scale addict..."
How often to weigh is a topic of much debate among those pursuing weight loss. From my Weight Watchers days, I remember their strict admonition to weigh only once a week, so as to avoid angst over the daily ups and downs. However, I've also read that daily weighing can be helpful for some people ("Does the Scale Promote Weight Loss?").

I weigh daily each morning, but I track on a weekly basis and measure monthly. I find that a daily check, and watching the number over the week helps me calibrate things. This week, for example, I was a little worried about whether there'd be a loss, as the scale didn't seem to be budging much. So I made some lower-fat choices and stuck to my food plan a bit more closely. I probably would have been really discouraged if there'd been no progress, and I've gotten spoiled by the quick progress. Tune in a couple of months from now to see the hand-wringing and hair-pulling!

In some ways, blood glucose monitoring is even more crazy. I've seen a downward trend in general, but I thought there'd be a more dramatic impact from the medication as well as following my food & exercise plan. We'll see what the diabetes educator has to say about it after my appointment today; she'll probably chuckle when she sees how many times I checked my blood glucose after starting metformin: "Oh my gahd!!!! I'm going hypo!!!! I just know it!!!!...Oh. 124. (90-130 being a normal pre-meal or fasting range.) Okay, so things aren't exactly plummeting, here." (Disclaimer: it's always a good thing to test when you think hypoglycemia is happening, not to make light of my reaction; however, my blood sugars have been so high for so long that "normal" feels like a low to me.)

"Habits are at first cobwebs, then cables." -Spanish proverb