Setbacks and willpower

I have suffered some minor setbacks getting back into exercising again. First of all, after all that holiday nibbling, I found I couldn't stop myself. There was still left over candies and snacks about the house or at work. I was just getting over a bad cough. I suppose my will power just went down the drain. Thank goodness for having friends going through the same issues. They help inspire you to do the right things again.

I've met a couple through my favorite diet website at www.myfitnesspal.com . Here is a place you can simply load up a profile , enter your goals, and a time frame to reach your goal. It tabulates your calories burned through exercise and how much you've eaten each day, provided you log into it faithfully. Here is a forum of advice to help you meet your goals and a way to make new friends to support you through daily posts. My friend Nikki and Jen, who also live in Texas, struggle with the almost the same issues I do. they encouraged me to come back to log in my progress.

But again, fate threw at me an unexpected challenge- a pulled muscle in my back. After suffering with this since Wednesday morning, and I had assumed I got it from sleeping wrong on my lumpy old mattress, I finally sought medical help on Friday. After hearing my summary of symptoms, the doctor offered a shot for my back, a muscle relaxer and pain pills. Needless to say, it left me groggy and loopy all weekend. Also to my rescue was my dear husband, who went to Walmart to buy a massage pad to sit on, a medicinal patch to apply to my back, and a heating pad to put on my bed. Ahhhh, relief couldn't come soon enough. But I'm still on the mend and I want to take it easy in the next few days to come.

So exercise is on the back burner again, but it won't be for too long. I was making steady progress before this injury occurred and now my will power has been enticed with the success of seeing my blood sugars stabilize a bit more. So its my hope to get back to the gym and back to eating healthy every day. My long range goal is to lose another twenty pounds by summer and if I don't get with the program, summer will be here before we realize.

I know it will be an uphill battle to lose more weight. But with friends, and my youngest daughter's willingness to be my work out buddy, I think I can succeed my minor goals. We should all strive to set these goals and meet these challenges, for it just makes us stronger inside.

First 30 days update

Update on my first 30 day diet/exercise challenge

As of Wednesday, July 21st, 2010:

Ok, my weight this afternoon: 202 on the scale. I lost five pounds from my last visit. Patrick is the pharmacologist who sees me on a month to month basis to help me analyze my diet, medications, and exercise since I'm diabetic. It's part of a medication management program and it has helped me a lot.

My AIC is still up, but on my last visit the level was 9.8 and now it is 9.2. He expects as long as I continue to exercise, this level will go down further. And he said I was on target for my daily average glucose readings by 40 % versus the 8% I did last month.

He was very proud of me and I was too. He wrote "great job" on his comment sheet.

I wished I had lost more weight but what I have done so far is very encouraging. It does prove how exercise and watching what you eat does make a difference. Whoooo Hooo!!

First results in my new regime are awesome

Just checking in:

I went to see Marty, my doctor's physician assistant, for my regular checkup yesterday. He asked how I was doing and I couldn't wait to fill him in of my finally getting with the program: to eat sensibly and exercise at the gym. I told him I was about three weeks into it and have already seen changes with my glucose numbers. Of course, he was pleased and went to look over my lab values. However, the lab had made a mistake of not taking the main one, the A1C level, where it evaluates the three month value of the average of my blood sugars. I know on my last visit, I was around 9 something. Too high when the goal is to be around 6. And they forgot to check my thyroid levels as he had made an adjustment on that medication on my last visit too.

Still, we discussed the numbers that did show up on the lab:

My daily blood glucose level was showing 125 vs on the last visit, it being 177.

Blood pressure had dropped about 30 something points: from being in the 140's to being down to 110.

My triglycerides had an outstanding drop: from 250's down to 134.

And to him, I dropped just a couple of pounds from my last visit. Of course, my weight always yo-yo's so I'm ok with that.

I made him smile in my excitement of reading those great numbers. I yelped out "Whoo-Hoo!", because for me, it's a testimony that I'm actually doing something in the right direction.

He decided he'll get my A1C when I come back in October. Three months from now. If I continue on this journey of walking and sticking to watching what I eat and how much I eat, then I can't wait to see what my number will be then.

But as far as my mini-30 day challenge, I will see the pharmacology guy in about two weeks. That's when I want to take note of my weight. I started off at 207. Yesterday, I weighed in at 204. Not a big drop, but at least it too is going in the right direction. Whoo -Hoo!!