Pump Download (Data up to Dec 12 2016)

So here we go - another sensor successfully completed!  This sensor was a bit off (unlike the last one which seemed to perfectly match my glucose level) but it still gave me a good picture of what's been going on. 

The Carelink Quick View Summary report had me quite excited - I've brought my glucose into range (that's between 4.0 mmol/L and 8.0 mmol/L) 55% of the time!  That's up from 49% during the last download.  High blood sugars are also down (39% compared to 48% last time).  Lows unfortunately went up a bit though too (they're back up to 6%).  The average glucose level has gone down slightly to 8.1 mmol/L (so that's down 0.2).  The high came down a whole 1.0 mmol/L, and the low is slightly higher than it was on the 3rd.  And I've managed to maintain the 50/50 split between basal and bolus.  So yay!

There's now 16 basals programmed into my pump, up from last time's 11.  I was getting a bit worried that I might hit a limit, but according to Medtronic the VEO can have 48 basals per day.  So no problems with the increase.  Once again I was actively making changes to my basal as the sensor was running.  That let me have a whole afternoon where I got to see my glucose staying in range over the entire day!  I think from around 4am to about 5pm it stayed between 4.5 mmol/L and about 7.5 mmol/L.  Here's a pic I took earlier of the 6 hour graph in action (it was so exciting!)

Look at that.  So wonderful to see!

In other exciting news, I discovered that I didn't have a high enough basal covering 11pm.  Last night my glucose shot up for no reason whatsoever.  So it wasn't just me sucking with carb counting in the evening - I have to get those basals figured out!  I'm hoping to tackle the evening with the next sensor I run. :)

I absolutely love running sensors.  This would have been a pain (quite literally) to get this level of information with my glucometer alone.  I really wish I had gotten a box sooner, but I am so thankful that I have this box right now!

Weight Update for Dec 6 2016

Okay, I had a problem with these numbers:

weight: 209.2 lbs
fat percentage: 45.7%
hydration: 37.3%
muscle: 26.8%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2341

This was a day after I had gone swimming.  And my muscle had gone down slightly from December 3rd???  So not cool. 

At this point I've decided I'm not going to weight myself for the next little while.  I'll wait until the new year, after I get through the holiday season.  And yes, part of me is mad at my scale for telling me I lost a bit of muscle after swimming. 

Sad for no Sensor :(

I slept in today much longer than I'd planned (I got up after 1pm).  And my first thought upon waking up and realizing the time was panic; what happened to my glucose as I was sleeping?  I've gotten used to looking at my pump to see the sensor graphs.  Because I don't have a sensor on, I have honestly no idea what happened, which really sucks.  :(

Pump Download (Data Up To Dec 3 2016)

Alright, I just did a pump download. 

A quick overview has things looking rather good.  Over the last two weeks I've had my glucose in range (between about 4.0 mmol/L and 8.0 mmol/L according to the Carelink reports) 49% of the time (compared to 38% when I last did a download).  My high blood sugar readings were also down (48% of the readings compared to 55% last time).  And I had less lows (3% compared to 6% last time).  So yay!  My average glucose is slightly lower as a result (8.3 compared to 8.9).  My highest reading this week was down by 0.3, and my lowest reading was up by 0.2.  So it looks like the spread of things was better overall. Oh, and it looks like on average I also had a 50/50 split between basal and bolus, which is great too (I'm pretty sure that's the split you should be aiming for).

I knew this was the case, but I've added in several more basal rates (two weeks ago I had 7 programmed into my pump; now there's 11).  As I mentioned earlier, I was actively making changes to my basal as I was running this sensor.  Those changes were me adding in a couple of new basal rates in the hopes of stopping some lows that kept happening at various points during the day.  Unfortunately I'm not sure if they've worked yet because the sensor ended (and I was too high during the last overnight I was running it to be able to tell).


I'd really like to print the sensor daily overlay out but I forgot to get coloured ink so nothing's going to show up; let's see if I can just puzzle through it while it's on the computer...

The thing that jumps out at me right off the bat is that I suck at carb counting from dinner time into the evening.  Actually, that's not altogether fair.  It looks like I just need to be more careful when eating things like pizza or deep-fried fish.  I forgot to do a dual wave last night while eating pizza, which meant I had to deal with being high all night.  Prior to that (on the 29th) I went out with friends for fish and chips; I thought I had carb counted reasonably well (I found the nutritional information online) but I went high anyway, exactly the way I went high with the pizza: my glucose started coming down, then shot up super fast.  I'm thinking that if I'd done the dual wave, I would have been able to stop that from happening.

Other than these instances, my evenings were looking relatively okay.  I had one night where I highly underestimated the carbs in the dinner I made.  And another day that I purposely spiked my glucose so I could go swimming.  I'm not sure what happened on the 30th, but it looks like I spiked my glucose because I went low repeatedly while at work (on days where I keep going low, I eventually get mad and eat a bunch of things to spike my glucose - not exactly the best plan, but it deals with the low problem).  So yeah, my carb counting isn't horrible.  I just happened to capture a bad week with my sensor.

The sad thing about the pizza last night is that I did do a dual wave originally.  But I ate a bit more pizza about an hour later and totally forgot to do it then.  :(  I also ate a poutine earlier in the day (I know, I know, I ate terribly yesterday) which I had the nutritional information for; I used a dual wave and my glucose behaved beautifully!  What's nice about seeing that in action is that I know the half hour delay for the squared wave of the dual looks like it works quite nicely.

I'd like to make note of the beautiful correction I saw this morning at about 9am.  I was still battling the highs from the pizza.  I tried correcting it at about 3am but the correction failed and I'm not sure why.  But at 9am the correction worked beautifully.  I was considering changing my insulin sensitivity settings on my pump over this (for 2am/3am), but I see that I made a correction around 2am the day before and that one worked just fine.  So I'm not going to mess with the sensitivity over this.


I found a dip around 9pm in my glucose that I can't tell what's causing it (it could be my insulin to carb ratio, but it might also be the basal); I'd really like to see more of what's going on before attempting to mess with anything to fix that. I'd love to run another sensor like right now but it's too late to start one before I go to sleep (I don't want to have to stay up to do the initial calibration). I think I'm going to wait until Tuesday though before running another one; that way I'll catch a couple of 7 hour work days and a couple of days off to hopefully get a better picture of what's going on.

Weight Update for Nov 24, Dec 2, and Dec 3 2016

Forgot to post these numbers from Nov 24:

weight: 208.2 lbs
fat percentage: 44.7%
hydration: 38.0%
muscle: 27.3%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2336

Here are my numbers from yesterday:

weight: 209.4 lbs
fat percentage: 45.9%
hydration: 37.1%
muscle: 26.6%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2342

This was a really interesting development.  I had gone swimming the day before.  I had issues with my glucose over the entire day (going low, high, then low again repeatedly).  While my weight could reasonably be up as a result, I thought it was odd that my muscle percentage decreased.  So out of curiosity, since I weighed myself earlier in the day than I normally do, I decided to try weighing myself today, too.  Here's the numbers I got:

weight: 208.0 lbs
fat percentage: 45.1%
hydration: 37.7%
muscle: 27.0%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2334

My weight came down by almost a pound and a half, and my muscle increased.  That was very interesting because I worked all day on Friday but did not walk to work.  I didn't swim or anything.  I actually went to the movies and ate crap (poutine at the theater, then ordered pizza back home afterwards).  And still my weight was down?  Huh.  I really don't know what to make of this.  But there it is.

Later tonight I'm going to do a download from my pump to see the results from another successful sensor.  That's going to be interesting to see because I was actively making some changes as I was going along! 

Swimming Adventure

So a really weird thing happened tonight.  I knew I wanted to go swimming, so I did my usual swimming strategy for food and insulin.  I walked to the pool (as I've been doing for the last few weeks).  Got into my bathing suit, did glucose: 6.5 mmol/L. 

Huh.  What do I do now?

The smart thing would be to call it a day.  I tried, but no dice.  Pack up, walk back home.

What I actually did was go swimming anyway.  I had some regular pop.  Did glucose at the side of the pool.  It was up to 6.9 mmol/L.  Drank a bit more pop, jumped in. 

Of course I didn't do anything stupid.  I swam slower than I would have normally.  I swam a lot less than I would have normally.  And I checked my glucose part way through the swim before continuing.  I was conscious the entire time that not only did I have to make sure my glucose stayed high enough during the swim, but to walk back home too.  So I made sure I did not overdo it at all. 

And here I am, safe and sound back home.

And now that I'm back home, my glucose has been slowly climbing.  Go figure.  So I'll keep an eye on things tonight and see what happens.

I should also add - do not try exercising if you do not think your glucose is high enough!  I know my body well enough that I trusted that I would be high enough to do a *little* bit (while monitoring the entire time to make sure I WAS high enough to exercise).  When in doubt, talk to your diabetes management team for help!!!

Side note: I made a friend in the change room today.  She saw me doing glucose before I took off my pump and was like "You have Type 1 diabetes, don't you?"  Turns out she was a nurse just heading home.  :)

Sensor Success!

The second sensor I put in was a complete successful! 

After putting it in, it was acting up and I thought it wouldn't last either.  But at about 3pm on the second day it magically calibrated properly and started giving me relatively accurate results!  (There were some places where it was off a little bit, but nothing like what was happening with the first one!)  It ended today, giving me my first successful six days with a sensor!

Hilariously, I thought it was going to end at 8:30pm.  I wanted to go swimming, but was debating about waiting until after it ended, or going and trying to catch my swimming on the tail end of the sensor.  I opted for the latter option, but the sensor ended at 8am (right in the middle of my swim) so I didn't really get the information I wanted.  Oh well!

I just spent about an hour going over the results.  I had a couple of major fails with carb counting and my period started unexpectedly early.  So I wasn't sure what kind of information I'd be getting off of this sensor.  But I did find a couple of places I wanted to tighten up my basal a bit because it looks like my glucose was crashing.  Unfortunately I'll have to wait until my period is over to see what effect these changes have!

Oh, as a side note, I swam for about 40 minutes today!  Last time I swam for 35 minutes, and the two times before that were only 30 minutes each.  I swam about 2100 meters, and tread water for about 7 minutes!  And I did it all during the heaviest day of my period!  Go me!  :)

Weight Update for Nov 19 2016

I was going to weigh myself yesterday, but got up earlier than planned and ate something.  So here's my numbers for today instead:

weight: 207.0 lbs
fat percentage: 44.5%
hydration: 38.1%
muscle: 27.3%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2328

Not bad!  Lost two pounds in one week (which is a healthy amount), lost one full percentage point of fat, and gained about half a point of muscle! 

This is super exciting because I feel like I've been eating too much crap since Halloween.  First I was eating too many chips in the aftermath of Halloween (I had a full box leftover - I ended up taking most of it to work so I wouldn't feel obligated to eat it all).  Then a friend of mine brought me a huge box of Halloween chocolate.  I gave a good chunk of that away, but kept a little more than I thought I had. 

We'll see how things go as I get closer to my period though...I seem to eat more around that time (which apparently is an actual scientific thing!)  But hopefully the swimming will help negate that a bit!

Quick update on the sensor too.  Sensor #2 had a bit of a rocky start (as I mentioned, it hurt when I inserted it and seemed to have a bit of blood around it), but has otherwise been fine!  After the first twelve to eighteen hours, it became reasonably accurate with where my blood sugar was.  I'm at about 3.5 days with it right now and should make it through to the 6th day without a problem now!

Sensor Fail

Well last night was hell.

My sensor kept insisting I was low.  To the point of suspending my insulin.  Multiple tests showed me that no, I was actually fine (the lowest test I saw was about 5.4 mmol/L).  I phoned the Medtronic helpline at about 2am.  We troubleshooted some stuff and I thought we had fixed the issue.  So I went to sleep.

I woke up around 8am to more alarms.  My pump had lost contact with the sensor.  I got it all talking again, then went back to sleep.

Around 10am, the sensor suspended my pump's insulin yet again.  I guess I was so exhausted that I slept through the alerts for about an hour before finally waking up.  I called Medtronic again, but was told they're super busy and will call me back as soon as possible.

Around that time, I thought the sensor started working.  But no, it swung to saying I was too high (like in the 17-18 mmol/L range all afternoon).  Once again, blood tests revealed that no, I was not that high (more in the 11 mmol/L range).

So about a half hour ago, Medtronic got back to me.  They told me to pull the sensor and try a new one.  I took a picture of the old one to remember how the tape should look (and added it to a new page I just made called "Hints" so I'll easily be able to find it again).

The "doughnut" tape placement kind of confused me without this pic.

I once again used the inserter-thingy.  I'm a bit worried that the new sensor is going to fail as well - it hurt a bit at insertion and looks a bit bloody.  But I guess we'll see what happens in a few hours.

And hopefully I'll actually be able to sleep more tonight!!!!

Sensor Refresher

Today I went in to my clinic for a refresher course on sensors.  The new sensors are so awesome - they now last six days instead of 3, and you only have to calibrate them every 12 hours instead of 8!  Everyone who participated was walked through the steps of setting one up - so I've got one running for the next six days! 

I don't really remember using the little transmitter (although I totally did back in 2010) so it feels new and so much better than my original transmitter, which is the one I remember using. I was happy to realize that even though some of the technology has changed a bit, I still pretty much remembered what I was doing.  And the new alerts and things are relatively straightforward, so I should be okay moving forward.

Other important note: I used the sensor inserter-thingy (although I had to do it away from the rest of the group because I was still a bit freaked out at the thought of doing it).  And using it was totally fine!  It'll probably take me a few more tries before I'm totally over the fear though.

This doesn't look as scary as the old one I remember!

The sensor is totally up and running right now.  It uses so much less tape and stuff than I had to use years ago, which is amazing in my mind.  And even better - I'll be able to go swimming with it on tonight (apparently the little transmitter, when properly connected to a sensor, is water-tight)!  The transmitter has a 40 minute memory, so if I decide to leave my pump in my locker the transmitter will be able to hold the data for me.  Of course, I'm thinking I'll probably just bring my pump with me to the pool deck and leave it in a ziplock bag instead - I don't want to risk losing any data!

Here's the old one for comparison.  There's something about an open inserter-thing that just fills me with dread!

Sil-serter

I've had an insulin pump for many, many years now. I've also been using Silhouette infusion sets for the entire time but have been absolutely terrified to use the Sil-serter. Don't ask me why. So yes, I have manually inserted EVERY SINGLE INFUSION SET I've ever done. 

When I recently got my new pump, they included a Sil-serter. I originally was going to throw it out like I've done with the other ones. But something stopped me. I remembered when I was first diagnosed with diabetes many, many (24) years ago, I was terrified of the lancing machine too. The nurses always did fingerpokes manually; it was my dad who talked me into giving the device a try (he refused to do the manual pokes for me - I was quite young at the time and my parents were taking care of my diabetes needs back then). So I did try it and it honestly wasn't so scary.

Thinking back to that, I decided yo try cobquering my fear and at least giving the Sil-serter a try. Besides if I hated it, I could always go back to manually inserting the infusion sets. I was going to try it a few days ago when I wanted to try another alternate site (my bum) and realized I couldn't reach everything on my own. But I took one of the papers off too soon before I read the instructions. I probably *could* have used it anyway, but didn't want to be worrying about it sticking when I've never used the thing before.

So today, I did a site change with the Sil-serter. And it was honestly 100% totally fine. Well, other than the moment I realized I couldn't really hang onto the thing with both hands and worried about how I'd detach it from the inserted site. But I got it detached!

And yes, I was left wondering what I had been so afraid of all these years (we are talking like over ten years by the way). The Sil-serter worked totally fine, didn't hurt, and gave me access to a whole new place I didn't realize I could use! That's great. My advice for anyone else who is afraid like I was - honestly, just give it a shot. Even if you hate it, you'll feel so much better having conquered your fear!

Now we'll see how my bum works as an alternate site! :)

The Sil-serter

Weight Update for Nov 11 2016

If I'm planning on swimming for a month, I thought it would be a good idea to weigh in at the beginning of everything.  So here are today's numbers:

weight: 209.2 lbs
fat percentage: 45.5%
hydration: 37.4%
muscle: 26.8%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2341

It'll be interesting to see what happens.  My weight will hopefully go down a bit and I hope to see the muscle going up a bit, too.  I guess we'll see!

Month of Swimming!

Today was my first day swimming since last spring! Well, other than going during the summer - but that was more splashing around at a lake fun swimming.  This was actually working out harder fun swimming.  Because swimming in my mind is always fun!

I decided to get myself a month membership at one of the athletic centers that has a big pool.  My rationale is that the month will expire and then it's Christmas, so I won't be really going swimming at that point anyway. 

This was also the first time I can think of that I went swimming on my own.  Over the last few years, every time I've gone has always been with someone.  And don't get me wrong, that's fun.  But there was something particularly nice about going on my own today.  I didn't have to worry about anyone else waiting for me in the change room.  And after the stresses of the last few days (in the wake of the American Election, I've been reassuring a few people that the world is not in fact doomed.  It's taking a bit of a toll on me emotionally to be honest), it was wonderful to have thirty minutes in the pool not talking to anyone. 

Because let's be honest: thirty minutes was more than enough.  I haven't been swimming like this since the spring and my arm muscles were already protesting by about the fifteen minute mark.  But that's another thing that's nice about the month pass - I can take a bunch of shorter swims without feeling like I'm wasting money!

I totally forgot my goggles in the change room too, which sucked.  But I stayed mostly on my back and kept my face out of the water for anything on my front (I didn't want my eyes all red for work this evening).  I'm sure I'll remember my goggles next time!

Due to the fact that my arms will most likely be sore for a few days, I'll probably be waiting until early next week to go back to the pool (although I *may* be able to fit something in on Friday night). I'm excited no matter when I fit in another swim - I didn't realize how much I missed being in the pool.

Weight Update November 3rd

With all this talk of pumps lately, I haven't thought to weigh myself.  Here are the numbers from earlier today:

weight: 209.8 lbs
fat percentage: 46.0%
hydration: 37.1%
muscle: 26.6%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2344

I had a period in there, where I was totally eating way more than I normally do.  And Halloween has just passed.  I have a lot of chips leftover and have been eating too much of them lately too.  So even though I was down to 204.6 lbs in early October, I'm back up to almost 210.  :(

With that in mind, I'm seriously considering getting myself a one month membership to go swimming.  The one month time frame is really good right now because it'll expire right before Christmas, when I'm not likely to go swimming anyway.  I've got a few chunks of time off so I'm hoping I can fit swimming in a few times each week (possibly once after work and once during the afternoon).

I've also replaced my runners (hilariously with the exact same pair I bought last time) in the hopes that I will be motivated to get back out walking.  I walked a ton over the summer, and totally wore that last pair out (although I'm going to keep them for work because they'll be fine for that)!  

Alternate Infusion Set Site - 3 Day Leg Trial

Three days ago, I tried using my leg for my infusion set site.  As I mentioned when I first put it in, it felt a bit weird but seemed to be okay.  The site lasted the three days; I took it out this morning though because the area on my thigh was getting sore yesterday.  There was no bruising or anything that looked wrong with the site.  My thought is that my thighs are moving a lot more than my torso in day to day life, which was irritating the area.

It was also a bit of an awkward place to deal with at times.  Like I got worried I might knock it out while I was sleeping.

Other than that though, everything seemed fine.  My glucose wasn't higher or lower than what I expected it to be, which was great.  And like I said, the site lasted just fine.  It even went in really easily, which I didn't expect for some reason.

So all in all, it's great to have this as an option for another site.  But I don't think it's the best site to be using on a regular basis. 

I think next time (not this time though - I went back to my side) I'm going to give my arm a try.  I'll just have to make sure it's during a bit of a cold snap so I've got long sleeves on!

Alternate Infusion Set Sites!!!

Okay, I am super excited.  When unboxing my new VEO the other day, I was reading the box the sensors came in (yay sensors!  I haven't had any since 2010!) because I was shocked to realize they came in an un-refrigerated box (I guess the technology has changed in the last six years?)  And I was shocked to realize that the sensors are approved for an alternate site too (on the bum).  Which led to the realization that I could probably be moving my regular site around, too!  I went looking online and sure enough, I found a Medtronic blog post about moving sites around the body!

Now I am a huge lover of the insulin pump.  But the one thing I have never liked is that you use the torso for infusion set sites and sensor sites.  The torso is, in theory, a great place because it is convenient and not going to get hit as easily while walking and whatnot.  But I've always had troubles with my abdomen in particular.  Even when doing insulin injections years ago I wouldn't use it because it would hurt and bruise super easily.  This has remained true with the insulin pump.  Luckily my sides aren't as sensitive to this sort of thing, so I've been using them for years.

But now the idea of using an alternate infusion set site has opened up a whole new world for me!  Today I'm trialing using my thigh for the first time ever.  It felt a bit weird at first, but things seem alright so far.  I'm excited to see how things go over the next few days!  

New Pump!!!!!

I just unboxed my brand new pump!!!!

I didn't post anything on here, but my old pump, a Minimed 522, got cracked a little while ago.  The pump continued to function, but if it got any more damaged it wouldn't have been able to properly hold the reservoir.

Yes, this is worse than the last time I got a new pump.

So today, I got to set up my brand new Minimed VEO!  I'm really excited to get this pump - when I got my last one (the 522), the VEO came out like a month or two AFTER I got the 522!  :/  

This time, there's another new pump coming out, but I'll be able to upgrade to it if I want, which is also really exciting!  No missing out on new technology for me this time!  :)

So anyway, I've got my new VEO on right now.  I haven't really been able to do anything with it so far besides set it up with my basals and other settings.  But first impressions: 

• it looks like it's got way more control in the case of programming basals!  I think I saw some options for adjusting by a quarter of a unit!
• it's going to be a bit weird getting used to some of the sub-menus. Like you go into "Basal Setup" menu which is an option under "Basal Menu." "Basal Setup" is now where things like editing your basals and setting patterns are.  On the 522 those options are just under the main basal menu.
• "Prime" is now "Reservoir + Set." That honestly confused me until I went into the menu and saw what it was.
• I really hope I won't have to tell the pump "yes I am disconnected" when changing reservoirs.  Those extra steps annoyed me and will annoy me more if I have to keep doing them.

So as expected, there's some good and some annoying things with the VEO, which tends to be the way things go with new/different technology.  We'll see how things go once I'm using it more in the next little while!  :)

September Update

Whoops, it's been awhile since I posted.  But here are all the numbers I have from the last month:

Sept 5:
weight: 207.8 lbs
fat percentage: 45.5%
hydration: 37.4%
muscle: 26.8%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2333

Sept 13:
weight: 207.0 lbs
fat percentage: 45.4%
hydration: 37.5%
muscle: 26.9%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2328

Sept 17ish:
weight: 208.0 lbs
fat percentage: 45.4%
hydration: 37.5%
muscle: 26.9%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2334

And today:
weight: 204.6 lbs
fat percentage: 43.2%
hydration: 39.0%
muscle: 28.0%
bone: 10.8%
cal: 2314

This has been a super busy month.  I had a fun BBQ for Labour Day weekend.  Friends of mine got married.  I helped a friend move.  I helped out at a fun fundraiser for one of my jobs.  Oh, and I've been fighting a cold or something on and off for about two weeks now.  I had a day last week where I stayed home and did a whole lot of nothing.  I thought I was doing better this week but ended up out for another day and a half.  I finally left my house today, which was wonderful (even though I was just getting groceries).  My weight has moved below 205lbs in the meantime - I don't want to celebrate yet in case it heads back up once I'm not sick.

Temporary Basals

I'm not sure why, but I'm having major problems while at work.  In the afternoons and evenings I'm routinely going low (but only while at work).  So my DN recommended I try running some temp basals to try to deal with the problem.  I thought it would be a super easy fix.  I actually started with a higher temp basal than I thought I would need (I subtracted 15% from my afternoon basals starting one hour before going to work) thinking that would be a bit too much.  It wasn't.  That day I still went low (and I worked 12-4, 5-8, and managed to go low both in the afternoon and evening with the temp basal).  So I tried subtracting 20% the next day.  Once again I still went low (that was just in the afternoon.  While I haven't solved the problem at all, I at least got some really good info.  It looks like I go low later in the afternoon, so I don't really have to start the temp basal as early as I was (in the afternoons, which is where I have the most data, it looks like I can get away with starting the temp basal at either 2pm or 3pm instead of 12pm like I was - I go low after 3pm by the looks of it).  I'm not positive, but I'm thinking I can do the same thing in the evening, too (start it at 5 or 6pm).  I'll have to do some more testing to find out for sure though. 

Of course this week I've been mainly working mornings, when I have no problems with this whatsoever; I'll have to wait until the weekend to try a minus 25% basal in the afternoon.  I'm working tomorrow evening though, so I'll see how the evening goes!

Oh yeah, I did a basal test during an afternoon where I wasn't working.  And I didn't see this glucose drop at all.  So it definitely looks like it's because of work!

Weight Updates for August 3 and 8 2016

Ugh.  Here's the numbers from Aug 3:

weight: 207.6 lbs
fat percentage: 45.1%
hydration: 37.7%
muscle: 27.0%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2332

And here's from today:

weight: 210.4 lbs
fat percentage: 45.7%
hydration: 37.3%
muscle: 26.8%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2348

My weight continues to yo-yo between 210 and 206lbs and I'm not entirely sure why!  My biggest suspicion is that I need to be exercising more.  But I have been feeling stressed out and like I have 0 energy most days when I come home from work.  It's at the point where I haven't wanted to even play with my cat (something which I feel horrible about!) So I'm going to have to change something in my life.  And most likely that will mean removing something to make room for more exercise so I feel better.  I will keep you updated as I take a hard look at my life. :/

Biking!!!

There are some days where I really love my body. Today was one of them!

Today I went biking for the first time in two years. And instead of doing a short ride, I did a long one, riding to the other end of town to pick up a vehicle. When I first started, I thought I was going to die; to start I had to go up a hill and I felt like I was going to have a hard time breathing. But once I got to the top it was pretty smooth sailing (thankfully the rest of the ride was mostly down hill!)

To make things even better, my glucose stayed relatively stable. I used my cross country skiing strategy and it worked perfectly! And this was after being low earlier in the evening (about two hours before riding).

I doubt I would've been able to bike back home because I was starting to feel sore in my legs and abs by the end of the ride. But successfully making it through a 45 minute bike ride after being off my bike for two years is still really awesome! I'm guessing I'll be a bit sore tomorrow, but that's totally worth it after my success today!!! :)

I'm hoping to get back out on my bike relatively soonish (maybe I'll be able to squeeze in a shorter ride on Saturday night? Otherwise it'll have to wait until next week). Wish me luck! ;)

Weight Updates for July 18 and 28 2016

I just made an interesting observation over the last few weeks.  Here are my numbers from July 18th, which was a few days before my period:

weight: 206.0 lbs
fat percentage: 44.1%
hydration: 38.4%
muscle: 27.5%
bone: 10.8%
cal: 2323

And here they are from earlier today, which was right after my period:

weight: 209.8 lbs
fat percentage: 45.4%
hydration: 37.5%
muscle: 26.9%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2344

I think I've been giving into cravings during my period.

I know my period is heavy, which makes me feel like crap.  I think because of that, if I feel like eating a bit of extra whatever, I've been giving into it.  I'm going to try recording what I eat during my next period and see what happens.

Over the last week or two I've been walking a lot.  So I really wasn't expecting this weight gain.  But at the same time, I've been having some trouble with keeping my glucose levels on target.  One night I went for a huge walk and never ended up low, which struck me as super odd.  So I think things are a bit off in general right now.  But I'm going to see my diabetes nurse in a few weeks.  So hopefully she'll be able to help me get this stuff back under control if I'm not able to deal with it myself!

Testing etc

I've been thinking about doing some basal tests for awhile now but kept putting things off.  To be fair, with the new job and all the stress before getting it, I wanted to wait until life calmed down a bit to get a better picture of what is going on.  But now I have an appointment with my diabetes nurse and dietitian at the end of the month, so it was definitely time to start doing some of those tests!

I also decided to do a pump download.  I haven't actually done one here since February. Oops!  As a side note though, I seem to be doing a bit better than I was in February right now (more of my glucose tests were in target!)

I actually did manage to run a basal test successfully last night.  Well, mostly successfully; I failed to wake up during my 7:30am alarm (I woke up at 6 thinking it had gone off and did glucose, but then didn't wake back up until 10am).  But other than that snag, the test was successful for the night.  Unexpectedly though I ran rather high all night; things started out fine, but then my glucose went up to 11 mmol/L and sort of stayed there.  So it looks like I will have to make an adjustment with that.  My one concern is that I'm getting close to my period, which may be messing with things.  My period is still about a week away though, so I think it should be fine.  I did just send an email to my diabetes education team though to get their thoughts on the matter; we'll see what they say.

I've also spent two days keeping track of what I'm eating on a carbohydrate counting daily worksheet.  I have to say I'm not really a fan of the sheets because of their layout, but whatever; if it's what my dietitian wants then so be it.  I ended up making a switch on my insulin to carbohydrate ratio already thanks to these sheets though - it looks like the insulin to carb was too high at 9pm, but fine at 10pm.  Hopefully I'll be able to tell in the next few days if the switch helped or not.

While I'm writing, I might as well give my numbers from July 12th:

weight: 207.4 lbs
fat percentage: 46.3%
hydration: 36.9%
muscle: 26.5%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2331

So a bit better with the weight than last time, but it's all super close so really not much difference.

Weight Update July 7 2016

I seem to have missed writing stuff down here for the last few weeks.  But I did keep track of my weight!  Here are the June 20th numbers:

weight: 208.8 lbs
fat percentage: 45.1%
hydration: 37.7%
muscle: 27.0%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2338

The June 29th numbers:

weight: 208.8 lbs
fat percentage: 45.8%
hydration: 37.2%
muscle: 26.7%
bone: 10.8%
cal: 2338

And the July 7th numbers:

weight: 208.0 lbs
fat percentage: 46.4%
hydration: 36.8%
muscle: 26.4%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2334

I've been feeling a bit bummed out all day because my weight has gone up to 208 lbs and stayed there (although it actually has come down almost a pound during this last week, so that's good).  I've walked a lot in the last few weeks and was hoping to see more of a change than that though.  I'm not really sure what exactly I'm doing wrong and it's frustrating!!!

But at least my BMI is not back up to the obese range (it almost is though!) :(

I have not managed to do the bit of yoga every day.  I seem to have totally forgotten about it.  I also feel super stressed out by life right now, so yoga would honestly be a good thing.  I think I'm going to try to fit in a bigger workout one night a week (so like 30-40 minutes) and go from there, maybe adding in a second night in a few weeks if that is successful.  Then I won't have to worry about remembering something else in my day.

I think I'm also going to keep track of my food for the next week or so.  I have an appointment with my diabetes educators at the end of the month and wanted to run some basal tests in the next week anyway, so bringing a food log would be a good idea, too.  I don't feel like I've been eating badly lately, but something is going on and I need to see for sure.  Of course, it's possible that I've got a bit more muscle which accounts for the weight (but that doesn't seem super likely to me right now, at least according to my numbers).  So let's see exactly what's going on for the next week and go from there!

Weight Update June 19 2016

Here's the numbers from midway through my birthday week (June 16):

weight: 206.0 lbs
fat percentage: 44.6%
hydration: 38.0%
muscle: 27.2%
bone: 10.8%
cal: 2323

I'm excited by these numbers because I feel like I've been eating waaaay too much all week but my weight hasn't really changed (and my bone density somehow went slightly up?)  Last night was another birthday dinner and I know I ate too much (the dinner was with my immediate family - it was a fantastic home cooked meal!)  Tonight is Father's Day, so once again I'll probably be eating a bit too much (this time we're having pizza).  I'm not too worried about this though; life should be getting back to normal after tonight.

Knowing that I've been rather unhealthy lately, I did (most of) Ellen Barrett's Skinny Sculpt today.  I didn't quite do everything during the main part of the dvd because I am ridiculously out of shape in my upper body and I had a bit of trouble with some of the mat work because my living room doesn't quite have the space.  I'm thinking I'm going to try doing the next workout dvd in my kitchen because I'll have more space for mat work there.  Since I know my schedule and will not be working on Sundays for the foreseeable future, I'm going to try to do one 40ish minute workout every Sunday.  I think for this week I'm going to try fitting in one ten minute workout (most likely a 10 Minute Solutions segment) every day.  10 minutes really isn't much, so I'm hopeful this is a reasonable idea to get me back into working out a bit more.

I do have to say though, I feel pretty good after finishing today's workout.  I hope I can remember this feeling to get me to be active a little more often!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.  :)

Weight Update June 12 2016

So the last few months have been super stressful, but most of that stress has now been dealt with!  The main issue was my job situation; I had been working in a contract position for six months, which ended in February.  The ending wasn't a huge deal, because I just went back to being casual at the same organization.  But that organization is undergoing restructuring and I wasn't sure if I would be making enough money to survive on a weekly basis (also I've been worried that they would phase out my casual job).  But last week I won the job I was working in during that contract!  So not only will money not be a worry, but I also will have benefits!!!!  The benefits won't kick in for a few months, but that's okay, I can survive until then.

Last week was particularly stressful because of the job interview.  I was so worried about it that the stress was affecting my diabetes management.  I kept forgetting to do insulin after eating.  I also kept going and remaining high, having a heck of a time bringing my glucose down.  The day of the interview I started out at a very nice 6.8 mmol/L.  I ate an exact amount of carbohydrates and did insulin for it (even though I almost forgot to).  When I walked out of the interview, my glucose was up to 15.8!  So there's some proof of what stress does to me!  Luckily I will not have to go through that again for a long time (if ever).

So I ended up weighing myself twice last week.  The first time was on either June 9th or 10th (I wrote it down as the 10th, but I may have written the date down wrong).  So this was either the day I accepted the job offer or the day after that, when my stress was finally starting to dissipate):

weight: 206.8 lbs
fat percentage: 44.4%
hydration: 38.2%
muscle: 27.4%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2327

And here's from June 11th, where the stress has totally dissipated:

weight: 206.0 lbs
fat percentage: 44.8%
hydration: 37.9%
muscle: 27.2%
bone: 10.8%
cal: 2323

Not a huge difference, but my weight did drop slightly.  It'll be interesting to see how things are when I weigh myself again this week.  With way less stress, my weight may drop a bit more.  But then again, this is my birthday week, so it may not!

Either way, I'm super excited for the future.  I've got my scheduled hours for like the whole summer, so I'll easily be able to make plans now without having to worry about cancelling them!  I'll also be able to structure exercise into my day a bit more since I'll mostly be working about a 15 minute walk from my house! 

Oh by the way, I did not fit any yoga in during my very stressful week (even though I really should have - it might have helped with the stress a bit!)  So I'll make a point of it this week.

Weight Update May 31 2016

I know it hasn't been a whole week, but I decided to weigh myself today while I was thinking about it.

weight: 206.8 lbs
fat percentage: 44.3%
hydration: 38.2%
muscle: 27.4%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2327

Looks like all my work in the backyard (and specifically the garden) has been paying off!  I haven't specifically been trying to lose weight while doing this stuff, but I've managed to lose almost a pound since  last Thursday!

Now that my garden is built though, I won't be able to rely on working on that for building strength.  So now it's going to be more important than ever to do yoga at least once a week.  Ideally a few times a week, but I've got to start somewhere, right?

And to be honest, I am sort of starting from scratch in the yoga department.  I did three ten minute segments from 10 Minute Solutions Yoga for Beginners specifically because I wanted something low stress.  Well, I had trouble doing some of the exercises (specifically plank position - apparently I can't really support myself very well right now). So it's going to be super important to keep doing yoga to build more strength.  I'll probably stick with Yoga for Beginners for the next little bit, or add in Ellen Barrett's Skinny Sculpt to help build some arm strength!

Weight Update May 26 2016

I skipped last week because it was my period.  But that was actually a (relatively) good experience for me.  I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before, but my period is super heavy.  I suspect I end up with an iron deficiency as a result at that time of the month which makes me feel even crappier.  So this time, I started things off a day or two early by eating beef for every supper just before and a little bit into my period (basically through the heavier days).  And it seemed to work!  Sure, my period was still heavy.  But I didn't feel out of energy like I normally do (well other than having to get up during the night, but that's a consequence of the heavy period)!  I thought this would work when last month I was feeling like crap until I ate some beef tacos at Taco Time and suddenly felt more alert.  So I'm super happy this worked!  I'll have to remember for next month, too! :)

So anyway, after surviving my period, here are my numbers for yesterday:

weight: 207.6 lbs
fat percentage: 45.6%
hydration: 37.4%
muscle: 26.8%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2332

Not too bad coming out of my period.  So now it's time to make sure I'm active and eating relatively healthily!

On that score, I'm going to do yoga once a week.  I've been walking lots and was doing a lot of gardening work over the last week and now my body feels like it needs to be stretched out.  So yoga is definitely going to help!  Because my schedule is all over the place, I probably won't pick a particular night every week; instead I'm going to look at the week and pick a day that will work.  So for this week, I'm going to do some yoga tonight, but next week I'll probably have to choose a different time. 

Weight Update May 12 2016

This week's been going rather well so far!  I walked to a doctor's appointment on Tuesday (about a 50 minute walk in total), and then walked to work yesterday.  But last night I stayed home playing video games and later doing some work with a relatively bad for me snack - but it was technically the start of my weekend, so I didn't mind.  Especially since that was the last bag of munchies I had in my house, so now there's just healthier things!

So here are this week's numbers:

weight: 206.8 lbs
fat percentage: 44.2%
hydration: 38.3%
muscle: 27.5%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2327

Looks like once again the weight is holding steady (which is okay - like I said, I had a bad for me snack last night).  I attempted to do a basal test last night, but my glucose was too high (which is when I went and ate munchies).  I'm hoping to get another overnight basal test done in the near future since something appears to be going wrong.  I thought it was me failing at carbohydrate counting (which is still a possibility), but after being a bit more careful last night I'm not so sure that's the cause.  So hopefully I'll have a chance to run one before my period starts. 

In terms of exercise, I'm hoping to go for a walk with my mom tonight.  I don't know what the plan is for the next few days though.  I am off tomorrow, so I'll hopefully fit something in.  I work all day Saturday and all afternoon Sunday at a place that's too far to walk to, so that's rather unfortunate.  So I'll have to walk later or do yoga or something those days.

Weight Update May 5 2016

This last week was super stressful.  My fridge died, and a few other stupid things like that happened.  Then I had a job interview on Monday, and I had to fit in all the preparation around work.  But it's okay, I made it through everything alright (and didn't lose too much food from my fridge!) So I ended up taking Tuesday as an almost complete do nothing day (I played video games and ended up going out to the show with friends).  It felt wonderful after so much stress!  I don't even feel guilty that I didn't do anything.  I've also managed to fit in a few walks here and there, so that's been great (I have taken over 11,000 steps today!)  So here are those numbers for this week:

weight: 206.8 lbs
fat percentage: 43.9%
hydration: 38.5%
muscle: 27.6%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2327

As you can see, my weight is back to 206 lbs!

I also did blood work last week and got the results in.  My Hemoglobin A1C is a bit higher than last time, but not as bad as I feared it might be because this last month has been super rough to get through for me.  So hopefully now I can get back on track with everything!  :)

Weight Update April 26 2016

I missed last week because I wasn't feeling well during the whole week.  What started off as a cold ended up lingering on because my period hit by the end, making me even more tired than I'd started out.  So I spent the week doing very little, but am back in action now.  So here are today's numbers:

weight: 208.2 lbs
fat percentage: 44.5%
hydration: 38.1%
muscle: 27.3%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2336

As you can see, the weight's creeping up again, but not unexpectedly. 

Also, on Sunday I took my new runners outside for the first time ever.  I ended up hurting my foot because I think I walked way too far in them (again, this was my first actual walk in them).  And I really did go far - that day I took over 10,000 steps.  My mom and I walked about 5.5 km (our walk itself was over 7000 steps).  I went low part way through it, which made things difficult (I didn't think I had enough food to get home.  And of course once I made it home I inevitably went high).  So I have to try my runners again (once that spot on my foot heals) and hopefully they'll be good (I'd really hate to have to bring them back)!

Weight Update April 13 2016

Oh wow, I actually managed to remember to do this about a week later! I only say that because the last week or so has been a bit rough. I didn't get a job that I really wanted, and ended up a bit depressed as a result.  It was a weird depression where I wasn't really motivated to do anything (not a depression where I was actively feeling down).  I wasn't being very active and wasn't taking great care of myself (this was also related to what I was eating, but my glucose was pretty high for a few days last week).  So here are those numbers for this week:
 
weight: 207.4 lbs
fat percentage: 44.0%
hydration: 38.5%
muscle: 27.6%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2331

As you can see, my weight crept up on me a little bit, which is disappointing after finally getting it to slide down to 206lbs a few weeks ago.  So this week I've decided to make more of an effort to be active and take better care of myself.  To that effect, I walked for a half hour yesterday, and played a bit of DDR at the theater (I haven't played DDR in a super long time!  It felt good even though I sucked!  lol).  And I've got more plans for walking later this week too.  I also bought myself a second pair of runners because my old ones, while still functional, are starting to wear out a bit.  So I wanted to treat myself to a new pair for the summer months.  I'm planning on walking lots in the warmer weather anyway, so I figure it's a really good investment for myself!

As you can see, they are once again a New Balance shoe.  :)

Weight Update April 5 2016

Long weekends really mess with me.  So here's my weight update for this week (I totally forgot about it last week):

weight: 206.6 lbs
fat percentage: 44.4%
hydration: 38.2%
muscle: 27.4%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2325

 The numbers haven't changed much from two weeks ago, but I'm quite okay with that.  Last weekend was Easter, during which I ate way too much (three dinners in a row).  Plus I haven't been very active lately, so for my weight to remain the same is pretty good.  Tomorrow I'm going to either walk or do some yoga with my mom.  I don't have any plans yet to go swimming with my dad, but hopefully by next week for sure we'll be back out!

Weight Update March 24 2016

So my period is pretty much over and I managed to maintain my weight!

weight: 206.6 lbs
fat percentage: 43.7%
hydration: 38.7%
muscle: 27.7%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2325

This is super exciting!  So hopefully now I can get it to keep moving downwards!  And hopefully that fat percentage, too!  I was actually happy to note that it is down slightly from last week (not much, but it's still a start).  This next week is going to be a bit rough because usually the first week or so after my period has my glucose running lower, so exercise might be a bit tough to do for the next little bit.  I did manage to successfully go swimming yesterday for the first time in a few weeks (by which I mean it was the first time I've gone swimming in about two weeks AND it was a successful swim - I ended the afternoon at about 6 mmol/L, which was perfect!)

Today I've got a meeting with my DN and Dietitian. I'm hoping to walk to go and see them, but that's going to depend on my glucose in the next little while!

Weight Update March 17 2016

I'm super excited!  I lost two pounds since I last weighed myself!  (The last time I recorded it on here was February 27th.)  What's even more exciting is that this is pre-period (I'm expecting my period to start within the next few days).  So go me!!!

weight: 206.8 lbs
fat percentage: 44.2%
hydration: 38.3%
muscle: 27.5%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2327

That's the lowest I've weighed since I started keeping track of my weight on a (mostly) weekly basis, (that's since October 15th, when I first started using my awesome scale).   What's even more exciting is that getting down to this has also brought my BMI down from obese to overweight!  (It's now down to 29.7!)

So now that the scale is starting to move in the right direction, hopefully I can keep this up!  :D

Eating Goal Failing

I'm going to be 100% honest: I'm failing with my eating goal.

Back on New Year's Day, I said that my goal was to eat healthier.  To that end, I was planning on eating only green light foods as stated in Rick Gallop's The GI Diet.  I have been trying to eat this way as much as possible, but I AM FAILING.  First, I had to keep putting off starting to eat 100% green light.  Life kept getting in the way.  Then when I did start, I also had non-green light foods I needed to get rid of in my house, so I was eating a lot of that stuff off.  But then I'm going out with friends here and there (I've been trying to cut down on going out, but I still feel like I'm going out too much), I ended up on a work trip rather unexpectedly, which meant a week of eating out (and eating too much).  Or when I'm not going out to a restaurant for dinner, I end up at a family dinner or a friend's place and I'm not eating GI friendly food there.  I've been tired lately, which has resulted in me eating more.  I've been rather angry and stressed surrounding work (except for that work trip, which was fantastic).  Basically I went from a guaranteed part-time position to being casual, and it's rather nerve-wracking when I find myself with no shifts for a given week.  And whenever I see something bad for me, even knowing damn well I won't enjoy it I find myself having to eat it.  (Although realistically, this is partially a fault of being stressed and tired, which is sapping any will power I may have - but I know full well I have issues with wanting to eat things that I see). 

So what's the solution?  I think my number one priority is going to be sleep.  Being tired is definitely not going to help me eat healthier.  I cannot control a lot of the stress going on right now with my work situation, but I can try to not let it bother me as much.  In fact, I should use that free time to be a bit more active, especially now that the snow is melting.  (Actually, I'm excited for the snow to melt, as that will mean I can start doing the spring yard work, which kept me pretty active last year for a while).  As much as Rick Gallop advocated eating healthier as your primary method of losing weight, I think it's going to be more important to me to be more active; building muscles is always a great thing, as they use more fuel anyway, and help you do more awesome things - like swimming or skiing. I don't want to abandon trying to eat green-light, but clearly I'm not going to be able to as much as I originally thought.  One particular difficulty has been trying to find green-light starches to add to meals since I have not been cooking the recipes.  I found stone-ground bread (which honestly, as much as I like breads, stone-ground is not my favourite), and whole wheat pitas (which are okay, but I'm once again happier with other things like whole wheat naan bread, which I don't think is green-light).  So it may be in my best interest to find some healthy yellow light ones anyway and so be it if it takes me longer to lose weight.

I should mention: I am in definite need of losing some weight.  Not only is my BMI still too high, but I don't feel great.  Who knows, along with feeling better and more powerful for activities, maybe losing some weight will help with sleep, too?

So plan of attack for the near future:

1. Sleep!
2. More exercise - let's keep shooting for 30 minutes 5 days a week, since that was my initial exercise goal (which I'm not hitting) and that seems to be the standard I continually am coming across in magazines and stuff).
3. Eat as healthily as possible but do not beat yourself up for not eating green light.  Let's be real here: Easter is coming, and that's going to mean non-green light anyway.

Overnight Basal Test - Mar 15th-16th

Holy crap!  I actually made it through the night doing a basal test!

After yesterday's test, I lowered the 10:30pm basal by a tiny bit, which is why I wanted to test again so soon.  This time, the test went perfectly.  I was nicely in the 4-9 mmol/L range to start.  I hadn't done any activity just before starting the test (honestly, I was more worried about not being able to start the test because I had gone low around 8pm while I was watching a movie).  I ate a little after 10pm, and my glucose rose nicely by just under 3 mmol/L 2 hours later.  Then it went down about 1.5 mmol/L and stayed right around there until almost 10am.  Things are actually looking really good now that I changed that 10:30pm basal!

The one problem that I had was that I slept through my 8am alarm.  Someone phoned me around 9:50am which ended up waking me up so I tested then.  That left a gap of about four hours that I didn't test in.  So I'll have to redo the test to make sure that time frame is okay (I'm concerned that it won't be because last time I rose to over 10 mmol/L around 7:30am after correcting.  And I know I didn't over-correct at that time).  But that's okay because I want to make sure this wasn't some weird fluke anyway.  I won't be doing another test for a few weeks now though because my period is due in a few days and I don't want that to skew the test.

Overnight Basal Test - Mar 14th-15th

Right off the bat, I have to say it was fantastic to actually have most of my evening to NOT be devoted to a basal test (and fending off hunger).  Rather than trying to do nothing remotely active all night, I did some light yoga, which finished about an hour before I was starting the test.  That was awesome because I actually felt good going into the test.  Every time I'd do an overnight basal test starting at 5 or 6pm I always felt like crap because you're not supposed to do anything active once the test starts.  I know I like to be active in the early evening (that's usually when I do yoga and things like that); now I actually can!  

As a side note (and this does not surprise me), I have a major issue with portion distortion with peanut butter.  I actually measured a tablespoon for my final meal of the day (I don't have an actual name for it because I've always referred to it as "bedtime snack" just because of when it happens, even though it is technically my third meal).  And that tablespoon was easily half of what I would normally scoop.  Oops!  I'll definitely have to watch my peanut butter intake better in the future!

I started the test off a bit higher than planned.  I don't know what exactly happened in the last hour after yoga (which I did not change insulin for by the way), but I ended up a bit over 10.  I did change some basals a night or two ago, so I really need to see what's going to happen overnight.  My thought for this test is that I can see what the general basal trends are, even if the numbers I get are a little higher than they would be had I started off between 4 and 9.

I wanted to check the insulin to carbohydrate ratio tonight too because this meal has probably never been checked. There should be about a 3.0 mmol/L increase in blood sugar from meal glucose to two hours after.  So if the level is a lot higher than that, the insulin to carb ratio isn't high enough; if it's a lot lower, the insulin to carb is too strong and will have to be lowered.  It looks like mine will have to be lowered (my glucose was 3.8 mmol/L lower than two hours ago), but I'm going to rerun the basal test before actually doing anything, just because I'm worried the yoga may have had some effect on this, too.  At least at that point though, I was high enough to just see what the basals do overnight, hopefully without any lows.

Unfortunately the downward trend continued.  I was lower again at 2am.  Since I couldn't sleep anyway, I checked again 15 minutes later and it was slightly lower.  This drop prompted me to stop the test and eat a little something so that I wouldn't be worried about sleeping.

And now something else is going on, too.  I woke up at 7:30 am and decided to do another glucose test for fun to find myself slightly over 10 mmol/L.  So it'll be interesting to see what's going on around 5am once I can make it through 3am without going low.

250 Posts!

I just realized that this post is #250 on this blog!!!  It's taken me many years to get here (I started the blog in February 2007).  I started out really strong with 77 posts that year, but have slowly tapered off (my lowest point was in 2013 where I only posted three times).  But in 2015 I managed to start posting with some consistency and that trend has continued into 2016.  Hopefully I can keep it up and make it through the next 250 posts in less time!  

And more importantly, hopefully this blog will see me through to taking better care of myself so I live a long, healthy, and active life!!!  :)

Basal Tests, My Way

So for the last few months, I've been trying to do basal tests, keeping in line with my New Year's goal to take better care of my diabetes.  I was easily able to do a few tests right when I woke up.  But according to my Diabetes Nurse (DN), they want me to start with the overnight basal.  And then when I most recently tried to do an overnight test, I did a correction with the meal.  I think the correction went wrong, so I wanted to fix that before attempting to do the overnight basal test again.  But my DN said a) I was not supposed to do the correction, and b) they recommend not trying to fix the corrections before making sure the basals are okay.  I understand the logic, but this is ridiculously frustrating, especially since the overnight basal has always been such a big to-do for me to attempt.  I'm supposed to eat a known amount of carbohydrates at dinner (about 40-60 grams), then not eat anything at all until the next morning.  Other people deal with this too, and I'm sure it sucks for them.  But I was thinking about it yesterday - most of those other people are probably on a regular 9-5 schedule, which I am not.  So when they eat dinner and don't eat again until breakfast, in theory they are up for what?  4-7 hours maybe?  Whereas when I do this, I'm up for another 7-10 hours on average.  Also, I'm skipping my third meal, whereas they are not (they would be missing a bedtime snack).  NO WONDER I'M SO RAVENOUS!

I will admit, this whole thought process is not new to me.  Years ago I thought of it too, but never really tried to shift anything.  But if I'm serious about trying to do these basal tests, I need to shift the overnight one a few hours so it's actually my overnight, rather than like half of my day.  So tonight I'm going to attempt an overnight basal test starting at about 10pm instead of 5 or 6pm.

I just spent the last hour working out the logistics of how all these tests should work.  Obviously the overnight one was my priority, so that's the one I dealt with first.  I think it came out really well (and I even learned how to make irregularly-shaped tables for this document!)

I also updated the blurb the original sheets had so they better reflect some stuff I've been told while doing these tests, like you can't drink tea (which is very sad) and they don't actually want you correcting.  I'm not actually going to say anything about this to my DN or dietitian until next week (I have an appointment with them and I'll just bring the sheet in then!)

Wish me luck tonight!  :)

Back On Track

Ok, I can't remember for sure which day I weighed myself (it was either Wednesday or Thursday), but here are my numbers:

weight: 208.2 lbs
fat percentage: 45.1%
hydration: 37.7%
muscle: 27.0%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2336

First of all, I have to say these numbers are rather better than I was expecting.  Like I said last time, I had a really bad period over the weekend.  What I neglected to mention was that I wasn't caring too much about what I was eating over the weekend...which meant I was sort of expecting to have gained some weight.  Looks like it turned out okay. My muscle is apparently up a little bit, too, which is surprising but good. 

This coming week is going to be interesting because I'm going away for a few days on a work trip.  I'm going to do my best to be as healthy as possible, but I can't really promise anything.  On the plus side though, the hotel I'm staying at has a pool so I'll be able to go swimming!  :)

Weekly Update February 23 2016

I have a confession to make.  I weighed myself around February 9th or 10th and promptly lost the sheet of paper I wrote it all down on.  I think my weight was 209 lbs at the time.  I can't remember the rest of the numbers.

Then last week, I knew my period was immanent so I didn't bother weighing myself.  It's just finishing off now, so I'll either weigh myself at the end of the week or next week.

Things have been a bit stressful for the last few weeks, mainly surrounding work.  The short of it is that I'm going to have more time in the immediate future because I will be working less hours (I knew this might be coming but didn't know when).  That's honestly not a bad thing right now, because then I can get caught up on all the things I need to....like sleep.

Thinking of sleep, this weekend was a bad one.  My period started on Friday night and I had the worst cramps I've had in years!  I am prone to cramps during my period, but have found that drinking raspberry tea really helps.  It also helps to drink lots of water and eat healthier foods.  Well, earlier that night I was eating Chinese food (which I don't normally do - it was a treat).  That ended up a lesson learned!  I'm going to have to be really careful about what I eat, particularly around when my period is going to start.  The cramps started around when I was trying to get some sleep (I think that was 2am or so).  I ended up having to get up at 4am and make myself raspberry tea.  I took an Advil at the time, too, just in case.  Between everything I was able to fall asleep around 5am, which was better than nothing, but it still made for me being tired all weekend.

On the activity front, I went swimming last week with my dad (as usual).  But he brought his flippers, which was awesome!  Having the flippers really propelled you through the water quickly, which was fun.  But it also meant your thighs got a crazy good workout; apparently it takes a lot more muscle power to move through the water with flippers on!  My dad and I are going swimming again tomorrow; I hope he brings the flippers again!

I also did a couple of excellent workouts with my mom over the last few weeks.  Last night we tried Ellen Barrett's Skinny Sculpt, which uses light hand weights.  I loved how the easy modification for that video was to not use the weights; I admit I had to drop them a few times, but overall I did better than I thought I would.  Prior to that we tried Ellen Barrett's Yogini Workout, which was also really good.  I've since ordered my own copy of the Yogini Workout and want to get Skinny Sculpt, too, because they were really good.  I've got to really work on my arms though!!!!

So yeah, that's what's been going on for the last few weeks.  Like I said, I'll get my weight updated soon on here.

Goodbye, Movie Popcorn

So I did something really dumb today: I went to the show with some friends and pigged out on popcorn with the weird buttered topping stuff on it. This in itself isn't the bad thing though. The problem was that I DIDN'T ENJOY IT! Even niw, a few hours later, it feels like the stuff is just sitting in my gut. Plus I can taste it a bit still, too. So I think I need to stop eating it.

Unfortunately, that's much easier said than done. I have a terrible habit of eating things that are in easy reach. And what's easier than a friend sharing popcorn in the theater? You can mindlessly munch while the movie is on. And who cares if you're still full from supper? (Yes, I totally was).

So what's the solution? Saying no is a start. But at the end of a busy day, what little willpower I seem to possess is long gone, so I'm going to need to rely on something better. I think step 1 is going to have to be not sitting next to my popcorn friend.

But if that doesn't happen, maybe I should just stop and think about the nutrition facts for a minute. According to their nutrition facts, 100 grams of the free buttery topping is 87g of fat! (Compare that to the butter you pay for, which comes in at 99.7g of fst for 100 grams). The buttery topping does a bit better in terms of saturated fat (8.7g compared to 99.7 for the paid butter), trans  (1.5g vs 2.7), and cholesterol (0 vs 267 mg). So holy crap, I so do not need to be eating this stuff! (Here's the link to their nutrition document in case you're interested: https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://mediafiles.cineplex.com/FoodDrink/CPX20Nutritional.pdf&ved=0ahUKEwi5_Ivj_u7KAhUEdx4KHbSwD5AQFggiMAE&usg=AFQjCNFO4QGM06uZxIjDfuOEAcF0CVf4tw).

I'm sure I'll need to come up with some more strategies for avoiding eating this stuff (and honestly for other foods and situations, too). I'll probably just add any more anti-popcorn strategies I come up with to the comments of this post.

Weekly Update February 4 2016

Okay, a bit late once again, but here are those numbers from yesterday:

weight: 208.2 lbs
fat percentage: 48.0%
hydration: 35.7%
muscle: 25.6%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2336

Not amazing progress on the weight, but it continues to go down a bit.  For some reason my fat percentage increased a few points.  Not entirely sure why except for the fact that I've been going low a lot this week and so eating more than normal.

I've done two overnight basal tests so far.  They both made me realize I've been going low during the night (sometime around 3am-5am by the looks of it).  I adjusted things a bit, but will have to do another basal test to see if I need to do more.  Unfortunately that doesn't appear to be my priority right now.  Over the last few days I've been going low while at work.  Originally I thought it was from being more active than usual because we're in the process of moving things around there.  But it's looking like something else is going on so I'll be needing to deal with that first.

Hilariously, I think I'm going to have a bit of trouble with the weight loss thing at the moment because I've been going low too much (and so eating too much in response).  So at this point I'm going to focus on dealing with the lows (while still trying to eat healthy and be as active as possible!)

Weekly Update January 27 2016

Alright, time to get back on track!   Last week I finished reading Rick Gallop's The G.I. Diet.  I'm super glad that I read the book.  I feel like I've now got a really good understanding of how the diet works.  Also, I don't want to be referring to it as a diet because it's really more of a lifestyle (as my dietitian said yesterday, it's really eating the way we all should be eating).  An interesting tidbit from the book is that you should aim to eat the green light way 90% of the time.  I worked it out mathematically, and if you're supposed to be eating three meals and three snacks a day, if you slip up on 4 meals/snacks a week you're still pretty much on track.  My dietitian recommended aiming more for 80% of the time because that's more realistic.  So with that thought in mind, I'm going to aim for 100% for now, but not beat myself up if I slip up.

Honestly, I know I'll never make 100%.  I have Type 1 diabetes after all, which means low blood sugars happen sometimes because I'm on insulin.  But still, better to aim high, right?

I know I said I wanted to start eating only green light foods earlier in the month, but as I said last time, the year's been off to a rough start.  I basically started over the weekend; I went shopping on Sunday and stocked my fridge full of fruits and vegetables for snacks.  I had a few days last week where I was eating off some of the red light stuff I had kicking around my house, so a lot of it is gone now.  There's still a bit that I either need to eat or throw out still.  I don't really want to be throwing food out, so at this point I'll say I'm trying to eat mostly green light, but not 100% yet because I still have some food I need to use up.

I was planning on weighing myself yesterday but forgot.  So here are today's numbers:

weight: 209.0 lbs
fat percentage: 45.1%
hydration: 37.7%
muscle: 27.0%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2339

This is the lowest I've recorded myself weighing for awhile (but it's nothing to brag about - Dec 17th 210.8, Jan 1st was 209.2, and  Jan 4th was 209.8).  So I've got a downward trend going on, but it's nothing really big at the moment.  It'll be interesting to see how I'm doing next week after a week of mostly eating green light foods.


In other news, I went to see my diabetes nurse and dietitian yesterday.  I was hoping to get in to see them in December, but had to wait until now.  We didn't make any changes (I didn't want to change things based off of the last few weeks), but I agreed to fit in some more basal tests.  As I lose weight, this is going to be super important because my insulin needs are going to change (my dietitian said that losing even a few pounds can make a huge difference!)  So I'll have to be extra vigilant going forward.

Finally, let's talk exercise.  Last week my dad and I went swimming for the first time since before Christmas.  It felt good, but wow did I lose lung capacity!  We'll be going again this afternoon.

Also on Sunday, my family and I went cross country skiing for the first time this winter season!  I ran a little higher than I would have liked, but my glucose stayed high enough to successfully ski 40 minutes without having to eat.  I used my insulin strategy for skiing, but honestly guessed at the amount of carbohydrates I ate during supper, which I think is where I went wrong (I could have used a bit more insulin so I didn't go as high). 

Oh yeah, and my mom and I did pilates last Thursday night.  I worked until 9pm, so I went to my mom's right after work.  We're going to do that again this week, too.

So that's what's been happening in my life for the last little while.  Hopefully the weather will be nice enough to keep skiing on Sundays!

Rough Start

Well 2016 has been off to a bit of a rough start.  I had a family member pass away a week and a half ago.  That meant life was derailed for a bit, and is only getting back on track now. 

I'll be back to posting weekly updates soon.

Weekly Update January 4 2016

 I haven't been feeling well for the last while so I wanted to see what was going on with my weight and whatnot.  Basically I ran myself down to exhaustion, and while recovering from that I ended up getting a cold.  As a result I've basically been staying home and taking it easy as much as possible.  I'm still not feeling 100%, but today's the first day where I honestly do feel a bit better.  So here's what's happening.

weight: 209.8 lbs
fat percentage: 45.0%
hydration: 37.8%
muscle: 27.1%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2344

Oh, I should also add that I did 40 minutes of yoga yesterday afternoon with my mom.  That's really all to report right now.  Hopefully I'm feeling back to normal soon!

Happy New Year!

First, here are those numbers from Tuesday (I forgot to post them):

weight: 209.2 lbs
fat percentage: 45.8%
hydration: 37.2%
muscle: 26.7%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2341

Yes, my weight went a little bit down after Christmas.  But I'm not celebrating.  I wasn't feeling good over the weekend and was careful with what I was eating (so most likely the slight loss is from that).  But I don't feel like I ate *too* much during Christmas, so that was good.

So now, onto 2016!

I have three main goals for the year:

1. Eat healthier.
2. Be more active.
3. Take better care of my diabetes.

These are ridiculously vague.  So let's break them down a bit more in the hopes that I will actually be able to succeed.

1. Eat healthier.

My original plan was to use the GI Diet again as of today.  But after being sick this week, and having a bunch of goodies from Christmas that need to be eaten, that's not realistic.  So maybe I will plan to start next week instead.

From there, I'm going to eat green light for at least a month.  Realistically though, I'm going to need to eat green light for longer than that.  If I lose 2 lbs a week, starting next week, it will take me until the end of May to get down 40lbs (which is my current goal).  If I remember correctly, you want to be losing only one to two lbs a week.  More than that is unhealthy weight loss.

I'm also going to need to come up with some strategies for times in there like Easter.  But I will worry about that later.

So my first plan of action is going to be to read through Rick Gallop's GI Diet book.  Then I will start formulating strategies for the rest of life.  In the meantime, I'm going to try to use up leftovers from Christmas (which includes some delicious baking from my parents and random other treats), and get through this week as best as I can; Saturday is my grandmother's birthday, so I'm going to aim to start eating green light foods only as of Monday, January 11th.

2. Be more active.

I keep thinking this is going to be the easier goal of the two.  I like being active, so no big deal.  Of course, the problems right now are two-fold: first, it's winter, which means it's much harder to motivate myself to go outside and walk.  And second, I am so busy that it's hard to fit everything in.

Well, let's start with seeing how much exercise I should be fitting into my life.  According to the CDA (in particular this PDF):

The Canadian Diabetes Association CPGs recommend 150 minutes of aerobic exercise and 3 sessions of resistance exercise per week. 

 Note: CPGs=Clinical Practice Guidelines

Ok, I thought 150 minutes sounded right.  But I wasn't even factoring in the strength training/resistance exercises.  So yikes!

So that breaks down to 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five days a week.  I know I'm nowhere near that.

But I could be.  If I walked to work, that's approximately 15 minutes one way.  I only usually have 3-4 shifts a week.  But that would mean that me walking to and from work three times a week would equal 90 minutes of aerobic exercise.  A fourth day equals 120 minutes.  So realistically, if I walk to work I would only need to fit in one more day (or two at most) of aerobic exercise a week.  And what fits that perfectly?  Swimming with my dad!  And don't forget, soon I'll hopefully be skiing as well (at least for the next few months).  So realistically, if I can get myself walking to and from work, I've got this part covered.

Okay, sounds easy.  But what about when it's legitimately too cold to go walking outside? I'm thinking that I'll have to go walk inside somewhere, like in the mall.  It's not ideal, but it will get me moving.  I wonder how many steps it is from one end of the mall to the next?  That's something I'll have to check out with my fitbit.

Alright, so what about the strength training?  Fitting things in three times during the week is going to be tough.  I'm also not quite sure how long/how much/what I should be doing.  So for the immediate future, I'm going to stick with yoga once a week while I look into it.  For January I'm going to focus on meeting that aerobic goal, then go from there.

I have some issues that are going to come up, too.  My current job is just a temporary job, possibly finished in February.  So I may have to readjust what I'm doing come February.  We'll have to see!

I am going to keep track of the exercise I'm doing though, just to see if I'm succeeding (and if there's any times that I'm having troubles).

3. Take better care of my diabetes.

Lately, I've felt like my glucose is fluctuating too much.  I've been too high lately, but I've also been going too low.  So what am I going to do about this?

For one thing, I have an appointment at the end of January with Diabetes Health.  So I'll be able to get some help from them.  Of course, I already know what I need to do.  I need to tighten up on my carbohydrate counting, eat better, and actually do some of the tests I despise doing (I'm looking at you, basal tests).  I don't want to overwhelm myself with everything I want to do, so for the month of January, I'm going to fit in those tests.  They may get in my way of being active, but I will try to balance them.  Hopefully then I'll be able to bring some good information with me to Diabetes Health at the end of the month.

Depending on how things are going, I'll also try to carbohydrate count better.  I just don't want to overwhelm myself with everything I'm trying to do.  So we'll see how that goes (but I'm not going to be upset if I fail at that this month).

___

So there we have it.  This year I vow to take better care of myself.  And I have some concrete steps to take this January.  Wish me luck!  I will keep track of things as best as I can on here, and will see how things are going/come up with some new steps for February. :)