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!