2018 Year in Review

Wow, I can't believe 2018 is almost over!  I feel like the year totally flew by!  So today I'd like to take a look back at the goals I set for 2018 and talk about what happened with them.

My goals for 2018 were the following:

1. Walk 5000+ steps on five days of every week 
2. Eat "out" one time a week MAXIMUM  (out = restaurant, fast food, or freezer deep fried food)
3. 60 minutes of non-walking every week 
4. Weight to 190 lbs

Unfortunately I failed at all of these goals. :(

For goal #1, I lost my Fitbit back in July, so I had no way to track my steps.  Unfortunately I knew I wasn't going to make the goal anyway - at that point I had successfully walked 5000+ steps for 5 out of 7 days during the week on only 6 weeks of the 29.5 weeks that I tracked my steps with my Fitbit.  So even if I hadn't lost it, I was on track to failing this goal.

For goal #2, I didn't come up with a plan on how to track eating "out."  So I failed it right away by just not bothering with it at all. :(

Goal #3 was a more interesting one.  I was failing it hard at the beginning of the year, but then in the spring I signed up for the Betty Rocker 30 Day Challenge and suddenly I was meeting my weekly workout goal of 60+ minutes a week.  Everything fell apart in the summer (it's too hot to work out up here - I am planning on setting up an area in the basement for working out next summer so hopefully that doesn't happen again) and I had a really hard time getting back into things.  But then I signed myself back up for a second round of the 30 Day Challenge and I am currently back into working out for about 10-20 minutes when I wake up on most days.  Over the course of the year I successfully worked out for 60+ minutes a week for 16 out of 52 weeks.  That's not a success, but I definitely did better with it than I did with the walking!  

And finally there's goal #4.  Looking back over the last year, I basically maintained my weight.  Yes it went up a bit, and down a bit.  But overall it just kind of hovered around the same few numbers.  

While I totally failed my goals this year, an interesting thing happened on this blog: 2018 saw my most posts out of any year since I started this blog back in 2007!  I actually beat that first year by almost 20 posts!!!  

So that was 2018.  Tomorrow I'll set some new goals for 2019!

Weight Update for Dec 20 + Done the 30 Day Challenge!

Alright, to start out, here are today's numbers:

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

I've made an effort to eat a little healthier this week, knowing that Christmas is coming next week and I'll probably be eating a bit more than normal.  I've also had some issues sleeping this last week (plus was hung over the other day), so I really want to make sure I've got a good nutritional foundation as my body gets better.

But in other news, today I finished the 30 Day Challenge!!!!

I followed along this time and made my own Challenge board (well...paper) - last time I was just tracking it on an actual calendar.

I should have finished a few days ago, but I knew the last workout was a Tabata set, and I really wasn't looking forward to it.  So when I didn't sleep, I decided to take the day off from working out.  Then when I was hung over, I was going to do a gentle yoga workout instead (but that didn't happen, so I just took a second day off).  So today I made a point of getting up and finishing the Challenge once and for all!

I also took a final progress pic (I took it before completing the workout today):

I don't see a whole lot of difference since starting.  So like last time I made a picture comparing Day 1 to Day 30:

There's definitely a little more definition in my stomach (and my abs don't seem to stick out as much as they did in Day 1).  But whatever - however I look, I definitely feel a bit stronger, particularly in my arms.  And more importantly I've brought working out on a mostly weekly basis back into my life, which was my goal for doing this challenge again!

I did learn a lot doing this challenge a second time.  I'm really not a fan of the explosive workouts that Betty Rocker really favours.  Sure, doing one every here and there is fine.  But on a regular basis I am much happier doing yoga and pilates rather than HIIT.  I also found that I have a hard time getting through these workouts injury-free - I had trouble with my right knee pretty much all the way through the challenge (hilariously, it was okay today after the multi-day break I happened to take, that my knee felt okay).

So I'm glad to be done the 30 Day Challenge. I'm now really looking forward to going back to my exercise DVDs, which is what I did last spring when I finished the Challenge the first time. :)

Walked Into a Door Frame :(

So yesterday when I got out of bed, I walked into a door frame, which knocked my new Freestyle Libre sensor off the adhesive. :(

You can see it sticking up a bit in this picture.

I honestly never ever notice myself hitting door frames unless I have a Libre sensor on, then it seems like it happens all the time.  I've never hit it so hard that it's knocked the sensor off the adhesive before though!

I tried to push the sensor back onto the adhesive, but I guess when I hit the door frame the sensor got pulled out of my arm.  I left it on for about an hour, but every time I tried getting a reading with the monitor, I was told "Glucose unavailable. Please try again in 10 minutes."  I eventually pulled it off my arm, and sure enough, the sensor was bent.

To make everything worse, after less than a day with this sensor on, I could already see the beginnings of a skin rash. :(

It's faint but it's there.

In light of that, I decided to put the Clobetasol on a day before and an hour before putting the next sensor in (I'll be putting the new sensor on soon).  Hopefully I won't walk into any door frames with this one!!!

Weight Update for Dec 13 + New Sensor!

First, here's yesterday's weight update:

weight: 209.6 lbs
fat percentage: 45.1%
hydration: 37.7%
muscle: 27.0%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2343

Those numbers don't surprise me because I have been eating like crap all week.  We're getting close to the holiday season and I've found myself making more plans to eat out at restaurants (and just not wanting to say no to people in regards to getting takeout or whatever).  Plus there's been treats at work which I haven't been able to say no to (today didn't help either because I was super tired).  I have to get through tonight (a Christmas party with appetizers) and Sunday night (I made plans to go out for dinner or get takeout with someone prior to their going home for Christmas), then I really, really need to just stay home and eat here (preferably healthier food) until the 24th.  

It's funny, but in a lot of these cases I haven't found the food to be super great.  Sure some of it is tasty, but I've felt like I would have been happier without a lot of it (particularly the fast food I've eaten this week).  I also just generally feel a little crappier and I know it's 100% because I've eaten richer foods all week.  So getting back to normal is going to make me feel so much better.

In other news, I saw my doctor about the skin reaction I keep getting thanks to the Libre sensors (and after that last one fell off thanks to the Betaderm). He gave me a new prescription to try, Clobetasol.  This one comes as a spray, so we're hoping the adhesive will stick better than it did with the Betaderm cream.  I just put a new sensor in today so we'll see how things go over the next few weeks!  I'm hopeful that we're getting close to finding a solution - my skin didn't react nearly as badly after the Betaderm cream.  The rash that I showed you on Monday wasn't as bad as others have been.  Plus by Wednesday it was looking so much better:

Here's what it looked like on Wednesday night (with ointment on top).

 Today the skin is still flaking off, but it is healing up well:

Here's what it looks like right now. 

Oh, and I also forgot that I ordered vet tape at the suggestion of the Freestyle Libre rep over a month ago (he thought it might work better for me than Tegaderm was because it is breathable).  Apparently that's still on its way and should arrive by Dec 20th.  Hopefully I see it soon!

Sensor Fell Off :(

Yup, that sensor that didn't want to stick to my arm because of the Betaderm Cream finally fell off on Saturday.  It lasted a week, which was exactly what I had guessed when I saw it sticking up.  Although I should note that it didn't fall off because of the Betaderm Cream - it fell off once again because it didn't have any good skin left to stick onto.

You can still see the sharpie marks, too.

I'm making another doctor's appointment to see about other options. :(

Weight Update for Dec 8 + 30 Day Challenge Week 3 Picture

Okay, I'm going to give two sets of numbers from earlier today.  The first was taken after I got up:

weight: 209.4 lbs
fat percentage: 44.9%
hydration: 37.8%
muscle: 27.1%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2342

and the second one was right after my 15 minute workout:

weight: 208.2 lbs
fat percentage: 44.6%
hydration: 38.0%
muscle: 27.3%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2336

The only difference between the two was that I worked out and I had a few sips of water (which probably accounts for the slight increase in hydration).  Absolutely nothing else changed.

I wanted to show you this to demonstrate how much your weight can fluctuate over the course of the day.  These two measurements were taken only about a half an hour apart.  Realistically, even though I had a few sips of water during the workout, I lost some water weight due to sweating (and yeah, by the end of the Day 22 workout, I was definitely sweating a bit!)  Even though I don't remember what exactly happened on the 29th, there's a good chance that if I didn't misread the scales, I worked out then weighed myself afterwards, too.  I also know that my weight is going to fluctuate based on what I've been eating, and even what time of the month it is.

This is why I don't like to weigh myself a lot (I try to stick to once a week, or twice a week at maximum) - I'm trying to use my weight as a rough indicator of how I've been doing over the last week, not as the be-all-and-end-all measurement.  

Anyway, enough of that.  Here's my Week 3 picture (taken yesterday):

I'm not really noticing much physical difference from when I started the 30 Day Challenge, but that's okay (although my arms do feel a bit stronger than they were).  My whole goal was to get myself exercising on most days again, and that's been happening. :)

No Weight Update or Picture Today

It's the tail end of my period, so I'll weigh myself and take a picture for the 30 Day Challenge over the weekend! :)

New Sensor with Problems Already!!!

Alright, so I put a new Freestyle Libre sensor in earlier today.  I followed my doctor's advice and put some Betaderm cream on last night, then again today an hour before putting the new sensor in.  I marked my arm with some sharpie to make sure I put the sensor on the place with the Betaderm cream.

But when I put the sensor on my arm, I discovered there's a new problem: the sensor adhesive doesn't want to stick to the skin that has Betaderm cream on it!!!!!

You can see the sharpie mark right by where the sensor is sticking up on the right.

I am so frustrated right now!!!! 

I suspected this may have happened at the beginning with the last sensor too, but I wasn't sure because I didn't know if I had put the sensor on the same place as all the Betaderm (hence marking my arm with a sharpie to make sure this time). 

Well, I put a bandaid on top of the sensor to help hold it in place and I guess I'll see what happens from here.  If this one behaves remotely like the last one, I'll be lucky to get a week out of it.

So frustrating!!!!!

Who's a Good Boy?

I came across this article and I wanted to share it: "I THRIVE: Who's a Good Boy?" It's about a dog with diabetes who found his forever home with a person with diabetes.  I cried reading it, it's such a feel good story!