Dancing

When I first started this blog, I used to enjoy dancing.  I'm not really good at it, but I think dancing is really fun.  I bought a bunch of dancing exercise dvds, like Dance Off the Inches and a few Crunch dancing dvds.  I also used to play DDR a lot, because it's a really fun workout. 

But over the last ten years (almost exactly - the last dancing post was from Jan 2009), I stopped dancing.  I don't really know what happened; dancing just stopped being something that I did for some reason.  :(

I did try zumba in 2013 and 2014, but didn't really talk much about it for some reason.  That was probably the last time I was regularly dancing.  I stopped (even though I enjoyed it) because I was frustrated that the instructor would sometimes cancel the class because not enough people showed up; that didn't work for me because I had to back off on insulin to get through the class.  If there was no class, I was left with my glucose going high and feeling like crap.

So after that I kind of just stopped thinking about dancing, but then earlier this week, I read a book where the main character danced a lot.  Her dancing reminded me more of martial arts (but I know martial arts can be compared to dance in a lot of ways, so that really wasn't a big deal).  While reading the book, I started wondering why I had stopped dancing; I started thinking that maybe I should start again.  For one thing, I haven't been doing a lot of cardio, and dancing is good cardio.  But more importantly, it was something I used to really enjoy. 

So I decided to try adding some dancing back into my life.  I still have all my exercise dvds, and DDR.  Plus there's nothing wrong with just throwing some music on and dancing for awhile.  So all this week, I kept thinking about doing some dancing; on Thursday night, I finally actually did some!  I put 10 Minute Solution Fat Blasting Latin Dance Mix on, doing two 10 minute workouts. Then yesterday I played DDR Universe 2 for a half hour and wow was it hard!  I haven't seriously played DDR in years (I've just played a few songs at the show's arcade every here and there).  The last time I played Universe 2, my weight was actually under 200lbs, so that was kind of shocking to see - I could probably move a lot faster as a result, lol!  As much as I know that I sucked (the game kept telling me afterall, lol!) it felt really good to play again. :)

I don't have a set plan yet for how much I want to be dancing every week; right now I'm just going to try adding it back into my life and see how things go.

Weight Update for Jan 25

Nothing too exciting, just a weight update:

weight: 207.6 lbs
fat percentage: 44.8%
hydration: 37.9%
muscle: 27.2%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2332

I'm happy to see that my weight has gone down a bit after the holidays - it's back to exactly what is was on December 20th! :)

Bad News About My Libre :(

So I met with my diabetes team and showed them what's been happening since the fall with my skin and the Freestyle Libre.  They had no other suggestions for me, but were going to talk to the Freestyle Libre rep about it, to see if he had anything else to suggest.  Unfortunately no, not really - the only suggestion was to take Benadryl, use the flovent, and cover the sensor with vet tape (but not covering the hole at the top).  I've taken Benadryl in the past and it makes me super drowsy, so in my opinion that's not an option for everyday life. 

So I'm going to make another appointment with my doctor to see if he has anything else to suggest.  If not, I may stop using the Libre. I don't want to be damaging my skin like this (and risk my skin thinning because I keep having to use steroid ointments to heal the rashes), even if it does give me better control. :(

Weight Update for Jan 17

Here's my first weight update for the year! Now that I'm done all the celebrating from the holidays (and feeling better after being sick), I wanted to see how I was doing in the weight department.  I know I said I wasn't going to focus on my weight this year, but I decided I should still keep an eye on things (to make sure I'm not gaining massively). Plus I'm trying to watch my cat's weight, so I figured I might as well weigh myself while I was weighing him. 

So here's what I got:

weight: 209.8 lbs
fat percentage: 45.1%
hydration: 37.7%
muscle: 27.0%
bone: 10.7%
cal: 2344

A little bit up from last time, but that's okay - I did just make it through all the holidays and some illness.  On the plus side, I have managed to keep up with doing a small workout on most days, so that definitely helped me get through the holidays ok! :)

Freestyle Libre Update

Hmmm, I seem to have missed writing about my last sensor.

On Christmas Eve, I ended up taking it off.  I don't remember the details exactly, but it was starting to fall off and lasted about a week. 

That's what it looked like.  Angry, but not as bad as it has been at other times. 

I decided to give my arms a week off before putting a new sensor in.  I was going snowshoeing on New Year's Day so I wanted to have a new sensor in for that (it's so much more convenient checking your glucose with the Libre when you're outside than with a traditional glucometer).  I wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not, but I decided to try putting Clobetasol on an hour before putting the sensor on, then some Flovent on ten minutes before.  My reasoning was that the Clobetasol seems to be helping my skin heal up after the fact (the layers underneath the first one seem far healthier with the Clobetasol than with anything else), and Flovent seemed to make my arm the least angry when the sensor is actually on.

Surprisingly, that actually kind of worked.  Yes, my arm was itchy for most of the two weeks.  But the sensor stayed on through the whole period of time - this is the first two week Libre sensor I've been able to wear in a long time!

Look at that - far less angry than anything I've seen in months!!!

Hopefully it will heal up quickly, too.

For the next one, I asked my doctor if I could try Fluticasone because I had read good things about it online.  So I put a layer of Clobetasol down again first, then the Fluticasone on top.  Again, I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not, but we'll see how long it lasts and what my arm looks like underneath it once the sensor falls off (or finishes). 

I've Been Sick :(

Not too much to say right now because I've been sick all week. :(

I did manage to fit in some light exercise though (I wasn't in the mood for anything super strenuous).  I also spent the week mainly eating soup so I didn't go out for dinner.

2019 Goals

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

I've put a lot of thought into what goals to set for the next year.  As I said last year, I do better with goals that are broken down and measured in some way.  But I think I need more of a plan in place than I've had because last year I failed to keep track of my eating out goal, and I just didn't have motivation in place to get myself out walking (or to workout during the summer months when my place got too hot for the workout I did during the spring).

I also decided that I don't want to focus on my weight as much this year.  Instead I'd prefer to focus on living a healthier life.  So with that in mind, here are the goals I decided to work towards for 2019:

1. Eat out only once a week or less. 

I'm going to track this in my new planner.  I'm also going to buy a better white board for my fridge (the one I have doesn't erase very well) and I'm going to write when I eat out on it to help remind me (and hopefully help me say no to going out more often).

I'm a little worried about this one because I have a hard time saying no to people that I want to be hanging out with. I'm really hoping that committing to keeping better track will help!


2. Try 1 new recipe every two weeks. 

I have a lot of cookbooks with healthy recipes that I've never tried making.  So this year I'm going to actually try some of them!  I was thinking of making a new one every week, but that felt a bit daunting, so I'll give one every second week a try and see how it goes!


3. Exercise 60+ minutes (not counting walking) every week. 

I like this goal because it gets me doing things other than just walking.  Plus right now this will work out to being one Ten Minute Solution workout a day (with one rest day a week).  That doesn't sound too hard!  But I know I've had trouble staying on track with this goal (especially during the summer months) so I'd like to see if I can get through the whole year this time!

So that's the plan for 2019.  Like last year, I'm going to aim for 100%, but count success as meeting these goals 80% of the time (which is going to be important for the first goal because there are certain times of the year when eating out happens more often, like around the holidays and birthdays).  Hopefully I'll have more success with my goals this year than I did in 2018!