Cholesterol

 My cholesterol is too high.

This has been an ongoing problem for some time.  High cholesterol runs in my family, and since I have diabetes, this is a problem for me.  Doctors have mentioned it from time to time, but it was always kind of ignored because I'm not that old.  But I met with my doctor this week, and he brought it up again.  This time though, he told me he wants me to try to lower it in the next six months, otherwise he wants me on cholesterol medication.

Cholesterol meds have always scared me.  I've heard that the side effects are muscle aches, pains, and weakness.  I do not want to be dealing with muscle problems, especially right now when I am younger and mobile.

I did end up talking to a pharmacist about them though, and he explained that if I do end up taking these meds, we can try to find the right dose that will work for me without causing any side effects. So that made me feel better!

After that doctor's appointment, I went home and pulled up all the bloodwork reports I could online (I am so glad I can access them now through Lifelabs!)  I was able to find 9 reports with cholesterol values from the last six years.  While my LDL values have never been under 2.00 (the pharmacist I talked to thought that was the level doctors want cholesterol to be under for people with diabetes), they were down to 2.50 a few years ago.  Since then, my LDL has slowly risen, up to its most recent high of 3.67.

I originally thought the rise coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic, which makes sense because I've been exercising less (I've been staying home more often because I haven't been able to go skiing and snowshoeing with friends, or swimming at the pool).  But it looks like it started a little before that.  It just kept rising to that aforementioned high, rather than starting to fall again.

But looking at the numbers, my previous high was 3.34 a few years ago, and I ended up bringing it down to that low of 2.50 after that.  So that brings me hope that I can lower it again!

I contacted my dietitian, asking for help with diet.  But the pharmacist I talked to mentioned he's never seen cholesterol brought down solely though diet - you need to be really active, too.  So I'm going to have to ramp up my physical activity as well!

On the plus side, whether I succeed in lowering my cholesterol or not, this has given me more motivation to eat healthier and lose some weight.  Whatever happens, I will strive to be the healthiest I can be!

Weight Updates and Lows

Just a couple of weight updates for January:

Jan 9

weight: 216.2 lbs
fat percentage: 47.2%
hydration: 36.3%
muscle: 26.0%
bone: 10.9%
cal: 2356

Jan 12

weight: 216.2 lbs
fat percentage: 47.7%
hydration: 35.9%
muscle: 25.7%
bone: 10.9%
cal: 2356

As you can see, my weight stayed about the same over this week (it's also the same as on Jan 5th), but the fat percentage and muscle fluctuated a little bit.  I was trying to keep a closer eye on things this week because I was sick (and so not very active).

But then my weight was almost a half pound higher on Jan 26th:

weight: 216.6 lbs
fat percentage: 48.2%
hydration: 35.6%
muscle: 25.5%
bone: 10.9%
cal: 2359

This was after I was feeling better, and almost about a week after my period ended.  I was having a lot of trouble with lows during this time, so most likely the slight weight gain is thanks to that (I had to eat a lot of extra food during this week).  Thankfully I've managed to get rid of a lot of the lows with help from my diabetes education team.  I'm hoping to eliminate the last few problem areas over the weekend when I'll have a chance to do some tests!

Food Diary Observations

Since January 3rd, I decided to keep a food diary.  I wanted to get an idea of what I was eating and when, in the hope that I can make some changes if I need to.  While I've only been keeping it for about a week, I've noticed a few patterns already (some of these I was already aware of before now, but I was seeing them this week too):

• I eat when I'm tired.  I need to make sure I get a good night's sleep so I'm not mindlessly munching, especially later at night.
• I eat when I'm bored, particularly in the evenings.  I found a few times I had already eaten a snack, but I still went and ate something more anyway because I wasn't sure what else to do with myself.
• I like to munch on things when I'm watching stuff in the evening (I don't normally watch stuff at any other time of day).
• If I see something, I want it.  If I leave a bag of chips on my counter, I'm inevitably going to eat some.  This is doubly a problem if the bag is already open.

So evenings are a definite problem time for me with food.  I need to make sure I get a good night's sleep, I need to keep unhealthy foods out of sight (or better yet, out of my house!) And I think I'm going to need to find something to do to occupy my hands while watching stuff so I'm not automatically reaching for something to munch on.

The Best Laid Plans...

 Well, my January has gotten off to a rather sucky start.  Here in Ontario, they stopped testing most people for Covid-19 (there's a very small list of people who are still eligible for PCR testing).  So now, if you have certain symptoms of Covid-19 (one or two +, depending on the symptom), you now have to just assume you have Covid, and isolate for a minimum of 5 days (you have to be symptom free for 24 hours if you're a vaccinated individual like me).

I ended up with symptoms last week (nothing major, just a sore throat, a bit of a headache, and a stuffed nose) and now have to isolate. :(

For the first few days it wasn't a big deal.  I slept and mostly stayed put on my couch (it ended up a great opportunity to start reading some magazines I've been putting off for awhile).  But after a few days, I was feeling better and starting to go a bit stir crazy.  Hopefully my symptoms will go away so I can get back to work (and walking!) 

Unfortunately this also means my exercise goal for the year has gotten off to a really bad start. :(  Hopefully I'll be feeling up to doing yoga or something tomorrow since I'm still isolating.

Weight Update for Jan 5

I just wanted to see how things looked after a few days of eating better post-Christmas:

weight: 216.2 lbs
fat percentage: 47.6%
hydration: 36.0%
muscle: 25.8%
bone: 10.9%
cal: 2356

So that was over a pound, plus a percentage point of fat that disappeared now that the holidays are over.  It really shows how differently we eat during the holidays.

Note: realistically, you won't see this speed of fat loss over a weight loss journey.  A safe rate of loss is about 1-2lbs a week. 

2022 Goals

I started thinking about the goals I wanted to set for myself earlier in the week, but wanted a little bit more time to think them through.  I'm currently not feeling very healthy, so I wanted to make sure I could set some to help me feel better now and through the whole year.  I wanted to take all of the pillars of health (as Betty Rocker calls them) into consideration.  This was particularly important after the 2021 winter holidays - my sleep schedule went to crap, I wasn't very active, and I wasn't eating very well (Christmas is a season of excess, particularly when it comes to food). I also saw some things I need to change thanks to my earlier reflection on last year's goals.  

Unfortunately, my work life really started to impact my home life as well this fall.  We started working weekends on a 1 in 3 rotation, which left me with a three day weekend followed by a one day weekend, so that took a toll on me for healthy eating when you only have one day off between work weeks).  So any goals I set have to take that into consideration as well since it will be continuing on through 2022.

I also got hurt a few times this year.  I hurt my knees a few times at work, then in December I pulled a back muscle while shovelling (we got a lot of snow all at once and my back couldn't deal with all the weight).  So anything I do has to take this into account as well (needing to be careful while also strengthening my body).

So with all of that preamble, here are my goals for 2022: 

1. Lose (and keep off) 20lbs by the end of the year (be under 197lbs).  My weight has remained relatively stable for many, many years.  But it remains too high (using yesterday's weight, which was a bit higher than normal, my BMI is 31.2).  And while I know my knee trouble was thanks to work, getting rid of some excess weight will help them, too.  So in my opinion, this goal is worthwhile to pursue for my health.  It also encompasses things like healthy eating (and staying away from goodies in the break room, a problem that has once again cropped up for me in the last few months) and exercise (muscle will burn more calories and fats).

I have some major obstacles in my way though.  As someone with diabetes, when I lose weight, it throws everything out of whack - you need less insulin and need to figure out all the changes that go along with that.  And while you're figuring things out, you're often going low, which means eating more calories.  It's a really viscous cycle.

So I'm hoping that 20lbs is a reasonable rate for the year, slow enough to keep up with any insulin pump adjustments that are needed along the way.  It would be a bonus to get my weight even lower than what I'm aiming for, but I think 20lbs is a reasonable and realistic goal for 2022.

I considered signing up for Noom to help me with this goal, but in the end decided not to.  I already know what I need to do.  And I don't want to be logging everything into an app along the way.  I will check in with my diabetes care team and get support from them instead.

2. Work out for 150 minutes a week - including yoga/stretching/workout videos two times per week.  150 minutes a week of exercise is a good target to aim for.  But my problem has been those weeks where I'm not walking to work every day.  I'd also like to build in a yoga/stretching routine because I'm not very flexible and it's good for me.  So I'm hoping to build a better fitness habit without overloading myself in terms of minutes per week.  This will also hopefully help me fill in the gaps for those weeks where I'm working during the weekend and can't walk to work all five days (also weeks where there's a holiday).  My biggest problem will be any time that I'm off work for a full week, so I'll need to come up with a better plan for that.  But at this point I don't have any full weeks off until the summer, so I have time to put a plan in place for that.

3. Spend 1 hour every week on something I've been putting off. This one is for my mental health.  I have piles of magazines I plan on reading "some day," and other projects I want to get to.  It's impacting my mental health because that mental list of to-dos is always there in the background, taking up space.  So I want to dedicate a little bit of time each week towards clearing some of this stuff, which will hopefully give me breathing room!

Bonus fun goal: make 13 new recipes this year.  I don't want to put pressure on myself to do this monthly, but it's fun trying new things.  And since I tried so many new recipes last year, I'm thinking this should definitely be doable.  I'll probably still look for a new recipe every month, but if I end up making new dishes a few times in one month, and not at all in another month, it's still fine. :)

As usual, I'm counting a success as doing it 80% of the year for goals 2 and 3.  Goals 1 and 4 are more finite, so I need to meet them to succeed.  

The pillars of health include sleep, which I know I also need to work on (particularly lately - over the last while my sleep schedule has been really thrown out of whack).  But I decided not to set a goal for that right now.  I'm hoping that will straighten itself out, particularly when I'm back to work after the holidays.

I also didn't want to make any commitments to posting on here once a month like last year.  I didn't find it helpful (and it was honestly just adding stress whenever I realized I forgot to post).  I'm hoping that taking out that obligation will just free me up to write about whatever I need to.  But even if I'm not writing tons, that's okay as long as I'm working towards my goals. :)

So that is the plan for 2022.  These goals feel ambitious, but doable, so wish me luck!

First Weight Update of 2022

Alright, coming out of the holiday season, here are my numbers today:

weight: 217.8 lbs
fat percentage: 48.5%
hydration: 35.4%
muscle: 25.3%
bone: 10.9%
cal: 2365

This doesn't really surprise me.  I've been eating richer foods lately, and haven't felt like I've been taking care of myself.  I also finished off a bunch of Christmas stuff yesterday, so weighing myself the day after that won't help either!

As much as I wasn't looking forward to seeing these numbers today, at least I know what I'm working with!  So now I need to finish figuring out my goals for the year with a clear picture.

2021 Year in Review

 Happy New Year!  2021 is over, so I wanted to look back at the goals I set last year and see how I did.  I know I didn't succeed with all of them, and for the coming year, I'll definitely be doing things a bit differently!

My 2021 goals were: 

1. Workout for 150 minutes a week.
2. Make a new recipe every month.
3. Do a monthly check-in on this blog.

And as per usual, I was successful if I did this for 80% of the year (so about 42 weeks, or 10 months, depending on the goal).

Goal #1 was a failure - I only worked out for 150 minutes on 37 weeks (71%).  I relied too much on walking to and from work (which if I did that 5 days a week, worked out to 150 minutes).  On a week where I was off, or had to drive (we started working weekends again, and I had to go to a different building which wasn't close enough to walk to), I generally didn't do anything to pick up the slack, especially during these last few months.  So that's something I'll need to do for the future: come up with a plan for weeks where I'm not walking to work as much.

But I did improve from 2020 with this goal (I only hit 150 minutes per week 52% of the time).  So that's good to see!

Goal #2 was a success!  Thanks to Chef's Plate, I made 39 new dishes this year!!!  And at least one per month (I think December and August were the two months where I only made one new dish).

Goal #3 was a fail.  I did 9 monthly checkins on this blog (so close at 75%!) but they were a real struggle to remember to do.  Then I don't remember why, exactly, but in the fall I made the conscious decision to stop because they just weren't working for me at all.  If I ever decide to do something like this again, I will  have to set a monthly reminder to myself on my calendar or something.  But the way I was doing them this year (looking back at my goal progress), I didn't find them very helpful at all.  A monthly mental health check in might have been more valuable, or something like that.  

So that was 2021.  I'm currently working out my goals for the new year, and will post in a few days about them!