Type 1 Chick

First Skiing Adventure of 2012

2012-01-26T16:42:00.003-05:00

So it's been awhile, but I got back out on my skis this past Sunday. It was a bit of a glucose disaster, but I did have fun.

The problems began right from dinner. My glucose was fine (around 6.0mmol/L), but unfortunately I knew that was way too low to ski. So I ate dinner and carb counted carefully, being sure to do only half of the insulin I needed. I did glucose right before we left the house, and it was around 10. I thought that by the time we got to Kamview, my glucose should be high enough to start skiing.

It wasn't.

I did glucose in the parking lot, and it had somehow gone down. I'm really not sure what happened, but it was around 7. So I had some stuff, then got ready to ski, backing off my basal insulin completely (originally it was set to run at only 25% of the normal dose).

Of course, I still wasn't high enough to ski the whole evening. Leaving the chalet, I got to the beginning of the Northern Lights trail, where I decided to do glucose. I was now about 4 mmol/L. I let everyone else ski the Northern Lights trail, and just hung out at the end, eating a power bar. When everyone finished the trail, I did glucose once again, thinking I'd be good to go back.

And now it was up to 5.

I ended up eating more skittles, skiing a bit, eating some more skittles, and just slowly skiing back to the chalet. Once there, I was of course low again (I could feel it at the end - I had no energy). So I had some stuff that was left in the van, then we all went for some hot chocolate.

By the time I got home, I was feeling better. My glucose was up to 10, which was fine with me. Unfortunately, about an hour later, it was now up to 20, which I honestly kind of expected to happen after everything was said and done.

I decided to chronicle what happened here, and to take a look at what I've tried before. I know that I started off way too low to attempt a skiing adventure, so next time I'll have to make sure I start off a bit higher than that. But among my other skiing posts, I found this one, where I documented a successful skiing attempt. I completely forgot about it (well, it did happen three years ago!), but now I have something I can try for the next time I go skiing! (Which will hopefully be this Sunday night if the weather holds out!)

Pictures are Fixed!

2011-11-01T19:00:00.002-04:00

Several months back, I changed this blog over to a new email address. In doing so, I ended up losing all the pictures on the blog; I deleted them off the old account, but saved the pictures on my computer's hard drive to eventually re upload. Well, that day has finally arrived: all pictures are back! This is true for Fitness Reviews as well!

30 Day Shred

2011-11-01T17:11:00.002-04:00

Yes, it's been awhile since I updated this blog. I have graduated school and had a busy summer/beginning of autumn. I have been moderately active, having discovered that pilates does not make my glucose level drop (while even mild yoga does).

But that really wasn't enough. I had a bit of an epiphany about a month ago: working out may not be inherently fun, but it will let your body actually do more crazy things (like climb monkey bars without your arms screaming at you). So I have decided to slowly up the exercise in my life and make a real effort to get into better shape. Sure, I fully expect the going to be tough thanks to my diabetes, but in the long run this will be totally worth it, making me healthier and happier (in theory).

To that end, I purchased Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred dvd. I read a couple of really promising reviews, so this sounded like the dvd for me. Starting today, I was going to use it every day to jump start my new outlook on life.

Before I go any further, let me say that the day after Halloween is the worst day you can choose to try being healthier. There's a lot of junk food around and I know full well that I don't have the best will power.

But junk food aside, I actually did try this workout today. Before going any further, I will admit that I am in terrible shape, so anything this intense is going to help me. I was okay when it came to the ab section (thank you, pilates!) but I was dying, most especially in the strength section. I know full well that I'm not a fan of strength training, but I'm trying to keep my epiphany in mind while tackling it.

When I finished, sure, my arms and legs felt like jelly. I did stop part way through to check my glucose, so I didn't actually work out quite as intensely as I was supposed to (but like I said, I'm in terrible shape!) But I felt absolutely awful. I had a foul mood at the end of it, which came as quite a shock - working out is supposed to make you feel good (and it normally does). It's possible that this will pass in a week or so once I'm more used to the exercises (and exerting myself like that), but I'm really not sure what happened here.

On the plus side though, my glucose level didn't come crashing down, so that was encouraging.

Then while I was getting ready to write this post, I stumbled on this review. Apparently people are getting hurt by the 30 Day Shred. So now I may have to rethink my plan. At the very least I may have to come up with a better warm up to help protect myself (better safe than sorry, right?)

Either way, I was planning on giving my body a rest tomorrow (even though I'm supposed to be doing this dvd daily); I think I'll opt for a walk instead. I'm also going to look through all my other fitness dvd's and see what other options I have. And maybe one of them won't leave me in such a foul mood at the end of the workout.

2011 "Weekly Update" April 16

2011-04-16T20:36:00.004-04:00

Yeah, those weekly updates aren't going so well. But on the plus side school is over! I have taken the week off in an attempt to catch up on sleep. And while I wasn't very active during the last few weeks of school due to major time commitments, I have been outside for walks over the last few days. So hopefully I will be both active physically and more active here on this blog now that school is out!

2011 "Weekly Update" - February 12-27

2011-02-28T02:16:00.005-05:00

Well, I really need to rethink everything. For one thing, the weekly updates on Fridays don't seem to be working. I am going to need to pick a new day, but I'm not quite sure which one yet. Mondays might be good, but I have school then, so I'll have to give it a try and see what happens.

So what has happened over the last few weeks? A few big things. My brother has been moving into his new house, so I've helped a bit with that. I bought a new bed, so I've been busy cleaning out my room, making more space for it and just generally decluttering. And Study Week happened (over the last week).

Decluttering has been interesting. I got rid of 7 bags of trash, 4 blue bags full of paper, and donated books, clothes, etc to the local library and the Diabetes Clothesline program. If the trucks pick up your donation, they take all kinds of items! My room feels better because it is less cluttered (although I lost some space, so my closets ironically feel a bit more jam-packed in some places). But the one major downfall to decluttering was that I kept going low. A lot. Apparently moving boxes and cleaning in general makes you much more active than you would think. And while activity is good, going low really isn't. I ended up drinking a lot more juice and regular pop than I would have liked.

Study Week also happened over the last week. While it's been great to kind of relax by not worrying about school, the last few days in particular haven't been very healthy. I went on a road trip with a friend and we ended up eating rather unhealthy (by which I mean we ate a lot of desserts). To top that off, my glucose was on a pendulum - I started off high, then went low, then high again. Repeat. So while I had fun, I felt rather unhealthy and rather off the whole trip because of the glucose problems. On the plus side I did not have ketones, so that's good.

So I think I need to start setting weekly goals again. I haven't done so in about a month. And it looks to me like without some sort of goals laid out, healthy living seems to go on the back burner. So for the coming week, I will:

Walk at least 5 times during the week. This seems a bit much, but I'd like to feel more active, and I really don't feel like being inside. So I might have to bundle up a bit!
Drink only water, milk and tea. Milk will be for mealtimes. Tea if I'm cold, but I will try to have green tea so I don't need sweeteners. I'll try to drink water otherwise.
Eat only healthy snacks. I will try making my own snacks, rather than buying things (like chips) from the store. Although buying things like baby corn is okay. To that effect, I'll pull out my Grazing cookbook and try making something new!
Only hit the snooze button once! I wake up sometimes and feel okay, but don't really feel like waking up. So I hit the snooze button several times, and when I do wake up I feel kind of crappy. So even if I don't get as much sleep as I should, I'm hoping that will help me feel better in the mornings!

These goals are a bit more agressive than my previous goals, but I really want to commit to being healthier. I want to feel better and have more energy. I'm coming up to the end of school, so I know I'm going to be busy in the coming month. But I'll also need that energy to help me get through. And I'm hoping that energy will help stave off any depression once school is over. I felt rather depressed the last two years when school ended, and I'd really like that not to happen! Summer is short and I want to enjoy it!

2011 Weekly Update 5: February 5-11

2011-02-13T02:26:00.002-05:00

This week I spent a lot of time cleaning my room. I found out that I'm getting a slightly bigger bed (I'm finally moving up from a Twin to a Double). Unfortunately I'll need to make some room for said bed. So I decided to start cleaning up my room (I've also been planning on doing so for awhile now; I want to make my eventual move out easier). To that effect, I got rid of 6 trash bags and 3 1/2 blue bags of paper. I went through my books, getting rid of quite a few while organizing the rest. I also went through some clothes, getting rid of a lot of stuff that I haven't worn or don't really like anymore.

Surprisingly, while doing all of this cleaning, I kept going low. It turns out that cleaning keeps you active, especially lifting things. So even though I wasn't specifically "working out," I was really active all week.

Unfortunately, as I've already mentioned, I kept going low. So I drank a lot of regular pop this week, which was kind of counter-productive (and I'm getting rather sick of pop!)

2011 Weekly Update 4: Jan 29-Feb 4

2011-02-06T04:18:00.002-05:00

This is again going to be a quick update. I was super busy with my seminar all week. It hit the point where I really didn't have time for anything else. So this week things will get back to normal. My big goal is to fit in exercising, so that is going to trump any other goals. I'm going to stick with the normal 3 times. Wish me luck!

2011 Weekly Update 3: Jan 22-28

2011-01-30T20:07:00.002-05:00

There's not a lot to report right now. I'm expecting my period so I didn't bother to weigh myself. I did exercise three times this past week. My aunt and uncle were here to visit, so I ended up drinking quite a bit over the last few days.

I have another seminar at the end of this week, so I don't know how things will go. But I will just keep trying and hope for the best. Right now I don't have any other goals to make, and don't really want to try just with how busy I'll be with school. I think I will just try to be active three times this week and count that as a victory if it happens!

2011 Weekly Update 2: Jan 15-21

2011-01-22T00:39:00.003-05:00

So this week didn't go as well as last week. I only exercised two of the three days I wanted to. One day I walked/jogged a little bit to work. This wasn't a super long walk/jog (about 15 minutes) and it was really cold so I only went one way and got a ride home. But it was a lot better than my other attempt to workout: I tried to do a Yoga routine, but didn't have all of the proper equipment. So I just sort of did my own thing, which amounted to me lying on the mat. To top that off, I didn't weigh myself this morning, so I have no idea how I've done. But I'm guessing not too well: I don't think I ate very well at the beginning of the week.

But I made a great discovery: my salter scale can be used to actually weigh things. I know, I feel really stupid even writing it. But I used it to weigh crackers today, then used the weight to figure out how many carbs were in my serving. I know it's not rocket science, as that's what you do with scales. But I feel like a whole new world has been opened up for me!

I also decided to sign up for an online writing class. I know I don't have a lot of time as it is with school, but this was something I really wanted to do. I feel happier working on the class, even with the catching up I have to do (I started a week late), than I have felt when working on school work. So I'm hoping that will help to improve my mood a bit (and maybe even help me get a story or two published, which would be great!)

So for the coming week, I need to make some time for exercise between school, writing class and work. I've got my work schedule, so I will schedule some workouts around the times I am busy. I'm going to go with only two goals for the coming week: lose 2lbs and workout 3 times in the week. I'll weigh myself tomorrow when I get up to see how my progress goes.

2011 Weekly Update 1: Jan 7-14

2011-01-14T21:53:00.004-05:00

So here is the first of my "weekly" updates for 2011. Hopefully they'll actually be weekly updates this year.

My goals for the week were:
1)lose 2lbs
2)don't drink any booze
3)workout 3+ times this week

With the first goal, I wasn't successful. I managed to lose .4lbs. I'm not really sure if that means anything, but that's okay. I will try again next week.

The second goal was a big failure. I drank at my grandmother's birthday party, then again today. This one I will also try again with. Luckily next week there aren't any family gatherings, so hopefully I'll be more successful.

I thought I failed my third goal as well. But looking back, I was active for 3 times during the week. I played DDR on the 7th, I walked to and from my grandmother's house (an approx 40 minutes total), and I hiked in to take pictures of a waterfall on the 11th. I even managed to be active on two of the three days I specifically scheduled activity! The problem with this week was that I signed up for to present a seminar this Monday, so I've been working on that and have been feeling like I don't have any time for activity (which is clearly false, but that's how I do feel). But the seminar will be out of the way, which means I will be less stressed next week (after Monday)!

Unfortunately my rewards for the week didn't work. It's hard to reward yourself when you're working like mad on a seminar. So I'll try that again next week, too.

So for now, I'm going to try the same three goals.

Goals and Rewards

2011-01-06T02:46:00.008-05:00

As I am slowly making my way through Jillian Michaels' Winning By Losing, I have found myself stuck while trying to come up with goals and rewards for myself. She recommends writing them down so you know what you're trying to do and you have something to look forward to once you complete it. Overall the goals haven't given me much trouble, but the bigger rewards have. Here`s what I`ve got so far:

Goals	Rewards
Long-Term Goals -I want to lose 30 lbs -I want to feel strong, confident and beautiful -I want to have a lot of energy -I want to be able to sleep straight through the night	Long-Term Rewards ?
Monthly Goals -I will lose 8lbs this month	Monthly Rewards -I will read a novel of my choice without feeling guilty about school
Weekly Goals -I will lose 2lbs this week -I will not drink any booze from the 7th-16th -I will work out at least 3 times this week	Weekly Rewards -I will read one (or 2 if short) story(ies) from an anthology of my choice without feeling guilty about school
Daily Goals -whatever the goal might be	Daily Rewards -varies but if a workout was involved, write for an equivalent amount of time

I’m really liking some of the smaller goals. I think they will be great for the next few months while school is still in (at which point I will need to reassess my goals). They will also help me out by strengthening a writing habit and helping me get through some of the anthologies I have piled up in my room. But I’m going to have to really think about what a fitting Long-Term Reward will be (and I’ll need a few more good daily ones as well!)

A New Year

2011-01-04T02:48:00.007-05:00

Over the holidays I rediscovered DDR. I haven't played in a long time and jumping on the dance mat felt amazingly good. Unfortunately, along with feeling good, playing DDR forced me to take a good hard look at myself. As I expected, I was a lot slower than I used to be. But the big problem is that my lung capacity is completely gone - I tire out a lot faster than I used to. On the plus side, my muscles remember how to play all of my fave songs, so I can still play them, and even beat some of them on hard mode. But the lack of lung capacity and the easily tiring really bothered me.

Along with that, I have known that my mental health has not been good for awhile, but it seems to be getting worse, not better. I have been stressed thanks to school (nothing new there) but I also think I am withdrawing. I don't want to be around large groups of people at all (and by large I mean 3+ people which isn't good). And I have been feeling angry at all kinds of stupid things.

So today I went out shopping by myself, which was nice. In my travels, I did two things. First, I picked up Jillian Michaels' book Winning by Losing. And second, after picking up a notebook for myself, I bought myself tea at Starbucks and wrote about the things that are bothering me (and some rather tentative fixes for some of them). While writing about things doesn't fix them, it sure made me feel better (at least for now). So my next step is to come up with some real strategies to make me feel better. And I'm thinking that being active will really help in that regard (giving me more energy and possibly helping my mood lift a bit).

But the problem is the whole "working out" thing. I don't like to do things that feel structured and like an actual work out. That's why I shy away from the gym in favour of something like DDR. I'm thinking that a good fix for me will be to get a dog, but that cannot happen until after I move out. (Hilarious side note: the dog idea evolved from me wanting a horse. A horse would be awesome but is entirely impractical unless I win the lottery. A dog, on the other hand, is completely realistic. I'm planning on getting both a cat and a dog when I move out). So I need to come up with something in the interim.

As part of the exercise thing, I think I am going to try to schedule certain times where I will definitely work out in one form or another. Those times will have to be flexible though to allow for problems with glucose levels (I can't work out if I'm low). I'm hoping that actually scheduling time will help me stay active during the coming term. I'm also planning on scheduling time for other things so that school doesn't completely take over my life again, resulting in a stressed and depressed me.

As to Jillian Michaels' Winning by Losing, I was wandering through the bookstore in the mall and found myself in the healthy living section. I'd recently bought a Self magazine featuring Michaels, and she sounded like a down-to-earth person who I wanted to hear what she had to say. I flipped through a couple of her books before deciding on this one because this one started with a section on the self; this first section is all about changing how you look at things. I know that's the hardest part about changing your life, and really feel like I could use some help with it. I'm hoping this book will be the help I need.

As a side note, I also want to get into better shape in the hopes that it will help my knee. I don't know why I thought of it today, but I'm wondering if my knee isn't really getting better because I am so out of sh

ape. I guess the only way to know for sure is to try.

Finally, I know I was abysmal with the weekly updates last year, but I will make a renewed attempt this year. Like exercise and other stuff, I am going to schedule them into my weeks so maybe I will actually stick with them this year!

Wish me luck with everything!

Super Stressed

2010-11-26T15:24:00.002-05:00

I know I've been really stressed lately, but over the last few days my stomach has been feeling really clenched. The feeling has gone away on and off, but it keeps coming back. I don't want it to lead to any major problems (a friend of mine ended up getting an ulcer due to the stress of school last year), so I decided to get this really comprehensive dvd on Stress Relief. I'm really hoping that it will help. Unfortunately it won't get here until sometime next week at the earliest, so I'm going to try other exercises (and yoga dvds in particular) in the hopes that they will help me out in the meantime.

Time to Lose Weight

2010-11-24T16:47:00.003-05:00

I really fell off the band wagon in regards to losing weight. School has been my major obstacle in this regard - I always feel like I don't have time to work out. But I also have major mental road blocks. I don't like having to set aside extra time to work out. Plus it seems to eat up a much larger chunk of my day than it should, what with having to get my glucose high enough to see me through exercising. And what if my glucose is way too low? Then I have to eat something and wait around for like a half hour so I don't get cramps while working out.

But I ran into a problem today that is kind of stupid, but requires my immediate attention: my thighs.

I've been feeling really sluggish lately (again thanks to school. I've been so busy with stuff that I honestly haven't had time to be active. For example, there were two days where I watched all of 24 season 4 for school. I wanted to get them out of the way as fast as possible, so I watched them all pretty much straight. But afterwards I felt so terrible because I was full of pent up energy, but had no real outlet for it because it was super late and I had to get up the next day). So today, I finally had time that I decided to devote to 20-30 minutes on the treadmill. I'm aware that I'm out of shape, so I wasn't too particular about the time frame for this first time.

About 15 minutes in, when I had upped the speed a bit, I found that my thighs were really starting to rub together. Now, this has been a bit of a problem for a number of years now, but only after swimming for some reason. But if this is a problem while exercising, then I really need to deal with it now. So I looked around the net a bit and decided to try out Fitness Magazine's Sleeker Thighs in One Month workout. I've tried a workout from Fitness before (The Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days workout) and really liked it, so hopefully this one will be just as good. I'm just going to have to be careful that my knee doesn't start acting up again. I know I said I had a plan of attack for it, but that hasn't happened so far - I've just been so scared to hurt it. But like I said, I really have to do something now, so hopefully my knee will get a bit stronger from this!

I will try to provide updates on how things are going, but I can't promise anything right now. I don't do well with routine.

Fallen Off Insulin Pump

2010-10-14T08:40:00.004-04:00

I woke up early this morning and kind of felt like crap. I went to grab my insulin pump, and realized it was no longer attached to me. Sometime during the night it fell off, most probably after getting wrapped up in blankets.

I got the pump reattached and then did glucose. Sure enough, I was super high. I didn't have to be up for another couple of hours, but it's a good thing I caught it when I did; at the rate my glucose was rising, I probably would've been about 30 mmol/L if I waited to get up.

With my glucose being so high, I decided to do an injection. I've long thought that injections work better when I am super high; my rationale is that the pump takes quite awhile in real time to get that insulin into you whereas the injection is immediate. I would use the bolus wizard of my pump to figure out how much insulin needs to be done and then just cancel the bolus in order to do the injection.

My nurse and I have gotten into a few debates about this. She doesn't want me doing injections because then the pump has no record of the insulin going into your system (although she also doesn't buy that an injection brings my glucose level down faster than the pump does). But we came up with a great method so everyone is happy: do the injection, but also have the pump do the required amount of insulin into a sink. That way the pump has a record of it (and can also stop you from doubling up on insulin during the next few hours), and it also gives you the exact amount of insulin you need to do in an injection.

I don't know if my method actually works better or not, but at least in this way I have the peace of mind that an injection gives me when my glucose is high, while at the same time having everything recorded in the pump.

Tubing: 23" or 43"?

2010-10-08T01:25:00.004-04:00

Ever since I started insulin pumping, I've been using Paradigm Silhouette Infusion Sets. I originally used the 23" tubing, but that a friend of mine recommended the 43" tubing. I've been using the 43" tubing ever since then.

Now that I have funding through the ADP program, I have to change everything out every three days. Previously, I wouldn't change the tubing; being the longer tubing, it always seemed like a waste of insulin to be changing it every time you change the site (or resevoir or whatever). In an effort to reduce this seeming waste of insulin, I decided to give the 23" tubing another shot. So the last time that I bought supplies (ie last week), I bought one box of 23" and another of 43".

Yesterday was the first day I tried a 23" tube. It was really weird priming the thing - the 43" tubing can take anywhere from about 8 units to around 15 (I haven't figured out why that is); the 23" took under 4!

So after a day, I have to say I'm really not liking the shorter tubing. On the one hand, the tubing doesn't get caught on anything, which is nice. But it's just too short to do anything with! When I get dressed in the morning, with the 43" tubing I can put the pump down on my bed or on a nearby table/dresser. With the 23" tubing you can't put it down anywhere! I tried putting it on my bed to get dressed and even when I was standing right next to the bed the pump was still hanging from my site! (As a side note, I am about 5'10", so maybe part of my problem is the site's placement on my torso vs the height of the bed?)

Usually I keep my pump in the right back pocket of my jeans. This isn't a problem with the 23" tubing, but grabbing the pump out of this pocket to give myself insulin feels really restricting. Right now, I can't hold my arm out in front of me with my pump in my hand, while with the 43" tubing I can. This is probably something I could get used to, but it's just really odd.

Luckily I bought the box of 43" tubing, so I'm going to alternate between the two until the 23" tubing is gone. After this, I think I'll be sticking to my 43" tubing!

But what does everyone else think? I was talking to my nurse today and she told me that most people prefer the 23" tubing. If you're on a pump, what do you use and why do you like it?

Update for the Last Month (Including the Conclusion to the Month of Sensors)

2010-10-07T20:09:00.004-04:00

I've been extremely busy lately and keep forgetting to update this blog. Besides school, my brother got married in September, so everything's been really crazy!

First: the Month of Sensors. I ended up running 6 of the 8 sensors (I ran out of time and didn't want one running during my brother's wedding). Four of the sensors ran great, giving me a lot of good information. The other two failed, giving me nothing and then a few hours respectively. I've since discussed things with my nurse, so we were able to make a few changes based off of this information.

Other than that, like I said I've been rather busy. School's been stressing me out a bit lately. But another stressor has been my health. I haven't been able to be very active. While part of the problem has been my busy life, the other problem has been my going low whenever I exercise. Today for example, I went for a short walk with my mom. I did glucose when we stopped and decided to eat a few Skittles and sit for a few minutes before continuing. I did glucose again when we were ready to continue and I had gone lower! She ended up having to walk home alone to get the car because we didn't trust my glucose level to get me safely home walking.

This type of thing has been happening more and more frequently. And I don't know what to do, which is making it more and more frustrating!

Month of Sensors Update 1

2010-09-09T12:42:00.002-04:00

lol, I seem to have a really hard time remembering to update here!

The Month of Sensors is going pretty well. I've successfully finished two sensors and I have my third one in now (it'll start in a few hours). Unfortunately I haven't put the second and third ones in immediately after the one before, so I may not get through all eight before they expire on the 25th, assuming they all work properly. More update(s) to come!

Another Month of Sensors

2010-08-29T23:11:00.005-04:00

Okay, so the weekly updates really didn't happen this summer. But that's okay. I'll be updating a bit more frequently over the next month because I'm going to have another Month of Sensors.

Last time I'd forgotten about a box of sensors. This time around I need to use up two boxes of sensors! Back in April, just after getting my new pump, I received an offer from Minimed; for (I think) $300 I could get one of the new, much smaller transmitters and two boxes of sensors! So I got it, at the very least so when I eventually move out I can set up sensors without anyone's help. I wanted to do some sensors in the late spring, but my diabetes nurse recommended that I wait until I get all of my pump settings reset.

Of course, now I have about a month to use up 8 sensors. So I pulled out my new transmitter, which is completely awesome! Not only is it super tiny, but it also has a rechargable battery! I had a bit of trouble with the first sensor (it's been so long since I've put one in, that I had some trouble with it hurting), but it is now successfully up and running! I'm loving the new transmitter - I don't feel like I'm part robot while wearing it.

2010 Update 12

2010-06-09T16:00:00.005-04:00

Well, I've failed at the weekly update thing. The last update I made was in April.

The last time I weighed myself was in the beginning of May. Since then, I don't know exactly what happened, but I haven't been exercising much at all. That's not exactly true, as I have gone hiking a few times, but I haven't been writing things down or making sure I am active a few days every week. I think a big part of the problem is my knee; the tendonitis went away, but keeps coming back if I do too much. The other problem is my glucose. I just got back from Toronto where I did a lot of walking, but unfortunately I also kept going really low. So any benefit I got from walking so much was negated by the amount of food I had to keep eating. On top of that, we ate out a lot and I felt myself eating more than I needed. When we went shopping, I found some great pants but they are a size larger than I normally wear. So I really need to change some things!
To start off, I bought The Mayo Clinic Diet while I was away. While glancing through it, it looked like it had some great tips so I am going to read it over the next week. It recommends that you choose a date to start, so I'm hoping to start next week (it's my birthday this week, so I want to start after that). Starting next week will also give me a chance to read everything over and get anything I need to ready.

I'll also have to get back into exercising. I'm not 100% sure what to do about my glucose yet, but I think I have a plan of attack for my knee: I'll have to ice it right after any exercise. Hopefully this will get me back into yoga and whatnot.

Well, there's my plan of attack for the next while. I am hoping to get back into the weekly updates so I'll be more accountable. Wish me luck!

Diabetes Expo

2010-04-21T01:35:00.005-04:00

Today I went to a Healthy Living Diabetes Expo put on by my local chapter of the Canadian Diabetes Association. Dr. Amy Latimer was the guest speaker; her topic was It's all in the plan: Tips for planning and achieving an active lifestyle. She was a great speaker, and so I wanted to share some of the highlights of her talk.

Depending on who you talk to, there are different guidelines for how much exercise is needed per week. The current standard that Dr. Latimer cited was 150 minutes of aerobic exercise a week, along with resistance (strength) training 2-3 days a week. According to other sources than the one she quoted, 300 minutes of aerobics are recommended. Either way you're looking at a lot of aerobic exercise a week.

She then gave five tips for getting more active:

1) Always look on the bright side. This one involves thinking of the benefits of exercising, such as less stress and more energy, not the negatives of not exercising. Research supports this: negative and nagging messages demotivate people.

2) Make it enjoyable. You're more likely to exercise if you like what you're doing. Add music, friends, or whatever else to make being active fun. She also cited some research that found people with dogs are way more active.

3) Plan when, where and what activities you are going to do. This was the most important of her five tips. Apparently people with a plan are way more likely to successfully carry out their planned exercise.

4) Plan for obstacles. While a plan is important, being aware of possible obstacles and how to deal with them can be just as important. What will you do if it rains, or your mp3 player breaks? Planning ahead for such scenarios can get you out even when your original plan fails.

5) Expect success . . . most of the time. It's easy to get off schedule and easy to stay off schedule. But get back to it! As a help, remember all the positive benefits, and don't worry: everyone gets derailed sometimes.

I hope you will find those tips as helpful as I did! Thanks for an excellent talk, Dr. Latimer!

2010 Weekly Update 11 - Not so Weekly

2010-04-20T14:47:00.004-04:00

So it's been almost a month since my last update. I kept meaning to write, but then I'd forget; this month has been extremely busy! Here are some of the more significant happenings:

I went to the doctor to tell him about my knee. According to him I have tendonitis. He told me to ice the knee when it gets really bad, but otherwise all I can do is give it time. I had to ice it once (which made it feel so much better!) and now it's getting back to normal.

Happy Belated Easter everyone! Right after finding out about my knee it was Easter. We celebrated at my grandmother's house. I walked to and from there, which was great because I ate way too much and so had a chance to work it off. I was proud of myself though - I kept my glucose nicely under control.

A major event over the last few weeks was the end of school. Once classes were over I was still super busy writing papers, studying for exams and whatnot. But all of that is over now and I'm free until the fall!

So right now I'm desperately trying to get caught up with sleep. Due to some all nighters (and me naturally being a night-owl) I've been going to bed extremely late and waking up really tired. I also haven't been eating too well due to celebrating the end of school. But my last real celebration was yesterday (where I ate really badly) so I'm going to have to crack down with that. I'm also going to have to start exercising more; hopefully my knee will be okay if I do some other activities (I'm getting sick of only walking!) Luckily it's warming up, so I should be able to go out biking soon!

2010 Weekly Update 10: Missed a Week

2010-03-29T00:51:00.005-04:00

I forgot to write a weekly update last week; I was so busy with school that I barely had time for anything else. I think I fit in a walk on Monday, but that was it. To top it all off, I also had barely any sleep, especially near the end of the week (I pulled an actual all-nighter working on a paper - I had one hour of sleep Wednesday night). Oh, and I had a bit of a chocolate binge a few days ago (conveniently right after my all nighter), so that didn't really help.

Last week I also discovered that I need to give up peanut butter. I would get hungry for a snack, so I found myself in the peanut butter jar quite often. I eat a brand of peanut butter that is just made from peanuts, which makes it a bit better. But it still has calories. And several heaping tablespoons full is not good for you. I don't want to give up peanut butter forever, but I will avoid it for now. The goal would be eating just a healthy amount of it.

So this week I am going to try to be better. I've already gone a few days without peanut butter, so that's good. I've also exercised a few more times (I went dancing last night, and today I went for a walk). If I can catch up on sleep, I should be ok for this week. This week is also the last week of classes, so after it's over I won't have to get up super early as often!

I weighed myself the other day, which was something I haven't done in a long time. I've gained a few pounds (no surprise due to peanut butter eating, but my period also started yesterday which adds a few pounds). If I can stay on track now, both with staying active and eating healthy, I can conceivably lose 18-20 lbs by June 1st. That won't bring me to my goal weight of 170lbs, but that will be quite an accomplishment.

Finally, my knee started acting up again. I think I need to make an appointment to talk to my doctor about it. It doesn't bother me all the time, but seems worst when I'm going up and down stairs.

2010 Weekly Update 9: a Much Needed Break

2010-03-15T22:38:00.002-04:00

Not a whole lot to report about this week. I ate a bit healthier than last week, but still not the greatest. I exercised two days (twice in one day). School was really draining me so I took the weekend off, only doing the bare minimum. I feel a bit more energized now, and hope I'll be able to make it through the last few weeks without feeling so burnt out!

2010 Weekly Update 8: Partial Success

2010-03-08T23:52:00.005-05:00

This week was only a partial success because I was only successful with exercising. I managed to go out for a walk three days last week (and last Monday I even went for two walks because it was so nice out!) And on Saturday, when I was busy with school things, I agreed to work in the morning, which meant I fit in a walk heading to and from work.

Unfortunately, I could have eaten better. I went to a friend's place and we bought candy. Another night I ate too many chips. Every time I turn around I'm eating unhealthily and I think it is from lack of sleep. While I slept more this week than last week, I still didn't sleep enough. I'm super tired and I know I'm eating to stay awake. It's not good, but until I can get caught up with sleep there isn't much I can do. Hopefully this coming week will be better!

2010 Weekly Update 7: Fail

2010-03-01T23:57:00.003-05:00

This past week was not a good one as far as exercise and healthy eating goes. I was presenting a paper at a conference, which meant I was too busy to work out. And while I was getting ready for it, I barely slept, which also meant I was too tired once I finished with the conference. Luckily yesterday I started walking again, and today I went for two walks. So I think I'll just say last week was a failure on multiple counts, but this week won't be!

Surprise Today: I'm Getting a Brand New Pump!!!!

2010-02-26T03:23:00.003-05:00

I had an appointment at Diabetes Health today with both my dietician and my nurse; I needed their help in filling out a form which will allow me to get my pump supplies through the government. I'm not really sure how it came up, but I ended up showing my nurse the crack in the side of my pump. She took one look at it and said "You need another pump. Like today!"

And so now, the paperwork is being filed for me to receive a new pump as soon as possible! In the meantime, Medtronic is loaning me a pump for the next three months because everyone is really concerned about the crack in the casing (see picture).

For me, this is going to mean some big changes. First of all, I have to get into the habit of testing at least four times a day. Looking back in my log book (yes, I'm still keeping it!), I would say I average 2-3 times a day; I'm going to try testing for sure at lunch, at supper, at 10 pm (my normal third meal) and again before bed.

I will also have to get into the habit of changing the resevoir, the site and the hose thing every three days. Apparently this is the standard the Government has set. I change the resevoir every three days, but I normally leave the site and the hose longer (bad, I know!) I think this is a good habit to get into, but it will just be strange at first. I'm thinking I'll change everything every time I change the resevoir.

I will also have to see my team at Diabetes Health every three months. This is definitely not a bad thing. Unfortunately, I have a bit of trouble keeping up with them (if I don't make an appointment while I'm leaving, I tend to forget to make one for several months), so I'll have to always remember to make a new one when I leave. And if I have to cancel, I have to make sure I reschedule!!!!

Finally, I will have to attend classes on using the pump. My nurse has asked me before if I'd be interested in this, but I declined because I lacked the time. So I will be attending these classes in May. I think they're going to be a good thing. When I first learned how to use the pump several years ago, it was hard to take everything in. But now I understand all the basics, so I should easily be able to take in new information.

So all in all, an exciting day! I think these changes will be really good for me, and for taking better care of my diabetes!

2010 Weekly Update 6: Reading Week Actually Spent Reading

2010-02-22T20:51:00.003-05:00

This past week was reading week. I was looking forward to some time to relax as I felt like I really needed a break from school stuff. And while I did do a couple of fun things over the week, most of the week was actually spent working on school things, so I feel like I didn't have any time off.

Exercise-wise, I did better than last week. I had three good sessions over the week, plus I went for a hike at the end of the week. The hike wasn't anything strenuous, but it was activity. Unfortunately, my eating was really bad this past week. Being reading week, I went to friends' houses a few times over the week and so ate a few too many munchies and whatnot. I also have had a few days where I know I'm eating to stay awake, which is NOT good (Friday night was like that. I was over at a friend's and I was tired. I ate a LOT of bad-for-me things that night).

So this week, I have a few goals: make sure I get enough sleep, eat healthier, and keep up the exercising (3 times a week at least 30 minutes is the goal!)

2010 Weekly Update 5: Too Much School, Not Enough Exercise

2010-02-15T23:18:00.003-05:00

Well, this week has been really bad. I worked out one day, and that was only because I was able to walk to and from work. Unfortunately, I was really busy with school, getting one of my two big papers ready and handed in. And to top it off, I wasn't feeling good mid-week; I ended up staying home from school that day. So all in all, a really bad week exercise-wise.

I also ate rather badly most of the week - not a lot of fruit and vegetables, and more processed, rather bad for me things. Like cookies. And this weekend was Valentine's Day, which also meant I ate rather badly (ie. more cookies).

But luckily this week is Study Week. I work one morning this week, so overall I should be able to get enough sleep, get caught up on some things, and get back on track with working out!

2010 Weekly Update 4: Too Much Peanut Butter and Boredom

2010-02-08T01:03:00.005-05:00

This week has been alright. Nothing too special to report. I managed to be active three times this week, once on the bike and two walks. My knee is feeling better, so I'm hoping to get some yoga in this coming week (I'm getting a bit bored of walks and bike rides). I am also down two pounds from last week's weigh-in, so that's good (and that means it was my period that brought my weight up).

My one problem this past week has been peanut butter. I've eaten A LOT of it lately. While this isn't as bad as it could be (ie, I've been eating a brand that is made of just peanuts, no sugar or additives of any kind), it's still not that good. A bit of peanut butter isn't a bad thing, but being peanuts, too much isn't good for you. So hopefully I'll be able to cut back a bit this coming week!

I'm also getting really bored of school. I worked all last weekend on a seminar. And now I have to get an essay finished for this week. I'm having a really hard time with this essay - I've been working constantly and I just want to stop for a bit (and I really want to read the book I'm currently supposed to be reading for Wednesday). Luckily next week is Study Week, and I'll be done most of my big projects for the term! Hopefully I can get my motivation up a bit, just for a couple more days!

2010 Weekly Update 3: Who Knew Pilates Can Hurt Your Knee?

2010-02-01T04:13:00.002-05:00

On Monday, I decided to give pilates a try. My knee was starting to feel better, and I thought pilates would be easier on it than yoga. Unfortunately, this was false; part way through the 30 minutes, I did some exercise (I don't remember what it was now) and I felt my knee hurt. The best way I can describe it is that whatever is wrong tore again. So I made it through the 30 minute workout (I was doing a dvd) and resolved not to do any pilates or yoga until my knee is completely healed. So instead, I went on the exercise bike a couple of times (still using the interval program) and went for a walk as well. In total, I worked out for about 30 minutes 4 times this past week (the only exception was the walk, which was about 45 minutes).

Thankfully, my knee seems to be getting better. It's healed up a bit since reinjuring it on Monday. Biking has been great for it, and the walk wasn't too bad. I'm still going to be avoiding pilates and yoga for the next while to make sure it heals up properly.

I weighed myself at the beginning of the week and was disappointed, having gained about a 1/2 lb. But then my period started, which explained the slight weight gain. I ate a bit badly at the beginning of the week, but overall I think I did a bit better than last week (with the exception of Tuesday night. I went to a friend's house and ate candy). Overall, I've had a great week, and I'm hoping this will keep up in the future!

2010 Weekly Update 2: Lack of Sleep = Lack of Exercise

2010-01-25T03:02:00.005-05:00

Alright, so this week wasn't as good as last week was. Unfortunately, I had a big seminar which I was preparing for midweek, which really derailed my exercise and sleep patterns. I was only able to work out twice this week, once on Monday, and then again today. Both times I went on the exercise bike for 30 minutes, using the intervals program. And Monday night I only slept for two hours because I was stressing; it took me until Friday when I slept in to feel relatively back to normal. Feeling tired made me only want to sleep, which meant I definitely didn't feel like exercising; I also ate rather badly midweek due to the lack of sleep (this happens to me all the time. Tiredness is a major diet derailer!)

But I'm proud of myself for getting back on that bike today (I read some stuff for school while biking, which was a major bonus!), and I've got plans for pilates tomorrow. So hopefully this coming week will be a bit better, both diet and exercise-wise!

Oh yeah, I don't think I've mentioned it before, but my knee has been sore for the last few weeks. It's starting to feel a bit better, but it still gets sore, especially when going up and down stairs. That's why I've been trying to stick to things like biking where possible - I don't want to aggrevate it! But as I said, it seems to be getting a bit better, so hopefully I'll be able to add some dancing to the workout "regiment" sometime soon!

2010 Weekly Update 1: The Good, The Bad, and The New Exercise Goal

2010-01-18T04:03:00.005-05:00

Alright, so I remembered to come back and update! Exercise-wise, this week went well. I was active during 4 days, for at least 30 minutes each day! And the activities I chose were well-rounded; I was on the exercise bike one afternoon, did pilates another afternoon, and went on two walks (one was about 30 minutes, one about 60!) So I am quite proud of myself for that and hope it carries on!

Food wise, this week started out okay, but ended rather badly. I went to the pub and had fish and chips Friday night, then I ate a bag of chips (let's say about half last night, and the other half today). The chips were for a party, but I ended up bringing them home with me. Today was a bad day, as I was supposed to be working on school stuff. Instead I procrastinated all day, which included eating the chips! :( Oh yeah, and then I opened a box of chocolates from Christmas; I didn't need the chocolates, but I wanted one (and it was another way to procrastinate for a few minutes). This was really not good, but luckily was just a few days. So hopefully I will stop procrastinating tomorrow, and get back on track with eating healthier (and at least there are no chips in the house that I know of!)

I don't know if you remember my exercise goal from February 2007, but I still have the picture I made of the girl in the black tankini on my bulletin board. Underneath the pictures it says "160lbs by June 1st." My brother saw it the other day, and said I can totally make that this year if I try. Well, I've been thinking about it, and if I can keep up with the exercise now, when I'm really busy with school, then he's right, I can make it. So I'm going to make another attempt this year. Instead of 160lbs, I'm going to go for 170lbs. If I'm doing alright, say by mid-April/early May, then maybe I'll keep going for 160lbs. So wish me luck! I need a new bathing suit this summer, and I'd love to look and feel good in it!

By the way, I'm still successfully keeping my log book! Yay me!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-10T16:10:00.003-05:00

It has been quite awhile since I was last here. I've actually started keeping a logbook again! When I was first diagnosed years ago, I kept one, but I gradually fell out of the habit over the years. But after a recent doctor's appointment (back in December) when my Hemoglobin A1C wasn't all that great, I decided I needed to see the patterns. Correcting everything on an individual-test basis is probably not the best way to stay in control, so I went back to the log book. I found that the ones given to me with my pump from Minimed have hourly times, so I'm using that one, modified a bit. I'm using every row as a day, rather than using each page as a day. That's way too much information to be writing down when I didn't even want to write down blood sugars! But I have successfully kept the log book for 20 days now and still counting!

Over the holidays, I wasn't really exercising and I wasn't eating super well. So now that everything is over, I've been trying to get back into some sort of habit. Last week I exercised twice for about 20-30 minutes, which was a great start, but I'm hoping to fit in 30 minutes three times a week. This might not always be possible, due to school, but hopefully I'll be able to fit it all in.

Wow

2009-09-16T23:32:00.003-04:00

It's been a long time since I posted anything here. Over the summer I lost a few pounds (my last check in was already a few weeks ago and I'd lost a combined total of about 10lbs this summer). I'm going to see my dietitian next week, so I'll get the full story from her then (but hopefully I'll remember to weigh myself tomorrow just to see).

Unfortunately for my efforts, school has just started. And unlike last year, I'm extremely busy now because I'm in Grad School!!!! I just went a week without really working out (unless vacuuming counts) because I felt too busy. Then today I came home exhausted, but I knew I needed to get moving a bit to relax, so I did some Yoga (3 segments from 10 Minute Solution Yoga to be exact). And I feel 100 times better for having done those 30 minutes. So I'm going to have to really work and maybe schedule some exercise time for myself. I've said before that even 10 minutes a day is better than nothing, but I think this year I'm going to shoot for something more concrete. Maybe a half hour three times a week? I figure I'll just try to fit in some workouts for the week to see how things go then talk to my dietitian next week for some help.

I will try to check in here once a week to help keep myself accountable. I'm also going to try to get Fitness Reviews up and running again, but I can't make any promises with that. My first priority is to fit some sort of exercise into my busy school schedule!

Continuing to See Results!

2009-06-17T21:17:00.004-04:00

I weighed myself again today, even though I was a bit afraid to. It was my birthday this last week, and so I have NOT been eating healthily. I went out a few times, had some drinks and Cheetohs...all the fun associated with birthdays that doesn't tend to go hand in hand with weightloss. But luckily, all of my fears were pushed aside when I jumped on the scale....and discovered that I lost another pound!!!! (This was even more exciting because my period should be starting in the next day or two, which is another time when I tend to weight a little bit more).

This last week has really shown me the value of exercise - I managed to be active five out of the seven days, which is my current exercise goals. And thanks to that, I was able to lose a healthy amount of weight even though my diet wasn't the greatest. Let's just hope I remember this in the future, for when I don't feel like exercising!

A Bit of Weight Loss!!!!

2009-06-10T19:47:00.003-04:00

I weighed myself today, and I have lost 1.5 pounds!!!!! For the last several weeks, the number on the scale has not budged. But now that I've added the Fitness Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days workout twice a week to my attempts to be fit, the scale has started to move! I hope this continues in the future, and I am definitely planning on using this workout! The first time I tried it, my abs were dying, but now, having done it a few more times, I already feel a bit stronger!

Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days Workout!

2009-06-03T16:59:00.003-04:00

During my meeting with my dietitian today, she encouraged me to get a lot of exercise in, including strength training. Personally, I prefer aerobic exercises, but she told me it is necessary for weight loss (and health) so I agreed to get in a few strength sessions a week. So when I got home, I decided to give the Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days Workout a try.

It's been about a week since I joined the program, and I only glanced at the workout once. So I was really unprepared for everything! This program supposedly tones your entire body in just 12 moves, and I believe it! It's broken down into four sections: lower body, abs, butt and upper body (3 moves per section). And there's a short video accompanying every move, which shows you exactly what you're supposed to be doing.

The lower body segment went pretty smoothly thanks to the videos. The moves were pretty straightforward. It was during the abs section that I first encountered problems. I had a really tough time with all of the moves! It seems that my abs are in no shape whatsoever, so I shortened each move down to ten reps instead of the fifteen the program said to do (but even this was tough to get through!)

The butt section was also pretty straightforward. All of the moves were a derivative of the basic squat, so I know they'll help shape things up back there. But then I hit the upper body section, and I thought I wouldn't be able to make it! My upper body has never been my strong point, and all of the moves were derived from a basic push-up. I felt like crying. But amazingly, I psyched myself up to try all of the moves and I made it through ALL of the reps! I couldn't believe it! I know my form wasn't perfect, but hopefully it will improve over the next few times I try this workout. My current goal is, as the Lose 10 Pounds plan suggests, to do this workout twice a week.

Meeting with my Dietitian

2009-06-03T16:49:00.005-04:00

Earlier this afternoon, I met with my dietitian at Diabetes Health. The reason for my meeting was that I intended on joining Weight Watchers, but wanted to talk to her first to see if it was a god idea with my diabetes (my mom was the one who suggested this meeting; she said that I am lucky enough to have access to such people and should make use of them).

Right off the bat, we determined that Weight Watchers might not be the best avenue for me. I wanted to join because of their points system; I do not like counting calories. But I failed to take into account the fact that I would then have to juggle carbohydrate counting with the point system. She told me that other people have been successful with this, but she didn't think that it would be the best idea for me. After thinking about this a bit, I whole-heartedly agreed; I'm sure the points system would be easier than calorie counting, but I'm going to try other ways before going to a counting method.

So by the end of my meeting, I agreed to attempt to eat more mindfully, and shoot for at least 30 minutes of exercise 5 times a week. I will eventually move up to an hour of exercise 5 times a week (which is apparently what you need for weight loss) but I have to start somewhere. I'm also going to meet with my dietitian every month for the next while to chart my progress and maybe get some more tips. (And if all else fails, she'll make a meal plan for me). Oh, and she gave me a magnetic whiteboard calendar to keep track of how much I work out! Hopefully the visual reminder on my fridge will help motivate me to get moving!

Tofu

2009-06-02T21:38:00.002-04:00

I've never really eaten Tofu. My family all enjoys eating some meat, and so we have never really gotten into Vegetarian dishes. But when I started eating sushi, I encountered tofu in miso soup. After looking online for a recipe, and being unable to date to find miso paste, I found myself with a block of soft tofu with no idea what to do with it. Another internet search found me a recipe for crunchy soft tofu.

I decided to try the recipe out today. The actual coating for the tofu is simple: combine cornstarch, salt and pepper. I ran into trouble while frying the coated tofu; luckily, my brother came to the rescue and helped.

Once the tofu was cooked, we decided that it needed some kind of sauce. The one included in the recipe was out because we don't really like ginger. So we decided to cobble together a stirfry with the tofu, noodles, peppers and brocoli. All in all, it came out extremely well. We're going to try making it again tomorrow for supper (with baby corn added into the stirfry, too!), but this time with firmer tofu so it is easier to work with.

Magazine Workouts

2009-05-29T00:36:00.004-04:00

I have decided that I need to get active, as my weight has gone up in recent months. So I planned on joining the Self Challenge. I've joined it before, but I always fail to keep on track with all of the workouts and things. But I decided that this time would be different! So I jumped onto the Self website, was all ready to submit my info....when I discovered that this year, the Self Challenge is not open to Canadians. I tried emailing someone at Self magazine, asking if I could get in just for the workouts and whatnot, as I am not interested in their sweepstakes. But to date, I have not heard back.

And so I went looking on other fitness magazine websites that I knew of for a different plan that I could try out. I stumbled upon Fitness Magazine's Lose 10 Pounds in 30 Days plan. Since I have quite a bit of weight to lose (my goal is to lose about 30-40 pounds), I thought this might help kickstart an exercise habit. And losing 10 pounds by July sounds good to me! I'm just not so sure of whether that will be accurate - I just had a look at the meal plan that accompanies it, and I don't think I'm going to end up following it super accurately. But I'll worry about that later - I have an appointment with my dietician next week, so hopefully that will help me more with my eating habits!

Home Again!

2009-05-05T23:59:00.003-04:00

I got home from Toronto today! I did a ton of walking while I was there! That's the thing I love about where I was staying - it's right downtown, so you can walk practically everywhere! Toronto is so walker friendly, it's awesome!

While away, I feel like I ate a ton! Everything was just so delicious! From sushi, traditional Chinese, street meat and bubble tea, I had awesome meals all over the place! Of course, I also now feel like I won't need to eat for a few days, which is definitely not good! I'll have to weigh myself tomorrow to see if I gained any weight (I sure hope not!) Also, a note about the bubble tea: I totally guessed how much insulin to use. As far as I know, bubble tea is made with fruit juices, which is something I try to avoid as it sends my glucose level up. But coupled with the walking (the bubble tea place was a little ways away from where I was staying) all seemed to be okay.

The one problem with the trip was leaving. I was helping my bro move home, so we packed our bags to the brim! That was all well and good - except that I couldn't lift them for long. I ended up having to use the wheely suit cases while my bro had to carry the duffle bags, which was not cool. I'm also a bit worried that I hurt my back, so I'll have to be careful over the next few days. I'm hoping to do some yoga to help everything out a bit - stretching my back, and my calves from all that walking!

Now that I'm back, I'm also hoping to get back into using my fitness dvds (I know, I know, I haven't posted anything on Fitness Reviews since February!) My goal for this summer is to build an exercise habit, one that I'll be able to carry on this coming school year. I know this is going to be a bit of a challenge, as this coming school year is going to be tough. But I know I can do it!

Going Away

2009-04-30T00:50:00.000-04:00

I'm off to Toronto tomorrow morning at 6:30am! I can't wait! I probably won't be posting on here until I get back. Have a good weekend everyone!

Month of Sensors at an End

2009-04-26T01:27:00.002-04:00

Today was the end of the Month of Sensors. Sensor 5 was a success. I started it right after Sensor 4 ended, so I will have 6 days in a row of sensor data. I am going to get the data off of my pump sometime over the next few days, then off to Diabetes Health it will go!

Sensor 4

2009-04-22T02:24:00.004-04:00

Sensor 4 was a success! I was a bit worried that it wouldn't be, as I inserted it on the left side of my body; I usually have more success when it is on the right. But today is the final day (I have about 17 hours left) and all is fine. I even played some DDR yesterday without it coming out! (I lost a sensor in the past because I played too much DDR and it fell out). So this sensor has been a success in more ways than one: it has shown me that I don't have to give up DDR during the three days!

I also wanted to make a note about tegaderm. When I originally started using the sensors, I used sheets of tegaderm to enclose the sensor and hold the transmitter in place (for a vague picture, see this). Right after the first sensor that I ran during my Month of Sensors, I ran out of the usual sheets that I used. Heading to a different pharmacy, I found larger sheets of tegaderm. I wasn't sure if they would work very well, so I decided to try only one. Well, it turns out that these larger sheets work a lot better than multiple small ones! I need someone's help setting everything up (even with the smaller, multiple sheets it is a lot easier when you have help) but they are a cheaper ($3 a sheet vs. $15 for 6 smaller sheets, which is about $2.50 per sheet. When you need 2 of the smaller sheets, this works out to $5 per sensor) and better option.

Month of Sensors Update

2009-04-19T01:24:00.002-04:00

I forgot to update this blog on how the Month of Sensors is going. To date I have attempted to run three sensors; only two were successful (the first and second ones). I attempted the unsuccessful one earlier today. I think I hit something I shouldn't have. The sensor didn't take right from the beginning. So I am going to attempt another one tomorrow. Hopefully #4 will work!

Strategy for Cravings

2009-03-31T01:38:00.003-04:00

While looking through my backed up folder full of The Buzz from Bikini Bootcamp newsletters, I found this one that I thought I would share:

"'Cravings Begone!'

Q: I've never been one for self-control, especially these days — I can't seem to get a handle on my cravings! Every time I feel like eating ice cream or — my newest favorite — those microwavable potato puffs that are about a thousand calories apiece, I resist for a minute or two, but eventually I give in. If I'm going to be bikini-ready, I really need your help!

A: To beat your cravings, the key is to formulate a plan. Come up with a list of at least 15 things you can do when you feel a craving coming on, and jot them down in your journal. For instance, you might decide to call a friend, do your nails, walk the dog, catch up on e-mails, or work on a fun, do-it-yourself project. Then, if you find yourself reaching for food when you're not really hungry, choose one of the alternatives from your list. You'll probably find that once you're swept up in the activity, you'll forget you had a craving to begin with! Remember to also use your new tools: Yoga, walking, pranayamas (breathing techniques), and the other workouts you've learned to keep you out of the kitchen in between meals. "

I thought this was a great tip, and decided to share it here. I'm also going to have to come up with some strategies to help me stop any cravings I might have (this isn't a really big problem that I have, but like everyone I get cravings sometimes!) which I will eventually post here.

Concluding Remarks for "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-30T02:18:00.003-04:00

I believe that this "No Crap for a Week" Week was a bit more of a success than the last time I attempted it. I got through four days successfully (the first three and day 5). I started off really strong, but definitely lagged as the week drew to a close. Part of this was due to what was happening at the end of the week; the group I help out with usually has some unhealthy things and I know I eat things that are in front of me mindlessly. Plus it is the weekend, which for some reason seems to signal that it's time to eat unhealthily. But I know that I've also been super tired lately, working on papers, so I've found myself eating for the energy (which isn't a good thing).

So I think that I need to try to remain mindful of what I'm eating. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to accomplish that at this moment (I've tried food logs, but I lose interest in keeping them), but that will definitely be my food goal for the next while.

Day 7 of "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-29T04:10:00.003-04:00

Well, today was the last day of "No Crap for a Week" Week. Day 7 started out alright. I ate rather healthily all day until supper time. We had company, and someone brought an extremely good cheesecake that I couldn't pass up...I also had a Mike's Hard, which was unnecessary (but good!) Oh yeah, and then I ended it all with some Mini Eggs at a friend's house. Definitely not the healthiest day this week!

Day 6 of "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-28T00:27:00.002-04:00

Well, I'm now at the very end of "No Crap for a Week" Week with only one more day to go! Day 6 started off relatively well. I had breakfast, then ran off to help out with a group I volunteer with where I was going to have lunch. Things started off really good; I ate a sandwich, grapes and yogurt. But when I was helping to clean up, I ate a couple of the desserts that were left over! I think what sort of happened was I was feeling tired (late night last night) and I sort of grabbed one without thinking. I'm going to have to try to be more mindful whenever there are instances such as this.

Other than this one incident, the day went smoothly.

Day 5 of "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-27T16:28:00.002-04:00

There wasn't anything really exciting to report about Day 5. I had a really nice meal of Greek food. Didn't have a whole lot of fruit, but overall the day was a healthy one eating wise anyway - I had school and then didn't really do anything last night. I didn't even do a short workout, which, in hind sight, I probably should have.

Day 4 of "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-26T03:35:00.002-04:00

Well, Day 4 of "No Crap for a Week" Week was a dismal failure. Everything started out alright until I went to my grandmother's for supper. I had a wonderful meal, but then dessert was brought out. Amongst the fruit, there were fresh hot cross buns (which I had to try - I had half of one) and poppy seed loaf. Poppy seed loaf is so incredibly delicious, that I wasn't able to pass it up. And then after dinner, I ended up at a friend's place, where I had a bit of chocolate as well.

So as I said, Day 4 was a failure. I did eat some stuff that wasn't good for me. Hopefully I will do better over the rest of the week!

End of Sensor 1

2009-03-25T02:46:00.002-04:00

My first sensor ended earlier today. It lasted for the full three days. I'll be getting the information from my pump sometime tomorrow. I'm rather excited to see the information I will be getting from the pump (there's one time of the day that I might need to fix my basal rate - I'll find out for sure tomorrow!), but I am also excited to be able to compare it to the other sensor reports that I will be getting this month!

Day 3 of "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-25T02:42:00.003-04:00

Well, Day 3 has come and gone and I'm still doing alright. I had more soup for breakfast, a homemade banana muffin for snack, and another homemade dinner. I think the worst thing I had today (other than the soup) was the cookies I had after dinner (as a snack). Oh yeah, and the 1 Mike's Hard (whoops!) But the cookies were the Lifestyle shortcakes, so they're a lot better for me than most. A little questionable maybe, but I think I'm still doing alright. (Well, other than the Mike's Hard). Hopefully this will continue - I've (reaonably) successfully made it to the half way point in my week!

Day 2 of "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-24T01:19:00.002-04:00

So far so good with "No Crap for a Week" Week! Day 2 continues to be a success. Lunch was soup (which might not have been the best choice, as it was canned soup, not home made), crackers and an orange. Dinner was leftovers from the last couple of nights and a nice juicy pear. Then for snack, I had a bowl of Cheerios, milk, a banana and a bit of peanut butter. All in all, I think I had a pretty good day food wise. The next couple of nights might be a bit challenging though - I'll probably end up at a friend's house where I normally eat some junk food, plus I'm going to be having supper at my grandmother's house, so that might not be the most healthy meal either. Wish me luck!

Day 1 of "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-22T18:52:00.003-04:00

Well, this time "No Crap for a Week" Week is off to a good start! I think the worst things that I ate all day were two slices of Ukrainian Easter Bread (bobka) for breakfest and five baked cheetohs for snack. Otherwise, I've been trying to snack on healthy things like oranges and nuts. I was writing an essay all night, and I kept finding myself going off to snack on things (and I wanted unhealthy things). I think next time, I'll have to have a study break where I do yoga or something.

Sensor Update

2009-03-22T18:46:00.002-04:00

Well, so far so good! My sensor has lasted almost 24 hours. I find that once you can get past that, you're generally good to go until the sensor ends when it is three days (72 hours) old. Well, I'm generally good to go unless I do something like DDR, where I get sweaty and the tegaderm (which is what I use to hold everything in place) comes off. So the first of the five sensors should be giving me two more days of valuable information. (This one is really good timing - my period started yesterday, so I will get some good info from the first few days of my period).

Another "No Crap for a Week" Week

2009-03-21T19:55:00.003-04:00

Last night, a couple of friends and I went out to an open mic event at the school. We stayed for about an hour, but then decided to leave as we had heard a bunch of this stuff at the last event. My one friend was hungry, as he hadn't eaten supper yet. My other friend and I decided to run to a corner store while the first friend was buying a sub sandwich; we ended up buying chips and dip. We had a fun evening, but after I got home, my stomach was bugging me a bit from the chips (and from some egg rolls we also had). As I've been eating rather badly as of late, I decided today that I was going to attempt to have another "No Crap for a Week" Week. The last time I attempted such a thing was in July 2007, and it sort of failed. I'm hoping that this time things will turn out better (and that I'll actually make it the full seven days without eating crap, rather than just six). I've done fairly well today, but I am going to make the week officially start tomorrow. I'm hoping to get online to check in daily (but I don't usually do very well with such a thing, so we'll see how that goes!) Wish me luck!

Sensors!

2009-03-21T19:51:00.002-04:00

I had forgotten about a few sensors that I have. They've been in my fridge since the New Year, and expire in just over a month. So I'm going to be running them all before their expiry date (which happens to be the end of April). I started one today, and will most likely be running one weekly until they're all used up. I'm hoping to gain some very valuable information from this "Month of Sensors" as I am terming it!

What's Been Going on Lately

2009-03-17T03:38:00.003-04:00

I know, I know, I haven't posted here or on Fitness Reviews in awhile. This has been due to two things over the last few weeks. First of all, I got sick. I don't know what exactly I had, but it didn't want to go away. I slept a lot over the few days when things were really bad. By the weekend, I decided to try DDR, but couldn't breathe (it felt like a lung was full of phelgm or something). So I avoided exercising for awhile. Today I finally went for a walk, and other than having to breathe through my mouth because my nose was runny, I was fine. I was also really lucky - my glucose levels remained fine throughout everything!

The other reason is due to school. Yes, it is crunch time once again! I have one book left on my reading list, two essays coming due in the next few weeks, and two exams. Thankfully my final exam is on April 8th, so I just have to get through about 3 weeks and I am free once again! (And I am going to celebrate by going to Toronto!!!!)

I've also had some good news: I was accepted into one of the MA programs I have applied to!!!!! I'm extremely excited - I will be working towards something next year that will actually get me somewhere!!!!! I'm still waiting to hear back from a few places, so it will be a bit before I know where I am off to next year.

Weight and Inches

2009-02-25T14:11:00.002-05:00

Well, I weighed myself a few days ago, and also measured the inches on my waist and hips. The weight is a bit higher because it was during my period. But I was excited that my waist and hips are slightly smaller than they were back in August. So even though I haven't been as active as I was a year or two ago, I seem to be doing okay. Hopefully things will continue this way in the months to come! I've been doing yoga every few days, and I'm going to start adding some cardio back into my days (dancing dvd's, here I come!)

Crunch Super Slim Down

2009-02-18T16:32:00.003-05:00

I like having pictures on a blog, so this is sort of an excuse to spice things up on here. I just finished my second time through the Crunch Super Slim Down: Pilates Yoga Blend. Suffice it to say, I really enjoyed it!

For my full review, check out my other blog here.

New Blog!

2009-02-13T10:49:00.003-05:00

In an effort to go through all of the fitness dvd's that I own, I have started a new blog. In theory, every week I will be choosing a new dvd out of the approximately 40 that I own. I'm going to try out the dvd during that week, and then at the end of the week I'll write a review of it. I'll be giving more information on each dvd than I do on this site. I thought that this would be a good way to actually try all of the dvd's that I own - I own over 40 of them, and a good chunk of them have never been opened! You can find the new blog here.

First Skiing Success!!!!!

2009-02-09T01:53:00.003-05:00

Earlier today, I went skiing. And my skiing adventure was a success! At supper, I did only 1/4 of the insulin that I needed. And then I had only 1/4 of my basal working the entire time. My glucose was 12.4 mmol/L when I started out, which was good. (I didn't feel altogether terrible, the way I do when I start off really high).

We went the normal, lighted way to the Northern Lights trail. Stopping to do glucose, I was about 9 mmol/L. I got around the entire trail, and was about 5 mmol/L by the end of it. I had a few glucose tablets, then Jackrabbitted back. Through the whole adventure, I did not go low (although I needed the help of a few glucose tablets to get through).

I'm so excited - it looks like I may have found the insulin dosages tha work for me while skiing!!!!

Another Skiing Adventure

2009-02-01T19:36:00.002-05:00

Friday night I once again went skiing. This time, I decided to do half of the insulin required with supper, and 1/4 of my basal while skiing (although my calculations turned out to be more along the lines of 1/3). But things were sort of against me from the beginning: I started out low before supper.

I got to about the same spot as last week when I did glucose; once again I was low. I ended up stopping to eat something while my mom went on ahead. She met up with me again, then we took the Jackrabbit back to the chalet. I was doing fine when we got back and I did glucose once again.

I guess the next step I'm going to have to try 1/4 of the insulin with supper. I'm not entirely sure how much basal to try. I just hope I'm getting closer to figuring all of this out!!!!

Skiing Again

2009-01-19T00:03:00.003-05:00

On Friday night, I once again went skiing. I decided to stick with traditional Cross Country skis, as I'm comfortable with them. This time, I decided to do full insulin with supper, and then run a basal of 0 units while skiing.

To start out, we went down one of the unlit trails at Kamview to get to the Sundial. (The unlit trails are a lot of fun, plus it's a faster and easier way to get up to the Sundial). When we got to the bottom of the large hill after the Sundial (I believe it is on what is called the Sundown Trail), I decided to do glucose. And I was about 3.9 mmol/L at the time. So we had to head back to the Chalet. (We took the Jackrabbit back, which is another unlit trail. It's the fastest way back to the Chalet from where we were).

Even though I didn't get to ski as long as I wanted to, this was a valuable learning experience. I found out that I need to do some insulin with supper (which prevents me from ending my skiing escapades around 18 mmol/L), but I can't do the full amount with supper or I end up too low. So next week I'm planning to do half insulin with supper, to see where that gets me.

Out of Commission for a Few

2009-01-15T20:18:00.005-05:00

Well, I feel kind of dumb.

Yesterday, I was doing some more of the Caribbean Workout Stretch Into Yoga dvd, trying out the other two segments. I got through the first segment, Basic Yoga, without incident (well, except my cat was under me when I was trying to do Downward Dog). But when I was working on the other segment, the Strength one, I injured my back a bit.

Shelley McDonald was going rather quickly through some sun salutations, and in an effort to catch up to her, I think I didn't do something properly. The next thing I know, something just felt a bit wrong in my back. I immediately stopped what I was doing (and ended up stopping the rest of the segment). Whatever had happened, things felt a bit off, rather than completely sore.

A little while later, things still didn't feel right. But luckily by that time I was able to figure out what must have happened. I think I tore one of the muscles on my low back (the left side). So I'm going to take it easy today again, and hopefully be okay to go skiing tomorrow night (if it isn't too cold out!)

Caribbean Workout: Stretch Into Yoga

2009-01-13T20:01:00.004-05:00

Last night, I finally did something about the fact that I haven't done yoga in a long time: I did a yoga dvd. I also haven't tried any new dvds since June, so I decided to try one of the Caribbean Workout dvds that my mom bought for $4 each several months ago.

I only did one yoga segment on Stretch Into Yoga: Flex Yoga. I haven't done anything resembling yoga or pilates in about 6 months, so I didn't want to overdo it.

The Flex Yoga segment was a bit of a challenge for someone who hasn't done any yoga for several months. Every time you turn around, you're back into Downward Dog. I have trouble with this pose when I am actively practicing yoga (my heels do not touch the ground), so this was a bit tough to have to keep coming back to it. But other than that, I found Shelly McDonald to be a wonderful instructor. The only problem I had with this segment was that sometimes the camera guy doesn't properly train the camera on Shelly, so you can't see exactly what she is doing. But overall, I thought this was a great 20 minute workout, and I can't wait to try out the other segments on the disc.

The Skiing Saga Continues!

2009-01-11T18:18:00.001-05:00

So this past Friday night I went skiing again. But this time I decided to use my traditional skis. I wanted to know what was going on when I ski traditionally (which is how I usually ski), and to see if there is a difference between traditional and skating. The answer appears to be a resounding NO.

Armed with Sebastien Sasseville's tips, I kept my glucometer in an inside pocket of my jacket. I also decided to run a sensor, so I would have a rough idea of what was happening through the whole skiing trip. I also decided, under consultation with my diabetes nurse, to run half of my basal during the ski trip. So I did no insulin to cover dinner, but always had some insulin working in my system. I started the whole affair at about 15ish mmol/L before we left my house.

I checked my glucose with my glucometer when we were finishing up the Northern Lights trail. My glucometer said I was about 8.5 mmol/L. My sensor said I was about 18.5 mmol/L. Deciding to err on the side of caution, I had a few glucose tablets and continued on my way (we were heading back to the chalet anyway). Back at the chalet, after my glucometer had a chance to warm up, I checked my glucose, which now agreed with my sensor: 18ish mmol/L.

So now I am thouroughly confused. What is going on?

I should not be hanging out around 18 mmol/L during a skiing trip. Especially with some insulin working the entire time. So I am going to speak to my diabetes nurse again this week, before attempting skiing next Friday night again. Maybe we can figure out some new strategy to try.

The Skiing Strategy

2009-01-08T14:22:00.002-05:00

I went to see my Diabetes Educator today. I told her about my experience skate skiing last week. She suggested that I try everything again, but this time I should run my basal at half strength instead of cutting it out completely. I will also be running a sensor so I will have back up for my glucometer. The only difference is that tomorrow night I am not planning on skate skiing, but will be skiing traditionally. I'm going to put my sensor in tonight so I will have time to change it tomorrow if it goes bad.

Glucometers in the Cold

2009-01-05T13:24:00.003-05:00

Last night I emailed Sebastien Sasseville, the first Canadian with Type 1 to summit Mount Everest, for some tips on keeping a glucometer warm when you are outside in the cold. Sabastien had to deal with the brutal temperatures on Mount Everest, so I thought he would have some tips on what worked for him during his adventures. Please keep in mind that if you use these tips, Sebastien is not a doctor, medical professional, or glucometer engineer. These tips are all based off of his personal experience, so they may not work for everyone. You should always consult with your health care professional for all of your diabetes management needs.

Sebastien writes: "First important thing is to keep your meter warm. Your outter pocket is pretty much at outside temperature so yes, your monitor must be inside your jacket. Even that is not always enough. I recommend to keep in a pocket (travel bag type), right next to your skin, under your first layer. Some straps pocket are designed especially for this. Keep your strips warm too, that is just as important if not more. (still keep them in the vial).

Then you also have to test with warm blood. If your fingers are frozen and if you have to sqeeze them to get blood out, you are likely to get a false result as well.

Most times when your supplies are too cold you'll get false lows. What you have observed is very frequent.

hope this helps!"

Again, please keep in mind that if you use these tips, Sebastien is not a doctor, medical professional, or glucometer engineer. These tips are all based off of his personal experience, so they may not work for everyone. You should always consult with your health care professional for all of your diabetes management needs.

Skate Skiing

2009-01-05T02:09:00.003-05:00

On Friday the 2nd of January, I went skate skiing again. This was my second time out, the first time having been that disasterous incident last year.

This time, I wasn't taking any chances. I did no insulin with supper, backed off my insulin while skiing, and had lots of stuff with me to get me around the trail. My glucometer was wrapped up in my pocket, and my pump was in an inside pocket to keep it warm. I was ready.

I started the whole affair somewhere around 18.5 mmol/L (it was this when I left my house, so I'm assuming it was a bit higher when I actually started skiing). Like last time, I made it to the beginning of the Northern Lights trail before I decided to do glucose. (I was also starting to feel weird at the time). I was about 8.5 mmol/L.

This threw me for a loop. To come down about 10 mmol/L so fast with no insulin seemed insane. But I trusted my glucometer, and had some stuff to eat to get me back to the chalet.

The next while got a bit difficult. I made it a little way back before I felt low. I stopped again to do glucose, but at this time my glucometer was too cold. So all I could do was eat some more, and do my best to get back to the chalet (to make things worse, we were under a very strict time limit before the chalet closed; we had rental skis that had to be back before 9pm). So the food and the added stress of having to make it back had me feeling quite unwell in a matter of minutes.

We got back to the chalet and I was feeling terrible. I got my shoes back on (sitting down for a minute helped me feel a bit better) then headed for the car where my regular pop was waiting for me. I drank half a can on the way home.

Of course, the biggest surprise was waiting for me when my glucometer warmed up. My glucose level was extremely high (I'm talking high twenties). So this left me wondering what exactly happened during this whole escapade?

I'm not 100% positive, but I think I did not go low at all. If I did go low, then it does not make sense that I went so high afterwards. In my experience, I've gone up to the mid to high teens after treating a low, but never over twenty. For this to have happened means that my glucometer was unaccurate when I tested during the ski.

I am going to be looking into this matter more in the coming week, first with research and speaking with my diabetes educators, and then hopefully this coming Friday I will be attempting to ski while running a sensor to see what is going on.

DDR Universe

2009-01-02T16:51:00.005-05:00

I bought this a few days ago and finally had some time to try it out today. I was a bit leery of buying it, as I looked up the songs online awhile ago and didn't recognize anything. Luckily, after having played it, I'm very glad that I bought it!

I played for around an hour and a half, but I wasn't really playing very intensely so I only took about 5500 steps (compared to the usual 7000 + I was racking up before Christmas). Some of the songs were a lot of fun to play. The only thing I didn't like was that there's a bit too much rap in my opinion. Oh, and the Challenges are identical to Universe 2, so they're going to be incredibly tough to beat (I still haven't beaten them on Universe 2).

Happy Holidays!

2009-01-01T17:57:00.002-05:00

I know I missed Christmas, but I thought I would wish everyone Happy Holidays anyway! It's a new year, bringing a new slate, and a chance to re-evaluate goals (once the partying is over of course!) 2008 was a bit of a rough year for me, so hopefully 2009 will be a bit kinder! As always, my goal is to get in shape, but I am not going to put a specific date on that right now. I want to be in shape for the sumer (who doesn't) but I also need to maintain my mental health (I do not want a repeat of the summer!) So right now I am going to try focussing on rebuilding an exercise habit (and hopefully on getting my sleep schedule to a semi-normal one).

Rediscovered DDR

2008-12-14T23:38:00.002-05:00

I don't know how many times this happens: I play DDR, remember how much I love it, then stop playing for weeks/months only to start again and remember how much I love it! So for the last few days (I think 3 of the last 4) I've played somewhere between an hour and a half and two hours of DDR a day! (In the range of 7000-9000 steps). The difference this time is achievements.

Yes, I've been on a bit of an achievement kick. I have only about four songs left to unlock on DDR Universe 2. So I've been playing lots and lots of quest mode. I think that when I'm finished getting my achievements, I might go back to DDR Ultramix 3, as I haven't played it in a long while. But for now it's been Universe 2. I'm starting to like a lot of the songs (when I first played it, I only liked a couple).

Hopefully I can keep this up for awhile, getting back into an exercise habit!

What Motivates You?

2008-10-15T18:34:00.003-04:00

How do you motivate yourself? This is a question I have struggled with many times over the last few years. When I am not motivated, exercise and healthy eating often fall to the wayside. But even when I have motivation, often it is not the most lasting. Why is that? Well, even though I may say I want to lose weight and get in shape to be healthier, often I am more concerned with looking good. This is great short term motivation (as in I want to look good for a current boyfriend/to impress someone, etc), but it doesn't have any lasting power.

So I think that the most important thing for me in the coming week or two is to get motivated. But whatever motivation I find, it needs to be healthy and have lasting power to motivate me.

In the meantime, what motivates you to stay active and healthy?

Looking Good

2008-10-02T23:42:00.002-04:00

Well, I was working today and someone said to me that I look good - she was wondering what my secret is because it looks like I've lost weight! I know this isn't true, I haven't lost any weight lately, but I think I look good because I feel so much better than I did this summer! Exercising is feeling better, and I have been a bit more conscious of what I eat (although I have eaten a few too many cookies lately!) But that was a really encouraging comment, and I wanted to share! :)

End of the Sensor

2008-09-29T00:07:00.003-04:00

Well, the sensor ended last night. I am just uploading all the data right now onto my computer. The sensor stayed in for the full three days without problem. I also didn't play DDR during the full three days as I find I move around and sweat a bit too much, which generally causes problems with the tape over top of the sensor. So today, after getting up, I played DDR for a good hour to make up for it! :)

I ran the sensor for help with my levels, and it turned out that everything seemed to be overall rather good for the three days with only minimal highs and lows. I'll probably leave wait a few days then run another one, just to see.

Sensor Success!!!!!

2008-09-25T00:24:00.003-04:00

I'm really happy - the sensor's working!!!!! I successfully put it in, and everything's going fine! So in three days I'll get some great info to help out with my levels!!!!! :)

1st Sensor is in!

2008-09-24T18:29:00.003-04:00

So my box of sensors came in today and I already have one of them on! I'm hoping everything works out with this one, but I won't know for another hour and a half when I have to put the first blood sugar in to calibrate it. Wish me luck! (I hate it when they don't work!)

Time for Another Sensor!

2008-09-23T02:54:00.003-04:00

I've been having a ton of trouble lately, so I've decided to get a bit of help from some sensors. I've had a couple of days where I've been high for no reason and I want to get to the bottom of it! So I ordered a box of four, and they should be in either tomorrow or Wednesday!

DDR Universe 2

2008-09-15T01:17:00.004-04:00

Today I played DDR for the first time in months! Instead of DDR Ultramix 3, I decided to play some Universe 2 on my 360 (it was mostly in an effort for the gamerpoints!) It felt great to be moving around again. And the best part was that it was MY choice! No one was pushing me to move around or anything!

I ended up playing for about an hour. I wasn't playing on the harder settings I usually play, but I was still having a lot of fun! I burned over 200 calories and took over 4000 steps, so that's pretty good for an hour's workout!

I honestly don't like DDR Universe 2 as much as Ultramix 3. Ultramix has a better selection of songs, plus the arrows are bigger and the background isn't as distracting. Universe 2 has a couple of really good songs ("Jungle Boogie," "Safety Dance," "Take Me Out" and "I Like the Way You Move" among others) but it doesn't have nearly as many (and fewer good ones!) But it's great to dance to some different songs every now and then!

Am I Able to Exercise on my Site?

2008-09-09T00:54:00.004-04:00

I want to apologize. I had a comment on the post "Pilates! Class 1" several months ago and I just found it now. I answered it, but I thought that it would make for a good post as well.

Yes, I am able to do pilates moves while leaning on my site (this is also true of the odd yoga moves that I have done while leaning on my site). I generally have my site somewhere on my abdomen: either below my breast, or else on my side. I switch from the right side to the left side every few days when I change it. I have not tried putting the site on my hip or my arm or anywhere else yet, so I'm not sure how exercising would be if I did. But overall, I have had no problems exercising. I find I can lean on the site and it generally doesn't hurt, which is good because I generally sleep on my side as well (and if it does, then something is wrong with it!)

To date, there are only two problems I can think of that I've had while exercising with the pump. The first has been with the sensors. I find that if I'm exercising, the tape that I use to secure the sensor starts to lose its adhesiveness, and eventually the sensor will fall off. The second has been with the actual pump itself. If you are switching from an exercise on your left side to an exercise on your right, sometimes the pump unit gets in the way. (This is also true while sleeping some nights!) Depending on how long the tube is, this can be even more annoying. But that's really all this one is: an annoyance.

So I hope that helps. I think of the pump as a part of myself - it is always attached to me, so it should not get in the way of anything that I want to do in life!

How it's been going...

2008-09-08T02:28:00.002-04:00

Yes, I know, it's been quite awhile since I've last posted on here. I had a bit of a tough summer - I was feeling really down throughout July, and it started to lift during August, but took quite awhile. I really didn't feel like moving around at all. And nothing felt good except reading. So reading was what I did. I think I managed to read about 15 books since July. But now school is here, and I can honestly say I am feeling better. In fact, I have started feeling like I need to move around a bit more (maybe dance or whatever) so that in itself is a huge improvement!

I am not going to puch anything; no goals or anything for right now. I am just going to dance a bit for fun, and hopefully in a week or so I will attempt to commit to something more regular. No promises or anything, but wish me luck! :)

Measurements

2008-08-08T00:57:00.002-04:00

I did my measurements yesterday, then weighed myself this morning. I have gained an inch around my waist, a few around my hips, and have gained a few pounds. It's really no wonder that I have felt bloated and unattractive, having gained in the last while. Hopefully this will be extra motivation to be active!

Self Workout Buddy

2008-08-07T01:17:00.001-04:00

I have decided to look for a workout buddy using the Self forum. I don't know how well this will work as I do not know how many people from my town look on the Self forums. But I figure I will give it a shot! Now I just have to remember to check back in a day or two...

More DVD's

2008-08-07T00:57:00.004-04:00

Well, I bought a few more dvd's today and I am thinking about going back for a few more....but I think the more important thing is that I make a renewed commitment to getting back into shape. I feel awful, and I know I have gained an inch or two here and there. So I need to do something and I need to do it now. So for the next week and a half, I am going to make one small commitment with myself: 10 minutes of exercise everyday. If I do more, then great. Otherwise, just 10 minutes! I have tons of dvds with 10 minute segments so I just have to choose one!

The Writing Life

2008-07-27T13:36:00.004-04:00

I found this book at the library the other day and I decided to take it out, thinking it was a book designed to help you with writing. It turns out, the book's premise really is that you can use writing to help you lose weight. I'm not sure that I buy into it, but I do like the idea of the "morning pages" (aka freewriting). The book recommends that you write three pages in the morning based on your thoughts, no matter how stupid or whatever. It says that these pages can actually help you cut through the crap and change your life based on what you really want, deep down. So of course I thought that was a great idea, as lately I have felt terrible inside. I feel like something is missing, like I'm not doing something I should be. So I thought, why don't I freewrite a bit every day? Even if it isn't in the morning....

So I am going to try that, for a little while, to see how it goes. If I like what is happening in my life, then maybe I can try some of the other tips, too.

Slightly Late Weekly Update

2008-07-15T14:39:00.002-04:00

I know, I was supposed to post yesterday but I forgot to weigh myself. So I decided to wait until today. Well, since starting the GI diet a week ago (even if I haven't stuck to it perfectly) I have lost 2lbs!

Well, the GI Diet, in general has seemed rather boring. I find myself looking for something to eat around 10 or 11pm (I don't usually get up until 1pm or later, and I'm up late, so to balance things out I have to eat a larger snack at that time). I'm not entirely sure what I can do about this (especially since I do not want to eat ALL the fruit out of my house, even though I can!)

Exercise has been strange lately...I played some DDR last week, went on a few long walks, and did some biking....but lately I just haven't felt like biking. I don't know why, but it hasn't really done anything to make me feel happy. The more I think about it, I haven't wanted to bike since my bro said we would go and trail ride back in June....then turned around at the last minute saying he didn't want to. (I was so mad that night - he wanted to go for a hike instead, but by the time we waited for his girlfriend and left, it was too late so we couldn't really go on the trail).

Weekly Update

2008-07-08T01:01:00.002-04:00

Well, I've been sort of slacking on my weekly updates lately....I've been slacking on exercising and eating healthy as well. Especially the eating healthy part. Exercising hasn't been too bad; I haven't really done any dvds, but then again I haven't wanted to. It's summer, and I want to be outside.

I think my biggest problem with exercising is that I am afraid to. Back in February, I attempted a few more intense activities (snowboarding and skate skiing) and had a lot of problems with my glucose level. Well, the problem has continued somewhat....back about a month ago now, I went biking and ended up having to drink two full cans of regular pop to get me through the ride. These haven't stopped me from going out, but I have been more hesitant to go.

But as well, I haven't been feeling that great lately. Part of it is that I haven't been as active as I have been in the past (ever since about February I haven't been very active at all because school got in the way) and I know that exercise does make you feel better. But I have been rather discontent with my life in general lately. That started back around December, but disappeared when I was busy with school. Lately, these feelings have resurfaced.

I feel as though there is something I should be doing that I am not. But I'm really not sure what it is. I was talking to a friend about it, and he thinks that I may be feeling like this because I don't really have a whole lot to do right now. (Of course, that makes me think I really should be exercising as I don't appear to be doing anything else....but where the heck is all my time going?)

As to the food delimma, my family and I are going to be eating the GI way as of tomorrow supper (I have some leftovers from supper today that I will be eating for lunch first. They're not terribly healthy). The GI diet worked before for us....we were using it not as a diet, but as a lifestyle change. But then Christmas happened, and we never got back to it. That was two Decembers ago. I am hoping that this time it will stick!

So for the next week, I am hoping to get a bit more active than I have been lately. Today I mowed the lawn, then walked for about an hour and a half, so I think that's a good start. Wish me luck!

Dance Off the Inches: Fat Burning Belly Dance

2008-06-27T15:04:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago I was wandering around Walmart and I found this dvd. A few friends and I were talking about trying a belly dancing class, so I decided to pick this dvd up and give it a try. I've been rather busy lately and haven't really done any exercise dvd's of late for one reason or another, but today I finally decided to try this one. I got through the warm-up, but then I decided I needed to do the step-guide because I was having trouble with the first dance. Wow! By the end of the step guide, I was really sweating! I ended up having to stop because my glucose level was getting a bit too low for my liking.

I'm really looking forward to trying the actual dances (hopefully with my friends!) I really liked the instructor, Kili Marti; she really knew her stuff. She broke down the steps so that I was able to follow her really easily (although I had a bit of problems when I brought my arms into the mix!). I had a fun half-hour, and I'm looking forward to using this dvd again!

I'm Back!

2008-06-25T22:55:00.002-04:00

I'm back from my trip! I had a ton of fun!!! I also spent a LOT of money!!!!

Overall, I was also rather active. All the hotels I stayed at were right by the malls I went to, so I did a lot of walking. Then, for the last night, we stayed in Canal Park, so I did even MORE walking! (And I took lots of pictures!) I even ate not too badly (but I did drink way too much!) I had some really great salads, and even tried pickerel (walleye) tacos!!!!

So now I'm back home, and it's time to eat more normally! (But I'll have to try making some of those salads myself!!!)

Minneapolis!

2008-06-21T01:01:00.003-04:00

Well, early tomorrow morning I am off to Minneapolis for a few days. I should be back sometime on Tuesday. This of course means I will be missing my update for the week, which in my opinion is alright. This week has been horrible! I ate out all week! I tried to do okay, but I guess I didn't try hard enough...plus, things won't be any better if I will be out of town all weekend....

But (and I may have mentioned this in my last post), when I get home I will be going back to eating the GI way. Hopefully that will help get me back on track! Then I'll just have to work on exercising a bit....

Week 8 Update

2008-06-17T01:31:00.004-04:00

Okay, this past week I didn't really do anything. I played a bit of DDR, and walked to work one day, but the weather has been so crummy that I haven't felt like doing anything. I have also eaten atrociously....as I have once again been celebrating.

It was my birthday on Friday, so I had a sushi making party. The sushi was fine...but there was A LOT of candy for candy sushi.....

Then Sunday was Father's Day (Happy Belated Father's Day to all the fathers out there!) So we had a bbq, and ate sausage....and drank....then ate chips while playing rumoli....

So last week was bad. And this coming weekend won't be much better - I'm travelling to Minneapolis, and will probably eat atrociously again. Plus I'm going out like every night this week...

But I did have some good news this week: my brother was doing a sun awareness clinic care of the Superstore's Pharmacy. There, they took a picture of your face, then were able to show how much sun damage you have. It turns out I have very little on my face! (Just a bit on my nose, which is apparently very common).

But when I get home from my trip, I am planning on eating the GI way once again. So hopefully that will help me discipline myself a bit better! I just have to work on getting back into exercising, so that's the goal for this week!

No More Excuses!

2008-06-10T02:18:00.002-04:00

I got a great suggestion from a newsletter I subscribe to (the Buzz from Bikini Bootcamp): "Monday Mantra: No More Excuses
Let's face it — adopting a healthy lifestyle can be challenging at times (like when the person in the cube next to you is scarfing down French fries), and making excuses as to why you should eat that last slice of sausage pizza is easy to do: "it's the last slice and I didn't want it to go to waste," or "I was in a rush, and besides, it was a small slice."
You catch our drift.
However, excuses can sabotage your progress. Instead of making up another excuse for that candy bar, grab your journal and write down all of the excuses you make in order to eat something you shouldn't. Keep your journal handy because you'll likely come up with new ones over the course of your plan. After you've written down your excuses, alongside each one, list a way to combat the excuse. For instance, if your excuse for your morning McDonald's run is that you don't have time to prepare a healthy breakfast, then next to that excuse, write, "Get up 30 minutes earlier" or "Prepare a bowl of fruit the night before."
Sure, you might still make excuses every now and then, but when you look back at your journal, you'll see how easily you can overcome those excuses and come up with solutions that will get you back on track to a healthier you!"
(for the Bikini Bootcamp website, go to http://www.amansala.com/index.html)

So I was thinking that instead of using a journal, I could write them down in this blog. I might use it as a weekly feature, sort of like my Monday Weekly Updates - I'll decide that later. But stay tuned!

Week 7 Update

2008-06-09T15:50:00.002-04:00

Well, the good news is that I have been pretty active this last week. On Monday was the last pilates class. Tuesday was gardening, then a big long bike ride to RONS Virtual World and back - easily an hour and a half to two hour bike ride. (That one caused some problems with my glucose level - I wasn't expecting to go bike riding, so I did too much insulin at suppertime. I ended up having to drink two full cans of regular pop, and stop for something to eat along the way. But I made it!) Wednesday was 15 minutes of yoga. I didn't really do anything Thursday or Friday, but then on Saturday I biked to Chapters and back (about an hour bike ride). Then yesterday I walked around Kakabeka Falls a bit. So I wasn't active every day, but I did get a little something in most days.

The bad news is that I'm still not quite eating properly. I did a lot better (I had a movie night and ate mainly cherries and snap peas) but still not great (Boston Pizza yesterday - I got a medium pizza and have been living off of pizza ever since). I think my main problem is portions (like at Boston Pizza I ate far too much pizza, even though I had over half of it wrapped up to come home).

But still, it's a start. My weight has dropped by a pound, so that's a good thing. So now, for this coming week, I think my main goal is to be at least a bit active every day. I'll deal with eating habits once I'm more active. (But of course I'll still try to be more healthy - luckily I love my cherries!)

Bike Ride = Happy

2008-06-08T00:29:00.003-04:00

This evening started out kind of sad....everyone was busy, and my friend that I normally hang out with is out of town forever....I think it was really depressing because today was the first day that I really felt it (a kind of do-nothing night that is perfect for video games). So I was extremely proud of myself that I managed to kind of shake off my depression and go for a bike ride! I think I biked for a total of about 1 hour, with a stop at Chapters just for somewhere to go to. By the time I was biking home, I felt a lot happier. I even stopped at the store to buy some more yogurt-covered raisins (I randomly decided to start buying them last week and I'm glad I did! They're yummy, and definitely better for you than some other snack foods! Nutritional information can be found at: http://www.calorieking.com/foods/calories-in-candy-yogurt-coated-raisins-vanilla-sun-maid_f-Y2lkPTMwMTQ2JmJpZD0xJmZpZD02ODE0MyZwYXI9.html)

Gardening!

2008-06-03T16:56:00.002-04:00

Ok, I have a little garden in the back yard. We have a two-tiered garden, and I get the bottom tier, and my father gets the top. He promised to clean his garden up a bit this year (he's been growing wildflowers, but they've really gotten out of control!) and I am hoping to have a bit more time to care for my garden.

So I was thinking that I can post pictures of the garden as I go. Today I spent 40 minutes cleaning my tier up - I have decided to start pretty much from scratch, only leaving my button flowers (I think that's what they're called) and my tiger lilies. I'm going to take pictures of the garden so I'll know what I planted for next year (I'm pretty sure I got rid of some pansies in my weeding frenzy, but I wasn't sure if they were pansies or daisies. I wanted to get rid of the daisies because they grow too tall for my garden). I'll post pictures here of what it looks like!

On a side note, as I said, I gardened for 40 minutes. My blood sugar was about 5.4 before I ate lunch, then I went outside and started weeding. Well, I finished and came in and I was 3.9! So I am reasonably sure this was exercise of some sort! Next time I'll have to do less insulin before going out!

Pilates is FINISHED!!!!!

2008-06-03T02:44:00.003-04:00

Yes, Pilates is finally over!!!!!!!!! I am incredibly happy! It has been a major struggle to go these last few weeks - the weather is improving, and I am sick of the instructor! Thankfully, I don't have to worry anymore because I'm done!!!!!!

I have 3 major complaints with the instructor:

1. She didn't really show us any of the moves until the last couple of weeks. That doesn't really help the beginners of the class (aka us) who have no idea what we're doing.

2. It was often hard to understand what the heck she was talking about. This wasn't helped by the fact that she rarely demonstrated the moves for us.

3. She was lazy. There were at least 3 times when the hall the class was in was dirty and had chairs and tables in the way. She only helped clean up the first time. After that, it was the class' warmup. The second time she swept a bit after the cleaning was done, and only because people were complaining. The final time (today) she actually referred to it as our warmup, then disappeared until everything was taken care of! WTF? We were paying her to make sure the hall was ready for the class! Shouldn't she have gotten there 5 minutes before we did to make sure the hall was ready for pilates?

Needless to say, I will definietely not be taking another class with her again!

So to celebrate, the four of us had a drink on our deck. I know, not great for my attempt to buckle down with my eating habits. But at least we actually went to the class before busting out the booze!!!!

Week 6 Update

2008-06-03T02:06:00.005-04:00

Ok, I am getting extremely mad at Blogger - I have just lost two drafts of this post in the last 5 minutes! Grrrr!!!!!!!!!

So anyway, I am at about the half way point, and I will definitely be abandoning my arbitrary date of June 30th. I weighed myself this morning and I am up to 192lbs thanks to my month of celebrating. I started off celebrating my thesis being finished, and ended May celebrating my graduation! So I REALLY need to buckle down and stop celebrating! (On a side note, even my Hemoglobin A1C rose a fair bit thanks to my month of celebrations).

This past week wasn't a total loss though - I was a bit more active than I have been of late. My knee is also feeling a bit better, so that has helped. Monday was pilates, then on both Tuesday and Thursday, I was called into work so I biked (it was a library that is rather close to my house.). Wednesday was a 45ish minute walk, and Saturday was some DDR. Sure, the bike rides weren't terribly far, but they were at least something! So I need to continue with this trend and work out a bit more (I'm hoping to do at least a little something everyday - but it's been tough as I have days where I just feel exhausted); it appears to be just my eating habits that need major revising!

So as to my exercise goal, I am abandoning June 30th as the date. I am just going to have to work on things until I eventually get down to a more healthy weight (I am still thinking 160-165 lbs, even though the Self happy weight calculator says I should go down to about 152-153lbs); I am hoping that by the end of summer I will be at a better weight. Then I will just have to worry about maintaining my healthy weight come the new school year; hopefully by next summer I'll be able to buy myself a sexy new swim suit (like a bikini for the first time ever!!!)

For the Self Healthy Weight Calculator, go to http://www.self.com/fitness/nutrition/calculators/happyWeight