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Sometimes I could just scream and punch somebody!
Life is just a bowl of fat
DPN and High Heeled boots
Dawn Phen Experiment: Day 2
Day one: Dawn Phenonomen
Decent day
If they say no pain no gain then....
Blah blog day
And I almost tossed it
Baloney is the word of the day
good day....so far
Church Picnic
Workin it
Triglycerides/HDL Ratio Trend to date....
90 days since DX
Fasting Blood Glucose was a worry of mine given my recent trends, especially since the last time I “calibrated” against the lab, it was 83 (home) vs 88 (lab). But this time, it was 87 at the lab and 96 at home. <shrug> I have a lot of silly graphs here.
A1C is at 6.0 - certainly an improvement vs. the 13.2 at DX 3 months ago, but I’d like to go a lot lower and more importantly, figure out what’s sustainable.
Some thoughts on this ~90th day after DX: FBG still okay relative to that 198 DX FBG value, which was insane and panic'd me quite a bit, along with the 13.2 A1C, but need to keep an eye on this upwards trend and upwards trends in general - Honeymoon Period, "The Easy Part", or similar effects, T1/T1.5/LADA actual DX, increasing my carb intake far too fast, too soon, and some of the other things which correlated with the start of at least one trend - being sick, that crazy fitbit challenge I did for 2 weeks, backed off on the hard boiled eggs (no good reason, I still LOVE them), stopped kale consumption, greatly reduced veggie consumption, HUGE increase in cashew consumption, no more "super" low carb days.
The idea of fasting (intermittent, or whatever the terminology, where things are not drastic, yet still quite deliberate) - intrigues me more and more despite being the opposite of what some have written. I think fasting also fits my personality quite well. Will have to add that to the toolbox.
Speaking of The Toolbox, haven't had to use the monster muscle groups yet and related routines (proper squats, deadlifts; compound movements, and so on). As needed. Later.
Do want to think more about portion control. I feel like a pig sometimes and it just doesn't seem okay anymore. Believe this is a reasonable, sustainable change and I've noticed I actually take home doggie bags far more often. That never happened in the past.
Keeping an eye on what I call my "core, functional strength" via an oversimplified proxy like my number of continuous pushups, pullups, and body squats. Nice because they are relative to body weight vs. absolute strength, and pretty mellow. Though note to self - 2 out of 3 of those thresholds should be One Hundred. At least. =)
Totally forgot to keep track of something potentially more meaningful than weight, like my waist size, which has gone down enough for me to buy new jeans and forced me to buy a new belt since I was beyond the last hole.
Still continuing to really ignore flexibility and stretching. Will have to work this in. Really bad things have happened before when this has been ignored.
As with so many things diabetes and non-diabetes - "coming to terms" with this being a progressive, dynamic situation. Just like growing old. NBD. =)
Update of my super-signature below: [earlier] had some mild but clear symptoms for a few months, did some exercise, symptoms went away; but was worried enough to see a doctor given what I had read online about diabetes; diet up until this point was LOADED with carbs (200+ grams of carbs per sitting quite common) and close to 100% restaurant, fast food, and all-you-can-eat catered food and snacks. DX'd with Metabolic Syndrome ages ago, but no symptoms, didn't pay attention or make changes. BAD MOVE. Last FBG on record was 83 on 2012.09.17. 2015.05.28 DX'd A1C at 13.2, FBG at 194 - The Wake Up Call !! 2015.06.08 [11 days after DX] FBG mostly in 80s, all below 100 2015.06.27 [~1 month after DX] A1C at 9.8 & FBG at 88 2015.08.28 [~3 months after DX] A1C at 6.0 & FBG at 87 Diet: low-to-moderate carbs; eat a ton; love my fats, especially given my love of hard boiled eggs, all kinds of cheeses, nuts and meat; though I get a lot of veggies in too; much more mindful of overeating and also try to only eat when hungry not strictly following any given LCHF, Paleo, Atkins, or Diet X, but learning from all of them and trying to figure out what works best for me over time Exercise: daily mild, but deliberate walking, or ~12,000 easy steps a day on average, very light strength training, occasional but well beyond recreational tennis; intimately familiar with HIIT and various exercise vs. training routines, but not going down that path for now Medication: currently not taking any medication for diabetes or non-diabetes, though realize this will probably change significantly over time Weight: as of 2015.08.28 roughly at 195 pounds, down from an all time high of ~245 around 8/2013 this is technically the lightest I've been in since at least March 7, 2005 (the earliest records I have) - as a 6' male, given my activity level, athletic exposure, and genetics, need to figure out a reasonable steady state given my muscle mass, sustainability, and age Speaking about sustainability, it's way too early for me to tell. Ongoing homework, understanding, measuring, corrections, experiments, etc., especially given the progressive nature of this disease. == 2015.05.28 A1C at 13.2 (DX) 2015.08.28 A1C at 6.0 (3 months after DX) No medication of any kind, so far.... http://www.diabetesforums.com/forum/blog/256-bishops-blog/ ( latest post should have most up to date details, routine, and thoughts )
i'm not entirely sure of whether i'm depressed or just burnt out...
Breakfast 8/4
No more Shaking Beef
Decided to break fast last night
A Wake Up and Fasting Day 4
First 30 days....
Considering the hardships so many others face each and every day which make my situation look like a walk in the park. Think about mom's cancer situation and how far she went with so little education, so little support, horrible doctors, and so on.
My love of numbers, measuring things, hitting targets. It's a large part of we as engineers do to solve problems. Fitbit, blood works, fitness metrics, various vitals, glucose meter and carb counting - all align very nicely with this.
The act of writing. Putting thoughts down on (virtual) paper, via forums, etc. - and the sense of community via WWW online forums.
What I worry about.... My family worrying about me. Stress on my family.
Complications. Eye problems, cancer, amputation, kidney failure, and the list goes on....
Fatigue and low energy due to diet changes.
Getting sick (or throwing out my back, etc.) for a long enough period where things can't be controlled as much via exercise. Perhaps diet will have to be enough. Or diet plus meds.
What seems to be working for me, or at least what resonates with me.... There has definitely been a huge reduction in carbs and also almost complete elimination of junk and processed foods. That said, I like the idea of not eating as many carbs if I know I cannot work out. Eating a bit more if I feel like it and I know I will work out afterwards. Exercise cannot always overcome diet, at least given what I'm not willing to do on the exercise front.
Not eating too close to bedtime. Letting my body enjoy the low BG as I sleep, even though I may encounter some DP situations. In the same vein, take a nap only after measuring a low BG level. This seems to have been demonstrated in my real-world data points.
Strength training is important in terms of the pump and for building muscle.
Don't let perfection become the enemy of the good enough. Can't always achieve a perfect schedule or pure sustainability. Life gets in the way. shoot happens. Need to adapt, use your creativity, intellect, and figure things out. Take what you can get, when you can get it (vs. only looking at 100% sustainable solutions) - this is especially true for exercise.
If I'm going to eat more carbs, try not to mix with fat. (Though I'm reading TOTALLY conflicting data/studies on this.)
Not eating if I'm not hungry (i.e. social situations, "time for lunch" routines, etc.).
Okay to do short fasts. Related to the bedtime rule, but so far, I haven't done anything beyond that. Adding this here as a contrast to my prior eat-every-2-hours brainwashing.
Proper management of sleep, stress, exercise, and diet seem like the way to go - the usual suspects!
[earlier] had some mild but clear symptoms for a few months, did some exercise, symptoms went away; but was worried enough to see a doctor given what I had read online about diabetes; diet up until this point was LOADED with carbs (200+ grams of carbs per sitting quite common) and close to 100% restaurant, fast food, and all-you-can-eat catered food and snacks. DX'd with Metabolic Syndrome ages ago, no symptoms, didn't pay attention, bad move. 2015.05.28 DX'd A1C at 13.2, FBG at 194 - The Wake Up Call !! 2015.06.08 [11 days after DX ] FBG mostly in 80s, all below 100; routine and details below; visual graph in my gallery 2015.06.27 [~1 month after DX] lab A1C at 9.8 & FBG at 88 ; lipid and metabolic panels 100% normal 2015.07.28 [~2 months after DX] lab A1C at x.x 2015.08.28 [~3 months after DX] lab A1C at x.x Diet: low-to-moderate carbs; eat a ton; love my fats, especially given my love of hard boiled eggs, all kinds of cheeses and meat; though I get a lot of veggies in too; much more mindful of overeating and also try to only eat when hungry Exercise: daily mild, but deliberate walking (~12,000 steps a day on average, very light strength training, occasional but well beyond recreational tennis)- intimately familiar with HIIT and various conditioning routines, but not going down that path for now; that said, I do need to spend WAY more time on stretch/flexibility routines - otherwise really bad things happen Medication: currently not taking any medication for diabetes or non-diabetes Weight: as of 2015.06.28 roughly at 200 pounds, down from an all time high of ~250 not that long ago this is technically the lightest I've been in since at least March 7, 2005 (the earliest records I have) - as a 6' male, given my activity level, athletic exposure, and genetics, need to figure out a reasonable goal given my muscle mass, standards, sustainability, and age Way too early to talk about sustainability, but so far, things have been encouraging, with minimal signs of craving, fatigue, cheating, etc. Though being so new, all of this requires much more homework, understanding, measuring, experiments, and so on. Also rough for me to be away from ridiculous amounts of rice, pasta, ramen noodles, and so on. I grew up with that stuff!