Diabetic
Mommy's
Type 2 Diabetes
Weight Loss Adventure!
July 2006 Journal Entries
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2006 Journal Entries
Wednesday July 26, 2006
Official weigh-in on Monday...sorry took so long to update here.
No big changes in scale or measurement. However, I'm seeing big
changes in my condition.
I usually don't like to swim underwater because I can't hold my
breath for very long. I have exercise-induced asthma and I just
never seemed to have the lung capacity. The other day I swam underwater
and when I took my breath to dive down, I immediately noticed my
lungs just felt BIGGER. I swam and held my breath for what seemed
like an eternity. It was so cool....like discovering a new super
power.
I also had a little foot drama this week. I caved in and bought
some really expensive running shoes. My old ones are cheap Wal-mart
finds. After using my new shoes, my feet were SOOO sore. I could
barely walk, let alone exercise for a couple days.
Luckily I took them back to the store and the sales guy was so
nice. He recommended a different kind, and they did the trick. No
more problems.
Another drama is the weather. HOT. The gym I use is having problems
so can't go there either. No more swim classes either. It cools
off (relatively anyway) in the evening, but by then we are having
lightning storms. I am afraid of that kind of weather. BUT, I've
been exercising in the evening anyway even though the treadmill
is against the sliding glass door and the lightning is RIGHT there.
But I've made exercise a priority, so I'm sticking with it and plugging
away. I did 3 miles today in my new shoes and still watching what
I eat.
If I get overheated or sluggish, I stop. But I've been doing okay
by pouring a little water on the top of my head once in a while
and swabbing myself with a wet towel periodically. Because of the
heat, sweat is pouring off of me so I keep drinking water too. We
only have a swamp cooler, but I've got my treadmill right under
a vent...so with the water, that's helping a lot.
If any of you are trying to exercise in the heat, be careful. It's
easier to get heat stroke than you think. If it's over 90 degrees
where you are exercising, it might be better to just rest. It's
been very hot here, but I'm used to the heat, know how to cool off
and understand the importance of hydration, and I know my limits.
Thursday July 20, 2006
Priorities and Patience
My personal trainer asked me recently, "What is it in you
that clicked to make you get so serious?"
So I've been thinking about this alot.
First of all, I think I just got sick and tired. I am sick and
tired of being fat, of taking so much diabetes medicine, being tired,
shopping in the plus size section, etc. I just decided it was time
for this to stop and the only person who could reverse this was
me. I knew it was going to be hard, but it is NOT impossible.
I knew I had lots of things going against me - diabetes, my ethnicity,
my sex, my age, my stage in life (pre-menopausal) - so if I was
going to REALLY do it and try for good results in a shorter time,
I was going to have to turn up the volume on my effort. I had a
good talk with myself about how important this was to me and whether
it was really a priority in my life or if I just gave it a bunch
of lip service and nonproductive wishful thinking. In short, if
I wasn't doing what needed to be done, then it wasn't a priority.
So I decided to make it a priority. Everything else was going to
have to take a back burner to this. Hubby will have to eat diet
food or make or get meals himself. He will have to feed our son
more. He will have to pitch in more or just accept that we are living
in a pig sty. Some of my to-do lists have gotten longer and dustier.
I haven't phoned or called friends or family as often. I often ignore
the phone ringing. I'm trying to exercise every day, plan, learn,
research, prepare and make healthy foods and hunt down recipies
or food ideas. Some days I just need a lot of naps!
I'm fully prepared for some husband and son temper tantrums as
they feel neglected, but this intensity is a temporary thing. This
will not be for the rest of my life. Yes I know I WILL have to continue
to exercise and take care of myself for the rest of my life...but
hopefully in the future I will be able to cut it down to just 3
days a week and I'll be over the eating healthy learning curve.
I think for the effort I've put in, I haven't seen the results
I expected. And, yes that is a bit discouraging.
But luckily I did some more reading, and learned I'm just going
to have to be patient and the results WILL come. There ARE changes
going on in my body that I can't see but they are paving the way
for results down the road.
I learned I can't just start a hard exercise program right off
the bat. You start with where you currently are and slowly increase
to allow your body to adjust.
Why? Well, your body literally may not be wired to handle hard
stressful exercise and there may not be a way for your body to access
your stores of fat yet.
If your body thinks your increased efforts are due to some strange,
out of the ordinary, circumstance, it may actually try to hold on
to the fat.
You will have to keep plugging away to convince your body that
this is something you are going to be doing regularly - and show
that you plan on slowly increasing the intensity or time or distance.
When your body realizes this is the case, then your body is going
to do some amazing things to help you out. Your lung capacity will
increase and you will even have an increase in your blood. Your
body will start growing new capillaries and pathways for oxygen
to reach fat stores and burn fat. In short, you will become a fat-burning
machine.
Your body will become more like a high-performance race car than
a lazy 4-cylinder economic vehicle. Or it will be more like a beautiful,
strong, and muscular race horse than a burro (although, don't get
me wrong, I love burros!). When you are exercising and you feel
your heart pumping and you are working up a sweat, you can feel
that little race car or race horse inside you just begging to get
out.
So, everything clicked when I made it a priority and I've maintained
my motivation knowing I will have to be patient and knowing that
my body is improving everyday and becoming something better, something
that will make it harder for diabetes to effect. And I know I will
be so proud to know I accomplished that - something seemingly impossible.
If I can do this, I can do anything.
Monday July 17, 2006
I'm down six pounds! WooHoo and more inches lost!
When I started this program, I was 201. Pretty quickly I lost 5.5
pounds, but then I shot right back up to 201 and stayed there a
while. I was SOOOO frustrated. It must have been muscle and increased
blood (I've just learned you gain more blood when you start to get
more fit!)
Since I am chosing to try to use brisk walking and jogging as my
mode of weight loss, I went ahead and bought a jogging book by Jeff
Galloway. It's called Galloway's
Book on Running.
It is a GREAT book. It explains what is happening inside the body
and how to get the most efficient fat loss going. It totally explained
why I wasn't losing weight....and kind of made me mad that some
of my jogging friends didn't tell me I was doing it wrong. They
are poopie heads.
In a nutshell, here's what I understand. In order to lose weight
with high-exertion exercise, your body HAS to be conditioned for
it first. You've got to work up to that point. And sometimes it
has to be done very slowly and it can take weeks or months for your
body to get there.
If you aren't ready and you knock yourself out, your heart rate
will go too high and you will be doing anaerobic exercise (meaning
exercise without enough oxygen present in your body to burn fat
and you HAVE to have enough oxygen to burn it). Your body will think
something is wrong and won't let go of fat.
Even athlete runners, if they haven't been performing intense exercise
for a month, they need to start again as a beginner and slowly work
their way back up. If you go too fast, you end up with too much
lactic acid in your system and this will make you tired, cranky,
depressed, unmotivated, and even can make you sick.
So, I'm cutting back my intense workout to once per week, a long
endurance walk once a week, a moderate walk/jog once a week, and
slow walking on the other days.
So far I'm feeling great - even had TWO endorphin rushes during
my workout today. I did a moderate walk/jog on the treadmill for
1 hour and 20 minutes.
I'm really liking the treadmill and it's a good choice for me.
I have flat feet. Some of my cousins have been kicked out of the
miliary for their flat feet. Mine have caused me a lot of injury.
When I've tried to jog before, I've ended up with broken ankles.
My treadmill has a cushy air cell and has a dependably flat surface.
So far so good.
I am wanting to do a 5K and half marathon in a few months so I'm
going to have to get outside to work those muscles that the treadmill
doesn't work...but I will HAVE to take it slow and stick to easy
tracks or trails without many things to twist or break an ankle
on.
Friday July 14, 2006
If you've been following along, you will know that when I started
I felt so energetic and happy after workouts. I was out of shape
at first and was doing easier intervals. I was getting that endorphin
rush and everything.
Well, I started to really push myself. I was working at about 80%
of my maximum heart rate for at least an hour every day. I started
to feel wornout, tired, moody, depressed, fatigued.
I was trying to literally jog at least 17 miles a week. But in
reality I just needed to do the equivalent of jogging 17
miles a week. For me, a non-athletic person that would have been
met by just doing some high-intensity exercise for 30 minutes three
times per week.
Also, I am going to do a 5K and am considering a half marathon,
and when I looked at training schedules I realized they were way,
way easier than what I was doing.
So yesterday I took the day off and read up some more and came
up with a new plan. When I start working with Gary Scheiner, this
may change and as I start to train for those runs parts of it may
change. But this is what I'm following now.
So I started the new plan today. I got up and did 20 minutes of
challenging intervals followed by a really easy 30 minute walk.
I tried to fit in another 60 minutes, but couldn't find the time.
I wish I could have done the extra exercise, but I'm not going to
kick myself because I can already feel the difference.
I felt SOOO good and energized. I even got the endorphin rush.
All of today I was happy and just wanted to dance and josh around
with everyone. Mile-wise, I still did about 3 miles. I did 20 minutes
at high intensity, about 80-85% of my maximum heart rate with recoveries
and 30 minutes at a slow pace good for weight loss, 60-70% of my
maximum heart rate.
Okay I have to talk about the endorphin rush. It must be different
for everyone. For me, it feels like as if you've come in from a
scorching dry day and walked into a freezer...except the feeling
comes from inside and outside and it's more electrical than cold.
I feel like I've just had a light shock go through my body in waves.
Thursday July 13, 2006
Weight is still holding steady. How frustrating! But I've been
told from several sources to not take the scale seriously. I'm trying
not to.
I think the most frustrating aspect is running into people who
assume I do nothing and try to make helpful suggestions - like "if
you just eat things in moderation you'll do fine" or "you
just need to get off the couch and move around a little bit."
I'm sorry, but the Frig U words come to my mind and they scream
in my ears as I listen to them and try to remain polite. I know
they are just trying to help.
However, you know, if you've gotten up every single damn day and
sweated your butt off and walked/jogged for at least 20 miles that
week and you've counted your carbs and calories, it is a huge blow
to your motivation to run into somebody who assumes you do nothing
and they try to offer you words of encouragement....but you know
they think they are offering them to someone who sits all day and
eats chocolate covered donuts all day long. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I'm sorry, but I want visible results too.
I've decided to bring in the big dogs....or THE big dog - Gary
Scheiner, MS, certified diabetes educator, owner of Integrated
Diabetes Services and author of Think
Like a Pancreas. He happens to have a master of science in exercise
physiology. Who could be better qualified to help me? I am going
to sign up for his weight loss service that he offers remotely through
his website.
My current doctor is great, but he can't help me with the diet
and exercise part. Plus he just doesn't have a whole lot of time
to answer all my questions about diabetes. My current personal trainer
is fantastic for exercise and fitness but she doesn't know too much
about the medication part. So, I think Mr. Scheiner will help me
fill in the gaps and bring everything together. I can't begin to
tell you all how excited I am to have this opportunity.
So how has my progress been? I had been taking Sundays off, but
I'm starting to feel worn down and tired all the time. I don't know
if I'm over-doing it or if it's the heat. It's going to be 109 today,
it's humid, and I have a swamp cooler. I remember reading that if
you do cardio and you should feel energized later and if not, then
you may be doing something wrong. So, I skipped doing the hour-long
3-mile walk/jog this morning. When it cools off I'm going to do
a 20-minute interval session for today. I always feel energized
after intervals for some reason.
Yesterday on the treadmill I jogged a mile and then briskly walked
the last 2. I will repeat that tomorrow. On Saturday I'm going to
try to do 5 miles at a conversational pace. Next week I'll try to
jog 1.25 miles and do 6 miles on the weekend. Of course this may
change, but this is the plan for now.
I'm also wondering if my treadmill speed is right. At 5 mph, I
can barely keep on the track. It's fast. The other day I got on
the professional grade treadmill at my personal trainer's, and 5
mph was MUCH easier. So will have to check into that. I wonder if
the heart rate monitor is accurate too. Will have to dig out my
old monitor to see.
As far as diet, I'm still doing the 100 calories per hour. When
I first started I did great because I was eating every 3 hours.
I felt full and I was easily recognizing when I was hungry and full.
This week I've reverted back to just eating 2 meals. I can tell
the difference. I get more cravings (although my period does start
next week so that may be it) and I get hungrier.
What really sucks is that while I haven't lost any weight due to
my diet, the hubby has lost a LOT...even though I often give him
most of MY meal, especially when we eat out. What a bum! He was
already lean, and he doesn't even exercise. He sits at his desk
and eats chips, ice cream, whoppers, candy. Ugh.
Anyway, I'm going to try to sign up for the weight loss program
tomorrow and I'll let you guys know what works for me and how I
like it.
Oh yea...I've been wanting to try a 5K race, and will look for
cheap ones around here. I might actually start training for a half
marathon that will happen in December! My personal trainer wants
me to go for it. I looked at a training schedule and found it is
actually less intense and takes less time than what I currently
am doing...so ugh, maybe I was overdoing it. I'm glad I didn't injure
myself.
I'm thinking of trying this fun 5K race: http://www.rundowncrime.org/
Doesn't it look like a lot of fun?
Monday July 10, 2006
Okay, today was my official weigh day, and what a bummer to see
the scale go up from 195.5 to 198.5...up three pounds. HOWEVER,
I also did the measuring tape and I lost inches - 3/4 inch from
my waist, 1 inch from my hips, and 1/4 inch from my neck. WOOHOO!!!
So, this makes total sense. I had been jogging pretty slowly...at
4.0 mph max. This past week I upped it to 5.0 mph max. Today I did
almost the entire mile at 5.0 mph, but had to take it down to 4.0
a couple times - then I finish the last 2 miles around 4.0 mph with
a few shots at 5.0 mph. I'll tell you my butt's been a burnin. So
I assume it's another muscle increase.
Remember one of my goals is to do 3 miles in 30 minutes. So I'll
have to get myself up to 6.0 mph. I know this won't happen immediately.
My heart rate at 5.0 mph goes up into the 170's sometimes and I
have to bring it down when it gets up there. Plus, I'm hauling around
198.5 pounds on these bones. That's like a 130-lb person hauling
almost 14 five-pound bags of potatoes. Next time you go to the grocery
pick up 14 of those babies and try to run. hahaha.
My efforts still aren't noticable. The hubby has been nice and
has been complimenting me...but again, I think he's trying to be
nice because he knows I've been discouraged. My hubby really is
a sweet man. I love him.
I also found a GREAT little magazine (it's book-sized). It's from
Prevention and it's called Healthy Woman. The issue I'm talking
about is July 1, 2006, and focuses on walking off weight. It lays
out a few workouts and some really easy meal ideas. It even tells
you how to pick out shoes based on your wet footprint.
Saturday July 08, 2006
The scale seems stuck and the mirror and pictures don't show any
difference, but my measuring tape shows an inch has been lost. So,
progress may be slow, but I'm going in the right direction at least.
I was feeling down about not having bigger results, but today I
decided to see if I could finally (slow) jog a mile. I HAD to have
improved my fitness.
And you know what? I did it! I did it very, very slow at 3.9-4.0
mph. Then I alternated walking very fast (3.5 mph) with jogging
(4.0 mph) for the remaining 2 miles. It took me almost an hour,
including stretching and warming up.
My goals are to be able to complete 3 miles within 30 minutes because
a bigger goal is to be able to do 6 miles within an hour or so.
Because I am impatient for results, yesterday I bought a bunch
of fitness magazines and a Prevention book on walking to lose weight.
I've read some of them, and I already see some things I might want
to change:
1) I've been getting up first thing in the morning, eating a 100-calorie
breakfast bar, drinking water and then exercising.
It's possible this has been working against me. According to one
of the articles, it says that eating before working out (especially
if it's sweet or carby) will cause your body to release a bunch
of insulin. Of course what does the insulin do - especially in a
body already high in insulin and resistant to it? It prevents fat
from being burned. So the body will try to use the food you just
ate and your muscles as fuel rather than body fat. Yes, that makes
sense to me.
The article suggested drinking a lot of water and a cup of coffee.
So this morning I did that (but I had green tea instead).
2) It suggested lots of rest. I average about 6 hours per night.
This has actually been an improvement for me. But I gotta try to
get at least 8 hours somehow. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that
since my eyes pop open 6 hours after I fall asleep. Any ideas?
I also think I've been over-training. At first I was doing 60 minute
workouts every day at 95% of my maximum heartrate. Luckily I realized
this was a mistake and stopped.
Then I started doing intervals every single day for an hour at
about 70-80%. As I read more information about exercise, particularly
jogging/running, I see you need 1-2 days of rest per week for your
body to repair itself. It's going to be very hard for me to cut
back. It seems like a step backwards, but I'm going to do it.
3) I'm going to tweak my schedule a bit.
5X per week: 60-90 minutes of aerobics
2X per week: 30 minutes of strength
3X per week: intervals
2X per week: rest
I will do the strength and intervals before my aerobics (this has
shown to help increase metabolism), alternating days.
Sundays and Wednesdays I will try to rest or do lighter workouts
- maybe do some relaxing yoga.
I'm also going to try using the track at my local high school.
I will try to run the straightaways and walk the corners for intervals
and then just straight jog on other days. I won't do this every
day, but it will be interesting to see improvements in distance
and speed.
Oh yea, I also have a new wish item. I might just ask the hubby
for this to be my first reward - a
Garmin Forerunner 301 Personal GPS with Heart Rate Monitor -
how cool it that!?!?!?!?!
I'll let ya'll know how it goes!
Tuesday July 04, 2006
Well, today was a LOT of fun for me. Family in Patagonia, AZ for
a big 4th of July celebration. But there were discouraging and sad
moments too.
The toughest part was a child who was hit by a car very near to
us. I think that is going to cause some nightmares. When we left
emergency crews were there. The kid was speaking but he had a gash
on his head and there was something wrong with his legs. He had
been riding his bike and the lady ran a stop sign, knocked him off
his bike and then ran him over.
Luckily his mom was on the scene and she is also a nurse so she
helped him until the paramedics arrived. I'm not sure how this is
going to effect me yet. I feel the stress and I'm sure I'm going
to at least see it reflected in my blood sugar levels. Please pray
for them.
My problems of the day pale by comparison. Those problems included
my weight going up (however, the tape measure showed I actually
lost an inch - so not sure what's happening here). Also looking
at digital pictures of myself from the day and seeing that the big
changes I am feeling inside and in regards to my health were not
being reflected back to me in the pictures.
So, I'm going to turn negatives into productive things. For instance,
when I was younger I loved to act on the stage, but I had horrible
stage fright. I learned to take that nervous energy and force it
down into my tummy....visualizing stuffing it into box....and using
that energy to propel my performance. It really worked.
So, I'm going to recall those bad pictures of myself to get myself
to exercise - and maybe exercise harder. I'm also going to celebrate
the tape measurement results and use them to motivate me.
As far as the boy who got hit. I have no idea the magnitude of
the effect on me yet. I think I might still be in shock. The little
boy kept telling his mom "I love you Mom" and she would
answer "I love you too." They repeated this over and over
and over and it was almost screamed. It made me thankful that I
had Bubba and he was healthy. I thanked God for my health too...but
I am not as healthy as I should be. If I don't take care of myself,
then I may be me taken away from Bubba too soon and this might be
played out between us....except it would likely be more drawn out
and perhaps with some blame and resentment from Bubba.
I did get up this morning at 5 am (that's EARLY for me) and did
my 3 miles before we took off to Patagonia. I splurged on a lot
of stuff today (not too much tough)...but hey, it was a big celebration
with lots of foods I don't usually get to have so I'm going to give
myself a free pass on that.
Tomorrow I'm going to try to sleep in - and dare I hope to nap?
Sunday July 02, 2006
I got on the scale and it read 195.5 - WooHoo! 5.5 pounds lost!
I think hubby is starting to sweat now. He's going to have to pay
up on those incentives he promised me, and the first one is just
5.5 pounds away!
I think I need a special reward for when I get under 195 because
that was my body's "set point" for a long time and it
has always represented a wall for me. I think I'll deserve a nice
long massage, ahhhhhhh.
Today is Sunday and this day has always been a very difficult day
for me in terms of scheduling stuff. Chad is busy all day long at
church. I help in the mornings there and try to go at night when
I can - but often the weekends are the only times for me to be with
extended family - so either I'm trying to spend time with them that
day or I've been up late the night before. Plus since Chad's up
and out early, I've got to do the stuff I've got to do while trying
to get my 5-year-old ready and keep him occupied. Like his mama
was when she was little, he can sometimes be reluctant to go to
church. So fitting in exercise is hard.
While I want to exercise on Sunday, I'm trying not to stress if
it doesn't happen. It didn't happen today (maybe tonight), and I
AM stressing. I'm going to have to learn how to give myself that
break. Maybe I'll feel better if I do something extra the day before
or after. I am eating light to help my blood sugar levels. We'll
see.
Yesterday (Saturday) was fine. Even though I went to a friend's
house to feed dogs and water plants and spent the entire day and
evening with my sister, I got up early and exercised first. Plus
the friend has a swimming pool so I got extra exercise in so it's
an excellent trade-off there. Plus I tried the digital On-Demand
fitness shows they've got at their house (the free ones), and Bubba
had great fun doing kid yoga. I really liked that. Me and the hubby
are considering getting that service now.
Speaking of cool fitness technology, I've found some great workouts
you can get for your iPod or MP3 player. I Googled "iPod fitness"
and "iPod workout" and found tons of stuff. Surf around
and look! I'm going to try to find a yoga one with the sun saluations,
a jogging one, and some dumbbell workouts. Most of them had samples
and they sound very professional, fun, and motivational. Plus they
are on the cheap side, that's always great!
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