Mark: 20 weeks on the Lifestyle Modification Planand my trip to Olive Garden

Today marks 20 weeks on my Lifestyle Modification Plan. As of Friday's weigh in I've lost 96 pounds.

That's not too shabby! That's almost 5 pounds a week over a five month period. Just goes to show what diet and exercise can do for you.

I had decided that for my birthday I was going to reward myself with a birthday dinner. Yesterday I went to Olive Garden with Scott, Danielle, and their mom. Olive Garden was having their Never Ending Pasta Bowl which we all like.

It should be noted the last time we went to Olive Garden I was so big I could not bend over the table! This is something I am not at all proud of. Yesterday I was quite comfortable eating with the bowl on the table and I had room to spare.

Needless to say I was quite pleased to be able to enjoy a large meal!

I had salad as my side while the girls had soup and Scott just munched on bread sticks, and we ordered our first bowls of pasta.

Normally they bring you your first bowl in a large plate and then subsequent bowls come in a smaller size. I had them start out my traditional first bowl, which was Angel Hair pasta with meat sauce in the smaller bowl. I also ordered sausage with my meal. Having the protein helps slow the digestion of carbs, and I knew I was going to really blow my carb allowance! The past five months I have been religious on what I have been eating both in caloric and nutritional areas.

I managed to get through three bowls of pasta and think I could have done a fourth (I've done 6 in the past starting with the larger big bowl) but I did not want to be a total glutton.

The only thing marring the meal was the really poor service of the waiter to the point I had to talk to him about how displeased I was with his service. Sadly for him, the tip really reflected this.

We departed after biding farewell to the kids mom and as we approached the Mustang Scott pointed out that evidently some very large mutant avian creatures had quite befouled the rear trunk deck of the Mustang quite voluminously! So, we made an unscheduled swing by the car wash before swinging by Blockbuster to drop off Inkheart.

This morning after arising I had my usual nutrition shake before burning off 1100 calories on the exercise bike, I'm getting ready to have my second now for a total of 200 calories for the day thus far. Tomorrow is my birthday, we'll be heading somewhere for lunch that my older boy Chris likes, since he loathes pasta he did not join us for the festivities yesterday. My goal upon my next two week weigh in is to not have gained any weight, though I'm really striving to drop at least a pound or two in spite of the extra eating this week. We will see just how much exercise I can handle!!

The week is against me!

I woke us this AM with vision so blurry I could barely drive to work, yet my blood sugar was only a few points higher than usual (it's always high in the morning) but nothing majorly high. Diabetes can be such fun some days, though realistically I must be positive because incidents like this care becoming fewer as I lose weight. It is still most disorienting when it happens though.

This week is just getting better and better, at least now several hours after getting up, my vision is beginning to clear. Were it not for work this would have been a great week to stay in bed!

At least I have Scott and Danielle for dinner this evening, I did not see them at all yesterday so it will be good to have them for a few hours tonight.

A Visit to the Doctor

I went for my labs results this AM. My usual doctor was running late, so, the lady Doctor who has seen me before (right after I was diagnosed with diabetes, but not in about 3 months) was the attending. So, after my weigh-in and blood pressure, she met me in the examining room. She looked at me, then looked at the data on the screen. She looked at me....and then looked at the data on the screen......she looked at me....and then looked at the data on the screen.....finally I could no longer contain myself and loudly said "What??!!?"

She asked me how much weight I had lost and I told her 51 pounds in 15 weeks and she asked how I did it and I said "uh, remember that 1600 calorie a day diet you put me on.......you know the one, low carbs, low salt, low fat, low fun, that one?"

And she said she remembered and I told her about all the exercising and stuff like that there, and how the nutritionist had told me during diabetic education classes that every four days I should bump that up to 2000 calories and the Doctor agreed and she was impressed and we sat there on the bench talking about lancet stabbing blood testing A1C stuff.

We went over the results in detail, my A1C was down .5 from 6.7 to 6.2 - the wonders of dieting and exercise! Fasting BS still a bit high at 115, but the A1C reduction is impressive for no medication being taken, just as a result of the diet and exercise.

For those curious about the A1C test and how it relates to diabetes you can check out this link.

Kidney function numbers slightly better which was good considering the diabetes and the meds I am on which stress the need for these tests.

Cholesterol up a tiny bit which was surprising considering my low fat, low fun diet I am on, but she explained that when you have lost/are losing a significant amount of weight as I have, it is not uncommon for the readings to show higher, she did double the dose of my cholesterol medication.

Heart and lungs sounding fine

I mentioned how really crappy I feel in the mornings and the higher blood sugar I have then and she said to give things time you don't go from being so badly out of shape and sick to normal over night. I go back in 6 weeks for MORE fasting labs and then a week after to go over them.

I celebrated with a 90 minute exercise bike ride when I got home from work today. In fact, while I was riding the exercise bike the Doctor's office called to tell me they were ordering the specialized eye test I need to have and the hospital would call back with an appointment. This needs to be repeated every year.

So, overall I am doing better. I do not let the wight loss go to my head because I still have a long way to go...I am still not back to the weight I was when I moved out of the X's house almost three years ago, though, that is within my grasp at just 9 more pounds to lose. I am determined to succeed and lose the other 49 pounds. It does get harder as time goes on, but, I will not fail!

Weigh to go Chris!

As of this morning's weigh-in I have finally reached (and passed, Whoo Hoo!) the halfway point on my diet. With this weeks 3 pound loss I have lost 51 pounds in 15 weeks.

I have stopped doing two workouts on the exercise bike (Actually stopped two weeks ago when I had that week where I was feeling so bad) and have replaced it with one longer workout after work; for example yesterday I did an hour and 30 minutes on the exercise bike. I did the same on the Fourth of July and I walked to and from the X's house where we were gathering for a cook out. That's a mile each way.

I had blood taken this week and I go back to the Doctor Tuesday for the results. Maybe this will explain why I am still feeling so poorly most mornings. They should be able to tell me more about my diabetes overall, as they needed two A1C tests done at least three months apart to see how my weight loss and exercise is affecting things.

Time to celebrate! I think Kentucky Fried Chicken dipped in Coldstone for dinner is in order!

To be realistic, I'll probably just make myself some wraps or something for dinner this evening after getting the kids whatever they want (probably Wendy's) for dinner.

8 Weeks on the "Diet or Die!" Diet

I have been on my diet and exercise plan for 8 weeks as of today. I have lost 26 pounds so far!

I am exercising daily, most days twice. I do a workout on the exercise bike when I arrive home after work, and then a minimum of half that time 90 minutes or so after dinner. Some days I do the full workout twice. My full workout is up to 40 minutes right now, I could barely do 10 when I started.

It's been rough but I am sticking to it. It is not easy! But, it needs to be done.

I have become quite adept at cooking healthy meals and am staying within the constraints of my food plan which is

1600 calories a day (2000 on Sunday!)

60 grams max each meal of carbohydrates

2 snacks - max of 15 grams of carbohydrates

low fat

low sodium

NO caffeine (sob!)

Don't get me wrong, I have some excellent dinners, such as last night. I took two high-fiber low carbohydrate flat breads, half a pound of 92% lean ground beef, shredded lettuce, thinly sliced vine-ripened tomato, fat free Miracle Whip, and two slices of fat free cheese. I divided the meat in half, pressed out to very thin burgers, grilled them with the cheese melted on top, and I had two most awesome cheeseburger roll-ups for dinner.

Another good roll-up is to replace the meat and cheese of the above concoction and replace it with 8 slices of turkey bacon, 4 for each roll-up. It's like a BLT and most delicious! It MUST be Louis Rich (now sold by Oscar Mayer) turkey bacon, as all other brands I have tried have been like eating (or what I envision would be like) thin strips of leather!

Over the weekend I had a New York Strip Steak, with an ear of corn on the cob, and a nice heaping salad. It is just a lot more work in preparation and cost, to eat better. And, I need to be home to get this type of good food, it is just too much work to deal with this when eating out, though if I do I usually stick to steak and salad.

I usually spice the meats with dry rubs, usually somewhat spicy ones, even the turkey bacon gets a light sprinkling of Cajun Spice or Spicy Barbecue Red Monkey brand seasoning. The Steaks, a Montreal dry spice is usually used.

I had my last class yesterday of Diabetes Self Management, and overall it was an excellent investment in time to take this course. I learned so much about diabetes, and what I can and can't do to control it. It was very good.

We learned things like diabetes cannot be cured, there's better than a 50% chance anyone with it will end up on insulin shots, There's virtually a 100% chance that you will need oral medications, but, you can slide the amount of meds, when you have to use insulin, and any health problems and such to the right by taking better care of yourself.

Stress, unfortunately is bad for diabetes, so, I have the stress here at work, stress of some family issues, and the stress of having diabetes....but....I am trying to deal with it the best that I can by maintaining a positive attitude and realizing stressing out over things I can't change directly is not a good thing to do. Most of the times this works OK for me.....most times.

Most days I feel better overall then I did two months ago...some days I feel just as bad, like today, a rare day over the past week where I felt pretty good, where I feel pretty bad...but...I envision that as I lose more weight, I will feel better more often.

SO.....the adventure continues.....and...I will keep losing weight and eating healthy!

Diabetes Dreaming

I had the first class of Diabetes education and self management at the medical center yesterday. This was a three hour class. The first thing they do is hit you with a four page test about diabetes. I think this is to teach you how little you really know on the subject, and, they will repeat it on the last class to make sure you have learned how ignorant you were!

They went over all the bad things that can happen to you, symptomology, pharmacology and such, and started the nutrition module. They talked about the percentages of people in the class that would eventually end up on medication (virtually everyone) and those who would be using insulin, close to 70%. There were lots of interesting facts, such as when your blood sugar is high enough to classify you as a diabetic, you have lost 50% of the cells in your pancreas that produce insulin.

You also had to sign up for one of 7 different things you could do to help your condition. I chose the physical activity module. My progress will be tracked each class to see how well I have stuck to my goal. I chose this because I learned that exercise is very important in diabetes management. I have been riding my exercise bike every day for almost five weeks now, and am up to 21 minutes (3.5 miles). Last night I also added a half session an hour after dinner. I did 11 minutes and will do this every other night for more exercise and to help burn additional calories.

I learned too, that, if you have to have diabetes, this is an excellent area to have it as far as care goes. The Metro Health facilities are all accredited in diabetes treatment and management and all doctors are required to be up on all the latest treatments and options, and the management of their diabetic patients.

We also have to religiously record our blood sugar readings and food intake over the next week. They really stressed the blood sampling.....and that must have stuck in my mind, that, and my experiences last Saturday with son Scott's driving of my Mustang. I have been having more and more trouble getting to sleep lately, much on my mind about my health, work with the new company, and other things, but, finally after midnight I did, and I had a very strange dream...... (picture one of the fuzzy warping dream sequences effects you see on TV here........)

The three kids, the X, and I (which is no mean feat considering the Mustang barely seats four) were driving in the Mustang on our way to the mall. As I had mentioned I had told Scott after the 'kill a tree incident' that when I yelled STOP he should just slam on the brakes and stop the vehicle. So, as we drove more and more on our way to the mall, he kept shooting through stop streets and red lights ignoring my STOP commands. This was interspersed periodically by my daughter Danielle reminding me I had to test my blood sugar and handing me my lancing device that I use to draw blood.

The first time she did this it was the normal size that the device is in real life. Each time after that it was getting bigger and bigger, where, finally, as we were pulling into the mall to part is was the size of a baseball bat, and the actual needle part, which you can't even normally see, what the side of one of those huge nails you would use to hang gutters on the house!

My son screeched into the parking lot at the mall, the car actually crashed through the railing at the front of the car, and plunged us down to the next level where the Mustang landed on other cars. We all climbed out and I was yelling at my son, and he was crying, while the X was berating me for yelling since the Mustang, which to my perceptions was totally smashed and wrecked beyond repair, was barely scratched. Meanwhile my son continued to cry, calling me mean and accusing me of not loving him, and the rest of them kept staring at me greatly. At this point the dream shifted to Danielle and I looking for everyone else to have lunch, and I finally awoke.

Strange dream eh??

On closing, I would really like to thank my brother and his wife for all their support! I don't know how I would get through this without you both!

A Trip to Wendy's

Life.....on a diabetic weight loss diet....the final frontier......

I am on a 1600 calorie a day diet (though every fourth day I am allowed 2000). I am supposed to do no more than 2000 mg sodium though less is better and NO caffeine. I may have 60-65 grams of carbohydrates with each meal and 15 with each snack (3 snacks a day)

It has been quite the lifestyle change over the past month for me. Simple things like no soda at work because of the caffeine so I drink water all day are hard getting used to. I HATE water but I drink it, every hour on the hour.

Eating out is a chore, since the kids kind of demand that some nights or the schedule does. This evening for example is Quizo's night as Monday night they have three subs at a decent price. I will get the kids that for dinner and bring it back here. While they gorge (remember the veloicraptor scene in Jurassic Park?) I will make myself a couple of healthy wraps.

On the eating out side that does not involve fetching it back here for the kids, there are some places I can go. For example, the kids love Wendy's, and I can still go there and be within my guidelines with some slight menu changes:

Before my health issues my typical visit to Wendy's was:
Triple cheeseburger with everything and bacon added
Large fries
Frosty for dessert
1980 total calories
890 calories from fat
3000 mg sodium
181 grams of carbohydrates

Now, on the Diabetic & Weight loss diet I can have:
Single burger, no cheese
Ceaser side salad, no croutons
620 total calories
340 calories from fat
1340 mg sodium
44 grams of carbohydrates

OK, let's call it radical menu changes, but, I can still go there. Note though 9 out of 10 times I eat in and make healthy meals. For breakfast and lunch on work days I have nutrition shakes. I get low carb snacks from Netrition.Com. Click on the lo-carb section plus they have many items in other categories

How am I doing?

Many of you may have read this in e-mail but in case I missed any who just visit the blog I thought I would reproduce this. Also, thanks to this "Diet or Die!" diet I am on, I will be posting links and reviews of health low carb, high protein (and usually low fat) snacks and such I have ordered on-line and have enjoyed.

I have lost 14 pounds in 25 days, while that is very encouraging it is also very discouraging because I have to lose another 90 to be where I need to be. I blame myself....so...instead of groaning about it I will just get on with it! I am on what they call a Diabetic carb option diet, where each carb option = total carbs - fiber carbs. And, per the regular doctor I am on a 1600 calorie diet to help loose weight. though the dietician suggested yesterday that every fourth day or so I jump up to 2000 calories to keep my metabolism from bottoming out.

Anyway, here's the post.....

Yesterday I had a two and a half hour session over at the medical center where I first spent two hours with a dietician who specializes in diabetic patients learning about my diet and such, what I can eat, how many carbs and such, and much information. She is also the person who will be teaching the four week course which starts next week.

I then had a session learning how to use my ouch meter to test my blood sugar, which I need to do three times a day every few days or on days I am feeling extra woozy and weak and such. I got a One Touch Ultra Meter, since my insurance will pay for any meter they had, since this one was the fanciest and geekiest! I ordered the optional USB interface cable and software so the unit can transfer data to the computer, though stand alone if stores a few weeks readings.

She said measuring the sugar on my crappiest days is a real easy way to see if if those dizzy spells I am getting are is blood sugar related.

The diabetic diet would not be too bad if I was not also under orders by the regular doctor for low sodium, low fat, no caffeine, for my high blood pressure and heart rate problems. Oh well! Going forward will be interesting indeed, but, failure is NOT an option.

The "Diet or Die" diet

Friday I got a call from the Doctor and they confirmed via my blood and urine tests that I am diabetic. My cholesterol is also way way high and my blood pressure, even on two medications for the past couple of weeks is too high.

This AM I did my usual Monday morning ritual at work and checked my vitals. Heading into week three of what I now affectionately call the "Diet or Die!" diet, I am down 10 pounds since I started, whoo hoo, only 80 or so to go......

I just scheduled my Diabetic Education classes, they start April 24th.

Hope everyone had a nice Easter, I saw the kids (well, 2 of them, Christopher chose not to be up at 9AM for the Easter Egg hunt and basket opening rituals) at the X's house in the morning. She invited me back for dinner but as some non-family members were invited, and because I was so dizzy and woozy yesterday, I declined. Other than riding the exercise bike I pretty much sat around and rested, watching assorted TV, using the computer. For Easter dinner I had toasty ham, turkey, and Swiss cheese sandwiches in my GT express.