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!