Living with Diabetes

Fall off the wagon, get back on — or so it seems.

The summer, for whatever reason, is awful for me when it comes to controlling diabetes. I guess I know the reason — I travel a bit more, I eat out more, and I am not always watching things. That’s part of trying to get in a routine — to be able to control this.

That being said, I thought I did decent this summer. Reality is, I know I didn’t but was trying to convince myself. Though I didn’t eat awful, it wasn’t controlled. Candy has been an issue. Too much eating was an issue.

And I definitely didn’t get enough exercise during the time of year when I should be doing the most.

The summer months went by and I kind of realized … crap, I need to start doing something or else I’m going to get bitched at by my doctor and diabetes educator. But when that thought crossed my mind, I realized a few things, and they are as follows:

1. I can’t live appointment to appointment
If I am worrying just about getting bitched at or scolded because I’m not doing something, then I’m not controlling things. Instead, I’m trying to do just enough to slowly improve, but not really make changes. I think that’s what I have been doing.

2. Accept what it is
Look, since the first day I was told I was pre-diabetic to earlier this year, I was always in denial. I know what it was. I know what I had. But I still thought … if I feel good, then it’s really not there, right? Turns out that’s wrong.

3. Ultimately, I make decisions on how things go
In the end, a doctor or somebody else can take me to take this medicine or do this or that. In the end, I have to make that decision on my own. Therefore, no matter what happens, I really only have myself to blame.

4. Start having will power
I need this. More than anything.

So as September winded down, I made a conscious effort to start eating better. I started looking at things closer. I knew with appointments in late October, I wouldn’t be able to “hide” everything I’ve done, but hopefully I could get to where I felt was a good sign to show I understood where I was and where I’m going.

On September 30, I had a couple of small pieces of candy. On October 1, that stopped.

Since October 1, I’ve been doing a lot more and it’s starting to show. I’m eating better and I’m out moving. I go out each and every night for a walk, which can range (at this point) anywhere from a bit more than a mile to nearly three miles. I have some routes that I follow and they are of different terrains. My goal each night is usually 30-45 minutes of continuous activity. I’ve only missed one or two nights because of working late, but those days I’ve made sure to be a lot more active and moving at work, so that’s been good.

My A1C this visit was slightly up from July. That’s disappointing, but not unexpected. The difference this time is that I’m not too worried about it because I feel I’m going in the right direction.

Those couple of months where I was traveling and going to more games — I wasn’t really even checking my blood. That was a bad move. So when I started back up in October, I was (not really) shocked at what it looked like.

I also knew it would take time — and it has.

In the beginning of the month, my numbers were higher than I am comfortable with. So I adjusted. I’ve made changes in my diet and I’m working on other aspects. I’m exercising. I’m understanding what I am doing.

But the thing about it is this — I’m getting into a routine. I go out for a walk now and think, maybe just a mile tonight … and 2.5 miles later, I’m finishing. I push myself and want to get things better. The numbers have improved. They aren’t perfect, that’s for sure, but they are better. I’ve utilized many things to get me out and moving — like having to mail something or joining virtual races (I’ll have a blog post about these in the near future). Either way, it’s getting me into a good routine, which is also helping me sleep better and feel better overall.

My next doctor’s appointment is in late January, which means my next A1C test will include the holiday months. This won’t be easy, but instead will be a massive challenge for me and I look forward to wading myself through things.

I haven’t had candy in October and plan on that continuing. I’ve only had one (diet) soda per week. I’m trying to find variety in what I eat, yet keep it healthy and control the portions. I’ve learned, from researching, that eating out is not that easy when you are watching certain things, that’s for sure.

Coming up: November is National Diabetes Month, and November 14 is World Diabetes Day.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

OK, time to come clean.

This is kind of the September post, but more of a wrap. So that’s why I will keep the September one as the title.

October’s likely won’t be great.

But I fell off the wagon. See, I got complacent. And I know that’s a bad thing, but it happened. I have to figure, by next summer, how to make things better and keep them better.

Let me explain.

In the beginning of the summer I was doing well. OK, better than I had been. Maybe not perfect, but better. I was getting out more and I was, I thought, eating better.

But then the summer happened. I played softball and I think I relied on that too much to be my movement. I was working on projects with work, so I didn’t always get up and move around. I was becoming a bit of a sloth in times I shouldn’t be.

When I went to baseball game, I tend to park a bit further from the stadium and I always like to walk around and investigate – especially ones with full concourses. And when at the part, I tried the best I could not to eat overly bad things. But let’s be honest, when you are eating hot gods, or chicken fingers and such at ball parks, it’s not the best for you.

But P.J., you might say, just get back on the wagon. This is a life journey, not a one-month worry. And, for the most part, I would tend to agree.

This was more than a few weeks or a month though. And with that, I also stopped checking my blood on a regular basis.

Why?

Because I didn’t want to face what I knew would be the truth about things. My weight, for the most part, has remained OK. So I didn’t want to think I had totally buried myself in the other aspects. For the first six months of the year, I was doing decent – as in getting healthier each time I did things. I knew this was a crash and burn.

As September rolled in and left, I hadn’t fixed it.

What in the hell was I doing to myself?

See, the healthy eating is one thing. But it’s that sneaking the small candy here and there. Only one or two minis, I’d say. What can it do to me?

A lot.

And I knew that. Boy did I ever. But I was trying to still talk myself into believing otherwise. You know what can make you wake up, though?

Impending blood tests.

I know what A1C is and I know you can’t fool it. But when you are in a situation where you have to start getting a grasp again, then you start thinking. So I made a plan and that plan has started. I’m only a few days in, but so far so good.

Maybe not with my numbers, but with the plan itself. It’s going to take time to reign everything back into being where it needs to be. I know that and I also know I can’t panic.

So what’s my plan?

Well, for starters, I’ve cut candy out of my diet starting this week. I’m not saying I won’t ever sneak a mini Twix again. But reality is, my body can’t deal with it. At least how I am now. So I need to stop. And so far, so good. I can’t say it’s easy not to grab something when I see it around, but I realize I have to stop.

Starting next week, it’s going to be one soda (and I always get a diet one anyway) per week. I don’t usually have more than a few per week, but it’s going down to one. I’ve done this before where I skip soda for a month or two with no issues. But I’m going to be cognizant about it a lot more.

Walking. Boy do I need this. Within the next three week, I plan on forcing myself to get to 10,000 steps (or more a day). For now, the goal is 7,500. Then it will go to 8,500. Then 9,500. Then 10,000. I get up and walk as much as I can at work, but it’s not near enough. So for the past several days, I’ve gone out sometime after dinner and taken a longer walk. I am exploring different routes in my town to spruce it up a little as well.

For now, to make sure I am out and about, what I’ve been doing is giving myself an excuse to go to the post office. I’ve made a few trades with Pathtags lately, and I will only send one per night out. I’m also going to get back into Postcrossing and, again, send only one thing out per day. Once I am out and down that far, I usually decide to keep walking some. As long as I get a good 30-minute walk in per day/night, I think that will definitely help.

As for the numbers, I’m going to keep them to myself for now. Let’s just say that I’m definitely outside of where I am supposed to be and even with this newfound push, I am anticipating my A1C will go up, which will be disappointing as it’s been going down.

However, my hope is that if I continue this plan, the numbers will start to get back to where they should be and things can continue to improve.

The other part of the plan is planning meals a little better. Maybe shake things up a little. Try different things, especially for lunch. See what does what to my body. For example, I’ve been looking at these overnight oats as a breakfast idea. Oats are higher in carbs, but the other items might not be so back if proportioned well. If I can keep it under the target number for carbs per meal, maybe it’s something to do a little different.

I am keeping a nice little notebook with me to write everything down in each day. Eventually I’ll start getting more detailed. I also need to start learning how to use some of these food apps to keep a better tab on what I eat and what the nutritional value is.

In the end, this is just another wake-up call. Can I get my ass back in gear and do the right thing? I sure hope so. I believe I have a better “plan” this time instead of just saying “I need to do this.” Now, I feel like I will actually get somewhere.

Or so I hope.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

OK, this one is late … but it’s more because I just didn’t post it! So despite being the early part of September, I am going to put this here and it is for August. I will still have one this month, too.

This month’s edition is a little interesting because it includes my big baseball trip.

As you can imagine, I wasn’t the best when it comes to eating on a baseball trip. But the funny part is, I really wasn’t awful, either. I didn’t stack up on junk and I tried to be smart. But when in Chicago… I did have back-to-back nights of deep-dish pizza.

Like I could resist?

But I know it isn’t good on my body, that’s for sure. That being said, it was heaven on the taste buds.

Still, I tried to be good. I wasn’t as bad as I’ve been during other trips. I didn’t go too crazy with “filler” food and I definitely did a lot of walking.

Alas, I wasn’t perfect by any means.

Softball has also ended (we won the championship), which means I need to really start doing other things to be more active. I need to get my bike out and need to get out for extra walks. I do try and walk more during the work day and get up and move.

Thankfully, with work kicking into higher gear, it makes it easier to get up at times and get some walking in. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s tough to break away for any length of time.

I did seem to do more walking in August. The baseball trip was good for walking – that’s for sure. Even just walking around and exploring new stadiums, or walking from parking/mass transit.

The issue, though, is eating things I probably shouldn’t have eaten. But when traveling, it’s hard to just eat salads and such. But what I made sure not to do is that I didn’t overeat.

That isn’t easy.

The reason I say that is because some of these baseball stops – and the surrounding areas – have some great food choices. But I don’t gorge on food anymore. I don’t stuff myself until I wonder what I did.

In turn, that helps my blood sugar and such.

This is still a situation where

What I’m working on:

So, a year or so ago I bought a life journal. I flipped through it and looked at things and liked the setup, but I kind of forgot about it.

There’s something new.

But I recently uncovered it again and have been looking at it. There’s a lot to this journal. It’s bigger and thicker, but it can likely really help me as I move forward. I need to start reading some things with this journal and understanding the best way to use it – then I need to start using it as much as I can. With winter coming soon enough, I need to figure out a way to remain active or I am going to take steps backward – and that’s something I don’t want. It’s all about pushing forward.

I have my next appointments in mid-October, so I am hoping I can have this under way and have a better grasp on what I am doing, eating, and continually improving. I also need to get the eyes checked, which means having them dilated, so I need to plan that into the equation.

The road is still long, and though I’ve taken a couple of turns off the road, it’s still straight ahead.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!

Summer is a lot harder than most other months when it comes down to battling diabetes. At least for me.

With baseball games and travel, it tends to get harder to watch things too much. And I won’t lie by saying I’ve been perfect — I haven’t. But I do think I have been better than I have in past summers, that’s for sure.

Part of it is probably that a lot of my baseball has included trips to more local areas — so I know the food at the park or I eat ahead of time, thus being able to eat a little better.

But this post isn’t necessarily about looking back over the past month, rather looking forward.

First, there are a couple of things I think will help me as I keep pushing forward in this battle. One is that I have ordered a new Fitbit. Though I debated sticking with Fitbit (had a few issues) or switching to Garmin, the reality was I like a lot of things about the Fitbit. If this one totally bombs out on me, there’s no doubt which way I would lean in the future. I haven’t had one for a few months and I can see that I haven’t pushed myself as much as I used to. It’s nice to have goals and know you need to reach them.

The second is finally getting a new pair of sneakers ordered. My current ones aren’t in the best of shape, so it’s nice getting something where my feet might feel better.

I’ll have all of this on the upcoming trip, which no doubt will be a test of willpower for me. Starting this Friday, I’m heading out on a whirlwind of a baseball trip where, if all goes well, I’ll see 15 games over 10 days.

What that means, of course, is spending a lot of time inside ballparks. And when I haven’t been to a park before, a hot dog is a must.

And, newsflash, hot dogs aren’t the best for you!

So it comes down to trying to be smart when traveling and that is never easy. There are so many great places where you can eat, or just grabbing quick things along the way to make sure you eat at all.

It’s not easy.

With softball season ending this week just before the trip, I’ll have to find other ways to remain active. It’s probably time to dust off my bike and ride it more and go for more walks. The good thing about many baseball stadiums is that you can walk around the full place. That helps even more when you haven’t been to some of these stadiums, which means you want to do a few laps to see what there is and what is going on. And it gets you some steps while you are at it.

With the summer speeding by, it’s definitely time to keep pushing myself because the winters are tough to remain active — so I need to find some sort of a routine to get into to help me. I don’t want to keep improving, just to take several steps back — that never helps.

My next appointment and blood test isn’t until October and I am hoping everything keeps going in the right direction. I am sure with August’s rendition of this post, I’ll have much more information about how this trip — and a few others — will have gone and how I felt after.

As always, I keep up the fight and look for ways to improve my health, not only physically, but mentally.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook! You can also follow me on Twitter @softball29!