Old Navy Bikinis

Spring Break is coming up in three weeks. I'm heading out to the tropics. My wardrobe: swimsuits, shorts, tank tops and short skirts. Of course, I'm thinking about how my body is going to look in a bikini and hip-hugging shorts. I decided I need to lose the extra pounds I put on in the last few weeks (amazing how fast it jumps up without you even noticing). (READ MORE)

I found some old blood work results from 2002 and was comparing them to my recent results. In 2002 I was a newlywed and had not had gestational diabetes yet. The only inkling I had of any blood sugar problems was a strong family history of type 2 diabetes and a diagnosis of hypoglycemia when I was 19.

My numbers are exponentially better today. Fasting sugar, cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL; you name it. This got me to thinking about my health and lifestyle today versus 5 years ago. I may be 5 years older but I should be feeling 10 years younger!

The biggest change, health-wise; is that I no longer smoke. 27 years of a pack plus a day are history. I have been smoke free for almost 22 months now, this alone would bring up my HDL levels. I remain very proud of this and it continues to remind me that I can change old ingrained habits. (READ MORE)

I've mostly noticed it when I'm standing in front of the bathroom mirror. There's this distinctive pudge that pooks out from my shirts; sometimes I feel like I look six months pregnant. I can't figure out if I'm imagining this pudge or if it's actually there.

I periodically get on the scale to see where I am, to sort of put things in perspective. I was getting on the scale almost once a day (yes, I know that's not the best way, but I do it anyway because I'm curious) after I restarted my walking program. I got incredibly frustrated with Byetta not really working and with gaining and losing the same 4 lb. in the course of several months. I was close to tossing the scale out the window. (READ MORE)

My last endo appointment in May of this year brought lots of good news. An A1C of 6.0, a reduction in my total and bad cholesterol levels, kidney function excellent. Overall, I felt pretty good leaving the office. But there were issues to be addressed - aren't there always? First, although my cholesterol levels were reduced, they were still not where the doctor - and where I - would like to have them. Further, I'd gained 2lbs since my previous visit.

So, I set my mind to fixing these issues, while maintaining all of the good stuff that I'd managed to achieve and then I started making some changes. (READ MORE)

I could never be a beauty queen. Aside from the fact that I think beauty pageants are ridiculous, I have this horrible flab on my arms that would prevent me from giving that trademark Miss America wave; I'd wind up slapping myself in the face with my arm flab!

It's not a part of my body I enjoy. I've always tried to cover my arms up partly because I don't like how big they are. While I don't envision wearing sleeveless shirts anytime soon, I have decided that a little weight training, in addition to my morning walk, might do my arms some good.

I suppose I was slightly inspired to start this based on a thread at Diabetic Mommy (www.diabeticmommy.com) where someone asked about the different affects of cardio and weight training on blood sugar. From what I read, it seemed like weight training caused more lows than cardio, although no one could really explain why. (READ MORE)

So, here it is almost a full week into September and I haven't set any goals for myself yet. Haven't put a pretty, lined sticky note on my computer monitor to remind me what I'm working toward for the next four weeks. Maybe it's because I started ignoring my August goals so early in the game.

It wasn't long before I was looking at that blue sticky and thinking to myself that I should just take the darn thing down already. I mean, the only thing I was really sticking to-save a bad cold-was walking at least five times a week.

While I didn't meet my goals of testing after every meal and limiting myself to just one soda per day, I will say that having those goals staring at me did some good. I tested more often, although not often enough; and I did limit my soda intake, although not one per day; and I did dramatically increase my water intake. So there was quite a bit of good that came from setting those goals. (READ MORE)