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)

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)

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'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)

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)