After reading through and really thinking about all of the comments on my "Carbs vs Points" post I have decided that starting next week, I am going to begin the Weight Watchers Core Plan.

For those who are not familiar with the Core Plan, it's different than the Points plan or Flex plan as they call it. The Core plan has a list of foods that you can eat. You are only to eat from those foods and only eat until satisfied. I am going to do it on a 2 week basis and see how it goes.

So far I have lost 40 pounds using the Flex Plan which is the one with the Points so I have had some success. The problem is my BG and my need for change. I will do some major shopping this weekend to prepare myself for next week but I am actually looking forward to it. (READ MORE)

A funny thing happened this week. I turned forty.

Okay, perhaps it wasn't so funny.

The morning of my birthday, I took a long moment in front of my bathroom mirror. My apartment complex management was kind enough to replace the subtle lighting over the mirror that we'd had for two years with new, direct lights that look fancy but which might be more appropriate for an interrogation than the gentle transition from being asleep to facing the reality of my new life as a forty-something. Looking in the mirror, I swear I could hear the faint creaking sound of my bones as they calcified. (READ MORE)

As Type 2 diabetics, we're often told that the best thing we can do for ourselves is lose weight. And that's undeniably true. But no one tells you ahead of time how weird that process can be.

Now, I write about my own weight struggle a lot, so perhaps it's time for me to own up to some actual numbers. I'm not an "alert the media" level fat guy. When I was diagnosed with diabetes almost two years ago, I went on a panic-and-phentermine-fuled weight loss frenzy, and I lost about thirty pounds. At 6'2", I got down to about 205 pounds. So not Jude Law, but not Jabba the Hutt, either.

This was quite a difference from the worst of my college days, when I weighed (and I can't believe this, even as I type it) about 280 pounds. I was a mess, a big sloppy boozy lummox. I'd managed to lose about thirty of those pounds before I was even diagnosed, because let's face it, Dean Wormer in Animal House was right. "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son." (READ MORE)

I know, I know, I know. People with diabetes must exercise. People with diabetes must stay fit. This is especially true for those of us with Type 2.

And you know it. I know it. You know you know it. I know you know it. Who needs to tell you this?

Reuters and Dr. Ronald Sigal of University of Calgary and colleagues at the University of Ottawa, as announced in this article, do feel the need to tell us. Specifically, they're telling us that lifting weights and resistance exercise also helps to reduce blood sugars, just like aerobic exercise does. Aerobic exercise, that would be the sweaty kind.

This is good news.

This means that ANY and ALL exercise you do counts for good diabetes points. It all counts! I love this. (READ MORE)

For a variety of reasons that all add up to a perfect storm of unfortunate for yours truly, I have gone off my diabetes medications and shall be off of them for a few days. I ran out of both at the same time, and it happened on a weekend, and a holiday weekend, no less, so there was no one at my doctor's office to call. Furthermore, if I'd been paying attention (and really, why would I? It's only my health we're talking about here), I would have seen that I had no more refills on my prescription, meaning that in order to get more, I would need to make an appointment and go in to see my doctor again, which of course I should have done a few months ago, but my book came out and I've been busy being Mister Fancy Pants, etc. etc. etc., blah blah blah. Really, there are a number of excuses, but they all come down to my own personal dedication to being the very best cautionary tale I can be for the rest of you. No need to thank me, I do it out of love. (READ MORE)

Yesterday after church my family and I went to spend the remainder of the day at Disneyland. We do not live too far from the "Happiest Place On Earth" so we try and purchase passes each year. My sister was going to be there celebrating her birthday so we met up with her and her fiancé for some fun in Mouseland.

Every time I checked my BG it was a little low for my liking. At one point I stumbled onto a low of 54 that I did not feel at all. I got my hands on a juice box that took me up to 65 in 15 minutes. It was a constant battle all day long.

When we finally made it back to the car to head home, I pulled out my meter to check my blood before we left. 65 again! I snatched up 4 glucose tabs from my car stash and hit the road. As we drove away my daughter started asking a bunch of questions about diabetes.

"Dad, can tell me again the difference between type 1's and type 2's? I don't think I remember." (READ MORE)