The Life of a Diabetic » Diet and Weight Loss

Low Carbin It

Chris — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:58:22 +0000

I have been away from blogging and been pretty disconnected from social media as well. My parents were down here on vacation week and a half ago and I was sure eating like I was on vacation. I was eating a lot of carbs as well, which means I was going through a lot of insulin. My daily amount of insulin that I use from basal rates is about 67.5 units currently. When I was on vacation, my overall daily average was over 200, around 210-215. That’s a lot of insulin. My normal daily average when not on vacation is about 175.

I have decided that I am going to go low-er carb than normal to try and decrease my average insulin to less than 140 to start, then try and get it to less than 120. That means less than 60 units of insulin from boluses a day. That means about 180 units of carbs day. That may seem like a lot to you, but to me, that is nothing. A normal meal of chicken, rice, and broccoli would be about 50-70 grams of carbs by itself.

Yesterday was my first day trying this and I was starving all day long. Finally, by night time, I was so hungry that I had to just give in and have a small sandwich, I couldn’t take it. Today is day two and I skipped breakfast and ate a salad for lunch. I am now typing up this post and I am already starving.

I am making adjustments to my low-er carb diet still. I am doing this without growing grocery shopping and buying anything different then what is already in my fridge and cabinets. I am all out of broccoli though and I can just eat and eat and eat broccoli until I am full. Sounds like a plan to me.

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Some Pretty Damn Big Life Changes

Chris — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:29:17 +0000

Today is February 1, 2012. Not only is today about flipping over those calendars to the next month and doing a drumroll before seeing what the next picture or phrase or which cheerleader is going to be on the next month (or am I the only one that does that?). Today is a very serious day for me. A day of change.

As some of you may know, I own my own business, CSI Marketing Solutions, LLC. Also, as some of you may know, I have been working at an agency for about 18 months. This digital agency is voted best place to work just about every year and received hundreds of other awards a year. It truly is an amazing place to work. However, I have had a few opportunities come up over the past few weeks or months that requires a lot more of my time. So, I have made the decision, starting today, to go back to running my business full time.

Before making this decision, there were so many different things that went through my head. How am I going to pay rent? How am I going to make my car payment? How can I afford anything? And most importantly, how am I going to get health insurance? Then I started playing the what-if game. What if I don’t have enough clients and I don’t make enough money to pay my bills and then I lose everything I have. A good friend of mine said, “..you can’t play the what if game. For every negative what if you come up with, there’s a positive what if on the other side. So you can go all night on the what if’s.”

I also felt that by making this decision to be able to make my own hours I can get more things in life accomplished. For one, I can now go to the gym at lunch time or in the morning and begin to get back into shape and lose weight again. Next, I no longer have an hour long commute each way, so I can be home earlier and I can eat dinner and be ready for bed earlier. I can also spend more time being more involved in the DOC.

So, let me quickly get into the health insurance issue. I am entitled to COBRA for 18 months, and the costs of it are about 1/3 of what I thought it was going to be, so I am extremely happy about that.

So, that is where I am. Moral of the story? If you want something, do it. Stop thinking about it constantly and stressing about it and going back and forth. Weigh your options, and make the best choice for yourself.

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Sunday Weigh-In

Chris — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Starting this year, I will be posting my Sunday weight. It is the only day of the week that I am going to weigh myself. I am going to let everybody know how overweight I am, so hopefully it motivates me to lose it even more.

Today’s weigh-in:

274

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Cleaning Out my Closet

Chris — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

This weekend is going to be filled with a lot of cleaning. Taking down all the Christmas decorations and then trying to pack away all the new Christmas things we bought after Christmas is going to be lots of fun. Why? Because I have nowhere to store any of this crap. I decided that there is some room in my storage area that is currently filled with clothes that I fit into 2 years ago, that I have been holding on to waiting to fit back into them. Guess what? Those clothes are going away.

It’s time for me to clean out my closet. I have been saying for two years that I am going to fit back into these clothes, and I just haven’t been able to do it. Then I started to think, if I do lose enough weight to get back to that size, then I am going to reward myself with buying brand new clothes. I have probably close to 10 pairs of shorts, 20 shirts and several pair of jeans. I’ll pass some of them along to Amanda’s brothers or my father, and then the rest of it will go to Goodwill stores.

Sometimes you just have to cut your ties with things and move on to better things.

I’ll let you know next week if I actually got rid of all this stuff.

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If You Want It, Go and Get It

Chris — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 14:00:24 +0000

The other day I saw a tweet from Rob Dyrdek, from MTV’s Rob & Big and Fantasy Factory. I don’t remember the exact tweet, but I remember that I re-phrased it on Facebook and it has had me thinking about the tweet ever since then. Basically, this is what I said, “There’s two types of people you can be. Those that bitch about the shit you don’t have, or those that work hard to get the things you want. I know which I am, which will you be?”

Ever since then, I have really been thinking about it. Not just in my personal life, but in the business side of things as well. I then started relating it to my diabetes as well. I always talk about how I want certain things related to diabetes, and I want to do certain things. Well, it’s time to stop talking about them and doing them. So, here are the top five things that I want and will work my ass off until I get to it.

Omnipod – I’ve been saying for a long time that I want an Omnipod. I have ripped out so many infusion sets from my wire being caught on the arm of my office chair. Or a hassle to connect and disconnect when I’m at the beach and I want to go into the water. The one and only reason that I am not using an Omnipod right now has nothing to do with insurance or coverage. It is because I use too much insulin. I would be changing sets every single day. In order to cut down on my insulin usage, I need to lose weight. When I was 60 pounds lighter when I was first diagnosed, I was using only about half of the insulin that I am using now. I WILL work my ass off to lose that weight, so I can start using an OmniPod
A1C below 6.5% – I am definitely not a fan of the A1C, nor do I get too upset when I see a high number. I know the number is important and it gauges how the last 90 days went, but I know that I can always improve it. Well, I want it to be below 6.5%. This is something that is in my control and bitching and complaining about it is not going to accomplish anything. Losing weight, eating better ,exercising, wearing my Dexcom constantly, are all actions that I can take to accomplish this. I WILL work my ass off to lower my A1C to below 6.5%
New Jeans – I don’t just want any kind of new jeans, but I want new jeans at the old size I used to wear. I am not setting any unrealistic goal here. I want to fit into the size jeans I was wearing about a year or maybe two years ago. There is nothing better than losing weight back into an old wardrobe. I have done it before, but I just went back and ate myself right back into the heavy wardrobe again. I WILL work my ass off to be able to buy new, smaller jeans.
Attend More Events – This year, I really want to attend more diabetes events. The main reason that I haven’t been able to go to as many as I want to is because of financial reasons. That will be the same issue this year, but I am working on ways for that not to be as much of an issue. The few events that I do get to travel to every year are amazing. I love spending time with everybody that I talk to online and meeting new people at these events. I WILL work my ass off to be able to attend more events this year.
Make a Difference in my Community – I have plans on being more active with my local government and local leaders on becoming more active with them and getting diabetes in front of their faces a bit more. I was able to start on this last year, but did not have a lot of success, so I WILL work my ass off this year in order to make a difference in my community.

That’s it. That’s a lot of things that I want to do that I kept talking about, and I have put some plans together to be able to get this stuff accomplished.

I’ll do a follow up shortly to see how I have done.

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New Year New Diet

Chris — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 19:07:39 +0000

2012 brings the opportunity to start fresh and start new things. Every year I set a few goals, and last years goals I did not do a good job in accomplishing them. As I stated yesterday, I plan on setting smaller goals throughout the year that lead up to the big 2012 total goal. Today, I am going to talk about the dieting goals that I have.

During my last visit to the endo, I spoke with the nurse practitioner and the dietician about me losing weight. They mentioned that I should go on a 2 week vegan diet and that I would lose a healthy amount of weight during that 2 week time frame. I shot down the idea of a vegan diet right away. So, since I can’t just jump right not that, I’ve decided to cut MOST meats out of my diet. The only meat that I am going to eat is chicken. That means no more burgers, no more hot dogs, no more turkey, no more pork, sausage, bacon…. chicken only. I am also going to cut out cheese and high fat foods. No more mayo, no more cheese, no more ranch dressing, etc.

Within this 2 weeks, I am also cutting out fast food. Once I reach this 2 week goal, I will be going camping, so I know for a fact that I will be eating poorly, so that is going to be my reward for reaching a short term goal.

One goal that Amanda and I made together was to not eat out anymore, well at least not as much. So I will be cooking more often. I have a lot of recipes that I have tweaked that are healthy that I can’t wait to make. I am looking for a good recipe for tuna fish and chicken salad. I am cutting out mayo, and that was what I used to make it awesome. Mayo and relish and onions. Anybody know of a good alternative and a healthier solution?

Let me know.

Thanks.

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2012 Goals – Not Resolutions

Chris — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 03:55:41 +0000

2012 is here. I can’t believe it, but it is here. I have not set any sort of resolutions in several years, but I do set goals. No, they are not the same thing. My resolutions always tended to be things that I am going to change about myself. My goals are all about making myself better and reaching a new level. So there are a few goals that I have for the entire year, but mainly the goals I have will be weekly, monthly, quarterly, etc.

First goal…. 2 weeks of a vegetarian diet. I was going to do 2 weeks Vegan, but I do not think that I can do it. I do not want to set unrealistic goals either. If I can get through the 2 weeks of a vegetarian diet, then I will attempt the vegan at another point.

My second goal is to post every single day this year. That’s right, from January 1 – December 31. It will be tough, but I am going to do it.

My next goal will be a quarterly one (even though it involves day to day management), but I want to lower my A1C each of the 4 times I get it done this year.

There are multiple other goals that I have, that involve weight, exercise, work, financial and advocating, but there are too many to list out here.

I hope everyone has a great 2012.

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Keeping it Real with Diabetes

Chris — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:30:22 +0000

How many times have you all come to this blog and read that I was going to make changes in my life and lose weight and create a lifestyle change and stop eating unhealthy, and begin exercising and get healthy again? I recently looked back and did some site searches to try to find those kinds of posts and I was able to find about 20 different times that I said I was going to do this. Well, guess what I am going to be writing about in this post? You guessed it, I am going to be making lifestyle changes.

What makes me think that this time it is going to work? Because I have had some harsh realties lately, and I am not afraid to talk about them. The more I deny and hide them the longer this is going to happen. So, here is my confessional post.

I have blood sugars that are consistently high. When I test my sugar and it is under 200, I am happy. I count my carbs in my food and take a true bolus only about 30% of the time. I guess the other 70%. I have gained 60 pounds since I was diagnosed 7 years ago. At the time of diagnosis I was a size 34-36 waist for pants and shorts. I have recently been buying size 42 waist pants and shorts…. this weekend, none of those fit, I had to wear my size 46 shorts that I wear to golf in. When I walk up one flight of stairs, yes just one flight of stairs, I am out of breathe. Let’s remember, I used to be play college football (Quarterback).

I spend way too much money on fast food because I am too lazy to cook and clean up the kitchen after I get home from work. I make excuses not to walk the garbage down to the dumpster because I am too lazy, so sometimes I put it on the hood of my car and drive it to the dumpster. When I have a stressful day I eat Pei Wei, plus Amanda’s leftovers. Then usually follow that up with some ice cream.

Who is this hurting? This is hurting myself. Me being lazy is not doing me any good at all. I am making myself live a shorter life by doing all of this stuff or lack of doing these things if you want to look at it this way. And you know what? I am tired of it! I am tired of not fitting into clothes. I am tired of spending hundreds of dollars a month on fast food. I am tired of buying coffee in the morning instead of making it, and then eating a breakfast sandwich along with it. I am tired of eating a huge, carb filled lunch with fatty foods and then drinking 4 cups of coffee in the afternoon to keep myself awake.

Starting tomorrow, there will be a new me. I will be motivated. I will be driven for success. Things are not going to stop me. I will lose weight. I will stop spending dumb money. I will get more done in the diabetes world.

This is me, keeping it real!

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How does Food Affect My Daily Routine

Chris — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Last night I made it through my first, entire #dsma chat. I have participated before, but have never been able to make it all the way through. It was fun, but it definitely hurt my eyes really bad afterwards because there was just way too much to read and try to respond to. I mentioned that this chat gave me a lot of blog ideas because at certain times, when you live just a normal life, except you have diabetes, you don’t have much to blog about. I know that this whole food thing is something that people feel very strongly about. I read a lot of blog posts and tweets about food and how it affects some of your daily lifes, but to me, it doesn’t affect me much at all. This is also one reason that I am about 60 pounds overweight and haven’t had the best blood sugars lately.

Once I went on the pump, that is when all of my weight gain began, because I never thought twice about eating something in particular again. When I was on MDI, I thought about if I really wanted to eat something quick because I knew I had to take a shot. However, with the pump, I know there is nothing to it, but a few buttons and that’s it, now I can have that quick snack or extra serving if I wanted to. At times I think about going back to MDI because of how much less I ate and the more that I took care of myself.

I want food to be more of a hassle in my life and other diabetes related things. I want to be hassled and bothered by them for some time because for the past few years, I haven’t let diabetes get in my way, and I think my health and my care has gone down because of that. I have two weeks before my next endo appointment, and they will be looking at my weight very carefully, if it is not down some, they are going to take action because it’s been about 2 years that I kept saying I would lose weight on my own.

Starting today, I am going to act like I am still on MDI, however, I’m on a pump. I will calculate my own bolus and match it up with the pump to make sure that I still know how to do it. I will not eat anything unless I test my sugar. I will not have a snack just because all I have to do is hit a few buttons. For the next few weeks, I am going to live different. I am different because I have diabetes, I have to eat a different way…….. not because I have diabetes, but because I need to lose weight!

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Following Up on My Lifestyle Changes

Chris — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:58:08 +0000

So it’s been a week since my last post when I discussed my new lifestyle changes to lose weight and be a “better diabetic”. Over the week, I did a lot better with what I ate and did overeat. Until tonight. Tonight it was rainy and ugly and stormy and I just wanted to grab some takeout and bring it home and relax and not have to worry about cleaning anything up.

My blood sugars have also been doing a lot better over this time period. I have been testing a little more often but still not as often as I should be. I was disappointed that I couldn’t get to the pool tonight to exercise. The exercise bike that I have is a spinning bike, so it is a pretty intense workout and I am just not ready to do that yet, I know another excuse.

Well, I just wanted to check in and let you all know that I am still doing well on my diet, I’m down about 2-3 pounds since last week, so I am getting there.

Have a great week

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