Extreme Diabetes Makeover

I mentioned in yesterdays post that my mom got me a subscription to Diabetes Living magazine. While flipping through the magazine yesterday I came across an article about a lady with Type 2 diabetes and how she was participating in an extreme diabetes makeover. She had trouble keeping her A1C levels at a normal 6-7%, she was up around a 9%. She was also having trouble losing weight. If you want to read the article, click here.

I found this quite interesting, and inspirational. Now I do not need to lose one ounce of weight. But I do need to get my A1C levels down. After taking my blood at my last doctors appointment (which was two weeks ago) my levels still came back at 9%. I've been hovering there for six months. Now you may be wondering, what is the A1C level mean?

"A test that sums up how much glucose has been sticking to part of the hemoglobin during the past 3–4 months. Hemoglobin is a substance in the red blood cells that supplies oxygen to the cells of the body. The AIC goal for patients in general is an AIC goal of less than 7%. The AIC goal for the individual patient is an AIC as close to 6% as possible without a considerable amount of low blood glucose." 

Definition taken from the CDC website

Now to get this to drop is easy, and it isn't. I want to start my makeover. I want my A1C to be at a normal 7% by summer time. My next appointment is April 8. I want to maybe see my numbers drop a percentage by then. I know that if my percentage drops, I will feel that much better. What's crazy, is that when I was in the hospital they did my A1C there. My result was 6.5%. Pinpointing exactly when my diabetes started. 

This is what I will be (or attempting to do) for my my makeover. 

- Make a PUBLIC log of my daily glucose levels. I test three times a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner) and I think that if i publicly show what my numbers are, it will motivate me to fix myself, and my diet. Writing it down myself in my own journal didn't help me to much. I could just hide it, and I even stopped writing in my own. I knew that the doctors could just plug my meter in and see what I've tested at so I didn't care. But people seeing it will want me to keep my numbers down. What can I do to lower my numbers between lunch and dinner? How much more or less insulin should I take at breakfast? What should I be doing on my days off to keep my numbers in the normal range?

- Get a pedometer. The average person takes between 1,000 and 2,000 steps a day. Now I work on my feet so I should be doing more than that. I want to attempt to do maybe 10,000 steps a day. This all depends on my average I take at work. This could be very easy to do, or tricky. How far and long will I have to walk on a day off in order to be at 10,000 steps? I know that in itself will drop my numbers and also help circulation in my feet. My feet always look a lot "better" after I'd done a lot of walking, especially in my healed boots. Kind of why I wear them daily. Maybe it's my foot being forced to walk on my toes for 8 hours, which moves the blood around. I'm not sure. They do something.

I'm going to start with those two things. I have to go to Walgreens this week to pick up needles, and I will be picking up a pedometer while I am there. But I can start today with my daily glucose levels. Kind of like that I'm starting on a Monday. Feels like a fresh start.

Breakfast - 149 10:47A

Lunch - 179 3:02P

Dinner - 63 7:56P

**Normal glucose levels should be between 80 and 150

All in all, not a bad day. I'm even surprised my morning number was so low. Usually it's up in the mid 200's. *pats self on back* 

Be back tomorrow night with tomorrows numbers.