Gaining? (day 49)

Key Stats: All BG's normal, 4 shakes 1 bar, no off eating. 30 minutes on the bike, 20 minute walk, and 30 minutes in the pool.

You read that right, gaining. But not weight! No what I am gaining is health. On Monday of this week I did a blood draw to get labs done for my up coming doctors appointment. They did a check of my A1c or more accurately stated my Hemoglobin A1c. You can click on the link if you want a detailed explaination of what this test is, but it boils down to it is basically a check of your average BG or blood glucose, or blood sugar for the past 3 months. Now I have been on this program for 49 days. I stopped taking medicine for my BG around 4 days into the program. So I have been off medicine for 45 days roughly. My A1c prior to starting my weight loss journey was 7.4. 7.4 is a crappy A1c, that meant that my average blood sugar was around 186. A normal person or when I say normal BG up above has a blood sugar between 70-100, or a diabetic person should keep their BG between 80-120 (for the record I don't know why the levels are different, but what ever).  So my A1c this time... 5.7. Damn right 5.7. That means my average blood sugar over the past 3 months has been 126. Now I KNOW that the next time I get an A1c done it is going to be even lower. I test in the 70-90 range every time I test. That should put me between 4.2 and 4.7. That means I got a GREAT A1c with over half of the time being measured when I was eating crappy food and not taking care of myself. I am going to add the label to this post right now... WINNING.

So what am I winning? What health am I gaining? Diabetes is a disease of aging. It makes your body get old faster. Plain and simple. Unchecked you can lose limbs from poor circulation. You can lose your eye site, lose feeling in your extremities. It is bad for your kidneys, bad for your heart. It is bad for just about every part of you. It is a shitty disease. The first time I was told I had it I put my head in the sand about it for over a year. I stopped going to that doctor, and didn't do a damned thing. I was in shock over it. I am the guy who didn't get cavities, has never broken a bone, didn't get sick often, and felt that I was invincible. But then, not so much. Then when I finally excepted it, I planned to drop weight and go into remission as fast as I could. That was not what happened. Sure at first I dropped some weight, but I gained it back. Slowly the amount of medicine I needed to stay in decent control climbed and climbed. Until just a few months ago when even on the max dose of Metformin my blood sugar was staying high nearly all the time. I was suppose to get better, but I was not I was getting worse. A few months ago my routine blood screening also said that my kidneys were showing signs of stress. I had to do something. I guess that blood test is the reason I am here. Sure the doctor said it wasn't too high yet, but it was something we needed to keep an eye on.  But my body was in the start of falling apart. I am 32 years old, my only living son is 2.5 years old and I felt like at the pace I was going I wouldn't get to see him graduate high school. At his young age he already knows about death because of his twin and his big brother and sister. I didn't want him to know about death because of his dad dying. Not at this age at least. I want to watch him grow up, and get married. I want to be a grandfather. Today I got the confirmation that I am doing what I need to do to make sure that happens. I am going to do everything in my power to never have to take diabetes medicine again. Next to get off my list I hope is blood pressure medicine.

On a some what lighter note, 4 more pounds this week. It is really closer to 6 pounds, but the official scale at the official measuring time gives 4 pounds so that is what I record. That means I am down to 276. Nearly 50 pounds down. I also got in the pool today. My arms are killing me, my abs can feel it, but it felt great. I have always love the feeling of swimming and today was no different. Of course when I was swimming every day  I didn't remember muscles feeling this sore. But it will get better. My goal is to start getting into the pool 3 times a week.

The more I go through this program, the more I learn about myself. I have learned that I am able to say no to food. I have learned that I was not always hungry, I just had lots of cravings. I have learned that I can become a "normal" eater. I can do this.

-Jon