jakorte's blog

As a diabetic, I have discovered that without regular, proper feeding, I can easily turn in to a lethargic little blobby belligerent. It’s not pretty.

It is, however, very similar to what happens when it is 6:40 pm on a Friday night and I find myself stuck in the 25-item-limit express line at the market behind someone with express-entitled beliefs and 2 carts of groceries. I become a major meltdown, with stupendous sarcasm abilities. Friends laugh at me when this happens, strangers just change check out lanes.

I really do try to avoid both situations, but I have that “just let me do this one more thing…� mentality. Especially now that I am giving up nearly an hour a day of my already limited personal time to exercise.

Maybe “giving up� isn’t the right term. Reassigning? Redirecting? Rejoicing?
Yeah, rejoicing! Minus many pounds, I’ve lowered my A1C to a very respectable 6.1 as of last week.

It’s taken me 2 years of exercise and dieting to get to this point, and I still have a ways to go. It will probably be, at least, another 31,449,600 seconds. Through it all, I’ve learned a lot.

I started out in January 2006, trying to make it 5 minutes on the lowest possible treadmill setting. That was the best I could do at the time. Eventually, I started talking myself into another minute or two, and worked my way up to 10, 20 and 30 minute walks. I average 45 minutes a night now. Some days, I do a little less, some days I do a little more.

I discovered that I need to be a constant eater. I carry at least one type of food with me most of the time. Granola bars, small cans of V8 juice, and nuts are my favorite quick-fixes.

I’ve also learned other cool things. Like how to use a calculator to figure the number of seconds in a year. And, how going from 5 minutes a day of exercise to 45 minutes a day, can change a lot of you to a lot less of you.

Don’t get discouraged.
Don’t try to sprint your way to health.
Don’t be unreasonable with your expectations.
Don’t try to calculate the number of seconds in a year, or two years, if you haven’t eaten lunch, yet. Especially, if you tend to be a cranky unfed diabetic, like me.

jak