Updates on the scale

It's been over a week now that I've been "blogging," so I want to write about where I'm at with my weight loss goals. Siiiiiigh. No progress this week. In fact, I'm up a pound. This is the week before my period, which always means a couple of pounds in water weight gain...but still. I think that if I want to get these last 15 pounds off, I need to watch everything that I'm eating more closely, even during "this week."

For some time, I've been struggling with setting my basal rates correctly in the ten days or so before my period. I become extremely insulin-resistant (any women readers out there go through this?) due to changing hormome levels. I end up increasing my basals during this time...but the challenge is how much to increase, when. If I increase too much too quickly, my blood sugars can crash. Starting out slow, though, usually results in a couple of higher-than-normal days. I tend to settle somewhere in between...unfortunately, even record-keeping doesn't help me to master this dilemma because each month is truly different in terms of when the insulin-resistance hits.

So my basals are set at what feels the right place now, but the weight is just there. I'm hoping that now that spring is officially here, getting out for more walks--combined with watching my food intake more carefully--will help me get closer to my goal.

Yesterday it was about 55 degrees here and I put my kids in their double stroller and walked up a really big hill. My neighborhood--Manayunk--is the hilliest in Philadelphia...it looks a lot like San Francisco, or Pittsburgh even. I made it up the hill pretty quickly, even with pushing the stroller. And that felt good. That was a new feeling. That made me remember that even if the scale isn't showing it right now, I am getting into decent shape. Just got to keep moving up those hills...

On June 7th, I turn 35. It's kind of just hit me that this is a signficiant birthday. I won't be in my "early 30s" anymore. Maybe living with diabetes is making me think a bit harder this year about mortality, in general. I want 10 pounds off by my birthday, that's a new goal. I want to keep living this next year with daily awareness of how my emotional/spiritual/intellectual/and physical health interact. I'm feeling happier now than I ever have in my life...and I want to honor that feeling in my body, as well as in my spirit and mind.

In peace,
Gabrielle