Beginning to manage

Megan the dietician helped me understand how to eat better and when to eat.  Yes, breakfast really is that important to all things…both weight loss, if that’s what you are going for, and glucose management.  Sometimes those two go hand in hand, and I suppose that’s a good thing.

Megan provided me with a lot of fact sheets and brochures and when I winced at not having a snack period, she patted my hand and with a bit of exasperation said “Fine, we’ll give you a snack!”.  She likely said it much nicer than that, but I’m painting a picture here of how  much I whined.   The end result was a snack built in to my diet plan in late afternoon.  

Not just eating breakfast but trying to eat at regular times was the next hurdle.  Also a bit difficult for me because as a procrastinator, I sometimes put off cooking and eating until very late in the day.   I have never been one of those dinner is on the table at 5:30 kind of people. I wish I had been as I now see how beneficial it is.  Regular fueling in addition to the medication is key for me.  But, we’ve established that I’m a snacker, a breakfast skipper and a procrastinator…gosh, I think I am stumbling on the answer to the why me question, at least, in part. 

Hubs has a great metabolism and is able to pack in a lot of food and still looks pretty good.  He also burns a lot of calories with the amount of work he does around this house and yard in addition to his job.  Not so much me…mine comes more in spurts.  A few years ago my son lived here for a few months and brought with him a little dog that had to be walked on a leash.  That started some routine walking for me and when the little dog left, I realized how much exercise I got just walking that little girl in the yard.  One of the reasons I got my own little dog was to replace that activity besides being a sweet companion.

So, a controlled diet, regular meals and mealtimes, a bit of exercise … I am getting there.  It is hard for me to remember my medication and to take it at regular times…twelve hours apart and to be taken with a meal.  In order to get that accomplished, I have to get up and going, think about my cereal earlier, like at 7 or 7:30, and then 12 hours later, my dinner and night time medication, squeezing lunch and sometimes a snack in between. Guess who ends up not having a snack? Not nearly as important as it was when I sat in Megan's office and whined.  

Now, if I would also tackle my insomnia and get to sleep earlier, so I’d wake up earlier, so I’d eat my cereal earlier and take my medication…it’s not as easy as one thinks, you know? It’s years of habit we’re trying to change here, ladies and gentlemen.