Hoarding test strips for no good reason. Eating whatever sounds good, not what the recommended carbohydrate count states.
Oh, but exercising, exercising was always on the mind and always a weekly goal set.
That is where I stood on May 31. No matter how much exercise I logged in March, then April, then May, I knew the non-existent blood glucose monitoring would be telling me it was not enough, especially not when I erased the idea of carb counting from my memory.
That was when the challenge began – the start of a new month would be the start of a new attitude – back to basics with blood sugar testing at least once a day and limiting carbs to the rather generous 180 g per day 5 out of 7 days each week of June.
The thing is, small steps work (for me) when getting back on track with type 2 diabetes. Instead of a total overhaul of testing 4 times a day every day and limiting myself to a once-upon-a-time standard of 130 g carbs per day, I started small. Back to basics – the way I began at diagnosis eight years ago, the way I restarted when first prescribed metformin five years ago. I decided keep myself in check by tweeting every blood sugar check possible, just as other non-PWD friends had done with similar recent 30-day challenges.
Did the better diabetes habits resurface? With a resounding yes!
In May, I only tested my blood sugar 14 times. In June, 70. The overall average on the meter dropped 10 mg/dl over the 30 days – with a much more dramatic drop coming before breakfast. Part of this I attribute to the actual carb counting and part of it was simply knowing that the meter was holding me accountable to that carb counting and to the exercise routine I already established.
June was just the beginning with establishing habits that I do not intend to break. September brings the real test (no pun intended), with another round of bloodwork in preparation for my next endocrinologist appointment and fingers crossed that the A1C level drops from its recent results.
