cd667's battle logs

[cd667]

I drove back home last night, leaving at 10PM and arriving at 3AM. I wanted to go earlier, but the meeting really took it out of me, and I was totally drained for an hour when I got home.

 

I had to drop my sister home, and she insisted we stop at the shop so she could buy more diet coke (she has a bit of a problem relationship with food which I will tell you about some other time).

 

I ended up caving in and buying junk food at the services which I ate while driving down the M40. It wasn't even nice, and today I feel rubbish. I undid much of the good work I had been doing.

 

Takeaways from this:

1. It is no-one's fault but mine. I could have been more assertive and insisted I wasn't taking her to the shops, and I could have managed my time better so I left earlier. I had planned to go to a supermarket and buy a couple of bits of fruit, which would have been much better.
2. I associate long car journeys with eating crap food. This is an important cue that I need to think about.
3. Spending time with my family generally is hard work. In future I will need to plan ahead for this.

Going to chill out for another couple of hours, then a walk.

[cd667]

All been a bit of a blur, yesterday and today.

 

I kept my exercise and diet goals up yesterday. Walk and qigong.

 

Tai Chi session with my tutor today, and a 5 mile walk. But I have received a call from my surgery with the results of my blood tests.

 

It turns out I have type 2 diabetes. It's not exactly a surprise, and the nurse who told me about it was very kind, but she told me in no uncertain terms that I need a lifestyle change. She also told me to get onto a low carb diet. How much has changed in the last couple of years!

 

This all got very real. Diabetes is on track for killing my sister (it hospitalised her twice this year alone). I can't go the way she has gone.

[cd667]

5 mile walk yesterday. No Qigong though.

 

Today, though, I am a bit proud of myself. A proper bike ride of a couple of miles before breakfast. Including a bit up a 1:8 hill. I didn't finish the hill this time, but just you wait! Then home for a Qigong session before breakfast. And my usual 2 mile dog walk tonight (do I log that? It's what I do every day, having a dog makes it compulsory!).

 

My diabetes food advice is the first time I've been sent useful nutritional advice by the diabetes nurse. The last time was pretty traumatic, frankly, and put me off going back for years.

 

I've never been able to count calories. This diet sheet basically said keep to less than 130g/day of carbohydrate, and foods to avoid. I feel great. I can definitely live with it!

[cd667]

Diet going OK, I think. I am allowing myself to not be "perfect". 130g/day of carbohydrate is actually quite a lot. I'm not eating bread, although yesterday I broke my own rules and ate a small potato.

 

The meat content of what I've been given feels pretty unethical though. I feel a great deal of guilt for eating so much. And these days I am pretty time poor. Trips to the market are hard. I wouldn't mind hunting, or buying meat from an animal that had lived a good life. The factory farming thing bothers me though, and it's so hard to check the welfare standards of meat that you buy in a little plastic packet.

 

Exercise going well too. I beat myself up yesterday for only going on a 2.36mile walk (my usual evening dog walk).  But then I thought 2.36 miles is actually more than most people manage, and that's my off day. What's more important is I am moving better and carrying myself differently. I am not saying "oof!" when I get out of a chair anymore. I even did a recreational bike ride, part of which was up a very steep (1:8) hill. It was fun. Humans are meant to move.

 

It would be so easy to sack it all off, but I won't. Every day is going to be a battle. Might as well get used to it!

[fitnessgurl]

You can do this!

[cd667]

12 hours ago, fitnessgurl said:

You can do this!

Yes I can!

Slight wobble last night. Didn't get my walk with Max, I got stuck trying to get the backups on my computer working. By the time I'd finished, there were lots of drunks getting thrown out of the pubs. I didn't want to be in town with them. Computers sabotage my relaxation time. And I always forget that!

 

So this morning, I did an extra-epic walk in the woods just after sunrise. That felt goood. Back on track. 😀

 

[cd667]

This could have been a super-negative day.

 

I broke. I cooked an enormous bowl of popcorn. Started eating it... and then realised I didn't like it.

 

Popcorn is basically air and carbohydrate. It's only chilli and salt and pepper that make it notable.

 

It's in the bin.

[fitnessgurl]

6 hours ago, cd667 said:

This could have been a super-negative day.

 

I broke. I cooked an enormous bowl of popcorn. Started eating it... and then realised I didn't like it.

 

Popcorn is basically air and carbohydrate. It's only chilli and salt and pepper that make it notable.

 

It's in the bin.

 

[cd667]

Lovely walk in the woods yesterday.

 

Tai Chi class in a bit, after my day's work. Then another walk this evening. I am going to have a great day, I think.

[cd667]

OK, I didn't do the walk last night. It was really hot, to the point where I didn't want to risk Max getting hurt. He's getting on a little and I don't want to overwalk him.

 

But I did go on a bike ride. And it was brilliant!

[cd667]

Brilliant, dramatic walk last night. There was a thunderstorm at the other end of the valley. The path I follow on my standard daily walk is countryside. There are no street lights, it's countryside. Brilliant light show!

 

This morning, more practice on a new Qigong session. Pleasantly stretched and ready for the day now.

[RouleurBaby]

Going well CD! Your walking miles must be racking up now, are you keeping a log? Fantastic news on your riding too!

[cd667]

I should do, really. But I have been treating my walking time as sacred. Running a business, I've got so many people who want my time and for some reason many of them are very impatient at the minute. It's nice to not have any devices that could log my walks with me.

 

When I get enough of my legs back to go for sustained road cycling, I will be buying a power meter(they weren't really a thing when I used to properly train for cycling). But being good enough to justify purchasing one seems a long way off. For now, my training is just making it to the top of a hill without dying or getting off.

 

Anyway. Keeping my miles up with walking today. Epic ramble in Shining Cliff Woods. And another epic ramble with my friends by the canal yesterday. I'm enjoying my walking at the minute.

[RouleurBaby]

CD?

[cd667]

Oh, I'm still here. Took a day or two off for my birthday, and things have been mad with work. Plus my dog has been a bit poorly, which has curtailed my walking a little.

 

Don't worry, Max will be fine. I think he ate something bad. And I've lost another inch from my beer belly. I've still no idea what I weigh, but that's 3 and a bit inches since I started trying to get in better shape.

 

I'm happy with that!