Goals, goals, ....

I have survived September, which was full of multi-day panels that I had to set up and run.

Now that things are less chaotic, I'm going to start working towards my get healthier goals.

• Goal #1: Work out 3-4 times per week. 
• Goal #2: Eat cleaner and track my food and water consumption. 

These two things work for me when it comes to losing weight, but my one problem is consistency and accountability. To help with that on the exercise side, I've signed up to work with a personal trainer at my gym. I'll meet up with him twice a week, and will do "homework" - some other exercise - twice a week.

On the food side, I've signed up to work with a nutrition coach who also works with my sister. She's had good results with her, so why not. I have to do weekly check-ins where I get measurements taken and she tracks my progress. The meal plan she has me on has bigger meals than I've had on previous plans (where I felt like I was so restricted I would get cranky just from thinking about it). The other thing she wants me to do is drink more water... like a gallon a day (128 fluid ounces!). I'm working up to that. 

So what else....

Oh... starting numbers:

• Weight: 148 lbs
• % Body Fat: 24.70
• Which means I have 37 lbs of fat
• 11lbs is essential 
• 21 lbs is reserve 
• 5 lbs is excess <-- the stuff I need to lose!

It's been a while....

In the past few months year or so, I have ...

• been diagnosed with Type II diabetes,
• changed jobs,
• celebrated 5-years of marriage with my husband,
• found out that I was pregnant,
• had a miscarriage, and
• gone on a vacation to Thailand. 

In all reality, that is a lot! The second, third, and last bullet are awesome, but the rest... not so much.

After being considered pre-diabetic for years, I was formally diagnosed with Type II diabetes in December 2015. After realizing that my exercise routine really wasn't one (aspiration not actualization), I decided that I would go to a personal trainer to hold me accountable. So, I signed up at the gym in the same building as my new job... and in the same night I found out that I was pregnant. Well, that put the weight loss and get healthy goals on hold, at least I thought. 

The shortened version of my pregnancy story is that a few weeks later is that I miscarried due to the fact that I had a partial molar pregnancy. While the hubs and I want really want to take the next steps with the family side of our life, that has been put on hold until next spring. 

Now, I can re-start my weight loss and get healthy goal. To put it more tangibly, I want to lose enough weight and body fat to reduce the amount of medication I'm taking to combat the Type II diabetes. 

Being "skinny-fat"

I’m sure that we have all heard the statistics that morethan a third of adults in the US are obese, and this has caused a rise in obesity related diseases such as heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. In April, I weighed around 142 lbs. and had a BMI of 24.7, which classified me as “Normal Weight”. I knew that I wasn’t at an ideal weight for my height but I wasn’t overweight. However, a check of my blood cholesterol and sugar numbers had a different story. They revealed that I was “skinny-fat”. My numbers for cholesterol, triglycerides, sugar, and HbA1C (a protein that is associated with insulin production) were high enough to classify me as pre-diabetic. The scariest number was the HbA1C number, which was 6.4%. Another tenth of a percent and I would be classified as Type 2 diabetic. Oh the joys of being “skinny-fat”.

The first time I heard about “skinny-fat” was in a 2011article in Women’s Health. The medical expert interviewed for the article, Dr. Jimmy Bell, also called this condition TOFI – Thin Outside Fat Inside. People who are “skinny-fat” or TOFI are not overweight but still have Type 2 diabetes. I recently re-read the article and saw some warning signs that contributed to my “skinny-fat” condition.  

1.    Stress – This is a big one for me. Six plus years of graduate school where I spent 10+ hours/day doing experiments, working on grants/presentation/papers, and teaching kept me busy; but I also know that I was plenty stressed from it all.

2.    Not regularly exercising – during grad school and even for a few years after, this was one of my problems. When I did make it to the gym, I would be consistent for a couple of months and then not go for a couple of months. I’ve improved on that some. I just need to make sure that when school does start up again and I’m back at work that I keep it up.

3.    Genetic pre-disposition – I’m not 100% sure who in my family had Type 2 diabetes, but I do remember that a couple great aunties or great grandparents had it. Plus, it turns out that certain ethnicities are pre-disposed to diabetes – Asians being one of them.

One factor that I have avoided was yo-yo dieting. Getting to the low 140s in the past 10+ years since high school was a slow process up. I know that getting back down to a more manageable weight needs to be done in a way that would end up being sustainable.

…

While I can end on the note of the previous paragraph, I do have some positive up-dates. My most recent blood work did reveal some improvements. My aim at loosing weight has been not as big as I had hoped, about 4-5 lbs since April. However, I am working out more than before and have gone back on Weight Watchers. The numbers are getting better too! Previously, my blood sugar levels were at 123 mg/dL. If they were 2+ mg/dL higher, that would have been one indicator for diabetes. The most recent number is 100 mg/dL! Ideally, I would have it below 100 mg/dL. But, I’m making positive progress J. Also, my HbA1C value that was 6.4 before is now down to 5.8. Diet changes and medication have helped here. I gotta keep it up! I’m making great strides, but more can be done.