Yes Virginia, there will be a Christmas (Wii!)

Post Christmas update -

Blood sugar testing: Fell off the wagon again. Ugh. Hate doing this. I started doing my fasting at work first thing but then that prevents me from having a real breakfast at home. Need to find a better routine.

Shoes: Finally replaced my old, possibly spider infested "running" shoes this weekend. Nothing fantastic, but a serviceable pair. Can't wait to break them in.

Health: Caught a cold on the 21st and haven't done anything mildly cardio- since then. Just working on trying to get my breathing back. Feeling better today, finally. Excited to ....

Wii: Between the $400 after taxes from the H1N1 vaccine clinic Saturday work and some money from the parents we scraped together enough to get some Xmas presents for each other (and tires and some other car maintenance) - oh the Best Buy and Sears CC's helped too. So my lovely husband bought me the Wii I've been wanting for ever! I'm so excited! I am excited to play the fun games (Lego Star Wars, anyone?) but I'm also super jazzed at the prospect of a fitness game. I'm doing research on a few...

• Wii Fit Plus (of course) - I like the idea of not realizing you are working out and the yoga
• EA Sports Active - Would a more "grown up" gym experience be a better fit (pardon the pun) for what I'm looking for
• Biggest Loser - Looked good on Amazon.com, would love to hear Jillian/Bob helping me, liked the idea of Challenges and Daniel and I could use the competition aspect to encourage each other; not so keen on the recipes and "tips", would hate it if I ended up with one of the contestants that I HATED being my "stand-in".

That's it for now. Thanks for listening!

Hurdle #1

Breakfast.

Not my favorite meal of the day. My window for breakfast in the morning is between 6 and 6:30 am. I'm never hungry that early in the day, therefore I never eat breakfast. Actually, the only breakfast I eat is when Daniel and I go "out to breakfast" on the weekend and that meal is usually full of pancakes and bacon (or the bacon cheddar waffle!) and it occurs at 10 or 10:30.

So, begrudgingly I need to start eating breakfast.... "the most important meal of the day"...bla bla bla.

Maybe oatmeal. I'm not a huge fan because I usually only eat it when I'm sick and therefore it has a pretty negative image in my mind. I know I need protein, but it's not like I'm going to eat eggs every morning. I don't even know how I'll find the time. Maybe I can bring it with me and take the first 10 minutes of my workday to scarf down some oatmeal. I've had to start getting up early to exercise the crazy dog, and so the thought of getting up even earlier to have breakfast doesn't make me very happy. Maybe it doesn't have to be a great breakfast right away - maybe just getting my body to be hungry so early is a good place to start?

Something good: Fasting blood sugar (162) was much better than yesterday.

Have you ever had a secret...

"Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve." ~ Napoleon Hill

I've been harboring the secret desire to be an athlete for several years now. I'm blaming the Olympics. I long to be able to swim great distances, to enjoy the peace and solitude of an early morning run, or to bicycle past great vistas, or even to enjoy physical exercise that most healthy people can enjoy. I feel like I'm not only missing out on these great adventures but abusing the only body that I will ever inhabit.

I was an overweight child who became an overweight teenager and, to no great surprise, find myself an overweight adult. I've always considered myself "healthy" and in decent shape, but the cold hard facts don't lie. I have developed Type II Diabetes because of not only my genes but also my lifestyle - my diet and exercise levels probably were poor enough to increase the odds of a "normal" person to develop diabetes, let alone someone who was genetically predisposed. I knew that this was my likely fate - several family members are diabetic. Why wasn't that enough for me to change my lifestyle 5, 10, 15 years ago? Change is difficult, I'm lazy by nature. Well, lets not dwell in the past, shall we?

So, I've been thinking about making some changes to improve my all-over health, and just maybe I'll find an athlete lurking somewhere inside. I'm not one for resolutions so I'm not waiting for the new year to start. I'm also smart enough when it comes to my own habits to know what are reasonable goals, and what are foolish promises made to myself that I will break. My end goal doesn't have specific facts attached to it - no magic number of pounds of weight loss, no specific A1C number (measure of blood sugar control for those of you not in club Diabetes) I am trying to achieve. I feel like if I set specific goals then this will become a project - not a permanent change.

So, here is what I will be working on toward better health:

• Blood sugar monitoring - I've fallen down on the job here this last year (long story) but I need to use this tool to monitor how my body is responding to the food I eat, the exercise I get, the stress of the day. Also this will give me an indication of whether or not my meds are doing their job.
• Exercise - Yuck. For those of you who aren't burdened by extra pounds, exercise is not easy when you are overweight. I need to get past this. I also need to get past worrying about what other people think about when they see me exercising. Who cares what they think - I shouldn't.
• Food - My great love (besides Daniel, of course!). I need more balance here. Splurging on occasion is fine, having the diet of a 15 year old boy is not fine. Less fast food (even though it is so convenient) and more veggies.
• Attitude - This is also an area that will need to be worked on. Sometimes I'm so afraid of failure that I never try. This time I'm not only going to try, I'm going to get what I want - with a lot of hard work, of course.

Thanks for following me on this journey!

P