A New Set of Goals

My journey has brought me to this. This Thursday I received the word that I have Type 2 Diabetes. Not this was a shock. The odds were that I was were I was going to get something, high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes. I have been suspicious for a while. I have been monitoring my blood pressure from my regular blood donation visits and so far normal. High cholesterol runs in my family and I have a grandfather and several uncles who had died of heart attacks and my Dad had a quadruple bypass. Diabetes has always on the fringe. My grandmother and great grandmother had it and my Dad was being "watched" for it. Running +60 lbs overweight doesn't help either. So the doctor put me on Metformin and has some new goals for me.

Blood Pressure: Keep my BP at 129/79 or lower. Luckily this is average BP.

BMI of 30. Currently I am at a BMI of 39. A BMI of 30 translates to a weight of 215 lbs for me. The last time I weighed 215 was 1985 and I was 24 and working at UPS. I was so skinny you could see my ribs. But a BMI of 30 is still considered obese. Which is why I do not believe in BMI. I have been trying to lose 60lbs for the past 3 years (unsuccessfully I might add). So I would still like to lose the 60lbs and get to 225lbs. See goals for 2008 :(

A1C: Keep an A1C of 6.5 or lower. Mine is currently at 7.9. Which translates to a blood sugar measurement of 174. This is not good. This is what the Metformin is for.

Cholesterol: An LDL of 100 (or less). Currently I am at 139. My total cholesterol is 209. I have an HDL of 44. Given my family history, I think this is pretty good. The Doc also wanted to put me on cholesterol meds, but I balked. But he said he wants to see progress.

For the exercise part, I've been playing racquetball 3 days a week since 2007. I have also been working out in various forms. Weight lifting, Kettlebells - Thanks Scoundrel! and riding a stationary bike (boring, but I get a good sweat).

My diet will have to change a lot. I guess Mountain Dew and Nesquik will be an occasional treat instead of an everyday thing...

I will give updates on my progress on attaining these goals along with my journey into the Diabetes world.