Two birds with one stone

I just (apparently) realized something. I have this pump that collects gads of information. I have this software that can download all the information from my pump via infrared and display it in nice graphs. And I do download my pump data every few weeks to have a look.

But I don't really use the data. I usually just look at averages and decide whether I'm doing good or have slacked off a bit too much.

I'm happy with my A1c. My last A1c in August was 6.4, which is the lowest it's been in my enitre sixteen years with diabetes. But there are other things I'd like to work on: not having so much variability, getting my average down into my target range rather than having it hover just outside it, and not have so many random highs and lows.

I also need to start getting exercise badly. And I have a fair bit of weight I'd like to lose as well.

So, tonight I decided to actually look at the trends those graphs from CoPilot were showing. What it showed is that my primary problem area is lunch. I am within range before and after every meal except lunch; for lunch, I'm high to begin with and so of course also high two hours later. If I could fix lunch, my average of all readings might well fall into my target range.

So I began to think about why I was high at lunch, and I realized that were I work we have a coffee break at 10:00 that lasts half an hour, and then a lunch break at 11:30 that lasts an hour. This means that I am eating twice within about an hour of one another. No wonder I'm not in range at lunch! The stuff I eat at break is also usually from the bakery, and hence usually carb-laden.

And then I began to think about how I want to get more exercise. "Well, I'll just quit eating baked goods and having lattes at break," I thought. That would stop me from being high at lunch. And then I thought that maybe I would use the half-hour break to go for a walk around the college. That would not only stop me from eating for sure, but I'd also get a bit of exercise in there.

I'm going to try it. This change in routine would benefit both my exercise needs as well as blood sugar control. And it wouldn't cost me any extra time, either, since I spend half my break waiting in line at the coffee place anyway. (And hey, it would even save money!) I dug out a pedometer and am going to bring this tomorrow for motivation. My MP3 player was sadly sacrificed to the washing machine gods, but I'm not going to use that as yet another excuse for why I'll put off exercising.