It's MY Time . . .

and it can be YOUR Time too!!

As many of you know, this month is American Diabetes Month.  Over at dLife, a special initiative is going on all month called It's MY Time.  The goal is to encourage those of us with diabetes to reflect on the good things we do to manage our diabetes and to make small changes each week to improve the areas that need some work.

This week is about setting goals and getting motivated with three steps.

Step 1: Assess - Since starting on the pump in 2008 and the CGM earlier this year, I'm managing my diabetes better than I ever have.  I've got the lowest A1C I've ever had, and I'm hoping to see it holding steady when I go back to my endo next month.  But honestly, I still have areas of my management that need more focus and improvement.  I probably always will.  Diabetes has so many facets and factors that it often feels like a juggling act - with more balls than I can possible keep in the air.

Step 2: Make a List - For today, I'm going to limit my list to three good things and three bad things.  What balls am I keeping in the air?

• I've been focusing on healthy eating over the past few months - ridding our cabinets of unhealthy food and buying organic foods with better ingredients as much as possible.  Splenda has been traded for Stevia.  Chemical and preservative loaded treats full of High Fructose Corn Syrup have been swapped for better treats like Back to Nature cookies and Lara Bars.  Instead of eating Nurtri-Grain bars for breakfast, I reach for an organic banana.  Not only are my blood sugars benefiting, but I'm feeling better too.
  
• I test.  A lot.  Eight to ten times a day.
• I always wear my CGM.

And where have I dropped the ball?

• Logging.  I used to log everything . . . all the time.  Over the past few months I've fallen out of the logging habit though.
• Exercise.  I go in spurts where I'm really good about getting a work out in every day.  Unfortunately, those spurts only last a few weeks before I go back to being a slacker.
• Ignoring the CGM alarms.  Yes, I wear my CGM 24/7.  But sometimes, especially over night, I tend to ignore the low alarms.  I decide that it must be off and I'm not really that low.  Or that I'm on the upswing and should just wait for my blood sugar to come back up on its own.
  

Step 3: Prioritize - The last step is to pick one thing to work on improving each week.  I'm going to start with my biggest challenge.  EXERCISE  I had joined that Shred Challenge and did really well for the first week.  Seven workouts in a row.  But then I got sick.  I was stuck on the couch most of last week with barely enough energy to operate the TV remote.  Once a workout streak is broken I have a hard time starting up again.  But yesterday morning, I got a quick 20 minutes in on the treadmill.  This morning I'll do another 20, and my 45 minute ballroom-dance lesson is tonight.

So there you go.  That's MY Time.  How about YOU?  Are you ready to use this month to make some improvements?  Check out It's MY Time and come join the Community Group. Together we can do it, one small step at a time.