Later this morning I’ll be heading to the doctor for my quarterly blood tests. Since I’ve been diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes I’ve had to head over to the doctor once each quarter to have my blood tested. They look at the glucose levels and some other stuff that tracks the level of my blood sugar over a longer period of time.
However, I think that the doctor will probably not be pleased that I’m weighing in at about 350 pounds. During my last quarterly blood test I went in there and weighed 347 (might have been 348, I don’t remember clearly). Since I graduated from Rutgers University’s Bloustein School back in May 2006, I’ve had a harder than usual time keeping my weight down in the mid to high 200’s (where I feel most comfortable). As I’ve said on this blog before, I attribute this problem to the fact that I spend at least two hours each day in a car commuting into Trenton and then back to Tinton Falls. It’s annoying and something that I think students should be told about in their life skills courses in college (they teach that stuff now, right? I don’t know).
Some people think that the way out of this problem is to get a different job. Frankly, that’s a dumb choice given the fact that my job is great and I’m building a stellar professional resume at my current company. At 29 years old I’m doing the same work (with ease) that folks in the middle of their careers struggle to understand. Plus, my current job has allowed me to take on teaching gigs at the local college and the state’s online college that really help me out in terms of incoming cash. Who doesn’t want extra money coming in, right?
Other folks might suggest that I absolutely have to make working out a part of my daily schedule. Well, I’ve been doing that to some degree and I think it’s helping. Though it’s just the Wii Fit, I’ve managed to work out on it for at least 30 minutes each day for over a month now (I missed working out on those days that I was in Boston, obviously). The Wii Fit has helped me drop about 15 – 20 pounds from my recent peak of 365 – 370 (that was a few months ago). The Wii Fit is a great tool for those of us that are generally running around like crazy people and just don’t have the time to work out.
Anyway, according to my bathroom scale, this morning I’m weighing in at 349.6 so I’m not really that far off from my last quarterly visit to the doctor. However, the truth is that I need to be going DOWN in weight during each visit – not up! If anything crazy happens during today’s doctor’s visit, I’ll let you know!
For example, I began working out a little bit again this week. Actually, I started playing around on my Wii Fit Plus last Saturday, but I managed to meet the recommended 30 minutes daily of exercise for each day this week. In fact, on most days I exceeded the 30 minute mark (though I wasn’t trying to – I was just trying to beat these little mini games). Today marks my ninth day in a row of getting at least 30 minutes in on the Wii Fit Plus daily and I’ve actually lost about 6 pounds in the last week because of this increased exercise and movement. Sure, I’m at such a high weight that I can lose 6 pounds by simply reducing the amount of calories that I take in each day, but doing some of these simple workouts is not only fun – it helps to burn excess calories, too. I think that is the type of person that the Wii Fit Plus was designed for – those people, like me, who are too rushed to drive to a gym in the morning and who are too exhausted for a full scale workout at night. This little gaming device is made for those of us who need to get our workouts in by hook or by crook. Or, in this case, by video game.
