Even though Equal and Splenda have been around for many years, you can still find Saccharin at many restaurants and especially low quality gas stations. I have a long running problem with establishments that provide Saccharin exclusively. I know it’s probably much cheaper but no self respecting diabetic will eat that crap. I’m not saying you cannot have Saccharin, but you have to provide one of the other alternatives as well. I can’t tell you how many times I have found myself in a situation where there is only Saccharin available. I do try to carry my own but that’s not always convenient and dammit I shouldn’t have to. There are millions of diabetic customers in the world and as one of them I have to tell businesses that when you only offer Saccharin it feels like a slap in the face. I feel like you don’t care about me at all and you are not willing to a make a little extra effort to make me comfortable. It’s a subtle point of business but an important one.

So I’ve completely and totally fallen off the wagon. I’ve gained back probably five pounds and noticeable inches to my waist. This has really got to stop. It’s a matter of balancing wants and desires. I desire to keep my weight down, but I often want to eat a hamburger. Somewhere there is the right balance. Starting to exercise regularly like I used to, oh, that would help greatly as well.

I write this to update you on where I am and to let you know the struggle doesn’t end. Hopefully soon, we will get through the move to Portland transition and things can get back to normal, which will make it so much easier to get on track. That and I plan on getting a really good bike in Portland (it’s bike city after all). So many things are bike-able, I may get it a good deal more exercise getting around town. Portland does have all those great food carts though…..oh, boy.

It’s not been easy and there have been good days and challenging days. We are now on Christmas vacation away from home and thus on a hiatus from Lindora as well. I am trying to keep to the program as best as possible but the folks at Lindora said to not worry about loosing weight, just not to gain any. I haven’t stepped on a scale yet and I’m a little afraid to. We’ve not strayed greatly, but we have strayed. Let’s just say Solvang, CA is not a good place to go if you’re on a diet due to the abundance of Danish pastry treats .

The other big piece of news is that due to my weight loss I was able to stop taking the injectable insulin a few weeks back and I was able to cut another diabetes medicine in half. So far, even on this hiatus, my sugar is staying in line. I have also noticed several of my pants don’t fit right anymore due to my shrinking waist. That’s a very satisfying feeling.

After Christmas it’s back to the grindstone for the final push for 190. My ultimate goal is to stay below 200 for life. I started this adventure at 218lbs. So far, so good.

This diet is protein based in general. Very low carb and low fat. The doctor in charge thinks I should be off my insulin by the end of the first week and probably off one of my other diabetes meds a week later. That would be very cool and I’m looking forward to that. Overall, it’s expected I will loose around 20-25lbs in this 10 week program. That would put me comfortably under 200lbs which has always been my goal. So, here we go. It’s time for my snack.

Update: 9:00pm: Made it to the end of the day and it was quite an afternoon. I started to get a headache around noon and it increased rapidly. By 2 I needed some Advil and realized I had had enough water. I had my appointment at Lindora and they confirmed the drastic drop in carbs contributed to the headaches. They modified the menu for be, boosting the carbs to help out until I fully adjust. The good news is that I didn’t feel hungry so outside of the headache it was a decent day.