My Medical Achievements

I have the usual and customary 'mature' afflictions of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, being overweight or worse yet, obese and to top it all off I am also a Type 2 diabetic. I am enrolled in the Veterans AffairsMOVE(MotivateObese/OverweightVeteransEverywhere) program. This is one of the greatest programs I have ever been involved with. I have lost over 28 lbs. since January 18, 2011. My weight now (me naked - of course) is 256.2 lbs. I have to see my doctor tomorrow, Tuesday, May 17, 2011 and hopefully he will tell me that I need to stop taking glyburide (diabetic medication). Glyburide is the strongest diabetic medication that I take. This drug makes you hungry which if you eat more, you will gain weight and excess can wreak havoc with Type 2 diabetes and so the snowball rolls downhill. Since I have been losing weight, my sugar readings are now in the double digits during the day - low but not dangerously low. In the morning before medications the readings are less than 105. Levels less than 135 are good for Type 2 diabetics. Levels in the 60s or less are risky and immediate sugar intake is mandatory. M&Ms are not recommended but fruit, fruit juice or sugar tabs are. I attended aMOVEmaintenance meeting today. I also had to have another BMI weigh-in since I reached a target weight of 265 or less. WOW! What news! It turns out that I lost 28.3 lbs ofbody fat, my BMI dropped from 50.4 (morbidly obese) down to 44.1 (obese) since December 28, 2010, 139 days ago. I am still obese, not a good thing but better than morbidly obese and I am headed in the right direction. Not only did I lose a lot of body fat but I also gained 1.4 lbs. of muscle mass. Becasue of the gain in muscle, which weighs more than body fat, my goal weigh was raised from 185.4 lbs. to 191.5 lbs. assuming that I do not lose any muscle mass along the way. I was concerned becasue Iwas not really losing weight each and every week. I am onOrlistat. This is the prescription strength ofAlli, the medication that absorbs 1/3 of your fat intake and is excreated. This does help in losing weight especially the body fat weight. In order to have this prescription filled each month thru the VA Healthcare system I have to lose at least 4 lbs. each month. I did not reach that goal this month. Well, now that I know all the facts, I have actually been averaging afatweight loss of 6.19 lbs each month - not bad and that is allfat. My next BMI weigh-in is due when I reach 240 lbs. If I keep the same fat weight loss, I should reach that goal in another 1220 days - September 13, 2011 which is the day after my birthday. That woiuld be a wonderful birthday gift that I will certainly treasure.