2002-11-02 - 11:51 p.m.

Victory!

Yesterday I had an appointment with my doctor, and while that's the sort of thing that I don't usually look forward to, today was different because I was using the visit a yardstick to see how well the low-carb diet had been working.

Well, I wasn't disappointed. My doctor was practically dancing with glee when he saw my numbers. My blood sugars were substantially lower and I'd lost 16 pounds since my last visit. Not too shabby! Go, me!

He told me that in spite of the fact they have more effective drugs against Diabetes than ever, a recent study showed that a regime of diet and mild exercise was twice as effective as the drugs by themselves.

He also told me another sobering statistic: it's estimated that by 2020 there will be 50 million diabetics in the United States, which is about half the number of people who voted in the last presidential election. The disease is starting to look like an out-of-control epidemic. My doctor blamed our poor diets and sedentary lifestyles (he specifically mentioned sitting in front of a computer all the time - uh oh) but I think the flood of complex carbohydrates in what we eat is largely responsible as well.

While I was there, I was curious what my weight had been on my various visits to the doctor, and the secretary copied them out of my file. There seem to be a few missing since there was only one from all of 1998.

Here is what she wrote down:

06/1995: 287
07/1995: 283
12/1995: 298
02/1996: 278
05/1996: 284
11/1996: 278
06/1997: 284
12/1997: 280
01/1998: 280
03/1999: 269
09/1999: 261
03/2000: 256
06/2000: 247
09/2000: 247
12/2000: 256
04/2001: 250
08/2001: 241
12/2001: 250
04/2002: 259
08/2002: 252
11/2002: 236

I ask you, what other Diarylander would have the nerve to publish this information? I've been keeping track of my weight on my home scale, but it's plain that is pretty inaccurate.

The main thing that concerns me is the way the numbers bounce around, but I've always been that way. In late 1994 I was tipping the scales at about 320 pounds. I was not a happy boy.

However, right now I'm at the lowest I've probably been since 1990, which is a good thing. However, I still have a long way to go - the ideal weight for my height and build is probably around 170 pounds.