Another month done - progress and pics

Well, it's the end of September, and you know what that means - it's measurement time! 

Here are the stats for this month, showing changes in measurements versus month ago and versus December 2011 (before I started working out) for comparison:

With the usual caveat that I am still morbidly obese (Class III!), I am seeing progress on all my measurements this month.  I think what is driving these results is the elliptical machine combined with the incremental walks, which have helped me to lose 3.75" overall compared to last month, and an amazing 24" down from last December.  Think about that - I have lost 2 feet of me - - that's a lot of mass that has simply disappeared.  *Poof!*  Aaannnnnddd it's gone, just like that!

Of course everyone knows there is no "Poof, gone just like that".  It's a little bit here, and a little bit there, grimly clawed out of repeated workouts and obsessive attention to my food consumption.  While it's really gratifying to see the results from month to month, I am waging the battle from day to day, every day.

You can really see this in my fasting blood sugars:

The green lines indicate normal sugars, while the yellow lines indicate elevated fasting blood sugars in the pre-diabetic range (between 5.6 mmol/L and 6.9 mmol/L).  I am making progress at managing my sugars, even though I have the same number of normal results in September (5) as I did in August.  The difference is that in September I was able to string together two consecutive days of normal sugars, twice, whereas in August, my normal results were always isolated events. I also did not reach a value of 6.8 mmol/L in September (unlike once in each of July and August), so my high values are not as dramatically high - in September my highest reading was 6.3 mmol/L, which although high, is better than it was.  I'll take what I can get. 

You can see a progressive improvement in my average fasting blood sugar numbers: July = 6.3; August = 6.0; September = 5.8.  Further, the standard deviation decreased from 0.4 in August to 0.3 in September, meaning that my values were more tightly clustered around the mean (there were too few values in July to get a meaningful standard deviation).  In other words, my average fasting blood sugar is lower from month to month, and the swings from highs to lows are narrower as well, suggesting that I am (ever so slowly) getting control of my blood sugars.

What I would like to see is a further decrease in my average fasting blood sugar numbers in October, and perhaps a streak of 3 normal values.  Baby steps.

As for weight, my weight as of August 31, 2012 was 284.3 pounds.  This morning I tipped the scales at 274.3 pounds, for a loss of 10 pounds in September.  Since the end of July I have lost 19.4 pounds overall, something I would never have said was possible.  That damn elliptical machine works miracles.  

So, can I see a difference in my face from month to month?  I don't really see a difference.  But I can certainly see a difference from how I looked in August 2008 and today:

OK, sure, the hair is still unruly.  That's just not gonna change - - there is not enough product in the world to tame my mane.  But I am definitely less jowly than I was, and my face is becoming more of its natural oval, as opposed to circular, which is was.

In summary:

Pounds lost this month: 10
Inches lost this month: 3.75"
Clothing size: US/Can 22
Average fasting blood sugar: 5.8 mmol/L
Number of ankles: 0
Number of cankles: 2
Number of clavicles seen: 0 (a girl can dream...)