TRX vs Blood Sugar

I gave up on the gym last winter, and since then I’ve been working out at home with a TRX Suspension Trainer.  Forgive me while I sound like an infomerical, but for me, the TRX is an amazing total body workout.  The only weight involved is your own body weight.  No lifting of anything required.  And the best part is the fact I can workout at home.  This not only means that I don’t have to deal with sweaty benches and machines in the gym, but I can also wear the big glasses that slip down my nose, pile my hair on my head without looking in the mirror, stay in the shirt I slept in,  and I don’t feel embarrassed for a minute. (See, I even posted a photo!)

This morning, after less than four hours of interrupted sleep (thanks, Adam!) I forced myself to exercise.  I was tired,  but I overcame exhaustion with the little jolt of inspiration I got yesterday from Emily Patton’s blog post.  Emily and Karmel Allison went climbing together, and reading about it made me want to climb, too.  Or maybe it just made me want to hang out with them.  Either way, I pushed aside the fact that I was exhausted because at 4:00 a.m. Adam had complained his diaper was “not good,” although there was nothing wrong with it.  And the fact that I spent the rest of the wee morning hours half-sleeping while he watched Jim Jam.  And the fact that when Adam’s babysitter arrived to take him to the park at 8:30 a.m., he was sound asleep.  I pushed aside all the frustrations and thought not just about Emily and Karmel, but also about Jane Kokernak’s ice skating, Amy Stockwell Mercer’s running, and my husband’s (slightly crazy) running.  Being active is important (especially if you have diabetes).  Being strong is important.  It’s too easy to fall into the I’m too tired trap.

This morning I concentrated only on doing something that’s good for me and for my body.  It was a wise thing to do.  My blood sugar behaved all day.  I even forgot I was exhausted.

Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and has continued to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets).

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Jessica Apple

Jessica Apple grew up in Houston. She studied Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan, and completed an MA in the same field at the Hebrew University. She began to write and publish short stories while a student, and continues to write essays and fiction while raising her three sons (and many pets). Jessica’s work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Financial Times Magazine, The Southern Review, The Bellevue Literary Review, Tablet Magazine, and elsewhere. She is the diabetes correspondent for The Faster Times. In 2009 she and her husband, both type 1 diabetics, founded A Sweet Life, where she serves as editor-in-chief. Jessica loves spending time with her sons, cooking with her husband, playing with her cats, reading, biking, drinking coffee, and whenever possible, taking a nap. Follow Jessica on Twitter (@jessapple)