Measure Your Diabetic!™️

It is the first day of the month! It is time to Measure Your Diabetic!

There are various body measurements I have to be aware of. Blood glucose is an obvious one, and I measure that three times a week. HbA1C is another, and that is tested once every six months or so. My last HbA1C test, seven weeks after diagnosis, was down from 88 mmol/mol (10.2%) to 53 mmol/mol (7%).

I also pay attention to my weight and my waist-to-height ratio. I measure these at home, on the first of each month. For consistency, I measure them as soon as I wake up. Here are my results for the last couple of months.

Why do I measure these things? I want to make sure I stay within the healthy BMI range (18.5 to 24.9) and healthy waist-to-height ratio (under 0.5). These measurements aren’t the be all and end all of health, but they do provide a useful indicator of general health. I also want to make sure I am not losing weight too quickly (which can be a sign I am over-exerting myself, or that I am ill). Losing about 0.5 to 1 kg per week is considered a safe rate, and I’m losing about 1 kg per month, which is in the safe range.

I don’t measure these things more often than once a month, because I am interested in long-term changes, so there is no benefit to measuring them more frequently.

I also measure these things first thing in the morning because your weight and waist size can actually vary quite a bit in the course of a day, but by measuring them at roughly the same time of day I get consistency in measurements.

As an aside, I’m not convinced I am measuring my waist size correctly. I might want to try a different technique to see what results I get.

Further reading

• Body mass index (BMI) from NHS Inform. Explains more about BMI and the healthy range.
• Why your waist size matters from the British Heart Foundation.
• Is it Bad to Lose Weight Too Quickly from Healthline.

1. Yes, I was a week late with this one. ↩︎