The target band

A target isn't a single number. It's a range with a top edge and a bottom edge — and you already own a picture of it. It's the space between your CGM alarms. Most people aim at a number. Fluent people live between two lines.

Today's idea

Your CGM already draws the picture: a low alarm at the bottom, a high alarm at the top, and everything between them is working. The American Diabetes Association recognizes 70–180 mg/dL (3.9–10.0 mmol/L) as standard time in range, with a tighter 70–140 (3.9–7.8) definition added in the 2026 Standards of Care. But the range that matters is the one you choose on purpose — where your low line sits, where your high line sits, and what you do as you approach each one.

The Pro Tip series captures it this way:

A target isn't a single point. It's a band with conscious edges — and the work of management is mostly recognizing when you're approaching an edge, not constantly chasing a single number.

From Pro Tip 1007

What two lines give you that a single number doesn't: room to breathe in the middle and clear thinking at the edges. When you live between your lines, you're not correcting toward one perfect number all day — you're noticing when you drift toward a line and nudging back toward the middle. Choosing where your lines sit — in conversation with your care team — is one of the most freeing moves in diabetes management.