Such an uphill struggle

[just_jenn]

Hi Folks,

I'm new here but I'm at my wit's end and I could really use some support. Apologies for such a long post!

I'm 29 but have struggled with my weight my whole life. I lost a lot a few years ago and then became pregnant and the pounds piled back on...during which I also developed gestational diabetes. It never went away but I didn't seek treatment because we were in the USA at the time and we just couldn't afford it. Fast forward 5 years (during which we moved back to the UK) and my body is finally feeling the effects of this neglect. I became unexpectedly pregnant at the end of last year but miscarried -- probably because my blood sugars were so high. I did try to get help from my GP/Midwives but they just brushed it under the carpet -- no one really knew what to do with me. I did manage to get my HbA1c down to 7.5 (from about 16!) in November, but after the miscarriage I gave up.

I finally sought more help in May this year -- I'm on the waiting list for counselling about the miscarriage, as I've found my emotions make it hard not to comfort eat, and I started taking my metformin again. I also started up an exercise programme and a lower calorie diet -- not as strict as it could be, but I've lost about 7lbs in the past 4 weeks. My HbA1c did come down fractionally (now around 10 from about 12) so my diabetic nurse has added algoliptin to my treatment The final straw that is making me write this post is that now, despite never having had blood pressure problems before and having just spent a few months regularly exercising, my blood pressure is going up! (As well as my stagnating blood sugars - now around the 8-9 mark). WTH?!

I'm sorry if this sounds like a rant, but I'm just so sick of it all. I knew things wouldn't change overnight but I am trying SO hard and things just seem to be getting worse rather than better. I do NOT want to take blood pressure medicine! I feel like if I end up on those I will never come off them! Trying to focus on the positives I've achieved -- I feel a lot fitter, the horrid skin rash I had due to high blood sugars has cleared up and at least my BG has come down -- but I do feel a bit like an old car where you patch one thing up only for something else to break.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Hello Jen and welcome to the forum.

You have come to the right place for some support and hopefully some advice. You are clearly stressed and in an emotional frame of mind what with everything you have been through, and that won't be helping your blood sugars, but now you have decided to do something about it and take back a bit of control, you should start to feel a lot better.

The best (and probably only) way to lower those blood sugars is by finding the right diet for you, and the best way to do this is to reduce your carbohydrate intake. Perhaps you could give us some idea of a typical day's menu, food and drink, and maybe we could pinpoint any areas you are going wrong.

 

[Ruth B]

Hi Jenn, and welcome. It sounds like you have decided to try and tackle this and you have come to the right place. It isn't easy but there is a lot of support here that can help you manage it. As Bluetit said you will need to find the right option for you, you will receive a lot of advise, some of it contradictory but that is partly because we are all individuals and what works for one doesn't always work for others.

For myself, reducing carbs has really helped. I joined the forum about 4 months ago and I have halved my carb intake from about 250 a day to between 80 and 120 a day (many members are on far less), I also bought a blood glucose meter from Amazon and now use that to guide my diet. Since then I have lost over a stone (I had managed to lose just under half a stone in the post Christmas 4 months as well). My HbA1C has reduced from 71 to 56 and my blood pressure has also come down.

Like you I have always struggled with my weight (At diagnosis 5-6 years ago I was just under 20 stone and only 5'3". I managed to lose a couple of stone due to prescription weight loss tablets, but then it just stuck for over 3 years). Earlier this year I finally made up my mind to do something and it is working. I am looking at it as a marathon not a sprint, others here have managed to lose weight far quicker, for me the danger of putting it back on is too great so slow and steady works for me and now monitor weight and BS levels regularly.

As I said others will come on with their own stories and advise, you will need to pick and chose and find out what works for you, but if you want to control this, you can.

 

[Daibell]

Hi and welcome. What approach are you taking to control your weight? Comfort eating can be a big problem for many and the approach needs to be to substitute good snacks for bad as I assume you are snacking a bit? Have nuts, berries, cheese and so on. Set a daily limit for carbs of perhaps, 150gm, and stick to it as far as you can. Try to avoid bringing into the house the bad foods such as cakes, biscuits, milk chocolate and so on. Have 85% Dark chocolate, make/buy cakes with no added sugar. Use sugar substitutes when baking. Just treat sugar as a poison, which it is, and keep the other carbs down and low-GI. The discipline may be difficult but the end result well worthwhile

 

[just_jenn]

Thanks for the responses everyone -- it feels better knowing that I'm not alone in this. So far my approach has been a generic lower-calorie diet -- I've been using the myfitness pal app, set to lose half a pound a week which allows me around 1,800 calories a day. Like Ruth B says, I've been going more steady than anything because I really want to lose the weight for goof this time. Historically, I've lost the same 40-50 lbs THREE times but have always gained it back. (I was even contemplating trying the diet from the Newcastle study but I have a feeling I'd go "wild" once the 8 weeks were "finished".)

That said, I haven't been watching carbs as close as I should and now is obviously the time to start. I've had conflicting accounts of how much I should eat, so I suppose it does just depend on the individual. My previous GP said 3 meals at or below 45g and 3 snacks at or below 15g. The diabetic nurse says 3 snacks at 10g and then 30g for breakfast, 30-60 for lunch and dinner (if dinner is 60g, lunch should be closer to 30) etc. To be honest, I don't know how realistic it would be for me to follow the nurse's plan...isn't a small apple around 12g carbohydrate?

Here's a typical "good" day....for a bad day, add 500-1,000 calories of random rubbish during a binge session :|

Breakfast: Porridge OR toast (typically burgen) with peanut butter or bagel (time to throw these out) w/ cream cheese and fruit -- typically strawberries. Could switch to making own porridge with the larger oats? Finding I get a post-breakfast high so obviously need to cut the carbs but I struggle finding things I a) have time to prepare and b) fancy in the morning

AM snack: Seed or fruit bar (like 9 bar or Nakd) , or fruit with piece of cheese, or around 2x per week 1 homemade biscuit or small muffin, possible with latte type coffee. Could switch the coffee to regular to reduce carbs from milk?

Lunch: Tbsp Hummus w/ carrot batons, 30g cheese w/ 4 water crackers, fruit (apple or grapes) and "healthy" yogurt. OR sandwich w/ quorn (only if haven't had bread with breakfast) or smaller portion of leftovers. I'm not a big fan of natural yogurt but I think I'll try mixing it with my fruit, as a lot of the healthy yogurts seem to have a lot of hidden carbs

PM snack: 25g cashew or almond nuts, OR small portion of chocolate (typically a fredo but I could switch this up to dark choc)

Dinner: Typically something like Spag bol made with quorn mince and 50g dried pasta, or BBQ'd chicken (cooking method, not BBG sauce) with half a pouch of tilda rice and salad, or breaded chicken breast with caesar salad.

Eve snack: Still trying to figure out whether this is best eaten with main meal or a couple hours after -- haven't yet figured out the effect it has on my fasting sugars. Typically might be a mini ice cream (eg. twister) or tinned peaches w/ a little cream or homemade baked product. I could eat something "bad" at 10.30pm at night and have a low (for me) fasting sugar the next day, or have a really good day overall and not eat anything after 6.30 and get a high reading. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason.

Anyway - suggestions would be most welcome!!!!

 

[Ruth B]

Baring the obvious, bread, pasta etc. your diet doesn't seem too bad. If you have a meter check before and two hours after a meal to find out how its effected you. Pasta and potatoes I can manage in small amounts, rice hardly effects me, even a small amount of oats will send me high. Beware of the 'healthy' options, this normally means low fat but they are often high in sugar, I have also come across items that are marked 'green' for sugar, but when you check the back the total carbs are about 75 out of 100g. It is always worth checking the label or checking online grocery sites to plan ahead, they often give the break down as well.

As far as yogurts go, I dislike the basic greek style that most here have, having checked on line the best I could find that I like are actually full fat Muller corners, they seemed to be one of the lowest carb flavoured yogurts and have the advantage that I can add as little of the fruit as I want (I am fairly certain most of the sugar is in the fruit bit, my OH quite happily finishes off any fruit bit I leave)

 

[sanguine]

Hi Jenn, welcome. If it was me I would cut out the pasta and rice and substitute something more diabetic-friendly such as cauliflower mashed with cheese or other veg. Watch out for the fruit - strawberries and other berries are OK, apples if you don't spike, but grapes and tinned peaches are very high in sugar. With the nuts, almonds are fine, cashews are quite high carb I seem to remember. Try hazelnuts or brazils instead. With yoghurt, the lowest carb is plain Greek yoghurt. Go for the high fat versions of foods - low fat varieties usually have added sugar.

I try and use foods that have less than 5g carbohydrate per 100g, or up to 10g at a pinch.

There's a good book called 'Carbs & Cals' which has pictures of foods and meals with all the carb, fat and calorie values you need.

Keep asking questions, that's how we all learned!

 

[just_jenn]

Tanks for the tips -- lots to learn! I had no idea that cashews were higher carb than other nuts. Just had a quick google for low GI foods and they're rated at 25, as opposed to 12-13 for a lot of the other nuts. Strangely enough though, strawberries are often ranked higher than, say apples or tinned peaches (I only ever eat the ones in juice, which I drain off...) but they don't spike me. With pasta, I've always eaten the wholewheat variety and tolerated it pretty well in the past -- I think the rice probably spikes me more, even after a small portion.

Going to look up the carbs & cals app as the diabetic nurse mentioned it too -- I need all the help I can get!

 

[andcol]

Hi Jenn - can I suggest you look at the newcastle diet. It may help you reasonably quickly. There are many threads on the subject on the forum

 

[just_jenn]

Hi Andrew -- I had considered the Newcastle diet but because my poor eating habits are typically behavioral, I'm a bit concerned that I'd go a bit mad once the 8 weeks were "finished". Will head over and have a look what other folks are saying however -- I'm curious about how fatiguing people find the fast? I'm a full-time working Mum and need all the energy I can get!

 

[Avocado Sevenfold]

Hi @just_jenn do you test your blood at home after meals to see how food affects you?

 

[Bluetit1802]

If your breakfast readings are high, why not ditch the porridge completely and have a full fat yogurt (plain) with some of your strawberries? That's what I have and it keeps me satiated all morning (up to 5 hours depending what time I get up). I also have 2 mugs of tea during the mornings, with a dash of milk.

Please be careful with your fruit. Grapes are not known to be diabetic friendly, and certainly not tinned peaches, even drained.

I personally have on average 62g carbs daily. Many on here have a lot less. I lost 3stones 5lbs (counting carbs and calories - 1200 calories) I am now trying to maintain my weight and finding it a struggle on low carbs to know just how to increase my calories. More trial and error, but my point is, a low carb diet with increased fats and calorie counting is a good way to lose weight.