- Messages
- 53
- Type of diabetes
- Prediabetes
Thanks for the 50 shades refer - I checked it out definitely helps make sense of what some of the numbers people on here go about!Yeah, @Jared1 - I would absolutely say between 20 and 35g was low carb! Well done, for sure. I think you will almost certainly see a drop in your HBA1c and I look forward to hearing what you got it down to!
Journaling is a great method to get control and a better understanding of what you eat and the role of food and health, and good to read of someone getting a lot out of it too. I still keep a diabetes journal, although I have the carb level of food under wraps now after so many years of it, but am using it at the mo to detail how little walking and cycling I have to do! Yes, due to the blasted heat. My entries nowadays are very short! usually moaning about my waist height ratio and how I can't look at a carb without it storing around my middle.
So you are on a low cal food regime as well? Wow! I don't find any relationship between low carb and low cal (ie small portions) - a big portion of 0 g of carbs is 0 g! still. The beauty of low carbing. I am not sure how you would be upping your exercise as well as having a lot less food? - we need energy after all. I couldn't, and can't, do that (a lot of activity with little food). But whatever works for you, and I suspect this is working for you very well - it's all good. The lowest HBA1c I have had was after doing a low cal regime for a couple of months, but I couldn't do a lot in that time as I get affected by hunger a lot. People are different in this way - hunger affects me keenly and I can't be active when feeling weak and low ebb, and low cal is definitely only shortish term for me - as in I cannot sustain it over time. Also low cal changes your metabolism, or can do? and for me it means it takes very little time to gain back weight lost on low cal, even on very low carb. There is some elaborate thermo something explanation for it, lol, why low cal can affect many people that way. I portion control beloved food like tropical fruit, all year round, and kuumara in the winter. (I have no desire to eat roast starchy veg in this heat!) But not food generally, when not actually fasting.
Re getting your head around the numbers - '50 Shades of Diabetes' chart on this website is fantastic. Delightfully colour coded for us to see and understand the numbers easily. Your what is now 'at diagnosis' HBA1c 49 - is orange (my 93 is brick red almost moving into deep brown). I would love to get down to a normal 37 which is lemon-green. Nice and healthy normal is a deep green at 31. As you can imagine it reflects the danger level of the blood glucose level! HBA1c measures the amount of glucose in a set amount of blood in a 3 month period, basically. The chart also lists the average blood glucose reading for that time period, as in what you read on your meter. And the chart de-confuses the American measuring system which is different, and also states the old percentage reading - ie 7.9, (which is your at diagnosis 49). (My 93 is 10.8 or some such, as in the percentage of sugar in the blood.) Many folks with diabetes on the forum still use the percentage system for HBA1c, but not in our own country, thank goodness. I consult my 50 shades a lot when defining my health goals and understanding others' readings and progress generally, not to mention reading American information and readings.
Yes very low cal compared to what was eating before, I just kind of think to the future for example today had carrots, guessing 10g/100 carb - if not on low cal might have twice as much then obiously would be twice the carbs. I'm guessing they would be much better carb than say the pasta or something worse like mcdonalds I would have had in the past - it was pretty common to have a big Mac combo a quater pounder and a cheese burger for dinner, some lollies biscuits or chips after that at some stage and take a bottle of fizzy to bed to drink in the night when woke up I was prob 2500 cal just for dinner /evening before!
I've found even on low carb I actully feel better - I used to struggle to stay awake in the afternoon but don't seem to now - can only put that down to better nutrition really - and now I'm used eating this way (healthy things) I feel I've kicked a sugar /carb addiction really- but I just don't even look to those things as a option now and frankly don't really miss them- don't want to risk trying to see if I do!
With exercise is actully easier than used to be - it's fair to say I'm never going to be a active out doors person but I'm feel pretty good if I get 10min exercycle after each meal and a 30-45 min fast walk with the dog most days-that's what I class as exercise (on top of running around with a toddler most days) - don't really feel hungry or lacking - my weak time is when sit down infront of tv-even then I'm only tempted to eat out of boardum not hunger - I'm really hope that the kgs don't come back to easy after the diet and was planning on increasing cal by couple hundred every month till get to a maintenance stage - by then in hope will be at a healthy weight.
Atm doc said by what I'm losing in in ketosis or something, didint say was a bad thing so I'll roll with that for now
BTW congrats on your weight loss - it's definitely no easy thing esp if the weight was a symptom not a cause! But if a pity when really love food though if have to portion control your favourite things - but hay if that's what you like is allot better than not having them at all right!
