Struggling to get hba1c under 56 mmol

[Millie74]

What do you usually have?
Any meat or fish is virtually zero carb so you can have lots of that.. also very nutrient dense and satiating.

Breakfast - Greek yoghurt and raspberries. For lunch Salad with chicken or avocado, omelette, egg and tuna salad. For Dinner curry with prawns or chicken, bolognese or chilli that are home made or protein and salad or veg. This is new refined version. Before test was on more carbs, had wholemeal pitta at lunch and bran or porridge for breakfast. So by cutting these out it may help.

 

[Resurgam]

When I was taking Metformin I got into the habit of going out in the morning without eating - to be safe.
When I stopped taking the tablets and tested my blood glucose I found that I was better off eating my two meals a day early and late and I have continued doing that.
In the morning I make myself a huge salad, with eggs and cheese or meat, and have a cup of creamy coffee.
In the evening I have meat or fish and a stir fry of low carb veges, and another coffee.
As long as I stick to low carb foods 10 percent carbs or less there is a lot I can eat.
A couple of times a week I might have a small serving of frozen berries with cream but sometimes don't feel the need for anything more to eat. There are bars of high cocoa chocolate in the fridge, and I have eaten some these last couple of days, but they were there weeks ago. I just eat as I fancy really, rather to any routine.
Just at the moment I am not eating much at all, since I got really overheated on the Saturday of the bank holiday - I am just making sure I am drinking enough and waiting for things to settle down into whatever feels right. Yesterday I ate radishes and chocolate for breakfast - not quite at the same time. Very strange.

 

[Millie74]

When I was taking Metformin I got into the habit of going out in the morning without eating - to be safe.
When I stopped taking the tablets and tested my blood glucose I found that I was better off eating my two meals a day early and late and I have continued doing that.
In the morning I make myself a huge salad, with eggs and cheese or meat, and have a cup of creamy coffee.
In the evening I have meat or fish and a stir fry of low carb veges, and another coffee.
As long as I stick to low carb foods 10 percent carbs or less there is a lot I can eat.
A couple of times a week I might have a small serving of frozen berries with cream but sometimes don't feel the need for anything more to eat. There are bars of high cocoa chocolate in the fridge, and I have eaten some these last couple of days, but they were there weeks ago. I just eat as I fancy really, rather to any routine.
Just at the moment I am not eating much at all, since I got really overheated on the Saturday of the bank holiday - I am just making sure I am drinking enough and waiting for things to settle down into whatever feels right. Yesterday I ate radishes and chocolate for breakfast - not quite at the same time. Very strange.

Is it ok to eat just two meals a day on 2000mg metformin? Keep getting told need to eat 3 meals a day. Thanks for sharing what you eat. No cereal at breakfast in any form then? You must feel hungry at times.

 

[bulkbiker]

Breakfast - Greek yoghurt and raspberries. For lunch Salad with chicken or avocado, omelette, egg and tuna salad. For Dinner curry with prawns or chicken, bolognese or chilli that are home made or protein and salad or veg. This is new refined version. Before test was on more carbs, had wholemeal pitta at lunch and bran or porridge for breakfast. So by cutting these out it may help.

Sounds pretty good.. Might be worth diarising for a couple of weeks and measuring until you get used to the lower carb content and can "wing it"?

 

[Resurgam]

Is it ok to eat just two meals a day on 2000mg metformin? Keep getting told need to eat 3 meals a day. Thanks for sharing what you eat. No cereal at breakfast in any form then? You must feel hungry at times.

I was so ill taking just one tablet of Metformin - I think I managed to take two on two days, not consecutively. I was better off not taking it. If you are having no bad effects then just take them with what meals you feel the need of.
No need to eat three times a day - some people do just one meal a day. I find that my BG levels are good on two - I suspect that I was close to, or fully diabetic for a very long time before diagnosis - and that it was only some sort of clerical error which resulted in diagnosis - I was due a test for the Thyroxine supplementation.
No breakfast cereal - no grain of any sort except small amounts of Livlife bread which is 4 gm per slice. Low carb veges, loads of salad stuff are all I need.
I have not felt real hunger all the time I have been eating low carb - show me a plate with beef steak, mushrooms, green sweet pepper, tomato, courgette, cauliflower and I can soon develop an appetite though.

 

[Millie74]

I was so ill taking just one tablet of Metformin - I think I managed to take two on two days, not consecutively. I was better off not taking it. If you are having no bad effects then just take them with what meals you feel the need of.
No need to eat three times a day - some people do just one meal a day. I find that my BG levels are good on two - I suspect that I was close to, or fully diabetic for a very long time before diagnosis - and that it was only some sort of clerical error which resulted in diagnosis - I was due a test for the Thyroxine supplementation.
No breakfast cereal - no grain of any sort except small amounts of Livlife bread which is 4 gm per slice. Low carb veges, loads of salad stuff are all I need.
I have not felt real hunger all the time I have been eating low carb - show me a plate with beef steak, mushrooms, green sweet pepper, tomato, courgette, cauliflower and I can soon develop an appetite though.

Well done. You have done brilliantly!

 

[Goonergal]

Thank you. I have been trying hard. Need to try harder. I didn’t mind the run the other day. Doing couch to 5k with my husband. Will see how it goes. I agree you need to enjoy. Running not my favourite, just thought would try something new. I go to Pilates as calming and good for mental health. I teach Dance and walk the dog when I’m not teaching. Hard to know what else to do so added running and lower carb. Are you on any medication? Or just diet? Thanks for responding. I will keep trying. I can tolerate metformin, but didn’t like or want to take the SGLT2.

Hi Millie, I’m diet only, no meds. Having your husband go with you might help with sticking at it!

 

[Bluetit1802]

One misconception is that carbs are needed to stop us being hungry. Wrong. Carbs make us hungry. Protein and fats keep us full, even on virtually zero carb. As you lower the carbs so you need to increase fats and/or protein. Preferably fats. This maintains energy levels and prevents hunger.

Your last HbA1c could have been a blip. It happens. Reducing your carbs and iincreasing fats accordingly should bring your levels down again, even lower, and hopefully to non-diabetic levels. However, you really do need a home meter and a detailed food diary to help you. I urge you to buy one today, no waiting or putting it off. When you get one we can help you use it to your best advantage.

As for exercise, to my mind you are doing a lot without adding more that you aren't keen on. Dancing and walking dogs are excellent. I can't say I have done any extra exercise. Mine is restricted to dog walking, ghousework, and fair weather gardening but not in winter! I lost 4 and a half stones in about 10 months following diagnosis in January 2014 and reduced my blood sugar levels. This was all down to low carb and no additional exercise. I have since reduced my BS levels even more and maintained my BMI at 22.

 

[mojo37]

Is it ok to eat just two meals a day on 2000mg metformin? Keep getting told need to eat 3 meals a day. Thanks for sharing what you eat. No cereal at breakfast in any form then? You must feel hungry at times.

I would think it was ok just take 1,000 mg with each meal, personally I work better on 3 meals and a snack each to what works for themselves

 

[Millie74]

One misconception is that carbs are needed to stop us being hungry. Wrong. Carbs make us hungry. Protein and fats keep us full, even on virtually zero carb. As you lower the carbs so you need to increase fats and/or protein. Preferably fats. This maintains energy levels and prevents hunger.

Your last HbA1c could have been a blip. It happens. Reducing your carbs and iincreasing fats accordingly should bring your levels down again, even lower, and hopefully to non-diabetic levels. However, you really do need a home meter and a detailed food diary to help you. I urge you to buy one today, no waiting or putting it off. When you get one we can help you use it to your best advantage.

As for exercise, to my mind you are doing a lot without adding more that you aren't keen on. Dancing and walking dogs are excellent. I can't say I have done any extra exercise. Mine is restricted to dog walking, ghousework, and fair weather gardening but not in winter! I lost 4 and a half stones in about 10 months following diagnosis in January 2014 and reduced my blood sugar levels. This was all down to low carb and no additional exercise. I have since reduced my BS levels even more and maintained my BMI at 22.

Thanks for your advice! Love that you’re all giving me permission to ditch the running! I think I’m a bit scared to get a meter. But I can see how it will be beneficial. I will look at the links provided. My fitness pal is adding up carbs for meals for me. Is this good enough?

 

[Rachox]

I think I’m a bit scared to get a meter.

Please don’t be scared Millie, a meter is an invaluable tool to help with control. You will learn so much about how your body reacts to different food. We are not all the same so we can only give general guidelines but a meter will help you individually. It is disappointing if you get numbers higher than you’d like but is also a great ego boost when you get lower numbers. I put all my readings into the MySugr app and it gives an estimated HbA1c once you’ve entered enough data. Whilst not entirely accurate it is good for seeing up or down trends. I, even over two years from diagnosis test minimum three times a day.

 

[Goonergal]

My fitness pal is adding up carbs for meals for me. Is this good enough?

Be sure to check the entries on My fitness pal. Many of them are entered (inaccurately) by other users. I use a different app, but enter every single food I use as a bespoke item myself to make sure it’s accurate. Sounds like a lot of work, but you only have to do that the first time. I can also build recipes using the entries and add complete meals as one.

 

[Millie74]

Please don’t be scared Millie, a meter is an invaluable tool to help with control. You will learn so much about how your body reacts to different food. We are not all the same so we can only give general guidelines but a meter will help you individually. It is disappointing if you get numbers higher than you’d like but is also a great ego boost when you get lower numbers. I put all my readings into the MySugr app and it gives an estimated HbA1c once you’ve entered enough data. Whilst not entirely accurate it is good for seeing up or down trends. I, even over two years from diagnosis test minimum three times a day.

Thank you. The app sounds good. I think testing also reminds me of when I was on insulin 12 years ago in both pregnancies with gestational diabetes. It will feel strange as don’t have insulin now to correct. Hoping that doesn’t make me anxious. But last two hba1c have not been terrible, so they can’t be off the range high. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Millie74]

Be sure to check the entries on My fitness pal. Many of them are entered (inaccurately) by other users. I use a different app, but enter every single food I use as a bespoke item myself to make sure it’s accurate. Sounds like a lot of work, but you only have to do that the first time. I can also build recipes using the entries and add complete meals as one.

Thanks. Which app do you use? Do you monitor blood glucose too?

 

[Goonergal]

Thanks. Which app do you use? Do you monitor blood glucose too?

I use Lose It. No reason other than it came free with my phone. There is one called Carb Manager, which I’d rather use (less of a focus on calories), but I can’t bear the thought of re-entering everything. Perhaps I’ll get round to it one day.

I do monitor BG, but not using an app. I have my own spreadsheets - download from my BG monitor using a cable and do my own averages. I did use MySugr for a while as I could sync from my phone using data from my meter (I switched meter model several months ago to one with that option), but lately I’ve been using the freestyle Libre and am just using the reports generated by the reader.

 

[bulkbiker]

Thanks. Which app do you use? Do you monitor blood glucose too?

I’m another spreadsheet person.. more customisable and as I tend to eat fairly similar things most of the time not a huge problem to build my own database from supermarket sites.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I am yet another spread sheet freak. I customise it to what I want. I keep track of everything in one Excel book - BG levels, weight, blood pressure, liver & kidney functions, cholesterol & lipids, full blood count results, other blood test results, and when I was keeping one, my food diary. I have graphs for some of these things, and do my own averaging.

I agree that myfitnesspal has a lot of incorrect carb counts and also other nutrient counts. I also used to enter my own bespoke ones rather than risk theirs in the days when I counted to that extent. I don't need to count these days.

 

[Mike d]

There's not a great deal you can't do with Excel. Now a bit overblown, but with the free ASAP utilities added in, pretty amazing, The things MS did NOT think about and should have.

 

[Millie74]

I use Lose It. No reason other than it came free with my phone. There is one called Carb Manager, which I’d rather use (less of a focus on calories), but I can’t bear the thought of re-entering everything. Perhaps I’ll get round to it one day.

I do monitor BG, but not using an app. I have my own spreadsheets - download from my BG monitor using a cable and do my own averages. I did use MySugr for a while as I could sync from my phone using data from my meter (I switched meter model several months ago to one with that option), but lately I’ve been using the freestyle Libre and am just using the reports generated by the reader.

Thanks. I’ll look at carb manager.

 

[PenguinMum]

Hi @Millie74 if you prefer to eat cold breakfast (I do) you ight like a small amount of cold meat and cheese which is quick to grab and keeps you feeling full. I have one slice HiLo toast (Sainsburys, buy one loaf and freeze individual slices for the week) cooled with thick good quality butter. Have a look at Rollitos in the 3 for £7 deli range at M&S. they are another useful, delish and quick thing to eat. Finally I agree getting a meter is essential. There is a thing called an Accuchek Fastclix to use instead of the finger pricker that comes with the meter. You load it with a cartridge of 6 and can adjust the the comfort pressure of each one. You can reuse each one several times. One cartridge lasts me several months.
To me tackling Diabetes without a meter is like crossing a busy road with a blindfold on. Good luck with everything.