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No cravings... thats incredible!!!

jim1951

jim1951

Well-Known Member
Messages
562
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I had read that when you drop carbs that you curb your hunger but I am quite surprised how easy it is, for me anyway!

Have eaten well but healthily all my life. Arriving at type 2 officially has taken me 12 years, see my post in introductions.

I never ate breakfast, could skip lunch, and, sometimes my evening meal would be the only meal in each 24 hour period. That was down to an exceptionally busy career.
I am retired now but was still skipping breakfast and would only have a light lunch. But over the last couple of years I noticed that once I had my evening meal I couldn’t leave food alone all evening. I guess this was the sugar levels catching up with me!

So in May my GP gave me the official tag and 500mg Metformin. I got myself a meter and am testing like mad. I am determined to reduce my 54 HBA1C and to lose a stone in weight although my BMI is reasonable at 25.

So instead of counting calories, as I have done in the past on occasions, I am counting carbs. I cannot become a frugal fanatic but have reduced to 100 to 150 per day, that is probably 50% less than before and I am pleased with that.

But to return to the title of the thread, I never thought that my hunger in the evening would drop so quickly, I am eating less but don’t feel hungry!!

Jim
 
jack412 said:
Is your BG coming down, that would be helping the cravings/starvation too,
carbs are the devils creation, the more carbs you eat the more carbs you want
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarbliving/a/Food-Cravings.htm
Click to expand...

Jack

too early to confirm as only testing for 3 weeks. My GP had me at 54 HBA1C and 8.4 fasting. When I get my head around those 2 numbers it says to me if the average is lower than the fasting, then at other times of the day my readings would not be in diabetic range.

Currently my morning fasting is averaging 6. Pre evening meal last night it was 4.0 an hour after 7.7 and 2 hours after 7.3. The meal was cod in breadcrumbs with rice etc, so not necessarily low carb.

I realise home machines have a margin of error.

jim
 
but not sure what is driving it?

Is it the Metformin, is it cutting down on carbs, or were my levels never that high in the first place. Maybe my GP fasting was down to DP effect?

jim
 
keep your bloods right and it really doesn't matter, but the GTT is the definitive test, where your have a sugar drink, a 54 A1c means you are diabetic
as far as I know 500 met wouldn't be doing much and is a starter to build up to a dose, but I've been wrong before. It may be enough for your insulin resistance
 
Metformin helps with insulin resistance, the production of glucose from the liver, and is an appetite suppressant, but all to a limited extent. It only has marginal affect on blood sugars. That is down to diet and exercise. So in your case I would say it's probably your diet (and additional exercise?) that is working. Your HbA1c was well above the lower cut off for diabetes. An HbA1c of 54 equates to an average BS level of 8.7mmol/l.

It is possibly the metformin that is reducing your appetite as that is its main job.
 
It is confusing, but you have to look at the measurement unit. There are mmol/l and mmol/mol units. The units in our home testing kits are mmol/l. The units on the link you provided are mmol/mol. To compare doctor's readings to your meter you have to look at mmol/l
 
Bluetit1802 said:
It is confusing, but you have to look at the measurement unit. There are mmol/l and mmol/mol units. The units in our home testing kits are mmol/l. The units on the link you provided are mmol/mol. To compare doctor's readings to your meter you have to look at mmol/l
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Bluetit. It is good that that has been pointed out to me before I got too far down the line!!

I don't know what to draw from that. On the one hand it means my average was higher than I thought, but on the other hand it means that I am reducing my sugar levels more than I thought.

jim
 
You also can't rely on your meter to give you a true average equivalent to the HbA1c because you don't know how long your "highs" last unless you test every hour all day and are consistent in that.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
It is confusing, but you have to look at the measurement unit. There are mmol/l and mmol/mol units. The units in our home testing kits are mmol/l. The units on the link you provided are mmol/mol. To compare doctor's readings to your meter you have to look at mmol/l
Click to expand...
Is there a link somewhere that gives the conversion table from mmol/mol to mmol/l please?
I also have a copy of the table that the OP posted. Silly me ... I looked at the % figure next to my HbA1c result number and thought that was the average as given by my meter! There was only 0.1 difference lol !


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