I don’t know who needs to read this but if you’re in need of some hope, perhaps this can provide. I desperately don’t want this to come across as smug.
On April 30th I was diagnosed T2 at 34 years old. Hba1c was at 109, my BG was 22 and I weighed 23st. I was in pretty rubbish shape and the GP was so concerned that had we not have been living during Covid, she would’ve sent me to spend a few days in hospital for monitoring but was willing to wait given that my urine was ok and my chances of contracting Covid would’ve been pretty high too.
I decided I was going to do something to at least try and turn this around. I knew exercise would need to play a part in this so thought I’d go for a triathlon. The multi sport element would keep me occupied given that my attention span is worse than my 4 year old son’s. After a couple of days training, I got into it really quickly and decided to go for a long distance one to keep me focused. I’ve entered for an Ironman 70.3 next year in Venice and I’m REALLY excited. My training so far is around 7-9 hours per week but this started off at about 20 - 30 mins per day and I have to say, I’ve really hit a groove with it. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment after a training session and living with a reason to get off my **** has helped motivate me even more on the odd day where I’ve just not been in the mood.
Diet-wise it hasn’t been quite as hard as I thought it would be. Pre-diagnosis, it was carb-central. Takeaways, pizzas (I ******* love pizza), kebabs, curry, bread, bread, bread etc. After a bit of research (I have to admit, the doctor didn’t really offer any info here...) it seemed a good place to start was no more than 60g of carbs per meal. Straight away felt I could do a bit better than that without too much effort so I try to only have 60g of carbs or less with only one meal per day (but certainly not three) as breakfast especially is pretty easy to do without carbs. I’ve managed to maintain that throughout without too much difficulty. This was key for me I think. At the start, I knew I was going to feel it anyway so I thought I may as well just press restart rather than gradually move towards an ideal. If in those early days I was only a few carbs away from pre-diagnosis, then what am I really doing?
Anyway, “why is he prattling on about this here?” You might ask. Well, on this forum, whilst some were supportive, others were not particularly helpful, sadly. “That’s way too much!”, “You can’t maintain that...” etc. Well I’m just here to remind you all that everyone’s different and for me at least, my plan so far, is working.
This morning I received the results from my 3-month check-up. My Hba1c is now 43 and my BG has averaged 5.3 for the past 11 weeks and I’ve dropped 2 stone so far so I’m now in the non-diabetic, hyperglycaemic category.
I just wanted to reach out to anyone who like me, has a very tiny amount of will-power when it comes to shovelling crisps into your face and say that the first step is the hardest (cliche) but it’s so worth it. It really does only take a few days to get into the groove where your whole mindset changes and you begin to make better food decisions for yourself.
I know this isn’t for everyone, and I’m certainly no expert. I just felt really pleased with myself and thought that if I’d have read this on day one, I wouldn’t have felt like the road ahead was quite so tough.
Best of luck to anyone starting their journey to bring those numbers down. You’re doing great.
On April 30th I was diagnosed T2 at 34 years old. Hba1c was at 109, my BG was 22 and I weighed 23st. I was in pretty rubbish shape and the GP was so concerned that had we not have been living during Covid, she would’ve sent me to spend a few days in hospital for monitoring but was willing to wait given that my urine was ok and my chances of contracting Covid would’ve been pretty high too.
I decided I was going to do something to at least try and turn this around. I knew exercise would need to play a part in this so thought I’d go for a triathlon. The multi sport element would keep me occupied given that my attention span is worse than my 4 year old son’s. After a couple of days training, I got into it really quickly and decided to go for a long distance one to keep me focused. I’ve entered for an Ironman 70.3 next year in Venice and I’m REALLY excited. My training so far is around 7-9 hours per week but this started off at about 20 - 30 mins per day and I have to say, I’ve really hit a groove with it. I enjoy the feeling of accomplishment after a training session and living with a reason to get off my **** has helped motivate me even more on the odd day where I’ve just not been in the mood.
Diet-wise it hasn’t been quite as hard as I thought it would be. Pre-diagnosis, it was carb-central. Takeaways, pizzas (I ******* love pizza), kebabs, curry, bread, bread, bread etc. After a bit of research (I have to admit, the doctor didn’t really offer any info here...) it seemed a good place to start was no more than 60g of carbs per meal. Straight away felt I could do a bit better than that without too much effort so I try to only have 60g of carbs or less with only one meal per day (but certainly not three) as breakfast especially is pretty easy to do without carbs. I’ve managed to maintain that throughout without too much difficulty. This was key for me I think. At the start, I knew I was going to feel it anyway so I thought I may as well just press restart rather than gradually move towards an ideal. If in those early days I was only a few carbs away from pre-diagnosis, then what am I really doing?
Anyway, “why is he prattling on about this here?” You might ask. Well, on this forum, whilst some were supportive, others were not particularly helpful, sadly. “That’s way too much!”, “You can’t maintain that...” etc. Well I’m just here to remind you all that everyone’s different and for me at least, my plan so far, is working.
This morning I received the results from my 3-month check-up. My Hba1c is now 43 and my BG has averaged 5.3 for the past 11 weeks and I’ve dropped 2 stone so far so I’m now in the non-diabetic, hyperglycaemic category.
I just wanted to reach out to anyone who like me, has a very tiny amount of will-power when it comes to shovelling crisps into your face and say that the first step is the hardest (cliche) but it’s so worth it. It really does only take a few days to get into the groove where your whole mindset changes and you begin to make better food decisions for yourself.
I know this isn’t for everyone, and I’m certainly no expert. I just felt really pleased with myself and thought that if I’d have read this on day one, I wouldn’t have felt like the road ahead was quite so tough.
Best of luck to anyone starting their journey to bring those numbers down. You’re doing great.
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