A bit confused....

[Zeddedhed]

After joining up some time ago I've been a bit remiss, both in terms of maintaining my presence on the forum and more importantly with managing my T2.

My last official HBA1C result came back as 79 in Feb of this year, prompting me to get myself sorted.

I bought a meter (Accu-Chek Mobile) and got busy testing, on average three or four times a day.

Alongside this I went all Low Carb/Mediterranean and lost about 15kg and got my daily average BG reading down to 6.8 mol/L, which I believe equates roughly to an HBA1C of about 40 - 41mmol/mol.

Obviously a real improvement but due to Covid I was not able to get a proper test to verify this.

Then I got lazy, put at least 5 or 6 kgs on again and have now got back into regular testing and trying to keep the carbs down.

After a week of testing at least six times a day, pre and post meals etc I'm at an average of 7.2 mmol/L, so heading in the right direction.

The question is - what should I be aiming for as a sensible goal? I'm currently taking SR Metformin 1000g daily in the morning. My doc wants me to take double that amount but it makes me feel decidedly 'odd' in the bowel/stomach dept,.

I could really do with losing another 26kg or so to get me down to a more healthy weight for my height and age (180cms and 52 yrs old, currently weighing in at a disgraceful 116kgs!!)

A few people I know have suggested HBA1C of 35 is achievable and desirable, others have said 42 is good enough. Still others have said concentrate on the weight loss and don't worry about the BS.

Apart from telling me to stop asking so many different people for advice, does anyone have any advice? (I'm well aware of the irony of that last sentence)

 

[bulkbiker]

After joining up some time ago I've been a bit remiss, both in terms of maintaining my presence on the forum and more importantly with managing my T2.

My last official HBA1C result came back as 79 in Feb of this year, prompting me to get myself sorted.

I bought a meter (Accu-Chek Mobile) and got busy testing, on average three or four times a day.

Alongside this I went all Low Carb/Mediterranean and lost about 15kg and got my daily average BG reading down to 6.8 mol/L, which I believe equates roughly to an HBA1C of about 40 - 41mmol/mol.

Obviously a real improvement but due to Covid I was not able to get a proper test to verify this.

Then I got lazy, put at least 5 or 6 kgs on again and have now got back into regular testing and trying to keep the carbs down.

After a week of testing at least six times a day, pre and post meals etc I'm at an average of 7.2 mmol/L, so heading in the right direction.

The question is - what should I be aiming for as a sensible goal? I'm currently taking SR Metformin 1000g daily in the morning. My doc wants me to take double that amount but it makes me feel decidedly 'odd' in the bowel/stomach dept,.

I could really do with losing another 26kg or so to get me down to a more healthy weight for my height and age (180cms and 52 yrs old, currently weighing in at a disgraceful 116kgs!!)

A few people I know have suggested HBA1C of 35 is achievable and desirable, others have said 42 is good enough. Still others have said concentrate on the weight loss and don't worry about the BS.

Apart from telling me to stop asking so many different people for advice, does anyone have any advice? (I'm well aware of the irony of that last sentence)

I aim for blood sugars to be between 4.5 and 6 mmol/l rather than an HbA1c target as it's far easier to measure those at home.
This was first achieved through a ketogenic eating pattern which has morphed into more carnivore aligned over time.
This usually leads to a sub 30 mmol/m HbA1c (or has for the past 4 years anyway) plus a 120 pound-ish weight loss.

 

[MrsA2]

I'd actually suggest you count a different number - that of the carbs you eat and try to keep it as low as 20g per day. That will also mean your bg lowers and so will your weight. Both weight and bg can vary for other reasons and so are difficult to manage. As you have discovered you will need to eat low carb for the rest of your life to avoid relapsing again so you might as well get used to it and make that your concentrated effort. Check your bg just before you eat and again 2 hours after. Aim to keep any rise under 2. If it goes higher what you have eaten has too many carbs in for you.
If you are lucky, once the weight has gone and average bg is down you might find you can increase the carbs ,a bit, or maybe your body will need fewer,but that's all a way off yet. Just go very low carb as a start

 

[hankjam]

What @MrsA2 said!

 

[JoKalsbeek]

Apart from telling me to stop asking so many different people for advice, does anyone have any advice? (I'm well aware of the irony of that last sentence)

I'm with @MrsA2 and @bulkbiker here. You can monitor your blood sugars easier at home, so keeping an eye on that may be more productive, besides downright motivational. And count the carbs. Cut those out as much as you can, and your blood sugars should normalise, you'll drop weight, and basically just start to feel better.... Odds are you could well be rid of the metformin entirely before long, rather than upping it. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ may help a little with the low carbing and the testing.