- Messages
- 39
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Insulin
Hello all,
I have been reading up on threads on the forum for months now and have finally decided to take the plunge and start a thread myself where I plan to chronicle my efforts at gaining a degree of control over my A1C numbers. I hope to find a little support and encouragement along the way and making a few like minded friends would be an added bonus.
Let me start off by telling you a little bit about myself.
I am 32, of Indian descent and have been living in Germany for the past 10 years. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in August last year and have tried (with marginal success) to control the condition through various means. For the first few weeks I had resigned myself to my fate after an initial course of medications and dietary changes produced only limited results. I had an initial A1C of 10.9 which only improved to 8.8 after the first 3 months. My fasting sugars were rarely below 9 mmol.
It was at this point that I cam across the Dr. Taylors work in Newcastle regarding the role of dietary restrictions in improving blood sugar levels. After toying around with the idea for a few weeks, i decided to give it a try in January 2014. I managed to procure a bunch of food replacement soups and shakes and get going. Despite a rather half hearted effort (It is difficult to get used to just 800 kcal a day) I could still see some results after the first 3 weeks. My fasting sugars were at 6.1 mmol and my post meal sugars were under 7 mmol after two hours (It was just a soup but still!) To celebrate this success and my birthday, I treated myself and the wife to a four day trip to Vienna. To my surprise, despite all the food and alcohol my sugar levels still hoverd under 7 mmol in the mornings. Convinced that I have as good as reversed my condition, I fell back into my eat-as-you-like routine. I realised the stupidity only after my next A1C reading of 8.2%.
In the meanwhile I underwent a battery of tests at the German Diabetes Centre in Düsseldorf which showed that despite my high blood sugars, there has thankfully been no diabetes related damage. More importantly, the tests confirmed that my insulin production is still okay (Peptide tests) and the clamp test showed that I only had a slightly elevated insulin resistance. The one other thing that the report mentioned was elevated cholestrol and triglycerides, a raised TSH and a staggering body fat percentage of nearly 25% (I am 182 cms and 73 kgs so that last part came as a bit of a shock).
What has stirred me into action is my last A1C reading of 9.2%. Clearly, I need a plan to systematically reduce these numbers and try to reverse my condition if possible. With this in mind, I plan to update you nice folks about my sugar levels and meals over the next few days on a regular basis. I hope that sharing my experiences with you will provide me the extra bit of motivation I need to see this through.
The exact plan is as follows:
Goals : Lose atleast 5 Kilos of weight. Have fasting blood sugars of 6 mmol or lower for a few days atleaset. Reduce my HbA1C as close to 6.4% as possible
Means : Strict dietary control. Reduce my calorie intake to between 800 and 1000 calories a day while trying to maintain as regular a lifestyle as possible (This means working 5 days a week and running atleast twice a week for atleast 45 mins a day)
Wish me luck!
I have been reading up on threads on the forum for months now and have finally decided to take the plunge and start a thread myself where I plan to chronicle my efforts at gaining a degree of control over my A1C numbers. I hope to find a little support and encouragement along the way and making a few like minded friends would be an added bonus.
Let me start off by telling you a little bit about myself.
I am 32, of Indian descent and have been living in Germany for the past 10 years. I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in August last year and have tried (with marginal success) to control the condition through various means. For the first few weeks I had resigned myself to my fate after an initial course of medications and dietary changes produced only limited results. I had an initial A1C of 10.9 which only improved to 8.8 after the first 3 months. My fasting sugars were rarely below 9 mmol.
It was at this point that I cam across the Dr. Taylors work in Newcastle regarding the role of dietary restrictions in improving blood sugar levels. After toying around with the idea for a few weeks, i decided to give it a try in January 2014. I managed to procure a bunch of food replacement soups and shakes and get going. Despite a rather half hearted effort (It is difficult to get used to just 800 kcal a day) I could still see some results after the first 3 weeks. My fasting sugars were at 6.1 mmol and my post meal sugars were under 7 mmol after two hours (It was just a soup but still!) To celebrate this success and my birthday, I treated myself and the wife to a four day trip to Vienna. To my surprise, despite all the food and alcohol my sugar levels still hoverd under 7 mmol in the mornings. Convinced that I have as good as reversed my condition, I fell back into my eat-as-you-like routine. I realised the stupidity only after my next A1C reading of 8.2%.
In the meanwhile I underwent a battery of tests at the German Diabetes Centre in Düsseldorf which showed that despite my high blood sugars, there has thankfully been no diabetes related damage. More importantly, the tests confirmed that my insulin production is still okay (Peptide tests) and the clamp test showed that I only had a slightly elevated insulin resistance. The one other thing that the report mentioned was elevated cholestrol and triglycerides, a raised TSH and a staggering body fat percentage of nearly 25% (I am 182 cms and 73 kgs so that last part came as a bit of a shock).
What has stirred me into action is my last A1C reading of 9.2%. Clearly, I need a plan to systematically reduce these numbers and try to reverse my condition if possible. With this in mind, I plan to update you nice folks about my sugar levels and meals over the next few days on a regular basis. I hope that sharing my experiences with you will provide me the extra bit of motivation I need to see this through.
The exact plan is as follows:
Goals : Lose atleast 5 Kilos of weight. Have fasting blood sugars of 6 mmol or lower for a few days atleaset. Reduce my HbA1C as close to 6.4% as possible
Means : Strict dietary control. Reduce my calorie intake to between 800 and 1000 calories a day while trying to maintain as regular a lifestyle as possible (This means working 5 days a week and running atleast twice a week for atleast 45 mins a day)
Wish me luck!