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Hi All
This is my first post in this forum. I have scoured this forum quite a bit for advice over the past 3 months. A bit about myself:
I'm 46 and was diagnosed in November 2020 with Type 2. This came as big shock (but not a surprise) to me. I have always had a sweet tooth and was used to eating loads of rice, potatoes, chocolate, cakes, sugary drinks, flavoured milk etc...I also had a fairly sedentary lifestyle as I was WFH sat at my laptop all day. I had noticed that for several months I had not been sleeping well as I was waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I also noticed that I had unexplained weight loss. So I decided to go for a health-check.
The results were not good reading. I'm 6ft 2 and weighed just over 21 stone (down from 24 stone which was my heaviest ever). My HBA1C was 125, my cholesterol was 7.3 and blood pressure was 150/90. So my GP read me the riot act and explained what I needed to do. Cut out starchy carbs, start exercising, start taking 4 gliclazide tablets and one blood pressure pill per day. I have to say that I was really fearful of dropping dead. My dad was diabetic and so is my brother. I was afraid I wouldn't live long enough to see my 4 year old daughter grow up.
Anyway I did what my GP advised, cut out starchy carbs, started to measure my carb and calorie intake as well as testing my blood sugar regularly (the milk chocolate was hard to give up and I have to admit that I do have a few squares each day). I did go off the rails for a week around Christmas. **** that M&S Chocolate dessert!!!!! I started exercising, walking for 30 mins each day and building up to an hour each day in an attempt to cover at least 10k steps per day. I also started doing weights 3 times a week.
I went back to my GP for another HBA1C test in mid-Feb and my results came back 2 days ago. So my HBA1C is now 48, my cholesterol has dropped to 4.8 and my BP is 125/75. In addition, I have lost 2 stone. My GP has now started me on 4 metformin per day and reduced my gliclazide to 1 pill a day. When I mentioned to her how I was struggling to give up the chocolate she told me to choose one day a week where I can eat anything I want. Not so sure that is a good idea though!!
I do feel proud of myself for having turned things around in such a short time, especially with my love of sugar and my hatred for exercise but I am a bit stuck as to what to do now. In other words if I continue to be as disciplined as I was would my HBA1C drop drastically again to maybe low 30s and hopefully send me into remission? If I relax my diet a little bit now will that cause me to go in the opposite direction?
Would appreciate any advice you can give. I will do what is necessary to stay healthy but I guess I just want to know what I can "get away with" in terms of carbs per day etc...although my long term goal is to lose another 5 stone so that my BMI category becomes "normal".
Thanks in advance!!
This is my first post in this forum. I have scoured this forum quite a bit for advice over the past 3 months. A bit about myself:
I'm 46 and was diagnosed in November 2020 with Type 2. This came as big shock (but not a surprise) to me. I have always had a sweet tooth and was used to eating loads of rice, potatoes, chocolate, cakes, sugary drinks, flavoured milk etc...I also had a fairly sedentary lifestyle as I was WFH sat at my laptop all day. I had noticed that for several months I had not been sleeping well as I was waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom. I also noticed that I had unexplained weight loss. So I decided to go for a health-check.
The results were not good reading. I'm 6ft 2 and weighed just over 21 stone (down from 24 stone which was my heaviest ever). My HBA1C was 125, my cholesterol was 7.3 and blood pressure was 150/90. So my GP read me the riot act and explained what I needed to do. Cut out starchy carbs, start exercising, start taking 4 gliclazide tablets and one blood pressure pill per day. I have to say that I was really fearful of dropping dead. My dad was diabetic and so is my brother. I was afraid I wouldn't live long enough to see my 4 year old daughter grow up.
Anyway I did what my GP advised, cut out starchy carbs, started to measure my carb and calorie intake as well as testing my blood sugar regularly (the milk chocolate was hard to give up and I have to admit that I do have a few squares each day). I did go off the rails for a week around Christmas. **** that M&S Chocolate dessert!!!!! I started exercising, walking for 30 mins each day and building up to an hour each day in an attempt to cover at least 10k steps per day. I also started doing weights 3 times a week.
I went back to my GP for another HBA1C test in mid-Feb and my results came back 2 days ago. So my HBA1C is now 48, my cholesterol has dropped to 4.8 and my BP is 125/75. In addition, I have lost 2 stone. My GP has now started me on 4 metformin per day and reduced my gliclazide to 1 pill a day. When I mentioned to her how I was struggling to give up the chocolate she told me to choose one day a week where I can eat anything I want. Not so sure that is a good idea though!!
I do feel proud of myself for having turned things around in such a short time, especially with my love of sugar and my hatred for exercise but I am a bit stuck as to what to do now. In other words if I continue to be as disciplined as I was would my HBA1C drop drastically again to maybe low 30s and hopefully send me into remission? If I relax my diet a little bit now will that cause me to go in the opposite direction?
Would appreciate any advice you can give. I will do what is necessary to stay healthy but I guess I just want to know what I can "get away with" in terms of carbs per day etc...although my long term goal is to lose another 5 stone so that my BMI category becomes "normal".
Thanks in advance!!