• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Figures not settling after Christmas / New Year

Nicole T

Well-Known Member
Messages
334
Location
Cheshire
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
So we got through the festive period, and I'll admit, I was naughty, though I kept to the low carb diet in the sense of avoiding chocolate, bread etc. I drank way more than I normally would (pretty much treating every night like a Friday/Saturday night for a fortnight.) I allowed myself a few treats, such as some roast potatoes with my Christmas dinner, and a slice of Vienetta afterwards. I've done the occasional banana daiquri. I even had a paella with proper rice a couple of days ago. I knew these things would spike me, and they did. I bought a Libre to keep tabs on things.

Back to normal diet for over 48 hours now, and I've just woken up to a blood of over 9 on the Libre, confirmed as an 8.2 on my GlucoRx-Q. Bear in mind that 6's (with the occasional high 5 or low 7) were my normal waking blood on the Q prior to Christmas, and that I rarely see levels above this 2 hours after food on the GlucoRx-Q. Libre has me averaging 8.2 over the last 24 hours, when I'm more used to seeing mid 6's. I am a little worried.

Is this common after a period of indulgence? Is it likely to settle down, or have I properly messed myself up, here?
 
Your liver's replenished its glucose stores, and it'll be a while before your fasting goes down again, I'm afraid. Can't put a number on it though. Don't expect them back to normal fast. Back on the wagon the numbers around your meals should be better, but the fasting'll probably be not what you've been used to lately.
 
What's strange is that these are worse figures than I was getting 24 hours after going low carb in the first place. I was expecting things to get back to normal much more quickly. I suppose I've no choice but to give it a few more days and see if it improves. I may have to consider restarting metformin if it doesn't.
 
Give yourself a little time. You didn't just have some carbs, you went overboard for two weeks, if I read that correctly. Your body barely knows what is up and what is down right now, so give it a moment. It'll get back on track after a bit.
 
For a fast reset have a day without eating.
That should clear out any glucose stores and get you back on track.

Easier said than done, though, if you haven't done it before.
 
I only indulged a little. I tried to keep to no more than 4 bites a day, so three chocolates and one tiny bite of mince pie for example. No bread, potatoes, pasta or rice. I didnt drink every day, and probably less than normal but my fbgs are resolutely up from 4s and 5s to 7s. Have only had one 5 fbg since. My weight has shot up by 3-4 kgs and I've now stopped weighing because I am so horrified.
So, you are not alone but its showing me how very very little my body can tolerate.
I'm trying linger intermittent fasts and OMAD, hoping it works
My commiserations @Nicole T . This diabetes lark stinks doesn't it?
 
From what I have seen, both on and off the forum, the more often we fall off the wagon, the harder it is to get our bodies back on track. A similar process to dieting for weight loss, where it gets harder and harder to get the same results every time you start ‘yet another’ diet.

it is a right royal inconvenience, and rather depressing. However, it is also (for me) rather motivating, since IMHO two weeks of indulgence turns out to have progressively more negative consequences as time goes by. So I get more and more motivated to stay on track
 
I know when I’ve gotten off track and then go back to Keto, I have to remember that even though my mind has made that decision my body takes a while to catch up. Two weeks of Christmas fun will take more then a few days to recover from in my experience.
 
Last edited:
I overindulged a bit from christmas eve to new year's day, not so much in terms of loads of carbs (more than usual, stayed keto, though ketones lowered) but in terms of alcohol, meat and berries. Also didn't excercise significantly. I've since seen fasting BG up to 7.9, when before Christmas i was normally 5-5.5. only today have i started seeing 5s again, after a 24 hour fast and a couple of runs.
Lessen learnt. I have to maintain the excercise I think.
 
Yes my fasting numbers creeped up a little but was able to get them back down by making sure my numbers where about 6.1in the evening 2 hours before bed. If they were higher I would take a 50 minute walk to burn off the sugar. Every morning the fasting numbers were below 5.2. My point is that I took specific action to compensate. I also careful to eat low carb. It woked for me .........
 
You got it concerning exercise that exactly what I am doing
 
I over indulged too but I also kept up my 30mins exercise bike as well as adding 30mins a day (minimum) walking and it seemed to keep my blood levels to a reasonable level. I knew I would eat more so increased exercise to try and control and seems to have worked

I think I need lower carbs and exercise to keep it controlled, but it allows a certain level of higher carbs than the very low keto type levels. But we all work differently of course
 
2 hours until my Libre expires, but my levels are much better today. I dared to get on the scales, and I've put on exactly 4lbs over Christmas and New Year. I was expecting considerably more, to be honest, and was afraid I'd have gone all the way back to my pre-diagnosis weight.

Yes, I need to get back into exercise again. It's something I prefer to do when I have the place to myself, and I haven't over the last couple of weeks. I love my bike rides in the warmer weather, but the current temperatures mean the indoor exercise bike, and it bores me senseless.

No permanent damage done, I don't think. Just an interesting experiment to see what happens if I let myself go a little, diet-wise, for a week or two.
 
I'm another who put on weight over the Christmas period

I didn't go way over on carbs but as @MrsA2 said it reminds me of how little my body can tolerate. I think for me it was having a little more carbs which has probably meant I have more fluid and also I got more hungry so ate more as well.

I was back at work this week and so my carb intake has gone back down- still feeling more hungry so eating more. I agree with previous posters that it is easier not to overindulge. I was way more strict last Christmas and plan to be for next Christmas. I wish I was a quick learner.

This is one of the huge benefits of being on this site- honest opinions and support.
 
I was able to keep the carbs down through some creative olanning
 
I’m up a couple lbs too lol, my only cheat was my chocolate Santa, I guess I just ate too much. Added more cardio to the plan, hopefully I can work some of before Chinese New Year... when will it end lol
 
My Libre is dead (long live the Libre.) I got a 7.1 out of the GlucoRx-Q this morning, which is just about back in my usual morning fasting range of high 5's through to low 7's. Today, I'm giving protein shakes a go as breakfast and lunch replacements, and staying low carb for everything else but a few beers. (Advise all you like, the beer stays part of the diet.)

My Christmas hamper from work arrived yesterday. I'm guessing much heavier demand than usual due to Covid, hence the delay. 11 items inside, 9 of which are food. 1 of those 9 items (peanuts) was low carb. The other 8 are all 50g or more of carbs per 100g of product.
 
Given peanuts are 16g carbs per 100g I’d argue they aren’t low carb but compared to the other items you describe those other items sound really high, which is a shame.

As for not giving up beer. Well as you will have seen from the posts I make that I continue to have things I know aren’t the best for me, I personally think it can be harder to give up more without something that helps keep going. I’m not a beer drinker but are there low carb versions?

I’ve tended to find shakes and similar don’t quite fill me up enough and I graze more, I hope they work for you. What have you got?

high 5s and low 7s for morning readings sound not too bad though, often the hardest to get lower

good luck!
 
It's just the Bulk Powders vanilla one. It's quite pleasant. A little bit watery, but it does seem to stave off hunger pains. I tend to do a double (60g of powder + 400ml of water) so it's working out around £1 a shake. Tolerable as a meal substitute, but I'm glad I'm not paying for food as well. They seem to be reasonably filling as long as I sip at them. If I gulp them down, I'm picking at food again half an hour later.

I got a 5.3 morning reading the other day, but suspect an optimistic low from my meter. High 6's to low 7's seem to be my waking norm right now. I think things are settling down. I still have those few Christmas pounds to lose, so maybe when I get them off, my levels will return to normal.

There are low carb beers, but they're not cheap. I've stuck with Carling, which I'm used to, and works out around 10g of carbs per 440ml can. By no means the worst offender, and not horrendous as long as you don't have too many. I know from the Libre that it doesn't spike me, even as a delayed reaction. In fact 'dry' days and 'not so dry' days are indiscernible on my Libre charts.

I've been making frozen strawberry daiquris, too. Around 15g of carbs in each one, which doesn't really seem to hit me. The banana ones did give me a good old spike on the Libre, but then bananas are one of the carbier fruits (a shame, because those ones were gorgeous.)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…