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First week Numbers - how good/bad are they?

MrTickle

Member
Messages
20
Location
Lincolnshire
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Started a fairly LCHF diet last Friday. Intended on working down the number of carbs from 100 but it seems that aside from one day consuming 60g, I've been around the 30-40g mark on other days.

The reason for the post is to understand how good or bad these numbers are, and what sort of numbers I should target. :

Prior to now, on doing random fasting tests first thing in the morning, I've been around the 7.2ish mark but then one of my problems has been eating large meals late at night.

Since starting LCHF on Friday...

Fasting (days Fri-Thurs) :
6.8, 6.1, 6.2, 6.2, 6.2, 5.9, 5.7

Post-Prandial (2hrs) after evening meal (one day couldn't take reading) :
9.3, 7, 7.3, 6.6, 6.0

To recap, I'm not officially diagnosed (yet), although my last HbA1c was 55 and I am trying to change my lifestyle before repeating the test in a few months. Always been a constant junk-food eater, quite overweight, low-excersise levels.

What sort of targets should I be setting? If I start going to the gym as well (which I will be doing) - would these have an affect on the numbers?

Thanks
 
Well after only a week your numbers are certainly going in the right direction.. would I be correct in thinking that the 9.3 was not after a low carb meal?
I aim to be less then 6 most of the time (but I am very strict with what I eat) so I would say your numbers are great and your next HbA1c should be a lot lower if you can carry on getting those kind of numbers. I would however say that it might be an idea to test pre prandial as well just to see what you were before as well as after the meal.
But for the most part well done!
 
Sorry forgot the gym bit..
That can depend on what you do and how your body reacts to what you do.
Some people (most) find that walking has a beneficial effect with lower bloods whereas more high intensity exercise can cause your bloods to go up but that is not necessarily what will happen to you. It really is a case of try it and see.
I'm a bit of a lazy git so use diet rather than exercise to get my bloods down. I did rejoin a gym last year after getting an energy boost from ultra low carbing but the enthusiasm only lasted 3 months before I got bored with it and haven't been since.
 
bulkbiker said:
Well after only a week your numbers are certainly going in the right direction.. would I be correct in thinking that the 9.3 was not after a low carb meal?
Click to expand...

I had a tin of soup and three slices of 'low-carb' bread on that day. So a total of 49g carbs.


Thanks! I did test pre-prandial too, just didn't include the numbers. They were :

(post-prandial in brackets)
6.9 (9.3), 5.7 (7), 6.1 (7.3), no pre test (6.6), 5.5 (6.0)
 
They all look good although I would take from the first pair that the low carb bread (or at least 3 slices) isn't great for your numbers. I wish mine had been that good after only a week!
 
If I was you Id look at the soup first rather than the low carb toast - most tinned soups I’ve looked at were 20g or more a tin as they are pumped full of sugar to “improve the taste”. most low carb bread / toast is 3-5g carbs a slice.
With home made soup you have control over the ingredients and therefore the carb count. I make a variety of soups under 10g carbs a potion e.g.
Broccoli & goats cheese (5), cauliflower cheese (4), chicken (3), double celery (8), carrot & swede (7)
 
Last edited:
I'm a sucker for cream of chicken soup (and tomato) - I need to learn how to cook, clearly!
 
MrTickle said:
I'm a sucker for cream of chicken soup (and tomato) - I need to learn how to cook, clearly!
Click to expand...

I know it is difficult, but you need to change your mindset and forget the foods you are a sucker for, and look for foods you like but also happen to be lower carb, or at the very least reduce your portion size. Let your meter guide you.

Rather than concentrate on the actual levels, you should be looking at the amount of rise from before to 2 hours after. Keep this well under 2mmol/l and you should be fine.
 
Tesco cream of chicken soup isn’t bad at 5.6g carbs for half of a 400g can, but tomato soup from the same range is 14.8g
 
MrTickle said:
I need to learn how to cook, clearly!
Click to expand...
I think learning how to cook and understanding what is in food is SO important for anyone dealing with diabetes. Rather than feeling deprived because you can't fill your supermarket trolly with all sorts of packaged items, a real pleasure can be gained from sourcing fresh ingredients and deciding how you will cook them. I do wonder if the lack of cookery skills in much of the population isn't one factor in the rise in diabetes and obesity.
I'll get off my soapbox ....
Sally
 
As others have said, focus on what you can have, not what you can't, and you'll be fine. I find my cooking time has been reduced a lot since going low carb, as most of the food is natural and unprocessed, it's really easy to put together - fish with veg for example or an omelette and salad, scrambled eggs for breakfast and so on.
 
I agree Sally, cooking ( and eating) home cooked food made with fresh ingredients is one of life’s great pleasures, especially now I can use butter again!

My daughter is ‘doing’ Slimming World and is amazed, and frankly envious of the food I’m cooking. I’m trying to persuade her of the benefits of LCHF even though she’s not diabetic.
 
Rachox said:
Tesco cream of chicken soup isn’t bad at 5.6g carbs for half of a 400g can, but tomato soup from the same range is 14.8g
Click to expand...
Op indicated 1 can so have to double those carb counts too
 
DJC3 said:
I agree Sally, cooking ( and eating) home cooked food made with fresh ingredients is one of life’s great pleasures, especially now I can use butter again!.
Click to expand...

I agree - it can also be much more cost efective. My local farm shop and the veg ailes in Lidl & Aldi are always good for a bargain.
In the area of London where I live, there are 3 branches of Lidl, 2 of Aldi and a farm shop all within a 5-10 min drive so I guess Im a bit spoilt,
 
Since I was diagnosed we eat far more healthily than before. Quite apart from junking the junk food, we've researched and discovered a wide range of recipes that we wouldn't have otherwise and we are finding new ones all the time. We are on a gastronomic voyage of discovery and it's rather fun!
 
You have a good point. The curriculum is so skewed and narrow that youngsters don't get the opportunity to learn about food. Cookery used to be called home economics. Lots of money could be saved by families cooking their own meals. Not fancy chef stuff with expensive ingredients, tasty wholesome soups, stews, etc.
 
I think the hardest part is trying to include enough variety in my diet, especially as I've never been big on 'greens' although am trying... The thing with carbs is that a lot of foods are comfort-foods, and the addictive quality of getting that 'hit' is what drives some of us to overeat on them.

I purposely plan to 'break the rules' a little to see what certain foods (that are not low-carb) do to my numbers. It will just help in certain situations where I don't have the low-carb option and still want to enjoy things. It seems from my initial numbers that soup and/or bread is NOT a good combination. Conversely, on another day I had a takeaway mixed kebab with chilli and bbq sauce (but without the naan bread or the chips) and it didn't seem to spike much, and kept my next mornings fasting bloods stable. I'm treating the first month as a bit of trial and error, whilst still aiming to come in at a lowish carb total. I've also bought some ketostix, which I know some people hate, but it means I can check each day and so far I'm staying in keto.

Shopping today though, I did notice an annoyance. My previous shop was in Morrisons, and for most of their stuff they seemed to break down the carbs by whatever was in the pack (so, for example 'per burger'), whereas Asda - where I went today, seemed to *only* use the 100g measure, which meant you are constantly trying to do mental arithmetic to work out the 'real' carb content. I must have looked an idiot examining the labels studiously in the milk aisle where I was trying to find the optimal carb/g content of full-fat cream for when I want a coffee!

I have however also found that some of the packaged Indian curries (at both Morrisons and Asda) seem pretty low in carbs. I think the Chicken Balti was only 7g in total, so I've managed to keep curry in my diet - only with cauliflower-rice rather than real rice...
 
Good plan - find out what works for your body - the rules are based on other peoples bodies
 
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