Just got my results from a blood test I had on the 19th January which is about 3 weeks after Xmas. This time my HbA1c was 40, it was 37 six months ago, so I was disappointed but it wasn't disastrous considering. I don't have any medication and I normally stick to a fairly low carb diet, about 70g per day. However, I am a 70 year old man who is fussy about things so rather than buy me clothes that I wouldn't wear, I get food and drink for presents and it would be impolite not to enjoy them!. My relatives know about my LC diet but they have seen me have the odd square of dark chocolate and they know I drink red wine so obviously loads of chocolate and bottles of port would be ok. There seems to be a misconception about T2D that there are some foods we can have and some we can't and the quantity doesn't come into it. My next test will be in July, just after a holiday in Italy with it's tempting carbs! I suppose at least I don't get a false sense of security as my tests should be the worst case.
MrPot - after my first, post-diagnosis HbA1c, I gave myself a decent talking to because I realised that going down and down, time on time, was unrealistic and furthermore life doesn't play fair, in terms of having a consistent amount of head space to be "always on" in terms of diabetes management. I don't mean it should be having a decent ignoring, but sometimes life means we have to shift our focus sometimes. I decided to allow myself a window of =/- a figure.
In more recent times,my HbA1c has literally toggled 31/33/31/33 a so on. Why? I have no idea, although the elevated times have been linked with times when my life has had more stress in it, but provided I stay within my +/- tolerance I'm fine.
If the trend starts to shift, or if other markers suggest my health might be slipping, then clearly I would have to rrefocus my efforts.
Don't be too hard on yourself. As well as having decent control, we do have a duty to ourselves to enjoy our lives and enjoy those we love. Diabetes is important, but over the longer term it can't be all consuming. We can only give it our best efforts on the day, bearing in mind any other factors (ill-health, poor sleep, exercise, stress, holidays, or even the weather) in play.