Wow well done and thank you for the update it's wonderful to hear when someone does so well and your weight loss too is staggering you really must feel like a different person to a year ago. Excellent and inspirational results.
I've had a good run of luck, some great support from people in my life and on this forum, put in a lot of effort to change my ways, and as one of my closest friends said of my approach, "finally, being a stubborn ******* is paying off for you!"
I guess I'd sum up what I've learnt and experienced so far as follows:
Managing diabetes - If you want medication as your singular approach to management, the NHS will help and has many options - more of them than you can shake a stick at, in fact. If you don't, the NHS seems entirely at a loss as to what to do with you, at least in my experience. Diabetes professionals are the same as midwives in my opinion - out of touch, recommending out of date "solutions" that are proven to be unsuccessful/dangerous, and rather than being part of the solution they're part of the problem.
Cholesterol - Still don't understand it, probably never will, and I'm seriously skeptical that anyone is anywhere close to understanding it regardless of how many letters they may have after their name.
Weight loss - It can be
easier, but it's never easy. Keto, with occasional low carb range days, has reduced my appetite and forced me to face many of my food demons, which has helped immensely. It's the easiest diet I've ever done and definitely the most successful. However, for me it's shifted the problems of a diet from cravings and hunger, to "what the hell am I going to eat while I'm out?" or "how am I going to get time in my schedule to food prep this week?" Admittedly, they're better problems to have and there are always solutions, but it's still a challenge.
People - While I've been fortunate that my close friends and family have been extremely supportive, people more broadly have been a problem at times. Work people, particularly at senior levels, don't want to hear that a "working lunch" with pizza isn't going to motivate me to drive an 8 hour round trip to HQ to sit in a meeting to discuss their latest irrelevant whims. The amount of people (particularly at work) who have said "I don't know why you don't just take medication and eat what you want", as though that's even a thing, is quite staggering. Surrounding yourself with supportive people, who fight for what's best for you and make every effort to help, is vital. It's also why this forum is so amazing, because everyone is supportive and tries to help.
