Just avoiding sugary food isn’t really enough. You need to be limiting the carbs. All of them. Rice pasta potato bread flour grains cereals etc. It will help with your rather high numbers and in turn with your weight. Because of your forxgia you need to monitor the levels closely as you reduce carbs. If your blood levels are much lower due to eating fewer carbs then it may be the medication works “too well” and will need adjusting down to avoid hypos. It sounds daunting to start with but you don’t have to jump in with both feet, you can dip a few toes at a time. Many people report it to meg much easier than they expected. I’ll add some links at the end of this post for you to look through to get a better idea of it..
And you’re right stress will not help with raised levels and in turn that makes weight gain more likely. Can you get any support with the emotional health issues, have you asked your dr or got friends to turn to?
********
Can I suggest you take a good look at low carb high fat methods of eating (keto is just a version of this). It helps many of us lose significant amounts of weight, if desired, keep our numbers down and for some even eliminate medications and achieve remission and reduce or improve complications. Try clicking these links for more detailed explanations that are well worth readings
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog/jokalsbeek.401801/ for info including low carb made simple
And
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/success-stories-and-testimonials.43/ to show it really works and for motivation
and
https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/ for food ideas
also
https://www.dietdoctor.com/ for more food ideas and general info of carb content of foods. Lots of other websites for recipes out there too. Just use the term low carb or keto with whatever you fancy.
IMPORTANT FOR ANYONE ON MEDS CONSIDERING LOWERING CARBS: if you lower your carbs then any glucose lowering meds may need to be adjusted accordingly to make sure you aren’t taking more than your new diet requires. It can cause a hypo if you have more gliclazide or insulin etc (this is not relevant for metformin on its own) than your new carb intake requires. Keep a close eye on your numbers and ideally do this with your dr. Please don’t be put off by an ill informed out dated rubbishing of low carb diets or being told you should eat carbs to match meds, it should be the other way around.