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SouthCoastBoy

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I'm 56, have been overweight all my adult life (16st 8 currently) but exercise regularly. After years of 'high normal' BG readings, then pre-diabetes readings three years ago, my a1c came back as 55 yesterday... I'm due to meet the DN in about a month. I do not know what to expect.
Firstly, thanks so much for this Forum, I spent a lot of the day being scared, ashamed, guilty, sometimes comforted and all the other responses you'd expect, but my day would have been so much worse without being able to read your stories, advice and information.
I'm taking this as a more than the kicks up the behind my previous readings have (temporarily) been. It's time to make permanent change, not just token efforts for a while. As a yo yo dieter, I'm most at home with losing weight through low carb, so thanks to everyone who has given advice on this lifestyle in the context of T2. I fear not being able to get this under control and all the bad stuff that means, but I can understand the views of some on here who regard this as a start of a new long-term healthy life, and as such as a positive thing (although it doesn't feel that way at the moment).
Thanks for taking me in, look forward to taking your advice and, in time as my journey progresses, to helping others do the same.
 
Hi @SouthCoastBoy and welcome!

You are definitely in the right place for advice and support. Sounds like you’re ready to make a change - hopefully you’ll join another club, those who feel the diagnosis was a blessing in disguise.

The key to all this is what you eat - many of us have had great success by reducing carbohydrates.

I’m linking to some useful information for newbies, including diet - have a good read and come back with as many questions as you like.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/basic-information-for-newly-diagnosed-diabetics.26870/
 

Hi and welcome.
You sounds a bit like a much lighter me!
I was 23 stone when diagnosed and am now nudging the scales at around 14 st.
Good luck on your journey..
My HbA1c on diagnosis was 87 mmol/m so your 55 is not so bad!
Ask any questions and someone will be along to answer..
 
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Hi and welcome, I think you've come to the right place and I am sure people will help you. Its a frightening illness and the more I read, the more it frightens me. Way forward, get your head around the meal plans, I haven't as yet but I've paid so I must! Good luck!
I'm a scared newbie and struggling to get my head round this. I am out to my last scheduled lunch today and from tomorrow I intend to fully embrace this diet. I need to spend time this website learning as sadly, my DN is still pushing hard with the high carb route. She actually made me even more scared and I've dithered about not knowing what to do. I need to talk to someone who has lost a lot of weight on this programme and know their bloods and lipids are fine I think, for the confidence. Take care.
 
sheilaslims said:
I need to talk to someone who has lost a lot of weight on this programme and know their bloods and lipids are fine I think, for the confidence.
Click to expand...

I am one of them, and there are many others. You’d probably be best setting up your own thread to ask about that so that you get more replies.
 
If you're already familliar with low carb, it's worth it to delve deeper into the relation of carbs to your bloodsugars.... You have a background, so you won't be as clueless as some of us were (Read: Me. ). https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ will help, but The Diabetes Code by Dr. Jason Fung is really the way to go. It is the best way, if you ask me that is, to get control of your diabetes and weight. I've been complication- and medication free for 3 years almost... Started low carbing soon after diagnosis. It's a good method, whether you go for regular low carb/high fat, keto and/or intermittent fasting. You'll find what works best for you.

I thought I was going to lose my legs and die. Turns out my life's better now than it was 3 years ago, even with other medical, non-related issues cropping up. *shrug*. It gets better. Diagnosis is a kick in the head, but you'll be able to tackle this. And once you see the numbers change, you'll get the same sense of empowerment a lot of us here have felt.
 

Welcome to the Club.

My Hba1c was 108 when diagnosed at the end of May and has now come down to a lot more respectable numbers, thanks to the advice on here. Yours could be a lot worse.

I am at 55 now (Same as you) and still going down towards the magical figures. (Watch this space in a month or two )

Whatever you do - Do Not feel ashamed or guilty. Feeling scared is only natural, but follow the right advice and I am sure that you will be fine.

Between now and when you see your DN in a months time, cut out as much sugar as you can and reduce your intake of carbs.

Good luck on the start of your journey.
 
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I did it. My cholesterol has good ratio's and is fine (no-one's pushing statins on me anymore, yay!), and while I am still a bit bigger than I'd prefer to be due to other issues, I'm no longer morbidly obese. (That was about 25 kilo's ago). I can see my toes, and I can put on my shoes without my belly crushing my lungs. And my bloodsugars are solidly in the normal range, and have been since starting low carb. Before I did that, I'd see 18's, maybe 20's after lunch. These days I'm usually somewhere around 5. I went LCHF first, then progressed to keto and intermittent fasting. It just worked better for me to always go for the lowest amount of carbs where possible. (I kept miscalculating when I did have carbs.). So yeah.... It can be done. https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog-entry/the-nutritional-thingy.2330/ might help a little once the meal plans runs out.
 
Wow, what a great place this is, thanks so much for your kind words. I'm definitely back on low carbs, but my problem in the past on low carb is that I have been taking in loads of protein and not really going high fat, as it seems counter-intuitive. It has worked as a weight-reduction means, though, more than all the other diets I have been on. I read that high protein levels can cause gluconeogenesis, which could be an issue in blood sugar levels, and another article saying no problem to eat loads of protein! Aargh!
 

You just need to experiment to see what works for you. I eat virtually no plant matter, a lot of protein and a lot of fat and haven’t found gluconeogenesis to be a significant problem.
 
Like @Goonergal says, it's a personal thing. I don't notice protein doing much glucogenesis for me, but for others, their bloodsugars are influenced quite a bit. The fat seems counter intuitive, because it's what we've been told is bad for soooo long. But fats are a blood glucose flatline, besides keeping us from going hungry and providing vital nutrients. And no glucogenesis. Better yet, it mitigates the effect of the carbs you do ingest, so you don't peak as hard and as fast as you might have. If you feel uncomfortable with fats, try going for the ones you must know are inherently good: avocado, olives/oil, fatty fish (with loads of omega oils and vitamin d!). We're not about to shove a barrel of butter down your throat... But maybe a wheel of full fat cheese....
 
Thanks!
 
Remember SouthCoastBoy that you need targets and goals. The overall objective is to get your A1Cs lower. Set targets for weight loss, exercising and most of all your daily carbs. You need to be testing bg levels several times a day to see what foods make your bg go higher and you can then keep away from them.
In the last 12 months I have lost weight (nearly 35 lbs), cut my diabetic medication including stopping insulin and have my A1cs outside the diabetic range. I am not specifically high fat but this goes up proportionately when your carbs drop.
Your pancreas may not get better but you can help its performance by reducing the carbs.
Start the journey and know where you are heading.
 
So, as an update, I had my appointment with the DN this morning. I was pretty nervous about what would happen, and where we go from here. Anyway, long story short, I'm 6kg down in the last month thanks to the keto/low carb stuff. My random glucose was 5.4, and tests on feet, kidneys etc. were all OK. No meds, redo the A1C in December.

So I'm starting to feel a whole lot better about myself! Gotta go for an eye scan and a Desmond course, so just soaking it all up and committing to the process. Weirdly, I feel quite a bit better about myself generally than I have done for a long while, losing weight is making me feel good, and I feel I have a new insight into how lifestyle affects your body. I'm starting to put a lot less shame on myself, and more on the rubbish way that an office job and career causes you to eat and drink badly, stress unnecessarily and generally not move much unless you're exercising. And that this has consequences long term. Spent ages reading the threads on here, thanks to everyone who has shared their thoughts, it has got this newbie in a whole better place.

I know this is only the start, but feel more encouraged than I did a month or so ago.
 
Well, I’ve just picked up my results of 57 I’m 52 and I weigh 21 Stone...and am rather partial to beer and sweets. After meeting the Dr today he said that I need to lose 10% of my body weight and go back to see him in 3 months, no medication yet but I really need to start looking after myself. Just been reading up on the correct food groups...so it starts now!! Good luck!
 

What a huge achievement, @SouthCoastBoy. Random blood sugars in the normal range. ... and this only in four weeks. You ought to be very proud of yourself. Congrats.
 

Good luck on your journey, @Didster. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. If you have any questions, there are lots of very knowledgeable, friendly and very helpful members on this forum, who will be only too happy to help.
 
Be aware that the Desmond course might try and undo all your good work. They vary a fair bit but many still just want you to cut white bread and go for whole grain versions of carbs. They may well tell you testing isn’t required. I hope yours is more positive. Sadly lots of people there won’t have done the research you have and will believe it all - hook, line and sinker.

Up to you how you handle that but I had just got my first 3 month check back and kept on about how low carb did that and how many does their methods do the same for (answer: if they are honest very very few)? I asked if they would drive a car with no speedo and just wait for a ticket to come through the door? Eating foods with no idea of their effects is much the same, and an hb1ac is like the letter long after the drive when you’ve no idea what or when you went wrong or what to do differently.
 
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