Hi
I don't even know where to start as my story has lots of added in twists and complications due to other health conditions, but I'll try my best. I hope you bear with me
. 41 year old female
So the important facts are,
diagnosed prediabetic in march 2020, out of the blue, as was feeling unwell due to other things and was sent for a range of blood tests. Just into covid and lockdown so I had a phonecall from the doctor with the result and he basically said, usually he would recommend exercise but as on lockdown that's difficult. Also he would usually recommend diet changes and doing a short course they run on diet but they aren't holding them at the moment due to lockdown. So was basically told to try and lose weight and that I would now have yearly blood test to check it.
It was a bit of a shock and to be honest as I had no input from docs I just carried on as I was and only thought about it when it was yearly test time. My hba1c results were generally around 43 or 44.
Skip to Nov 2023 and I got covid and never properly recovered. I have long covid. I haven't managed to work since due to the fatigue. I used to work 20 hours cleaning in a care home and another 20 odd hours with my own cleaning business cleaning holiday homes. Always on the go. I started putting on weight as my activity level had dropped significantly. I was never 'skinny' before but this started bothering me and I was worrying about the weight so I joined slimming world in march 2024.
That was probably my mistake. It wouldn't be for 'normal people' but I'm quite a fussy eater in that I literally eat no fruit or veg apart from apple, orange, onion, carrot and potato. That is literally it!! So I couldn't fill my plate with the 'free food' vegetables or snack on fruit like most people there do. I love pasta, potatoes or rice anyway so started eating loads more pasta, in various forms, as a dish for lunch everyday. Plus always had rice or potato of some description with my low fat meat for dinner. I didn't lose a lot and wasn't long before I started gaining in small amounts. I stuck with it though as mostly I was enjoying the social part of going to a group each week as I'm a single parent. In November last year, 2025, I finally decided to stop as it wasn't working.
I realise now after reading through these posts most of last night, that i basically filled up on carbs and that was probably the worst thing I could do. But what's done is done
So, due to the long covid, I have had lots of other issues emerge and diagnosis of other things which since Nov 2023 has kept me pretty busy with doctors visits. I had still been having my hba1c checked yearly in June (result June 2025 was 44) but randomly end of Nov last year, 2025, doc decided to do a whole range of other tests and lumped that in again too. This time it came back at 49. They wanted a repeat test done in 2 weeks and I got busy with Xmas and ended up not having it done till Tues this week. My result came through on the NHS app yesterday as 48. Didn't hear from doc till this morning with a text asking me to book a routine telephone appointment as doc wants to discuss my results. Next available routine appointment is Feb 19th!!! So no input from GP until then
So obviously I was thinking about it all yesterday and trying to wrap my head around it and kicking myself for not looking into it more when I was prediabetic as then I would have known carbs were bad and slimming world wouldn't have been a good option. So many things running around my head and I found this forum. Wow!! You all seem so kind and knowledgeable and I'm so grateful I found this. I learnt so much last night just from reading so much!
So now I've stopped kicking myself as I can't change the past, I want to try a low carb diet. I say low carb but I probably mean lower carb for now and work my way down a bit.
I cook my pasta in batches and put it in a tub in the fridge and eat it cold as lunch with other bits most days anyway. I've read on here that's a good thing as less carbs than freshly cooked? Can someone explain this and if adding my carbs up in grams daily, how many grams of carbs compared to how much cold pasta? So that I'm adding the correct amount to my total.
Also I'm using the nutracheck app and was measuring calories and fat but have now changed it to measure carbs. How many carbs in grams, do normal people eat a day and what should I set my limit to, a day, in grams? I've seen some people say they stick to 20g and there's no way I can manage that right now. The nutracheck app comes up with 238g a day on their low carb plan option so I was thinking I could lower to just over 100g a day for now? This would be 20% carb, 40% fat, 40% protein. Would this help? Is this enough?
Also I like the idea of cauliflower rice and courgette lasagna sheets and stuff but truthfully, I really don't like any of the vegetables. I know I'm an adult and I should just make myself as it's good for me. But I know that if I don't enjoy my food then I'll be more tempted to snack on chocolate and crisps (my biggest downfall) so I think I'll just need to up the protein and lower the carbs. I am going to try a few recipes from here with the hope that I can't taste the vegetable parts lol. But I don't hold out much hope. I hope that by sticking to less potatoes or less pasta on the plate I can change something at least.
I deeply apologise this was so long winded and hope you've managed to read through ok. If you have, then thank you. Any help appreciated
I don't even know where to start as my story has lots of added in twists and complications due to other health conditions, but I'll try my best. I hope you bear with me
. 41 year old femaleSo the important facts are,
diagnosed prediabetic in march 2020, out of the blue, as was feeling unwell due to other things and was sent for a range of blood tests. Just into covid and lockdown so I had a phonecall from the doctor with the result and he basically said, usually he would recommend exercise but as on lockdown that's difficult. Also he would usually recommend diet changes and doing a short course they run on diet but they aren't holding them at the moment due to lockdown. So was basically told to try and lose weight and that I would now have yearly blood test to check it.
It was a bit of a shock and to be honest as I had no input from docs I just carried on as I was and only thought about it when it was yearly test time. My hba1c results were generally around 43 or 44.
Skip to Nov 2023 and I got covid and never properly recovered. I have long covid. I haven't managed to work since due to the fatigue. I used to work 20 hours cleaning in a care home and another 20 odd hours with my own cleaning business cleaning holiday homes. Always on the go. I started putting on weight as my activity level had dropped significantly. I was never 'skinny' before but this started bothering me and I was worrying about the weight so I joined slimming world in march 2024.
That was probably my mistake. It wouldn't be for 'normal people' but I'm quite a fussy eater in that I literally eat no fruit or veg apart from apple, orange, onion, carrot and potato. That is literally it!! So I couldn't fill my plate with the 'free food' vegetables or snack on fruit like most people there do. I love pasta, potatoes or rice anyway so started eating loads more pasta, in various forms, as a dish for lunch everyday. Plus always had rice or potato of some description with my low fat meat for dinner. I didn't lose a lot and wasn't long before I started gaining in small amounts. I stuck with it though as mostly I was enjoying the social part of going to a group each week as I'm a single parent. In November last year, 2025, I finally decided to stop as it wasn't working.
I realise now after reading through these posts most of last night, that i basically filled up on carbs and that was probably the worst thing I could do. But what's done is done
So, due to the long covid, I have had lots of other issues emerge and diagnosis of other things which since Nov 2023 has kept me pretty busy with doctors visits. I had still been having my hba1c checked yearly in June (result June 2025 was 44) but randomly end of Nov last year, 2025, doc decided to do a whole range of other tests and lumped that in again too. This time it came back at 49. They wanted a repeat test done in 2 weeks and I got busy with Xmas and ended up not having it done till Tues this week. My result came through on the NHS app yesterday as 48. Didn't hear from doc till this morning with a text asking me to book a routine telephone appointment as doc wants to discuss my results. Next available routine appointment is Feb 19th!!! So no input from GP until then
So obviously I was thinking about it all yesterday and trying to wrap my head around it and kicking myself for not looking into it more when I was prediabetic as then I would have known carbs were bad and slimming world wouldn't have been a good option. So many things running around my head and I found this forum. Wow!! You all seem so kind and knowledgeable and I'm so grateful I found this. I learnt so much last night just from reading so much!
So now I've stopped kicking myself as I can't change the past, I want to try a low carb diet. I say low carb but I probably mean lower carb for now and work my way down a bit.
I cook my pasta in batches and put it in a tub in the fridge and eat it cold as lunch with other bits most days anyway. I've read on here that's a good thing as less carbs than freshly cooked? Can someone explain this and if adding my carbs up in grams daily, how many grams of carbs compared to how much cold pasta? So that I'm adding the correct amount to my total.
Also I'm using the nutracheck app and was measuring calories and fat but have now changed it to measure carbs. How many carbs in grams, do normal people eat a day and what should I set my limit to, a day, in grams? I've seen some people say they stick to 20g and there's no way I can manage that right now. The nutracheck app comes up with 238g a day on their low carb plan option so I was thinking I could lower to just over 100g a day for now? This would be 20% carb, 40% fat, 40% protein. Would this help? Is this enough?
Also I like the idea of cauliflower rice and courgette lasagna sheets and stuff but truthfully, I really don't like any of the vegetables. I know I'm an adult and I should just make myself as it's good for me. But I know that if I don't enjoy my food then I'll be more tempted to snack on chocolate and crisps (my biggest downfall) so I think I'll just need to up the protein and lower the carbs. I am going to try a few recipes from here with the hope that I can't taste the vegetable parts lol. But I don't hold out much hope. I hope that by sticking to less potatoes or less pasta on the plate I can change something at least.
I deeply apologise this was so long winded and hope you've managed to read through ok. If you have, then thank you. Any help appreciated
