I would definitely get a BG monitor if you are able to - it can tell you so much about how specific foods affect your BG levels after eating.Well I am down to 1200 calories and have lost 8 kilos since Jan but I have a feeling I am not doing it right as well I do not check the other things
like the fat, protein and cards just the weight of my food, I think may be I should go against my Doctor and buy a machine for my blood, I do have a BP machine and yes I do use it every morning when I first get up, I started at 150 but I am now at 120. but well I now have another problem, all my weight I feel has come off my legs and arms and my Eczema has broken out there and started to weep it is keeping up awake all night.
I did ring my Doctor but well it seems he is away at present. Phyden
Phyden
I am finding that since lowering my carbs my eczema is starting to go. Before diagnosis I was convinced my eczema was just work/stress related, and it probably was, but there may have been an element of high BG levels as well in prediabetic/pre-diagnosis days. I presume you are long retired though!
I don't know to what extent my reducing eczema (mainly on my back) is down to better BG control or less stress at work, or both or something else again. I hope you get some good advice from your GP about it, mine prescribed Diprobase for large areas (pretty useless, Sudocrem is more effective) and Betnovate for smaller areas (better).
Hi Phyden
Yes, I think you should buy a monitor to keep an eye on you blood, regardless of whether your doctor agrees.
Eating by weight seems odd to me as I believe it is the type of food that matters. I am successful losing weight by eating low carbs and high, healthy fats. Here is a link to a website about it http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
I love your wee rabbit picture! If I was to eat him It would make me feel quite ill as he is made of melon and pineapple! So sugary.
Ask you doctor for help with treating your eczema as lack of sleep will make you miserable, plus if your skin breaks and gets infected it could affect your blood glucose levels. Good luck.
Not much progress at the moment, I seem to have plateaued a bit on both weight loss and BGs, but I'm not panicking about that.
Andrew Colvin has his very nice app, but I'm a simpler soul and track my results on graphs and a colour coded spreadsheet, which looks like this:
View attachment 4642
Now you don't need to be able to read this, but what it is meant to show is a progressive 'cooling' of the colours. Near the left is a block of four columns for BG testing - fasting, preprandial, dinner + 2 hours and dinner increase. To get into the cool blue zone fasting needs to be 5.5, preprandial 5.9, +2 7.8 and increase less than 2.
Next to that in beige mostly are notes clarifying any particular reason for odd numbers. Beige also represents days with no alcohol (!).
The big block of 8 columns in the middle is for blood pressure, two systolic/diastolic readings morning and evening, with the daily average in the two additional columns to the right of that. Green is below 142 and 82 - there's no blue category here at the moment.
The uncoloured columns next are for weight and weight loss, and the two columns in orange and red on the right are for BMI and waist size. This is a longer term process but they are coming down. The orange category for BMI is 28-30, currently on 28.3 so hopefully it will go yellow soon. Needs to be <25 to get into the green. Waist will go yellow (no orange, these are based on diabetes pack data from the DN) when I get below 40 in - beer belly is the issue there, but only a couple of inches to go.
Finally there are brief notes on exercise taken and food I've eaten.
Not over-sophisticated but it gives me all I need on one screen and a quick visual indication of ongoing progress, and it works for me.
That was like my spreadsheet and it just seemed to get more and more complex and that is why I went to writing my app.Not much progress at the moment, I seem to have plateaued a bit on both weight loss and BGs, but I'm not panicking about that.
Andrew Colvin has his very nice app, but I'm a simpler soul and track my results on graphs and a colour coded spreadsheet, which looks like this:
View attachment 4642
Now you don't need to be able to read this, but what it is meant to show is a progressive 'cooling' of the colours. Near the left is a block of four columns for BG testing - fasting, preprandial, dinner + 2 hours and dinner increase. To get into the cool blue zone fasting needs to be 5.5, preprandial 5.9, +2 7.8 and increase less than 2.
Next to that in beige mostly are notes clarifying any particular reason for odd numbers. Beige also represents days with no alcohol (!).
The big block of 8 columns in the middle is for blood pressure, two systolic/diastolic readings morning and evening, with the daily average in the two additional columns to the right of that. Green is below 142 and 82 - there's no blue category here at the moment.
The uncoloured columns next are for weight and weight loss, and the two columns in orange and red on the right are for BMI and waist size. This is a longer term process but they are coming down. The orange category for BMI is 28-30, currently on 28.3 so hopefully it will go yellow soon. Needs to be <25 to get into the green. Waist will go yellow (no orange, these are based on diabetes pack data from the DN) when I get below 40 in - beer belly is the issue there, but only a couple of inches to go.
Finally there are brief notes on exercise taken and food I've eaten.
Not over-sophisticated but it gives me all I need on one screen and a quick visual indication of ongoing progress, and it works for me.