One year a diabetic.

Well, yeah, it kind of gave me sudden “will power”. I changed. My diet, pretty much overnight, and started exercising. Really, what I kept thinking I should do anyway, so it gave me motivation and focus.

How did I give up food I enjoy? Well, I want to live a long, healthy life. It’s just food.

But, one day at a time is really all you need...start there

Hi Gmt2,

I am certainly not all together with diabetes. I wish I were. I am doing the low carb and seeing a very slow drift down with my weight- if I live another 50 years maybe I'll have an okay BMI lol.

I still miss carbs- I still can't get my head around the fact that this is for the rest of my life.

I have given up carbs- well practically less than 20 grams a day. I've given up my normal and favourite foods. I don't find it easy but I think it is easier for me to have none rather than just a little. I think for me it is easier to cut out rather than cut down. This may be also the c are for you so when you are just cutting down you feel deprived but still don't get good results and crave more of the food- a lose/lose situation.

For me I take the view that my health is very important. You wouldn't think so to look at me- I'm very overweight. I've done almost every diet known to man (or woman). The thing is the LCHF is working. My blood sugar levels are stable and in the right range, my weight is going down for the first time ever without counting calories. I suspect that I could get my weight down faster by having less cream but at least for the first 6 months I have promised myself it is just about the blood sugars not the weight. This is all I can cope for for now. After 6 months (which will be after Christmas) I may try to cut the cream and the cheese and kick start the weight loss b ut it may not be for a while after that. It will depend on my head space. Am I a bit (a lot) env ious of those who have lost weight fast and seem to have it all together- well yes but as people have reminded me it is a marathon not a sprint. I've lost about 9 kilos in 13 weeks so not bad but not as speedy as I'd like especially as I lost 3 kilos the first week. I've never lost weight without counting calories- ever. I'm not counting calories just carbs.

Sorry- long winded post but I do feel your pain but your health is so important. Please just keep trying.

Willpower ... pure and simple. You need to start reading a LOT from other other members for all is not what it seems

I'm another who changed my diet pretty much overnight. I took the view that I needed not to give my body stuff that made my blood sugars rise. I tested very very regularly at first. I used the tests as a way of maintaining my motivation. The important thing is the carbs not the calories

Some suggestions- use the ones that are helpful to you
You can see how your body reacts to things like diet jelly- if you have it with double cream that's a dessert that should have very very low carbs
try very nice meat that might be something you really like- nice steak for example- then you are not being deprived you're having an upmarket steak
coffee with double cream- it might take a few weeks to really appreciate it but it is much more filling than normal cream strangely.
I love fish- crispy skin salmon- very nice
cauliflower rice or cauliflower mash (with cheese)- both low carbs
you could try melting a little bit of dark chocolate (over 80%) and adding cream- I haven't tried that b ut could work.

What is your favourite food- maybe we can give you some suggestions for alternatives.

Gmt2 said:

Is there anyone here that isn't all together with diabetes? It appears everyone on here is a superstar diabetic. Lost weight, kicked carbs to curb, athletic now! I feel like a pure failure. I am one year in and have gained weight. I can't give up my normal foods and am failing tjough my meds keep it together with no help from me.

I am gaining weight. How do others give up food they enjoy in order to lose weight? Being diabetic didn't suddenly give me willpower. Does it normally give many sudden willpower?


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I do think I have a decent portion of willpower, but my body's not doing what I want it to. Last year I started gaining weight again in spite of keto and IF, and since it's more of the same (hormone imbalance/thyroid/my*****age) which I couldn't fix to begin with, well... There it is. I'm not the blimp I was, but I don't think I'll ever reach my magic number of 75 after all. I'll just hover around 83 kilo's, and count my blessings.

You know, the diet thing... It's not for everybody. Some people decide to go medication only, or they have meds and change their diet.... But not so much they can go without medication. The diet's working for me in a sense that, well, my weight may not be what I was hoping it'd be by now, after 3 years of this, but... My HbA1C is beautiful, so I'll take it. As for giving up food I enjoy, well... A week ago I made a pizza-ish thing.... The only component I didn't make from scratch was the sauce. Everything on the pizza worked, but that horrible, horrible sweet sauce! My palette's changed.... A lot. So I can't really say I miss pizza anymore. I was gagging at the table. (Picture my husband with peals of laughter on the other side). Anyway.... It all depends on what you love so much you can't (won't) miss it, are these things you need every day or is an occasional treat alright with you etc... The thing is... Find out what works for you. Are there drawbacks to medication only? Yeah. The weight won't come off most likely (though metformin is an appetite suppressant, so who knows?), and there may be diabetic complications down the road. Might be avoided by tossing in some diet after all (maybe alternate days of low carb and regular carb?). All diabetics need to march to the beat of their own drummer, as we're all different. Bodies need different things, but our minds, our lives, do too. So you do you, and find whatever middle road makes you happy. And if you want to give diet another try, but you'd miss this-and-that, just google those things with search term keto added, who knows what wonders await. You never know where you'll find your bliss. Just don't beat yourself up. Like I said, we're all different, and what works for one person, doesn't do squat for another. So no self flagellation.
Hugs,
Jo

Gmt2 said:

Is there anyone here that isn't all together with diabetes? It appears everyone on here is a superstar diabetic. Lost weight, kicked carbs to curb, athletic now! I feel like a pure failure. I am one year in and have gained weight. I can't give up my normal foods and am failing tjough my meds keep it together with no help from me.

I am gaining weight. How do others give up food they enjoy in order to lose weight? Being diabetic didn't suddenly give me willpower. Does it normally give many sudden willpower?


Edited by mod

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It will depend completely on your motivation. For me it was the desire to hang on to my sight and toes... once I realised both were in danger from what I was eating the changes became simple. Also I only eat food I like these days.. mainly meat.

Gmt2 said:

Is there anyone here that isn't all together with diabetes? It appears everyone on here is a superstar diabetic. Lost weight, kicked carbs to curb, athletic now! I feel like a pure failure. I am one year in and have gained weight. I can't give up my normal foods and am failing tjough my meds keep it together with no help from me.

I am gaining weight. How do others give up food they enjoy in order to lose weight? Being diabetic didn't suddenly give me willpower. Does it normally give many sudden willpower?


Edited by mod

Click to expand...

Just wait until the blood vessels in your eyes and kidneys pack it in. You will immediately find the willpower you thought you didn't have. Harsh, but true. For me, the tingling toes was an immediate motivator. All good now.

Like others have already said it is down to willpower and determination. Once diagnosed, I decided that I wanted to keep my eyesight, fingers and toes. They are much more important than a little bit of sugar and the odd pizza. I wanted to stick around and see my grandchildren. I realised that sugar and sweet things to eat are not a priority in life. Staying around is

First thing I did was to cut out all sugar, cakes, chocolate, biscuits and other things that I had enjoyed for nearly 50 years. Did I miss them? Yes, but the thought of reducing the likelihood of complications is worth it. This was followed by a sensible reduction in Carbs. (Potatoes, root veg, rice etc). Do I still miss them? Sometimes.

Secondly came the daily exercise and I find that it makes me feel better in myself.

I guess that most of us have little lapses from time to time. We wouldn't be human if we didn't. Thats the great thing about his Forum. Loads of other people feeling the same way and helping and supporting each other.

Part of being diabetic is that you have to make changes to your lifestyle. Its either get the diet right or keep increasing medication, taking insulin and heading for complications. You know the choice lays in your hands.

Year 2 could now be your time.

I also made a change in diet and used my meter to motivate me. Seeing those numbers go down when I know how I'll I was when they weren't has motivated me. The short term gain of not having blurry vision, or stabbing headaches or any of the other symptoms is good.
Also for me it's seeing my 72 yr old mum with 4 carer visits a day, a stroke and heart failure and possibly vascular dementia all linked with her not well managed diabetes. That's pretty motivating.

But, it's not all plain sailing. I am depressed by supermarkets. I have a husband who is a carb fiend and also a 'feeder' and shows his love with things he knows I like. I love chips, chocolate and what I'd give for a piece of marmite on toast.
I can have the occasional treat which I shouldn't eat but I test before and after them so they are all slowly being crossed off my list. I should exercise, but I dont which is another mental battle and the 'not going' wins most of the time

It's hard, it's certainly not fair, it's different from what everyone around does, it's horrible when treats come into work and you can't have any.
Ultimately, this will help me live. I have a choice of following my mums route or being healthy.

I hope you find what motivates you!!

Crocodile said:

Just wait until the blood vessels in your eyes and kidneys pack it in. You will immediately find the willpower you thought you didn't have. Harsh, but true. For me, the tingling toes was an immediate motivator. All good now.

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When the nerves in my feet began repairing themselves, I suffered the kind of pain to make a grown man cry. Literally. Going partially blind in one eye and having needles puncture your eye balls before injecting anti-VEGF medicine also goes a long way to finding the motivation to quit bread

Hi. I don't know what your diet is but first you must accept that the typical Western diet is not good and the supermarkets are full of junk. When reducing the carbs you must have enough proteins and fats to keep you feeling full plus veg and non-tropical fruit. Snacks should be more of an exception and when you do have them focus on cheese, nuts, berries etc. Have 85% dark chocolate and so on. Carbs are addictive so the idea is to break the addiction but not break eating.

I don't post much on here, I spend time reading things thought and learning. You ask how do we find our motivation and I reply by saying like many others, I dont want to lose my sight, feet, have problems with my kidneys, or have a stroke or heart attack. I was overweight and did not eat well. Like many others I was addicted to sugar, carbs and loved nothing more than eating a packet of chocolate biscuits with a cup of teat, after a Chinese takeaway. I dont eat like that now, I am no angel and have the odd treat, but I keep it as low carb as I can can. I was diagnosed as T2 in March and now I am out of the diabetic range, which I found out today. Im 3 stones lighter and I ride 6 times a week (I have a horse), and have gone down 4 dress sizes. I havent taken any drugs either, apart from drugs for high blood pressure, so it can be done. Im afraid you just had to dig deep and find the willpower. But it can be done. I did it, so can you.

But I have not given up the foods I enjoy - I roast chickens or joints of pork, fry steaks with mushrooms, bacon eggs sausages, all sorts of tasty fish, cauliflower cheese - lovely crunchy salads, stirfries with sweet peppers, courgette, aubergine, more mushrooms, tomatoes - and coffee with cream, or berries with cream. I never felt better and I look well for my age.

Fear was a huge motivator for me. I dropped my carb level down immediately. Got rid of the sugary drinks, and cut way back on bread. For me, I found I really wasn't having to give up a large percentage of what I like since I was already a big meat eater. I just had to ditch the cokes, sweets, too much pizza, etc. Made a huge difference.

No will power needed... just some ketones...

T2D Remission simplified, no medication, no insulin, no weight loss,
not even regular exercise <1000 steps/day and NO will power.
Overcome our misguided fear of fats and fasting.
Are you fueling better?
1. Eat only during the day to restore our circadian rhythm. Dr Panda/Dr Valter Longo.
http://www.cell.com/cell-metabolism/fulltext/S1550-4131(16)30250-9
2. Carbs lite fats friendly lifestyle to manage post meal insulin/glucose spikes.
https://myhba1c.wordpress.com/2016/09/03/turning-mountains-into-molehills/
Alternative fuel for brains with impaired glucose uptake...virgin coconut oil.

How are you feeling now? You're not alone many of us were/are carb addicts. But as all addicts we need to take responsibility for our decision to consume. Will there be slip ups? probably does that make it not worth giving it our all? no.

For me I went low carb. I think I would struggle with medium carbs. While I miss some so-called 'healthy' carbs I really miss the carbs that no-one could call healthy. On 20 grams of carbs a day a biscuit or a piece of cake or even 1 mintiest isn't even a possibility. I find this a lot less tempting. I can't rationalise it there just isn't the scope for it in how I eat. If I could rationalise it one biscuit once would become one biscuit every day etc- that's how I got here.

Good luck.

VashtiB said:

...You're not alone many of us were/are carb addicts. But as all addicts we need to take responsibility for our decision to consume. Will there be slip ups? probably does that make it not worth giving it our all? no.

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I’ll take that to the Bank, VB, well said.

Gmt2 said:

Is there anyone here that isn't all together with diabetes? It appears everyone on here is a superstar diabetic. Lost weight, kicked carbs to curb, athletic now! I feel like a pure failure. I am one year in and have gained weight. I can't give up my normal foods and am failing tjough my meds keep it together with no help from me.

I am gaining weight. How do others give up food they enjoy in order to lose weight? Being diabetic didn't suddenly give me willpower. Does it normally give many sudden willpower?


Edited by mod

Click to expand...

I agree will power walking away from cakes in the kitchen at work, choosing better options when shopping and accepting other family members can eat that chocolate bar in front of you

Gmt2 said:

Is there anyone here that isn't all together with diabetes? It appears everyone on here is a superstar diabetic. Lost weight, kicked carbs to curb, athletic now! I feel like a pure failure. I am one year in and have gained weight. I can't give up my normal foods and am failing tjough my meds keep it together with no help from me.

I am gaining weight. How do others give up food they enjoy in order to lose weight? Being diabetic didn't suddenly give me willpower. Does it normally give many sudden willpower?


Edited by mod

Click to expand...

Lots of talk about willpower and motivation which is great but these are often the result of the "stick" inside us - fear, poor health etc. You also need to set goals that you can meet and succeed then set more goals.
I started on low carb 15 months ago because I had been sticking needles in my stomach for insulin and in my fingers for bg testing for 6 months and I did not want to continue that for the rest of my life. This was the motivational "stick".
So I set targets. Firstly get my bg levels down so I could stop the insulin. Then I heard about the FS Libre and this gave me a way to almost stop the finger tests. My next goal was to cut medication and I am now down to just 2 500 gm Metformin a day.
My current goals are: get off the Metformin and end the neuropathy.
My bg levels are now indicating an A1c of 5.8 which, if I maintain with diet and exercise, should cut the Metformin back to what I was taking 13 years ago or less (0) and my feet feel better than they have for 2 years.
Figure out the targets that will work for you, set goals for the steps along the way and how you will reach them and keep coming back to the forum for help and hugs.