- Messages
- 4,446
- Location
- Suffolk, UK
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
- Dislikes
- Diet drinks - the artificial sweeteners taste vile.
Having to forswear foods I have loved all my life.
Trying to find low carb meals when eating out.
Having seen my weight creep up a bit and realising that I had been slipping on the carbohydrate "treat" control I decided to go "hard core" for a couple of weeks.
This involves no booze, no treats and reduced food especially carbs. Also riding my bike a lot more.
The first result was that I dropped from 12 stone 9 lbs to 12 stone 3 lbs in less than a week. A bit better than expected but the first 4 pounds are always "free" then the hard work starts.
I then went for my annual eye appointment and had a long and interesting chat with my optometrist who is very interested in diabetes and always gives me a good going over and asks for my HbA1C to see if it tracks against any changes in my eyes. Anyway, my eyesight has improved significantly and this surprised me because I thought it wasn't doing too well when I went for my eye screening in February. She suggested that it might be related to BG control.
Intrigued, I came home and tested. BG was 5.4 mmol/L. That was quite impressive, although it was over 4 hours since my last meal and I had been out for a short ride earlier.
This convinced me to start testing again (don't like prick/ouch but needs must).
Morning fasting reading was 5.9. Bullet resistant coffee then a 50k ride later I got of the bike and felt a little wobbly (well, I was pretty knackered and had run out of steam completely doing the last few kilometres against a strong wind). Let my breathing steady down, had a drink of water (so my blood wasn't over concentrated), washed my hands and tested. 4.1 (which my CoPilot software classes as low) so I didn't have any spare glucose whistling around my blood stream.
Looking back through my rather sparse testing record I note that towards the end of June I tested 2 hours after my bullet resistant coffee (bullet proof without the coconut oil) and I was 8.7. This was immediately pre ride. Tested immediately post ride and was 7.1; this seemed a bit high after a long ride so I checked another finger and got the same result. A previous similar test a week earlier had 7.8 pre ride and 5.3 post ride which I thought more reasonable.
Anyway, it seems that something has changed quite dramatically. Not unreasonable if I have burned off all my main glucose stores so there is no glucose for the liver to dump. The hard part is going to be maintaining it.
It will be really bad news if I have to stay of the booze to keep my numbers low.
Another unexpected effect is that my hands have become skinnier and testing has been "easier". I've had to dial the finger pricker back to 1 and it still hurts more than it used to. I may need to look for finer lancets if this continues.
Anyway, diet and exercise seems to be working this week but it is all a bit hard core. A long term commitment to cycling for 2.5 hours 3-4 times a week is not to be sneezed at either. Especially in winter.
This involves no booze, no treats and reduced food especially carbs. Also riding my bike a lot more.
The first result was that I dropped from 12 stone 9 lbs to 12 stone 3 lbs in less than a week. A bit better than expected but the first 4 pounds are always "free" then the hard work starts.
I then went for my annual eye appointment and had a long and interesting chat with my optometrist who is very interested in diabetes and always gives me a good going over and asks for my HbA1C to see if it tracks against any changes in my eyes. Anyway, my eyesight has improved significantly and this surprised me because I thought it wasn't doing too well when I went for my eye screening in February. She suggested that it might be related to BG control.
Intrigued, I came home and tested. BG was 5.4 mmol/L. That was quite impressive, although it was over 4 hours since my last meal and I had been out for a short ride earlier.
This convinced me to start testing again (don't like prick/ouch but needs must).
Morning fasting reading was 5.9. Bullet resistant coffee then a 50k ride later I got of the bike and felt a little wobbly (well, I was pretty knackered and had run out of steam completely doing the last few kilometres against a strong wind). Let my breathing steady down, had a drink of water (so my blood wasn't over concentrated), washed my hands and tested. 4.1 (which my CoPilot software classes as low) so I didn't have any spare glucose whistling around my blood stream.
Looking back through my rather sparse testing record I note that towards the end of June I tested 2 hours after my bullet resistant coffee (bullet proof without the coconut oil) and I was 8.7. This was immediately pre ride. Tested immediately post ride and was 7.1; this seemed a bit high after a long ride so I checked another finger and got the same result. A previous similar test a week earlier had 7.8 pre ride and 5.3 post ride which I thought more reasonable.
Anyway, it seems that something has changed quite dramatically. Not unreasonable if I have burned off all my main glucose stores so there is no glucose for the liver to dump. The hard part is going to be maintaining it.
It will be really bad news if I have to stay of the booze to keep my numbers low.
Another unexpected effect is that my hands have become skinnier and testing has been "easier". I've had to dial the finger pricker back to 1 and it still hurts more than it used to. I may need to look for finer lancets if this continues.
Anyway, diet and exercise seems to be working this week but it is all a bit hard core. A long term commitment to cycling for 2.5 hours 3-4 times a week is not to be sneezed at either. Especially in winter.
