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Progress update!

T

T2 Woman

Active Member
Messages
25
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Just thought I’d let everyone know about the progress I’ve made since my diagnosis just before Christmas last year. I came onto the forum with an HBA1C of 101. After religious almost evangelical low carbing, taking advice from the experts on here and checking with a meter every meal to see what I can tolerate carb wise, my first HBA1C since diagnosis is now down to 43! I have also lost 2 and a half stone with about another one and a half to go. I’ve already gone down 2 clothing sizes and have had to buy a new wardrobe of things to wear. The result came in a couple of weeks ago, just haven’t had time to post. Nothing has changed since then, so I’m hoping I’m actually in remission now. This is all great news and I’m going to continue this way until I lose the rest of my weight. Now comes the BUT! I really don’t feel like this under 50 carbs a day will be sustainable for me long term. I’m already sick of the dietary restrictions and living without all my previous staples of rice, pasta, potatoes etc. I can live without standard bread as I’m now well used to the tiny Liv life bread at 3.4g carbs a slice. My cravings for chocolate and unsuitable foods have never gone away. My question is will they ever? I now eat to live, rather than live to eat, but food was such a big part of my family and social life that I feel I’m just not enjoying it as I should. I worry that I will binge on the bad stuff and cause myself some harm. This weekend is particularly bad with all the chocolate, cakes etc on offer. I have reduced my Metformin to twice a day now as instructed by the practice nurse and wanted to discuss alternative options for when I’m at my goal weight to enable me to eat a bit more etc, but they are reluctant to prescribe anything. The nurse basically said if you are controlling this yourself they only focus on non compliant people who’s blood sugars are out of control and not controlled by diet; So it seems unless I binge I won’t get any help at all? I’m not saying I’m going to, but another type 2 guy I know injects Lyxumia once a day and eats what he wants, still managing to keep his sugar ok he says they tell him. He is obese, so I’m guessing he is none compliant. I know he does not control carb intake and eats everything I can’t. He showed me a list of all the meds he has been on previously before settling on this solution. All I want is from time to time to be able to eat the same meal as my family or go out to a restaurant and have what I actually want to eat, but it seems that if I do, then I will be on my own and it will be my own fault when my blood sugar is high. The nurse says that they don’t want me to binge, but if I want cake have it occasionally. I feel the support from the nurse is not there. Am I just feeling sorry for myself after the initial high of being so close to remission has worn off? Or is there any alternative? I could carry low carbing on if I could have the occasional treat, but the thought of living like this forever is quite depressing. I can’t see myself maintaining a steady weight after I get to my goal without having more carbs in my diet as I really can’t face eating more protein and fat. The thought of maintaining my weight that way makes me feel sick. I have struggled these past few months with eating enough fats and proteins instead of carbs to reach 1000 calories daily on some days, hence my quite rapid weight loss. Sorry to rant on!
 
Hi @T2 Woman

Congratulations on a wonderful achievement!

I feel your pain. I have said it a number of times but I am a carbolic and my taste buds have also not changed. I am wondering whether that is partly because I do use artificial sweeteners. I am gearing up for a sustained trial of not eating or drinking anything sweet at all for say 6-8 weeks and see if that makes a difference.

I am a reluctant keto eater. I have gone very low carb as I have found that is what works for me. I admit I enjoy not counting calories and weighing food etc after decades of that. I find it easier to completely rule things out than to have portion control- but- and it's a big but- this is what works for me. It took me over a year before I was able to emotionally accept that this is for the rest of my life. My early posts will show I had a real pity party. I am now comfortable saying I eat to live whereas before I definitely lived to eat

So with that background my thoughts- You are a bit younger than me- I'm still in my fifties but older than you. I want to put off the medication for as long as I can. While I like the thought that I could eat stuff I am not able to eat the thought of increasing my insulin resistance is not one I am comfortable with. Maybe in a couple of decades but not yet. By that time who knows where the medical profession may have landed.

However, you need to find a way of life that works for you. All I can say is that reading many posts after Christmas and there are always people who struggle to get back to low caring after going off for a day or 2. This is one reason I am not willing to do that. I have a lot of will power- it's the won't power I lack. But that's my view only. There are also many people who can have a higher carb meal and get straight back on the low carb wagon.

Sorry this is a bit (lot) of rambling. My thoughts are- you have done amazingly- so amazingly. You have achieved something many in the medical profession don't think is possible. It was (is) tough but you have done it. Now you need to find a way of eating that you can sustain and a way of life that keeps your levels in the right range. There is no one size fits all. We take a lot of different approached. It may be that your levels could remain in the right range with an increase in your carbs over your current intake. It may be that you are the sort of person that could have higher level carb meal occasionally without falling off the wagon. You need to find what will work for you as a whole person..

Best of luck and let us know how you go!
 
That's brilliant progress and result and in such a short time. Be proud !

Also it does take time for new habits and tastes and appetites to form so be patient and kind to yourself.

There's a vast difference between having the odd treat, or bite of something you shouldn't, and going totally bingeing off the rails and over the cliff!

For all of us (and I'm one of those in remission) low carb eating has to be a way of eating for life, but it doesn't have to be a punishment .

Ignore your friend, we each have to find out own way that suits us and our bodies, and you are at the stage when perhaps you could try the odd bit of soemthing to see how it goes and what it does to your bg. I, for example, have a square or 2 of 85% chocolate nearly every night with my main meal. It doesn't put me up too high and my latest hba1c was 39. It satisfies my craving and my need to self reward.
For meals out I usually choose wisely but have a bite or 2 of my hubbys, and quite often find I don't like it after all!
You know yourself best and if you start with the mindset of "I will binge" then you probably will, but if you start saying "I'm going to have a piece of birthday cake, just one, enjoy it, but eat low carb the rest of that day" then you probably will.

Oh, and by the way I have no support from a nurse either because my numbers are too good. I like being in charge of my health and my choices. I'd hate to told what to do by someone who doesn't know me. My support comes from my family and this forum (and other online stuff).

Just make the treats occasional, and beware of carb creep as it can start to add up too high if things become daily or routine. You've got this, you are just going through a down patch . You are doing really well
 
@T2 Woman well done on your progress so far. Do you test your blood sugars at all as this will allow you to see what effect foods have on you. We are all different and I manage to maintain my non diabetic Hba1c on approx 130 carbs per day which is probably more than some T2s have in a week. I also have the odd cake or biscuit - usually at week-ends. However I still test and see how I react to foods if I haven’t had them for a while and, if they send my BS too high, I don’t have them anymore or try them again a few months later. Scampi is still my nemesis!!
 
Hi @T2 Woman Like many others, I'm in remission and eat dark chocolate, which admittedly is an acquired taste - the normal stuff now tastes far too sickly sweet for me to even contemplate. I started eating dark chocolate long before I became diabetic the same as I gave up sugar (and milk) in tea over 35 yrs ago. The longer you eat lower carb foods, the more your tastes will change and you may then surprise yourself how they don't now taste the way you remember them.

I would just concentrate on eating your favourite foods that are acceptable to your Blood Glucose meter. I still over-eat, but now it is different foods - no longer Weetabix (as it was when I was a child), or artisan bread or parsnips or savoury biscuits ( as an adult) , - now its vintage or other strongly flavoured cheese, or raw nuts. The only thing that has remained the same from childhood is occasionally over-eating chocolate. In my late teens I would sometimes eat a 1/4lb block of milk chocolate at a sitting, but now it's a 100gm bar of Lindt 90% . I don't always have the willpower to limit myself to 1 or 2 squares , I sometimes eat only a third or a half of a bar, but I know I can always stop after a whole 100gn bar (not failed yet in the last 3yrs) and at 14gms of carbs, I can usually still eaten less than 40gms of carbs in the day.

When we eat in and my wife has rice, I have ground up cauliflower 'rice', when she has a bread pudding I have some berries with Greek yoghurt, when she has boiled potatoes and veg with meat, I just have more veg and the some cheese afterward.
Eating out, I will eat a burger with extra salad instead of the bun, or if Chinese or Indian food, have an extra vegetable dish instead of the rice.
Yes, it is harder when she eats my old favourite fruit (Mango), but I still can have nuts, cheese, berries or chocolate!
 
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