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Struggling a bit

M

Maggie75

Well-Known Member
Messages
147
Hi everyone,

I'm T2, currently on Metformin which I've just upped to 2 a day, was taking Rybelsus but GP has taken me off this due to the side effects I was having and the issues I'm having with my mental health again (she said this could maybe be looked at again in a few months if my weight doesn't come down but right now it was just a bit too much for me to cope with).

I've been following a low carb diet for around the last 10 weeks, doing relatively ok with it, a couple of slips but nothing major and have lost 10 pounds so far. My mental health hasn't been good for the last couple of weeks and I'm struggling again with the diet, this weekend has been awful, had chocolate and popcorn last night, felt terrible after it, tested my bloods and they were 13! That's possibly the worst yet.

Today hasn't been much better, takeaway for dinner because I just couldn't face cooking when I feel like this. I keep trying to tell myself that I'll feel so much better if I can get my blood sugars under control and lose this weight but it honestly feels like there is a little devil on my shoulder telling me there's no point, just eat all the junk food and sometimes it's just so hard to ignore it. I know the food choices I make are up to me alone, just need a little encouragement I think to tell me I can do this. Thanks for letting me rant a bit, feels good to get it out of my head.

Maggie
 
You can do this!
You've just had a couple of bad days emotionally. They are passed now, and you know what to do.
Just notice what happened, learn from the experience and move on.

How about you post on here what you eat for the next few days ? We won't judge but it might help you to focus again on you, and not listen the little devil.
 
I hear you!!!
Food is a huge thing. I stress and emotional eat. I also believe in carb addiction! I have it. Its really hard and one slip in a day can lead me down the carb rabbit hole for the rest of the day.
The changes you're making will already have helped and will be bringing your bg down. My thinking is, with a lowing starting level, these blips don't go as high as they would with a higher stating point.
You are doing well, you can see the weight difference on the scales and I'm fairly sure that symptoms you had are reducing too. That's what happened to me.
Keep going and remember that you're human and blips happen!
 
Do you have a freezer? If so, it helps immensely on those I-can't-cook days just to whip something out and heat it. I cook everything from scratch, but often freeze a portion to use on hurried days. One of my almost daily go-to dishes is homemade soup which is frighteningly easy - shove ingredients in a pot, add boiling water, heat, turn down, add lid, turn off heat and voila! It cooks itself. Same for stews - all the ingredients ready prepared and bagged up in the freezer, so I can buy fresh veg. when they look at their best, wash/slice/bag and freeze. Takes minutes.
 
I’m with you on the ‘little devil on my shoulder’ scenario if I have to nip to the shop. As I’m driving there I’m having a conversation in my head “I’m going to buy a cake”. ”No you’re not you have diabetes!” Nighmare!
 
If you do quite a bit of comfort eating, it doesn't help if you kick yourself around when you're down already: it'll just increase the need for some more comfort. Don't make a bad situation worse by doing some mental shouting at yourself. Try to be a bit more forgiving. You've taken great strides already, and they don't get undone by one night with popcorn, okay? As for take-out, maybe switch to kebabs? The chippy I frequent here does gyros, and I'll order that with a little side salad to toss through it. Still minimal effort, blood sugars happy, and my palette gets a kick out of it too, because ooooh, do I love gyros! Find things that are both decadent and good for you. Took me a while to find them too, it doesn't happen overnight.

Just be a little gentler with yourself in the meantime eh.
Hugs,
Jo
 
In the long run, chocolate and popcorn is not going to give you grief - in fact, you could stick to low carb foods for a month and eat the same again to see if you are coping better - if that is something which would be useful to you.
I hope that you had a high cocoa chocolate though - that is being sensible, as is weighing the popcorn, and having home made, with pepper and salt, not sugar.
I have learned that I can pressure cook a frozen chicken in an hour, that having handy things in the freezer makes for easier meal preparation, that I feel so much better when I eat low carb and I know that I can have one meal which is a bit higher in carbs and still be coping. I still don't chose a hugely high carb option though because now it is just not what I eat.
 
Thanks so much for your replies and suggestions, definitely going to try the batch cooking and freezing for the times I'm feeling like this. I've done an online shop for this week (way too tempting to go into a supermarket right now), and I've made sure there's lots of low carb meals in it, if I'm prepared and have the food in then I'm much more confident I can do it. Today has been mega stressful so far dealing with work stuff so I haven't felt remotely hungry and I'm just going with that until I can find the head space to make some eggs for lunch. Need to just keep on it, thanks again.

Maggie
 
Hope you're feeling better looking forward to the long weekend..
I've really resisted offering anyone advice - I don't feel like I'm in any position to do so, but one thing that really worked for me, is recognising that a very low carb diet doesn't need to be no fun...

in fact, I'm having things I would always have avoided; double cream, and sausages (I was going to say not in the same meal, but I'm sure I did some stir fry veggies with sausage and turned the sauce creamy at the end just to try; it was lovely) and there are some really terrific high cocoa chocolates - even my local garage shop has a 85% cocoa chocolate that generated zero spike for sugars..

Essentially, I was Jack Sprat - but I'm re-discovering cooking; just mainly skipping the starch..

One really positive thing that we don't hear much of ... adding a little more fat in place of your carbs, makes you feel fuller for longer.
 
I concur. My keto/low carb diet is all delicious food choices, and a huge variety. I don't miss carbs at all.
 
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