• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Success isn't just lower BG and weight loss..

Celeriac

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,065
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
We tend to measure success by weight loss, by improved BG numbers on our meters and by improved HbA1c - the dramatic changes.

But it might hope those who are struggling, if we all noted the little positive changes that have occurred along our journeys.

I have lost quite a lot of weight, but one of the Success ! moments for me, was losing those few more pounds, that enabled me to get into the skirt I was wearing, the first night I met my husband and seeing the look on his face. It doesn't fit perfectly, but getting into it at all was an achievement to me, because so many times, it very nearly went to a charity shop. Many times I didn't feel that I would lose the weight.

Another Success ! moment, is having a nice pink tongue, not one coated with that white stuff (whatever that is). Yet another Success ! moment, was seeing nice pink gums, not bright red, swollen and bleeding gums, when cleaning my teeth - lower BG does seem to make a difference over time - in my case, it was slow.

Things which make you feel better, but which aren't bad things you know you shouldn't be doing, count as Success ! moments too.

Cracking that low carb pizza or cauliflower rice recipe. People complimenting you on a low carb recipe, especially if family.

People saying "Wow, you've lost weight" or "You look so much healthier".

Feeling confident enough to start exercising, without feeling like a wobbly jelly - any reduction in insulin resistance or weight loss is a bonus, but just doing it, is a Success ! moment if you haven't exercised in years or tried that form of exercise before.

Standing up to an HCP and saying: "My experience is.. you're wrong..I need strips because " and getting the result that you want, even praised for what you're doing.

So please post all those little Success ! moments because hopefully other people, who are feeling discouraged, can think 'Yes that happened to me too'.
 
Likewise on the clothes, I had a nice jacket given to me as a present over a decade go and I had never been able to wear it as even then it felt tight, a few months back I reckon it might have ripped it trying to put it on. But the other day when looking for a jacket to wear with the changing weather I actually could wear it, still a little snug but it fitted me better than it had ever done.

Also I have discovered a love for cooking and experimenting with food rather than just eating the same foods week in week out. The knock on effect of this is that I realised the other day that I have barely eaten any processed food since I was diagnosed and I also realised that the almost daily dodgy stomach I had on my old diet has disappeared completely.

Just those small things keep me going on the days I am struggling and wishing my life was how it use to be before diagnosis when yes I had the horrible white tongue and bleeding gums also and had no idea why.
 
My success was giving up sugar easily. The type 2 diabetes diagnosis last month really changed my mind about how important sugar was to me.
 
Sorry for lowering the tone, but my Success! moment was realising the bloated tummy, frequent diarrhoea and chronic wind problem I have suffered from all my life has disappeared. I would stay on LCMF just for that alone.
 
My biggest success was being able to ditch a walking stick I had to use because I was struggling to walk very far because all the weight I was carrying made my legs ache so much, now I walk for miles. Another is being able to eat until I'm not hungry not eat until I'm full - there is a big difference!
 
At a recent family function I got a lot of compliments on how well I looked, even though I still have plenty more weight to lose. Then I saw a picture someone took of me, and compared it with a photo from a wedding I went to in February, the day after I was diagnosed with T2D. The difference is drastic - those 22 kg are noticeable even on my large, tall frame!

Another success is managing to build up my walking stamina (after years of aches and pains and plain lack of fitness) so that if I don't walk to work in the morning, I miss the energised, refreshed feeling. I've never felt energised after exercise before!
 
Thank you all, inspring stuff ! Anyone else want to add the small things along the way that give them a boost ?

A Success! moment could be turning down chocolate if you've previously eaten a lot of it. Or going to an exercise class. Or, in fact, anything which diabetes has prompted you to do or try that has been positive.

Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
 
I was diagnosed with T2 exactly a month ago and weighed myself yesterday. I have lost 1/2 stone in the last month
 
Great thread @Celeriac as you say sometimes its the small things. I had a really nice belt that I bought 10 years ago and long since outgrown. Tried in on last week and it fitted. This week I was able to move it up a notch. I know its trivial but it just gives you a lift and really helps with the motivation..... @dipakotak excellent work on the weight loss, that is a fantastic start.
 
I'm learning to bake which I've never done before. Only cookies so far, but I'm going to have a go at low carb cakes too.
 
Was in a packed Aldi yesterday when the tills went down. We all patiently waited to see if they would start working again and in the meantime the staff came round with mince pies for everyone and I didn't have one. They didn't get them working so we all had to leave our trolleys. Went back this morning, tills working and most of the customers were from yesterday.

My nickname at Watercolour Group is now 'slim' but I am not slim enough yet.
 
I have a drawer full of clothes that are too small (various sizes!) and each week I have a trying on session. Today 2 pairs of Boden trousers (that I have never even taken the labels off) fit!

That and my lowest ever FBG of 5.4 and another 3lbs gone since last weigh in have made me feel like a success story today.
 
Another couple of small successes:

Me: I've got this lump appeared in my stomach, it's quite big and I'm worried.
MrCeleriac (feels with fingers) : That's a floating rib darling

I have stomach muscles and I can move them now ! Presumably they are being unclogged from the fat and yes, if I pull in my stomach, it goes concave in the middle. Bit different from looking 10 months pregnant.

So the muscles are there, lurking, even tho my stomach isn't flat.

Chuffed.
 
I gave away all of my 'big' clothes yesterday to a colleague who is going through a financial bad patch. Some of them are absolutely gorgeous but they are now three sizes too big and, much as I loved them, I will NEVER wear that size again.

An additional benefit is that I've now got wardrobe space to fill! I can feel a spot of retail therapy coming on.
 
MrCeleriac would say that the retail therapy part is a back-handed success, because of all the £££ it costs.
 
Okay where do I start?

Weight loss, New wardrobe, New belts, New footie shirts!

Being fit and healthy except for my weird pancreas!
My list of bad health.
BP, liver, liver function, kidney function, hypertension, heart risk, sore limbs and joints, breathless, arthritis, hemaroids, plaque, smelly feet, bad breath, hiatus hernia, indigestion, suspected ulcer in stomach, carpet tunnel.
Then the list pertaining to my symptoms from my condition, which is just as long!
Including, blurred vision, anxiety, forgetfulness, sweating, shaking, heart fibrillation, headaches, sleep disruption and weird dreams, etc. There is quite a few more including blood glucose fluctuations, which gave me hypers and hypos.
I was in hypo hell and I did not think until I was told by my specialist that I was that ill. Beggars belief!
I am fit and healthy and all my vital signs are in the normal range.
That's my success. For my age, I'm going to be around for a long time yet!

My success is due to my consultant endocrinologist and this forum and my determination to be well!
 
Finding that clothes I'd kept and not taken to the charity shop in the hope that I would one day get back into them still don't fit......but now for the opposite reason.

Taking up a new hobby, climbing - something I'd never have done when I was 2 stone heavier.

Having friends I haven't seen since losing weight tell me how amazing I'm looking.

Feeling confident rather than worrying I look fat.

And the thing that means the most to me, knowing that I'm doing my best to stay healthy for my beautiful 2 year old boy and making sure I'm around and fit for as much of his life as possible. Screw you diabetes, you will not steal my life.
 
Great thread! I'm 12 months into my T2 journey, The big successes are the most important of course - blood glucose now in the normal range, no more metformin, down 23kg (three and a half stones); blood pressure, cholesterol etc. all great.

But it's the little things I remember that give me pleasure, just as others have said. The first time a friend said "are you losing weight?" about a month into my diet and 4kg lighter. The first time I had to buy a couple of size medium shirts in M&S because my large size ones were falling off me. (I'm now into "small!") I changed my facebook profile picture about six months and 15kg down, and the response this got from friends in other parts of the country who hadn't seen me was terrific!

Last week, at my three monthly check up, when my GP said "wow, look at you!" The delight in my wife's eyes when we get dressed up to go out, because she's no longer with this fat guy (she never said anything, but I can tell....)

Oh, and my knees no longer creak, I no longer snore, and I no longer carry packets of Rennies around to combat frequent bouts of heartburn.

Honestly, sometimes I think my T2 diagnosis was the best thing that has happened to me health wise for years. At least it gave me the kick up the backside I needed.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I had to buy new knickers yesterday as my old ones kept giving me wedgies. Whole new wardrobe but quite upset that my best coat looks silly, OH said there's a little head poking out through the folds of material. I've never been into exercise but now walk a hour a day and use a treadmill when it's cold and wet. I actually love my new diet and don't miss the things I can't have. Mind you a saw a man walking along the road eating a jam doughnut and felt envious but it doesn't happen mostly. My son said I look taller now I'm not so wide, quite difficult to look taller when I'm 4'10". Onwards and downwards to the future to everyone.
 
Big successes and small success.
My big success is to control my bg with my LCHF (ketogenic) diet so that I can predict what my BG will be from what I eat.
My FBG is 5.0 with insulin or meds.
I eat my lunch with delight and go back to work immediately. I cannot believe it. I feel energetic and light.
My reflection in the mirror is slim; no more round face. I feel so much younger.
My goal is to have the same weignt as when I was twenty. I do not know why but I find this very appealing (I will be 73 on December the 26th.
I started again doing tai chi with Dr Paul Lam's tai chi for rehabilitation's dvd. It took me a while to learn the movements but I practice them 4 or 5 times a day and feel I might fulfill my dream of aging as a pleasant person with a mixture of wisdom and childnishness that will make my children happy to be my friends.
Of course, it is not all happiness. I have pain in my legs and do not walk with ease (lumbar spinal stenosis and maybe peripherical neuropathy) and there is the shadow of things not turning for the better. But as long as I am able to fight and go where I want to go, I feel happy (enough).
And that is the mother of all big and small successes, isn't it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…