So I was diagnosed in May after a near fatal DKA with diabetes. Can I honestly say it has changed my life, YES. It has massively impacted on what would have been normal for me, and I realise now how bad I was to myself with the foods I used to eat. Yeah, I do get jealous when my wife is eating cake and chocolate but do i miss it, NO.
So when I was diagnosed I was 115kg with a BMI of about 39/40, obese majorly obese. My BS was off the scale at 33.9 that was after several hours, before it couldn't even be measured, my HBA1C after leaving hospital was 96. I was told how lucky I was to have survived and told I need to make life changing measures to make sure I do not ever end up in this situation again. Just like many of you I went through a period when I couldn't believe what I just went through, and how grateful I am to be alive. I was in a coma for 4 days, couldn't walk properly for 2 days after, but they wouldn't discharge me unless I could prove I could inject insulin.
I do not like needles, never have, never will but this was a matter of life and death, well that's how they put it to me, so I thought my life was going to be needles every day. I started out with 2 injections a day on mixed insulin but that later changed to 4 injections a day, then 4 injections plus metformin. I saw my life heavily reliant on my Diabetic team and took everything they said to be 100% true. That's until I woke up and wanted to take control of my life back. Please read on, this is important.
Just like you I searched for an answer, I wanted a quick solution to this disease, a condition that could have life changing consequences if I didn't keep my BS in check, I was testing my BS levels 8 times a day, oh my finger thinking back. My stomach was so large, I was fat. But this didn't stop the Doctors from declaring I need insulin for the rest of my life and they concluded I had LADA. Now, I told them for someone who has LADA I have not tested positive for the inslet test or GAD test with any antibodies and diet seems to keep my BS under control. I took a c-peptide test as recommended by this forum and that came back low, so we went around in circles with my Diabetes team where nothing made any sense at all, even up to now nothing from their perspective makes any sense, I'm still yet to receive a confirmed diagnosis.
So I started low card diet back in July and instantly realised that ultra low carb was the way to go. My body was responding so well to the diet change that by end of July I was off all medications. Please do not come off of medications unless your team tells you to. This is not advisable, you can try your own thing but make them aware of what you are doing, because if anything goes wrong they will have no clue what you have been up to. Anyways, I then started looking at metabolic syndrome which diabetes is part of and it's a really good read and if like me you read up on it and went I know what the problem is then you are onto a winning streak. I found out that you can't reverse diabetes with just DIET alone, oh no, there is a reason why all that fat surround your tummy, there is a reason why you may suffer with sleep apnea, yes all these things are linked, there might be bumps which appear out of no where but the problem is not sugar alone. The problem is your body doesn't have enough time to heal itself. I will elaborate.
People who do not have good deep sleep eventually with break their metabolic cycle, this is where your body heals itself, and can only occur when you are in a deep sleep. without getting into the ins and outs of this. DEEP SLEEP is a healer. I have now lost almost 30kg in less than 3 months. I no longer have a stomach and my laster HBA1C in October was 43, just 1 point away from being out of the system completely.
Now how did i lose so much weight so quick, you're not going to believe me, but I did a combination of things and I will describe each step and I hope this can work for most of you. Before I begin, I just want to say that I did not want a future where I was relying on the system, I have my own beliefs and relying on anyone isn't for me, I like to rely on myself and I have my own determination. I did not want to be just another customer.
So how did I do it.
1) No exercise (none was needed)
2) I ate 1 meal a day which had all the nutrients I needed. You need to find out what works for you. The aim here is to only eat low carb foods by low carb I mean no carbs if you can avoid it, obviously you will have occasions where you do eat carbs but don't make it a habit. This then tells your body to use your existing fat stores for its energy. Many people will disagree with my method and I expect that, but all I can do is tell you what worked for me. It's up to you how you go about your own health. I did this in a managed way, I use to eat 3 meals a day, so I started drinking water each time i felt hungry, you'll be amazed what water can do for you, then slowly decreased my intake. I then only had 1 plate of food a day, very simple dish, big mushrooms, green peas and green beans with a choice of fish, portions we small. I found this kept me full for much longer. I'm not telling you what to eat just what has worked for me.
3) This is where things get interesting I experimented with 2 drugs (melatonin and ashwagandha) I have taken this for 2.5 months, these drugs are to induce a deep sleep. So everyday I have 7 straight hours of deep sleep. normally you have on a good night 1-2hours but the rate at which my body responded is unbelievable. My stomach has disappeared, my wedding ring can't even fit me anymore.
So what did I find out by doing this exercise. that sleep regardless of your diet has a massive impact on your wellbeing. sleep is important. I never use to sleep and my body is working again, my diabetic team don't even know what to say to me anymore, they just stop calling now. When I first weighted myself and realised I was 106kg I was in awe I couldn't believe it then when I got to 95kg I was in awe 2 weeks later. and so on.
I now eat carbs, as much as I want, by BS never rise, BS/BG can get very low 4.7 sometime but I'm steady between 4.3 to 6, only get high 5s if i eat loads of carbs but my body id producing insulin again and doing it efficiently. On my next hba1c I expect to be under 42, I take one every 3 months, i don't wait for anyone to prompt me I request one from the doctors myself as well as lipids and a physical health check. I think it is important to stay on top of this condition because things can take a turn for the worst very very quickly.
I thought I would share my experience here because this place is where it all started for me. Without this forum I would have been just another customer. I am now eating normally again, with no weight gain but more weight loss, once I hit 80kg I will stop the sleeping pills but I've made sure my team knows about everything I am doing. They all had their objections but after a month and they did my eyesight, waist etc, they were in awe.
So I guess what i'm trying to say is your diabetes is your diabetes it's not someone else's, it's yours and only you know what will work for you. Maybe you need to be more active, make the change and be more active. I was always an active person so I didn't need to make this change, I stopped it to see if you could lose weight without exercise.
I am not coming on here to boast, far from it, maybe my experience could help someone, maybe you like me had sleep apena as a first sign to diabetes, etc, I just want to share what i had to go through to get to where I am now. 2 other people with diabetes I know started the same regime and they have lost 20kg together in 2 months. My wife now wants to try the sleeping method to help her lose weight, but she loves cake and anything made with flour so that's going to be interesting to watch.
So when I was diagnosed I was 115kg with a BMI of about 39/40, obese majorly obese. My BS was off the scale at 33.9 that was after several hours, before it couldn't even be measured, my HBA1C after leaving hospital was 96. I was told how lucky I was to have survived and told I need to make life changing measures to make sure I do not ever end up in this situation again. Just like many of you I went through a period when I couldn't believe what I just went through, and how grateful I am to be alive. I was in a coma for 4 days, couldn't walk properly for 2 days after, but they wouldn't discharge me unless I could prove I could inject insulin.
I do not like needles, never have, never will but this was a matter of life and death, well that's how they put it to me, so I thought my life was going to be needles every day. I started out with 2 injections a day on mixed insulin but that later changed to 4 injections a day, then 4 injections plus metformin. I saw my life heavily reliant on my Diabetic team and took everything they said to be 100% true. That's until I woke up and wanted to take control of my life back. Please read on, this is important.
Just like you I searched for an answer, I wanted a quick solution to this disease, a condition that could have life changing consequences if I didn't keep my BS in check, I was testing my BS levels 8 times a day, oh my finger thinking back. My stomach was so large, I was fat. But this didn't stop the Doctors from declaring I need insulin for the rest of my life and they concluded I had LADA. Now, I told them for someone who has LADA I have not tested positive for the inslet test or GAD test with any antibodies and diet seems to keep my BS under control. I took a c-peptide test as recommended by this forum and that came back low, so we went around in circles with my Diabetes team where nothing made any sense at all, even up to now nothing from their perspective makes any sense, I'm still yet to receive a confirmed diagnosis.
So I started low card diet back in July and instantly realised that ultra low carb was the way to go. My body was responding so well to the diet change that by end of July I was off all medications. Please do not come off of medications unless your team tells you to. This is not advisable, you can try your own thing but make them aware of what you are doing, because if anything goes wrong they will have no clue what you have been up to. Anyways, I then started looking at metabolic syndrome which diabetes is part of and it's a really good read and if like me you read up on it and went I know what the problem is then you are onto a winning streak. I found out that you can't reverse diabetes with just DIET alone, oh no, there is a reason why all that fat surround your tummy, there is a reason why you may suffer with sleep apnea, yes all these things are linked, there might be bumps which appear out of no where but the problem is not sugar alone. The problem is your body doesn't have enough time to heal itself. I will elaborate.
People who do not have good deep sleep eventually with break their metabolic cycle, this is where your body heals itself, and can only occur when you are in a deep sleep. without getting into the ins and outs of this. DEEP SLEEP is a healer. I have now lost almost 30kg in less than 3 months. I no longer have a stomach and my laster HBA1C in October was 43, just 1 point away from being out of the system completely.
Now how did i lose so much weight so quick, you're not going to believe me, but I did a combination of things and I will describe each step and I hope this can work for most of you. Before I begin, I just want to say that I did not want a future where I was relying on the system, I have my own beliefs and relying on anyone isn't for me, I like to rely on myself and I have my own determination. I did not want to be just another customer.
So how did I do it.
1) No exercise (none was needed)
2) I ate 1 meal a day which had all the nutrients I needed. You need to find out what works for you. The aim here is to only eat low carb foods by low carb I mean no carbs if you can avoid it, obviously you will have occasions where you do eat carbs but don't make it a habit. This then tells your body to use your existing fat stores for its energy. Many people will disagree with my method and I expect that, but all I can do is tell you what worked for me. It's up to you how you go about your own health. I did this in a managed way, I use to eat 3 meals a day, so I started drinking water each time i felt hungry, you'll be amazed what water can do for you, then slowly decreased my intake. I then only had 1 plate of food a day, very simple dish, big mushrooms, green peas and green beans with a choice of fish, portions we small. I found this kept me full for much longer. I'm not telling you what to eat just what has worked for me.
3) This is where things get interesting I experimented with 2 drugs (melatonin and ashwagandha) I have taken this for 2.5 months, these drugs are to induce a deep sleep. So everyday I have 7 straight hours of deep sleep. normally you have on a good night 1-2hours but the rate at which my body responded is unbelievable. My stomach has disappeared, my wedding ring can't even fit me anymore.
So what did I find out by doing this exercise. that sleep regardless of your diet has a massive impact on your wellbeing. sleep is important. I never use to sleep and my body is working again, my diabetic team don't even know what to say to me anymore, they just stop calling now. When I first weighted myself and realised I was 106kg I was in awe I couldn't believe it then when I got to 95kg I was in awe 2 weeks later. and so on.
I now eat carbs, as much as I want, by BS never rise, BS/BG can get very low 4.7 sometime but I'm steady between 4.3 to 6, only get high 5s if i eat loads of carbs but my body id producing insulin again and doing it efficiently. On my next hba1c I expect to be under 42, I take one every 3 months, i don't wait for anyone to prompt me I request one from the doctors myself as well as lipids and a physical health check. I think it is important to stay on top of this condition because things can take a turn for the worst very very quickly.
I thought I would share my experience here because this place is where it all started for me. Without this forum I would have been just another customer. I am now eating normally again, with no weight gain but more weight loss, once I hit 80kg I will stop the sleeping pills but I've made sure my team knows about everything I am doing. They all had their objections but after a month and they did my eyesight, waist etc, they were in awe.
So I guess what i'm trying to say is your diabetes is your diabetes it's not someone else's, it's yours and only you know what will work for you. Maybe you need to be more active, make the change and be more active. I was always an active person so I didn't need to make this change, I stopped it to see if you could lose weight without exercise.
I am not coming on here to boast, far from it, maybe my experience could help someone, maybe you like me had sleep apena as a first sign to diabetes, etc, I just want to share what i had to go through to get to where I am now. 2 other people with diabetes I know started the same regime and they have lost 20kg together in 2 months. My wife now wants to try the sleeping method to help her lose weight, but she loves cake and anything made with flour so that's going to be interesting to watch.
