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Type 2 Utterly Confused

G

Grillpan

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hey Folks


Some time since my last post but I follow intently.


I was diagnosed type2 just about 11 months ago, 19.5 stone, didn’t excersize and inhaled chocolate daily I am 40 years old.


On day 1 of the diagnoses I quit eating chocolate or any sweets completely, went on a diet of around 2400 calories averaging around 180 – 200g of carbs a day (the guide said 2600 of calories a day). I quit drinking lager and became a cognisor of whiskey (quality over bulk) and limited my drinking to twice a month a most and I started a moderate excersize plan.


As of right now I am 19.5 stone, not lost a single pound. My medication is up to 4x 500mg metformin per day and has been for about 6 months. I understand that to be the maximum.


Because I have taken things seriously the doctor has been very good with me, regular visits and blood tests, can’t fault them for caring.


I have tested my blood 4 times a day for the last week bearing in mind that the diet numbers (carbs/fat/cal) are quite consistent although the food is different I am assuming that the week of tests is representative of the last 6 months on the same amount of medication.


8:00 avg 11 – 14 mmol (just before tablets)

11:00 avg 8- 9 mmol (eating at 12:00)

14:00 avg 12 – 15 mmol

19:00 avg 8 – 9 mmol (eating at 20:00)


It’s very rare for me to test and my blood be below 9mmol, in the 11 months I recorded 1 occasion of it being 5.1 and I was feeling really weird then (hence the test). I have a fan that’s on constantly blowing in my face because I feel like I am overheating and the emotional range I feel in a day is full of ups and downs.


That’s the info, here is the question.


What am I doing wrong, I would have thought I would have lost some weight, my diet has changed considerably. Why can’t I get the blood sugar under control, 4 – 7mmol seems to be a dream at the moment. Do you think that the type2 diagnose is correct could I actually be type 1? My symptoms have been getting progressively worse since I was about 25 until it got to the point so is it possible that I am having a slow degrade and so I was type2 and in a couple of months/years my insulin will be gone completely? Is that even possible?


Such a long post, thanks for reading!
 
You still appear to be eating a large amount of carbs which won't be helping either your blood sugars or your weight loss.
Also how often do you eat?
I weighed a lot more than you (23 stone) when diagnosed.
I tried to cut almost all carbs out of my diet.
Cut out breakfast. Ate only at lunch and dinner no snacks.
Since then I have started to do regular fasts and follow a ketogenic diet which uses fat to keep you full.
I have never really counted calories but certainly eat a lot less than I used to.
Currently weigh at about 16 1/2 stone and am in the middle of a 7 day fast. No food for 7 days.
I couldn't have imagined that a year ago but I now find it almost easy. This is the second one I have done.

At lot of people here think that this is an extreme way of eating but it sure does have a good effect.
I assume you have read Daisy1's beginners message but if not then check it out.
You don't say what your HbA1c is now or was on diagnosis has that to remained constant?

Hope that helps.
Regards
Mark
 
For weight loss your calories are still a bit high but more importantly your carbs are also way high hence your high blood glucose readings. you need to drop your carbs to about 50g (this is about the max carbs for a ketogenic diet) per day and these carbs should be veg grown above ground. If you lower the carbs you can forget the counting of calories as the weight and the blood sugars will start to fall. Look at the LCHF section of this web site. The carbs can be replaced with protein and fats. There is lots of information and recipes on this site for both the Ketogenic diet and LCHF....go for it!
 
I would say that your carbs are still higher than suits your body.

We all have different carb 'tolerances' depending on a lot of things (age, fitness, muscle mass, gender, health of pancreas and beta cells...)

For me, more that 40 g carbs and I gain weight. regardless of calories!
Has to be less than 20 g carbs a day, plus reasonable activity, or I can't lose. There are other factors too, including hydration levels, and whether I have managed to avoid any foods causing water retention.

So in your case I would have a few days trialing different carb levels, and see if that has any effect.
 
About 18 months ago I weighed 18.5 stones I drastically reduced carbs and ate between 600 to 800 calories a day for many months drastic and some would say fool hardy. But I now weigh 11.5 stones and have normal blood sugars.

I'm sorry but to get a grip on diabetes it means sometimes drastic changes need to be made for some more so than others you have to work out what is best for you.

LCHF is a good way to go and the changes you may have to make will probably be far less dramatic than I found I had to do.

Best of luck in your endeavores John
 
Grillpan said:
Hey Folks


Some time since my last post but I follow intently.


I was diagnosed type2 just about 11 months ago, 19.5 stone, didn’t excersize and inhaled chocolate daily I am 40 years old.


On day 1 of the diagnoses I quit eating chocolate or any sweets completely, went on a diet of around 2400 calories averaging around 180 – 200g of carbs a day (the guide said 2600 of calories a day). I quit drinking lager and became a cognisor of whiskey (quality over bulk) and limited my drinking to twice a month a most and I started a moderate excersize plan.


As of right now I am 19.5 stone, not lost a single pound. My medication is up to 4x 500mg metformin per day and has been for about 6 months. I understand that to be the maximum.


Because I have taken things seriously the doctor has been very good with me, regular visits and blood tests, can’t fault them for caring.


I have tested my blood 4 times a day for the last week bearing in mind that the diet numbers (carbs/fat/cal) are quite consistent although the food is different I am assuming that the week of tests is representative of the last 6 months on the same amount of medication.


8:00 avg 11 – 14 mmol (just before tablets)

11:00 avg 8- 9 mmol (eating at 12:00)

14:00 avg 12 – 15 mmol

19:00 avg 8 – 9 mmol (eating at 20:00)


It’s very rare for me to test and my blood be below 9mmol, in the 11 months I recorded 1 occasion of it being 5.1 and I was feeling really weird then (hence the test). I have a fan that’s on constantly blowing in my face because I feel like I am overheating and the emotional range I feel in a day is full of ups and downs.


That’s the info, here is the question.


What am I doing wrong, I would have thought I would have lost some weight, my diet has changed considerably. Why can’t I get the blood sugar under control, 4 – 7mmol seems to be a dream at the moment. Do you think that the type2 diagnose is correct could I actually be type 1? My symptoms have been getting progressively worse since I was about 25 until it got to the point so is it possible that I am having a slow degrade and so I was type2 and in a couple of months/years my insulin will be gone completely? Is that even possible?


Such a long post, thanks for reading!
Click to expand...

Your carb and calorie consumption is very high. When I was diagnosed I restricted myself to 1200 calories (female aged at the time 66) and dropped my carbs to around 100g. I lost weight easily. It fell off me, but my BS levels were higher than I liked so I reduced the carbs gradually until I got down to around 30g a day, and once I had reached target weight I increased my calories from fat/protein. My BS levels are normal, and my weight has been stable for 2 years.

I think you should go back to the drawing board and re-invent your diet. Have you cut out starchy stuff such as potatoes, rice, pasta, bread, flour? Or at the very least limited these to very small portions?
 
I was 17 stones and HbA1c of 76 aged 44 when first diagnosed a few years ago.
I didn't want to come to rely on meds or insulin as I think we should try everything we can to get to a good place without meds.
I tried many thing inc the Newcastle diet and LCHF And there is no doubt that low carb is essentially.
I tested and tested and tested. It is the most important thing.
It has and continues to be hard but I am now 15st HbA1c of 52 and feeling positive.

Looking at your numbers your lunch is shooting you up, and i bet if you did a test 2 hours after your evening meal you'd see the same thing. I'd say you are eating the wrong things. As these guys have said keep the carbs right down but also look for the hidden sugars - breakfast cereals, cooking sauces, relishes, many fruit, all dried fruit, yogurts. Beware of "no added sugar" its b/s check the labels, i accept nothing over 5g sugar per 100g.

The other thing is exercise. You have to do 30 minutes of raise heart rate a day, it drops your blood sugar right 2-3 points, it is the best thing by far. I started with a walk to the beach and back, I had to stop to catch my breath, but bit by bit it got better, then I did the whole thing without a rest (what an amazing moment). Then I started to jog little bits of it. Now I jog the whole thing, 3 miles, everyday. The important thing is not the distance or speed, it is upping the heart rate and getting the metabolism working faster. Its really hard, really hard, but you can do it.

I used to hate it, i still often do, but I plug in my headphones, sometimes music, sometimes an audio book, sometimes i think about life/work problems, sometimes i need to remind myself of all the reasons why i need to do this.

Good luck, contact me anytime if I can hep. My thoughts are with you.
 
psignathus said:
For weight loss your calories are still a bit high but more importantly your carbs are also way high hence your high blood glucose readings
Click to expand...
I think also the calorie level is a bit high. My diet was set to a 1800 kCal/day. Maybe you could talk with your dietician to cut calories a bit and the carbohydrate intake for supper? Don't talk of food combining diet, of course, but simply is a "trick" to reduce the evening calorie intake without too much hassle.
 
Thanks guys


I thought that just cutting out sweats/chocolate and eating reduced carbs in a “normal” diet would be enough but I think that’s not the case now.


As you all rightly suggest, time to have another look at that diet.
 
It may sound counter intuitive but eat more fat while you are cutting carbs. So instead of bread eat bacon for breakfast, salad or green veg is about all the carbs I have. Butter on your veg or cook in butter. Cream in tea or coffee. Just remember that all carbs will turn into glucose in your body when ingested and you really want to avoid that. Snack on pork scratchings instead of crisps or sweets (but don't have too many). Carbs are fairly easily avoided once you figure out what to do. Also you need to get used to checking the back of all food stuffs to check out the carb content. I tend to avoid anything with more than 5g of carb per 100g ( except rarely Oppo ice Cream which has 8g of carb per 100ml for a very special treat).
There loads of info on the low carb diet thread area on this forum and also

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

Huge amount of info and you don't ned to sign up to get the recipes..

You can do this..

Regards
Mark
 
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