Who am I now?

Sorry to point out the obvious, you will be YOU.

No matter what, you will still be the funny one.

Dont ever feel like diagnosis will change who you are. You can be the one telling the guys all the low carb things to eat & still enjoy a drink or 2.

TabbyL said:

I'm 42, and newly diagnosed T2.

Who am I supposed to be now? I feel like I've lost my identity. I have to bring my blood sugars under control, I have to lose weight. Problem is, I don't know what will be left when the food and fat have gone. What will I do?
I feel lost.
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You sound very much like the me I used to be before diagnosis.. the one who ate a whole chateaubriand for 2 myself just to show I could.. that has changed.. so what will you become?

You will be the one loosing weight , looking great with twice as much energy as you had before.. at least that's what I have become since starting low carb high fat.

And you won't have to give up eating great food either just carbs.
Take a look at www.dietdoctor.com/lowcarb and take a look at the "what have you eaten today" thread here for great food ideas.
You will eat less **** and more nice food.

View it as an opportunity to make yourself healthier

Ask any questions you like , we are here to help.

Regards
Mark

I feel the same xx

I feel the same too. It's really tough. But it's what we have to do. We have no choice.

Hear hear!!!

You'll probably be healthier for starters.

It's the the food that makes the person, it's the person that makes the food.

What most newbies don't realise is that this low carbing stuff is all about your own personal individual likes and dislikes. It is about making you a healthier you.
Once you have got your head around that you can have an English breakfast in the morning, a ham salad for lunch and steak for dinner, how good does that sound?

It's not boring! You can learn to cook curry, soups, even desserts!

This lifestyle will change your life, but it still is your life!

And if you do it properly, you will have those little treats again.

Your illness isn't your identity. And we all were someone else yesterday.

It's easy to feel lost after such a big, life changing diagnosis. It can feel like you've been cheated, like the rug has been pulled out from under your feet and it's easy to feel scared.

Out do the guys in salad munching, try different foods in those same pubs, cafes and restaurants, have an occasional treat (sorry, but it's true that cutting everything out is unrealistic and can do more harm than good in many ways in my opinion).

Speak to a nutritionist about eating out and don't avoid it. When fears and insecurities take over, we make our world very small. Hold dinner parties, think of who you like to me and make incremental steps towards that.

Above all else, lasting change needs time and patience. You're changing habits not the nub of who you are. Transforming for life and soul to the wallflower is not an option by the sound of it, so swap the deep on to thin and crispy, build the highest salad tower and enjoy a different life.

Carpe diem - not carb free diet!

I understand what you mean. To everyone around you you will still be you just slimmer, healthier and fitter. You can still have a joke with everyone, be center of attention if that's what your used to. But the problem comes in your own acceptance of who you are.

I lost six and a half stone once, mentally couldn't cope with it, it didn't matter how many people praised me for my achievements, I didn't feel I was me any more. I felt healthier and fitter but when I saw myself in a full length mirror it wasn't me looking back at me but a complete stranger. I couldn't cope with it so put all the weight back on again and more. Then I felt normal, the true me, others may find that hard to understand but I have been over weight all my life so large was normal.

Since being diagnosed I've been low carbing and loosing weight again, I know I have to do it and I'm determined to continue but it will be hard seeing the new me again when I get there. the difference is I now know I have no choice I have to accept what will become the new me but this time I will be brave enough to ask for help in my acceptance when I get there.

Don't write yourself off, accept that you are still you and embrace that you are a new you with new experiences in front of you. Accept all changes for the good and remember each experience we encounter in life changes us into who we are today. This will just be another change, a monumental one understandably, but just another change to accept and move forward with. Keep telling yourself your still you, it just takes a while to sink in.

Good luck and take care
Maggie

It is hard I know it's like you lose your freedom to Eat.

However you are not identified by a pizza , cake or pub lunch and if you feel you are you need to start looking at connecting to yourself. You are you the person not what's on your plate.
People will love you for the funny happy caring you.

I was diagnosed in November with T2. I love food and food loves me. I am a big girl and even though my health and probably life depend on it. I can not give up all the bad stuff. I view food and sugar as my friend not my enemy. I hope you manage to get your head round it all because even with all the support I have, I know it's a daily struggle and it's a journey I have only just begun. X

I absolutely identify with this. Whilst my eating was used to cope with depression/anxiety it also was a big part of who I was to the outside world. I always used to 'help' with the cake, be the one bringing in the cake, and at Christmas mince pies were always in danger if I was around. I was the big guy with the big heart, big appetite and a sense of humour to most of my colleagues.

I made a lot of changes overnight (recently posted my story here), and who I was both changed and stayed the same. Whilst co-workers were not aware of the issues that had caused me to make life changes, they were seeing the effects of my efforts. I became the person that people asked for healthy eating advice as opposed to takeaway choices. The humour and big heart were still there, but the information I was giving was now helping people make their own health related choices. I became the person that was being sponsored for charity runs rather than the person baking cakes for a cake sale. It was a transference of energy and focus. The net result was the same, I was still the person people liked.

You can still be the funny one, but you can be the funny one that people can call inspirational, and that may make them think about some of their dietary and life choices.

I'm not going to sit here and say 'it's easy!', because it's not. It is rewarding though, and there isn't a better community out there for supportive and inspirational threads than this one right here. My main advice would be don't do what I did and lurk in the shadows: Take part in threads and conversations and embrace the support around you. Good luck.