NoCrbs4Me
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 3,700
- Location
- The Rocky Mountain Foothills, Canada
- Type of diabetes
- I reversed my Type 2
- Treatment type
- Other
- Dislikes
- Vegetables
You're welcome. And well done!
-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
will my numbers come down
- Thread starter comfort
- Start Date
Bluetit1802
Legend
Yes, well done!
Your food is very low carb. No need to worry there, providing it is sustainable.
No reason at all why your numbers shouldn't come right down further. There are plenty of us on here that have managed it without meds, and plenty more that have managed it with meds, sustained it for a while, and been able to come off meds. If you control it well and tightly, it doesn't have to be progressive.
Your food is very low carb. No need to worry there, providing it is sustainable.
No reason at all why your numbers shouldn't come right down further. There are plenty of us on here that have managed it without meds, and plenty more that have managed it with meds, sustained it for a while, and been able to come off meds. If you control it well and tightly, it doesn't have to be progressive.
I hope it is sustainable. Only time will tell. If I can just do it one day at a time. I know that without this forum I wouldn't stand a chance. It's the help and knowledge that I'm getting from here that's at least let me make a start. Thank so much everyone.
Watch the berries, nuts and yoghurt. They're lowish carb, but only in small portions. Perhaps try cutting back on those and see if your BG comes down some more.
Edit: Also noticed you mention tomatoes a couple of times. Again, watch the portion size and frequency on those.
Edit: Also noticed you mention tomatoes a couple of times. Again, watch the portion size and frequency on those.
Last edited by a moderator:
Winnie53
BANNED
I'm new to this too. Had a 9.9 A1C and a blood glucose of 282 a few weeks ago. Am not on any medication. This is day 10 for me on the low carbohydrate high fat diet. I'm adjusting well, but not sure I've been getting enough water. Been working on it today.
My fasting blood glucose is hovering around 160 for the last three days; my BG is higher or lower throughout the day depending when I test. I know I have a long way to go yet.
Here's my question...
For those of you who chose to do it with diet alone, how long did it take you to get below 6.5? Weeks? A month? Two months? Three months? Six months?
When my expectations are unrealistic, I get discouraged. My BG plateauing for the last three days is affecting me, though I continue to maintain my resolve.
My fasting blood glucose is hovering around 160 for the last three days; my BG is higher or lower throughout the day depending when I test. I know I have a long way to go yet.
Here's my question...
For those of you who chose to do it with diet alone, how long did it take you to get below 6.5? Weeks? A month? Two months? Three months? Six months?
When my expectations are unrealistic, I get discouraged. My BG plateauing for the last three days is affecting me, though I continue to maintain my resolve.
Mike d
Expert
- Messages
- 7,994
- Location
- Australia
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Other
- Dislikes
- idiots who will not learn
It varies as we're all different ... a little surprised you're not on some meds, but that's another issue. Better that you're not and relying on diet to bring your BS down
Also depends on your diet to a HUGE degree and your weight together with your exercise regime. We work on mmol readings but no big deal as I just converted your numbers to that standard.
It will certainly take at least a few weeks based on what you do but could be longer. You want a slow and steady decrease, NOT a massive fall.
Mike
Also depends on your diet to a HUGE degree and your weight together with your exercise regime. We work on mmol readings but no big deal as I just converted your numbers to that standard.
It will certainly take at least a few weeks based on what you do but could be longer. You want a slow and steady decrease, NOT a massive fall.
Mike
jack412
Expert
give yourself 6-8 weeks on LCHF, if your bloods aren't right, continue with LCHF and ask dr about metformin..the main thing is to have decent BG, even if it's with insulinI'm new to this too. Had a 9.9 A1C and a blood glucose of 282 a few weeks ago. Am not on any medication. This is day 10 for me on the low carbohydrate high fat diet. I'm adjusting well, but not sure I've been getting enough water. Been working on it today.
My fasting blood glucose is hovering around 160 for the last three days; my BG is higher or lower throughout the day depending when I test. I know I have a long way to go yet.
Here's my question...
For those of you who chose to do it with diet alone, how long did it take you to get below 6.5? Weeks? A month? Two months? Three months? Six months?
When my expectations are unrealistic, I get discouraged. My BG plateauing for the last three days is affecting me, though I continue to maintain my resolve.
Winnie53
BANNED
Thanks Jack, I'll be 39 days (5 1/2 weeks) into my LCHF diet when I see my doctor. I do accept that I may need to take medication on a temporary or permanent basis. Going to give this my best effort. I didn't know about the LCHF diet until I stumbled onto it a little less than 2 weeks ago. For the first time in 25 years, I have hope.
Mike, apologies, I confused my average glucose and glucose numbers. And thanks for explaining that the standard of measurement is mmol in the UK.
My glycohemoglobin A1C was 9.9; my estimated average glucose was 237 mg/dL (13.2 mmol); and my glucose was 282 mg/dL (15.7 mmol). I started the LCHF diet with a fasting glucose of 245 mg/dL (13.6 mmol); today, on day 11, I have a fasting glucose of 160 mg/dL (8.9 mmol).
I don't have any control over how fast or slow I bring my glucose levels down. My goal is to eat less than 40 carbs a day. I'm eating fat, protein, and vegetables three times a day, and one to two snacks. Oh and 0.35 oz of dark chocolate twice a day. I added flax four days ago. No sugar, no grains, no beans or peanuts, no fruit, no milk. In 11 days I've lost 1.4 pounds. So far so good.
Would appreciate hearing from others who are on the other side of this process.
Mike, apologies, I confused my average glucose and glucose numbers. And thanks for explaining that the standard of measurement is mmol in the UK.
My glycohemoglobin A1C was 9.9; my estimated average glucose was 237 mg/dL (13.2 mmol); and my glucose was 282 mg/dL (15.7 mmol). I started the LCHF diet with a fasting glucose of 245 mg/dL (13.6 mmol); today, on day 11, I have a fasting glucose of 160 mg/dL (8.9 mmol).
I don't have any control over how fast or slow I bring my glucose levels down. My goal is to eat less than 40 carbs a day. I'm eating fat, protein, and vegetables three times a day, and one to two snacks. Oh and 0.35 oz of dark chocolate twice a day. I added flax four days ago. No sugar, no grains, no beans or peanuts, no fruit, no milk. In 11 days I've lost 1.4 pounds. So far so good.
Would appreciate hearing from others who are on the other side of this process.
jack412
Expert
my guess is you are eating too much protein with a 1.4lb lossThanks Jack, I'll be 39 days (5 1/2 weeks) into my LCHF diet when I see my doctor. I do accept that I may need to take medication on a temporary or permanent basis. Going to give this my best effort. I didn't know about the LCHF diet until I stumbled onto it a little less than 2 weeks ago. For the first time in 25 years, I have hope.
Mike, apologies, I confused my average glucose and glucose numbers. And thanks for explaining that the standard of measurement is mmol in the UK.
My glycohemoglobin A1C was 9.9; my estimated average glucose was 237 mg/dL (13.2 mmol); and my glucose was 282 mg/dL (15.7 mmol). I started the LCHF diet with a fasting glucose of 245 mg/dL (13.6 mmol); today, on day 11, I have a fasting glucose of 160 mg/dL (8.9 mmol).
I don't have any control over how fast or slow I bring my glucose levels down. My goal is to eat less than 40 carbs a day. I'm eating fat, protein, and vegetables three times a day, and one to two snacks. Oh and 0.35 oz of dark chocolate twice a day. I added flax four days ago. No sugar, no grains, no beans or peanuts, no fruit, no milk. In 11 days I've lost 1.4 pounds. So far so good.
Would appreciate hearing from others who are on the other side of this process.
look at 60-80g and eat more fat
Winnie53
BANNED
Mike, I walk 1 - 2 miles every other day, sometimes more often. My hope is that I'll have more energy and interest in exercising as my health improves.
Jack, I think you may be right. I cut back on how much meat I was eating a few days ago, but may need to cut back more. I'm going to set aside time this weekend to get a better handle on the fat, protein, and carb ratios. I have a scale that measures in both ounces and grams, so I'll begin weighing everything until I get this right.
When I started this, I felt so desperate, I just started eating fat, protein, and carbs, not knowing what I was doing. Felt awful for days. When I increased the fat, I stopped feeling hungry so my anxiety levels began to lessen. Reading posts and asking questions here has really helped. Each day I further refine what I'm doing.
Jack, I just re-read what you wrote. Do you think 40 carbs a day is bad?
Jack, I think you may be right. I cut back on how much meat I was eating a few days ago, but may need to cut back more. I'm going to set aside time this weekend to get a better handle on the fat, protein, and carb ratios. I have a scale that measures in both ounces and grams, so I'll begin weighing everything until I get this right.
When I started this, I felt so desperate, I just started eating fat, protein, and carbs, not knowing what I was doing. Felt awful for days. When I increased the fat, I stopped feeling hungry so my anxiety levels began to lessen. Reading posts and asking questions here has really helped. Each day I further refine what I'm doing.
Jack, I just re-read what you wrote. Do you think 40 carbs a day is bad?
jack412
Expert
25g of protein is the amount of protein in say 4oz/100g weight of meat [check cause I'm guessing]Mike, I walk 1 - 2 miles every other day, sometimes more often. My hope is that I'll have more energy and interest in exercising as my health improves.
Jack, I think you may be right. I cut back on how much meat I was eating a few days ago, but may need to cut back more. I'm going to set aside time this weekend to get a better handle on the fat, protein, and carb ratios. I have a scale that measures in both ounces and grams, so I'll begin weighing everything until I get this right.
When I started this, I felt so desperate, I just started eating fat, protein, and carbs, not knowing what I was doing. Felt awful for days. When I increased the fat, I stopped feeling hungry so my anxiety levels began to lessen. Reading posts and asking questions here has really helped. Each day I further refine what I'm doing.
Jack, I just re-read what you wrote. Do you think 40 carbs a day is bad?
For me it took around two weeks to get from fasting of 13 to under 6. I went quite extreme on cutting out carbs. The first week I think I took too much meat/protein, and I was struggling to get below 8. The second week I had more fat and less protein. I wasn't overweight if that makes any difference. I did a little bit of exercise, but not a lot, so it was the diet that primarily brought it down.
Not saying it should take two weeks for everyone, but equally I'd guess that if it's taking many weeks or months there's probably an issue with the diet.
Winnie53
BANNED
Thanks Andy for sharing that you aren't overweight. It's speculation on my part, but perhaps being at a healthy weight helped you. I currently weigh 60 pounds more than I did as a young woman. In the last three months, I've lost a total of 5 pounds, but need to lose at least 30 more. In no hurry though. What I'm most concerned with now is getting my BG back into the normal range. It's both encouraging and impressive that you were able to do it in two weeks, I assume without medication. I'd be thrilled if I could get below 6.5 before my doctor appointment in mid-March. I'm hoping I've just hit a temporary plateau these last three days, and that my BG will begin dropping again.
Jack, thanks. I'll research it and figure it out this weekend. I think I misunderstood. When you mentioned 60 - 80 grams in your earlier post, I thought you were talking about carbohydrates. Were you referring to protein?
Jack, thanks. I'll research it and figure it out this weekend. I think I misunderstood. When you mentioned 60 - 80 grams in your earlier post, I thought you were talking about carbohydrates. Were you referring to protein?
Yes without medication. To be honest I was surprised it took as long as two weeks. My thoughts were that if I stopped eating carbs, then surely there was nothing that could raise my blood sugar, so why shouldn't it fall in a few days at most? That was a little over-simplistic of course. I hadn't realised that protein gets converted to sugar too, for example. And I also hadn't realised just how difficult it is to get to a very low level of carbs - they're everywhere! (I'm still getting caught out by that - most recently by some mixed nuts I bought that turned out to have twice the carbs of the (seemingly similar) pack I bought previously.)
Bluetit1802
Legend
Hi Winnie, and welcome.
A few people manage to get their fasting levels down quickly, but most don't. So much depends on how much insulin resistance you have, what condition your pancreas is in, and what meds you are on. People of normal weight usually have less IR so find it easier to get the fasting down. There are also a lot of other factors involved, such as Dawn Phenomenon, restless nights, stress, and timing of the test. If you want an idea of whether the Dawn Phenomenon affects you, test before you go to bed and see if you go up a lot overnight. Also, our fasting levels are normally the very last to come down as insulin resistance improves as the day progresses, so our levels before our evening meal are likely to be the lowest we will see.
I found my fasting levels came down when my weight loss reached about 17% loss from my starting weight. They came down suddenly - overnight almost. But this took a while. I have seen others on here say much the same. Having said that, my fasting has never been very high. It was only 7 when diagnosed. It is now 5.6 on average and has been that for a long time. I think I have reached my natural level.
A few people manage to get their fasting levels down quickly, but most don't. So much depends on how much insulin resistance you have, what condition your pancreas is in, and what meds you are on. People of normal weight usually have less IR so find it easier to get the fasting down. There are also a lot of other factors involved, such as Dawn Phenomenon, restless nights, stress, and timing of the test. If you want an idea of whether the Dawn Phenomenon affects you, test before you go to bed and see if you go up a lot overnight. Also, our fasting levels are normally the very last to come down as insulin resistance improves as the day progresses, so our levels before our evening meal are likely to be the lowest we will see.
I found my fasting levels came down when my weight loss reached about 17% loss from my starting weight. They came down suddenly - overnight almost. But this took a while. I have seen others on here say much the same. Having said that, my fasting has never been very high. It was only 7 when diagnosed. It is now 5.6 on average and has been that for a long time. I think I have reached my natural level.
jack412
Expert
yes, 60-80g proteinThanks Andy for sharing that you aren't overweight. It's speculation on my part, but perhaps being at a healthy weight helped you. I currently weigh 60 pounds more than I did as a young woman. In the last three months, I've lost a total of 5 pounds, but need to lose at least 30 more. In no hurry though. What I'm most concerned with now is getting my BG back into the normal range. It's both encouraging and impressive that you were able to do it in two weeks, I assume without medication. I'd be thrilled if I could get below 6.5 before my doctor appointment in mid-March. I'm hoping I've just hit a temporary plateau these last three days, and that my BG will begin dropping again.
Jack, thanks. I'll research it and figure it out this weekend. I think I misunderstood. When you mentioned 60 - 80 grams in your earlier post, I thought you were talking about carbohydrates. Were you referring to protein?
Winnie53
BANNED
Jack, I did a quick check of my protein intake. I'd say I've been getting 80 to 100 g protein a day. I'll start monitoring that more closely and get down into the 60-80 g range. I was thinking yesterday that I need to make a vegetable soup. That will help.
Bluetit1802, 17% of my weight would be 27 pounds. The one other time I briefly dieted, I lost 20 pounds in 2 or 4 weeks, can't remember which, on the South Beach Diet. This time, weight loss has been minimal, only 1 1/2 pounds, though I have lost a total of 5 pounds over the last three months. I'm going to take a hard look at my fat, protein, and carb intake for a week and make adjustments.
I think once I've done that, I'll stay the course, continue monitoring my BG, and see what happens. I haven't paid much attention to dawn phenomena yet, but will add that to my monitoring. Your description of BG patterns throughout the day are similar to what I'm experiencing. Thanks for sharing that too.
Andy, sounds like you're off to a great start!
Thanks to all for your input. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and tend to over think things, so for me, it was important to just dive in and get started. Thanks for helping me identify where I need to look at making adjustments.
Bluetit1802, 17% of my weight would be 27 pounds. The one other time I briefly dieted, I lost 20 pounds in 2 or 4 weeks, can't remember which, on the South Beach Diet. This time, weight loss has been minimal, only 1 1/2 pounds, though I have lost a total of 5 pounds over the last three months. I'm going to take a hard look at my fat, protein, and carb intake for a week and make adjustments.
I think once I've done that, I'll stay the course, continue monitoring my BG, and see what happens. I haven't paid much attention to dawn phenomena yet, but will add that to my monitoring. Your description of BG patterns throughout the day are similar to what I'm experiencing. Thanks for sharing that too.
Andy, sounds like you're off to a great start!
Thanks to all for your input. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and tend to over think things, so for me, it was important to just dive in and get started. Thanks for helping me identify where I need to look at making adjustments.
Bluetit1802
Legend
Good luck Winnie. Do come back and report how you are going on, and keep asking questions.
