T2 diagnosis

[Ughughughugh]

Ffs. Please can anyone help.

Was diagnosed with pre-diabetes 3 years ago, managed to get the HB1AC down by losing 2.5 stone via low carb and got the HB1AC number back down to normal. Was absolutely devastated when the surgery phoned and did everything I could to get the number down. Lasted maybe another couple of months after getting it down and went back to eating shit and put it all back on again.

Today the surgery has called and now is diabetic. Am totally numb, cried so much the last time but just feel like this is yet another bloody thing to deal with and I don't have the energy. Have to go in next week to retest and stupidly forgot to ask for the number but guess that's immaterial.

Am 19.5 stone, 5ft 11, mid-40s, sedentary, eat absolute crap though make a healthy dinner for the family 6 days out of 7 (pizza night once a week). It is all the other snacks etc in between.

Also have a completely fucked gallbladder so if eat loads of protein/fat I get a lot of pain.

On medication for hypertension, and thyroid, and HRT, and the mini pill.

I think I need to do the Fast800 and just try and get counselling?? Or something to work through why I eat so badly and do no exercise.

Any words of wisdom welcome.

I don’t want to leave you unanswered . I can’t give much advise but you have lost weight before and it has had beneficial effect on your hba1c, you can do it again. There’s lots of research about reversing T2 now. I was talking to my orthopaedic consultant and he has reversed his using intermittent fasting and Zoe. He bought Libre monitors for 6 months which he said he found really helpful but acknowledged all this is expensive.

In your situation I might be tempted to try the Fast 800 and counselling is a good idea as hopefully will help going forward. Whilst you are getting your head around it make some small changes, doesn’t matter what, just that you have started making changes.

Others will be along with words of wisdom. If you would like to come over and join this thread you will be most welcome :

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weight_loss_chat/4973849-2-stones-off-by-easter-a-thread-for-those-with-lots-to-lose-in-2024?page=6&reply=131930257

eat absolute crap What did you think would happen?

Hello OP, at the end of last year I found out I was pre diabetic (my dad has it, so did his dad, it was inevitable and if honest I really haven't helped myself).

Something has just clicked in me, and I've started back on WW, they have a special program for members with diabetes too.

As you probably know already, you have to be in the right headspace for any -let's call it a healthy eat plan (I don't like the word diet).

Small steps, but I feel you, it's very hard!

Stop eating the crap.

You can have it just in simple moderation.
Don't buy it, so it's not there to eat to begin with.
My son is type one, it's beggars belief why anyone would purposely continue to eat like that knowing they were pre-diabetic.

OP, ignore unhelpful posts

As others have said, you have done this before and you can do this again

Use whatever method works for you, whatever is easier for you to eat less.

There is plenty of evidence that you can put this remission by losing weight and others have had success by low carbing.

It might be worth looking at counselling but at the end of the day, crap tastes nice, its why its made that way, its made so that people eat lots of it, Im not a strong believer that all obese people are addicted or have some sort of psychological issue, some do, some dont, only you know if you do of course and if so you can get some help with that.

I was pre-diabetic but I don’t need to lose any weight. I’m borderline underweight as it is. I pulled the numbers down by reducing carbs, not cutting them out completely. I was already mainly vegan, so no meat or dairy to cut down on and I don’t eat any ultraprocessed food. Also intermittent fasting 16:8 I think has helped. I’ve taken up a lot of weight training too.

There are some t2 diabetics who may not need to lose weight and as you say you changed the macros of your food which helped

But the evidence seems to suggest that its not about being overweight as such, its about being too heavy for your body to cope with and that could result in someone who is underweight as you say having the same impact on their liver, its horses for courses

In OPs case of course she is overweight and has achieved a lowering of her bloods by losing weight before, so she will know that this is something that works fo rher and will work again

You need to get your blood sugar under control in order to lose the weight. Look at the uk diabetes chat board for food ideas and write a meal plan. I completely gave up rice, pasta and potatoes for six months. I did eat a good low GI bread. The best off the shelf one is Vogel’s soy and linseed one from what I remember. Fasting is good too with 13 hours plus as a guide to begin with. I walked for 60 mins each day and increased that to 90, getting up early and then going out at various times throughout the day. It’s a total lifestyle change and it will probably take a while before the weight comes off, but it will. I also finger pricked every meal to see the effect the food was having and that’s also a good motivation as it’s bloody scary sometimes. Good luck. You can absolutely do it, just take it one day at a time.

OP this is your wake up call.

I appreciate you have many other things going on but uncontrolled diabetes is devastating to your body.

It needs to become a priority for you and your family. The good thing is that you know your body responds well to lowering your weight. This is still reversable. In a way, having weight to lose will make it easier. When I was diagnosed I was normal bmi, I've got my hba1c to the top end of normal and if I keep it down they will remove the diabetic marker for me. I'm now slightly underweight.

I didn't have any of your other health issues, but I am older, I've just had to accept that I don't eat sugar and I need to stick to low carb.

I think if you get it down again (which you will!) you need to ask for regular monitoring to keep you on the straight and narrow.

You can do this. New year, new start.

Thank you so much @Seaitoverthere , @Seriously79 , @soupfiend , @WashItTomorrow , @Ticketybooboo and @BigBoysDontCry

Extremely helpful posts from you and I am really grateful for your encouraging words. It is good to know I am not alone.

Since the doctor called I've had 800 kcals and under 20g of carbs and plenty water. Will see how my gallbladder goes. Have signed up to Bodyslims which I found on another thread and am going to write down all the absolute crap that's in my head tonight. I need to make an appointment for counselling and throw money at it initially. I still have all the books etc from the first time around so will look them all out.

You are right, it can be done and this is the wake up call I need to do it. It is the usual story of knowing exactly what needs to be done to lose weight but with a traumatic background it is really bloody hard. Extremely hard.

@FormerlyPathologicallyHappy and @EndOfMyTether11 hope you felt so much better about yourselves after kicking some one when they are down with your snitty unhelpful comments. No one chooses to live like this, believe you me.

Well done OP, how long do you want to sustain the current levels for (cals and carbs?)

I wouldnt suggest that level for too long, thats all.

A lower carb diet is anything under about 100g, I have in the past tried to stick to less than 50g but havent gone lower than that.

Thank you @soupfiend, maybe a few weeks as a kick start? Is it still possible to lower my blood sugar on up to 100g of carbs? I think you are all right and needs to be long term sustainable changes that I can keep to and not be back to square one again.

Please don't panic! Diabetes is a terrible disease (my mother was T2) but these days we actually know how to reverse it. You're already going in the right direction by eating low carb. I suggest you look into fasting. Low carb/fasting will act as a natural appetite suppressant making the necessary weight loss easier. I follow Dr. Jason Fung and have learned so much from his Fasting Method-group on Facebook. Best of luck - you can beat this diagnosis!

I was going to suggest 2-3 weeks, 3 weeks max really

Then I would move to around 70ish grams of carbs but try to ensure they predominately come from veg and pulses/beans/legumes/dairy

Do that for a month or so, you may need to higher the calorie intake to make sure you're getting enough protein in, say between 1k and 1200 a day

See how you get on, dont be worried about tweaking it to suit you.

Do you have a method of checking your bloods without going to the GP?

Thanks so much @snygghygge , I will join the group and thank you for your good wishes

No, I don't have any way other than the doctor, would you recommend anything please? I will do that @soupfiend , thanks for giving me an outline of what to aim for for the next couple of months.

You've got this @Ughughughugh ! I'm turning around my pre-Diabetes and steadily losing the pounds by following Dr. Fungs programme. You can also find him on YouTube. It's not always going to be easy but you can do it!

Have just been reading about a Libre sensor as mentioned by Seaitoverthere, looks expensive but would definitely be worth it.

I initially went pure keto when I discovered my blood sugar was high. I'm not sure how the fats on that would work with your other conditions though.

However, I got obsessed and made myself ill and virtually unable to eat at all but my hba1c was reasonable (into pre diabetic)

Hospital insisted I needed more carbs and my next hba1c did take me back into t2 territory but I stuck with it and it dropped 10 points by the next check. So without other changes, sticking with the low carb did allow my insulin to start responding better.

I think I'd agree with previous posters, do the ultra low carb (and no sugar) for a fixed period and then move to something a bit more sustainable. I try to stick to 90g or less a day and do intermittent fasting but not too strictly as I'm still underweight and need the calories. I find this fine, I eat veg and berries and apples but always combine these with a good fat. 10% fat Greek yoghurt, pure peanut butter etc to help with absorbtion.

I now have small amounts of brown rice, wholewheat pasta and sour dough bread, usually again with fats and protein and veg.

That sounds much much better for longer term sustainability than going hard at it then stopping which is what I've always done in the past. That's brilliant you were able to get the numbers right down. It's definitely do able, I need to do it.

Definitely doable!

I've developed a liking for 90% dark chocolate and I have a couple of squares of that for my guilty pleasure, much better for me than mars bars and Magnums.... 😁

Again, not for the purists, but I make pizza using low carb wraps, obviously not quite the same, but makes a great change for a lunch.

Fung is excellent and it's worth tracking his book down.

I see people are talking about reversing diabetes. I would suggest you don't set this as your goal as for most of us it is not realistic. Remission is possible but there's no shame in needing meds to maintain a decent hBac1 if diet and exercise don't succeed on their own. I'm in remission according to my hBac1 but some people would dispute this as I use metformin and ozempic.

Good luck with it all. The diabetes reddits are useful especially when starting oout.

Didnt the doctor give you any mechanism to check your own bloods. My OH has this, the little sensor with strips and he does a blood prick which measures it

Probably quite old fashioned now and they dont need to be done all the time

Get to the gym, lose fat and build muscle. Muscle is a sink for insulin so any increase at all in lean mass will help and a reduction in fat will too.

Sedentary lifestyle is awful for diabetes you need be as active as you can it is far more important to implement this now over any fad diet! You already know how to eat healthy so don't go down the starvation method or gimmicks for a quick fix.

Why if you feed your family well do you eat crap ?