Hi, weight loss was the key for me and I certainly needed to lose a lot. I was constantly out of breath, tired, no energy, walking was hard work, let alone carrying anything. And I looked and felt dreadful.
Oddly, I just thought that it was normal 'old age' stuff. Then I got the diagnosis. A lot made sense suddenly. My, I can be quite slow sometimes!
So I did a bit of reading about do's and don'ts when dieting and also on diabetes T2. I decided that low carb, lower calories, increased fats, increased protein was the way to go.
I didn't exercise for the first few months as I felt so unwell and lacked the strength and energy. But the weight dropped bit by bit. I recorded it every day and plotted the graph to show the progression. For me the drive was not to allow the graph line to go upwards but ever downwards.
I set limits of 1200 Calories, 125g Carbs for each day, and 'roughly' kept within those limits. I also ensured that I ate 5+ portions of fruit a day and some fish or meat.
I was concerned that I would not have enough vitamins or minerals and set about looking at my diet in terms of those aspects. I discovered that my diet did cover everything needed which meant I didn't need vitamin or mineral supplements which I had started taking right at the start of my journey. Stopping those was very good for my bank balance!
Well, the weight graph gave me a few times of frustration as sometimes it did go up and my mood at those times went down. That is untill I relaxed a bit by realising that body weight can shift quite a lot day to day depending on all, sorts of things, like, foods eaten the days before, drinks too, the inevitable visits to the toilet, or not, the body readjusting itself. So a general trend downwards has become acceptable.
However, after a few months I felt really well, none of my clothes fitted, I felt stronger, and decided to start some gentle exercising. Walking on the neaby beach. Just 30 minutes a day at first. That was more than enough for me at that time. The weight continued to drop slowly but constantly.
I then stepped up my exercise to one hour a day then two (some days). Walking was great. The boredom avoided by taking along my mp3 player. Carrying things like the shopping became easy. I was no longer getting out of breath. Everything came good. But it did take time and effort.
So, for me, carefully adjusting my food every day to keep within those limits, aiming for the goal, has worked well.
As far as the weight goes, I decided that at 55.5Kg I had gone too far and readjusted my goal to 57Kg. I had begun to look gaunt!!! Now, at 57kg I look a lot better and feel great.
The new goal is to maintain the weight at or near the goal, which I seem to be doing.
There was a blip on my birthday. Seriously down then the next day seriously up. I put it down to firstly lots of celebration drinks and dehydration and then the next day to rehydration.
If I can transfer the weight graph from my PC to this tablet then I will attach it to this message.
I guess the summary would be.
Set achievable goals
Set sensible limits
Plan every meal and stick to it as much as possible. Try to avoid unplanned snacking
Monitor daily progress but don't get discouraged when things don't work out on the odd day.
Keep at it every day.
Enjoy the food and exercise
Enjoy the new healthier, fitter, happier person you become
I think it's become my latest hobby rather than an obsession and its really interesting because it is so challenging and it changes every single day, sometimes several times a day!!!
Todays planned food stuff (just out of interest)
Note: Weight maintenance goal 1450 Calories
Calories 1099 cals (purposefully slightly lower to combat yesterdays huge fish and chips) and I need a small allowance to allow for changes, impulse eating, my wife suddenly creating some great food to try, etc
Carbohydrates 79.1g
Protein 75.5g
Fibre 28.0g
Fats 30.7g
Sat Fats 14g
Salt 3.6g
Cholesterol 293.8mg
Fruit/Veg 8.4 portions
i won't attach todays meals intricate breakdown as, to look at as a picture, it looks pretty scary....lots and lots of numbers. But if you really would like to see it then just ask....
Hope that is helpful in some way
Oh and I am on Levothyroxine too for my thyroid stuff ( after brain tumour op)
