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Update: Was obese & T2 but not any more

S

SAM-TAN

New Member
This is a very long and late reply to a post I made a few years back. the thread is now closed but can be found here: http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=314

I am truly very sorry for posting & never returning to thank everyone who read my post & offered advice.

I have an update though, almost 5 years on and I would like to share my experience of what happened next in my life, for what it's worth.

I remember posting the above message very clearly. I was in a very bad place at the time. I didn't know this (or want to know) but I weighed just over 28 stone. I found that fact out when I took that first visit to the doctors. I also found out very quickly afterwards that I had Type 2 diabetes, as I thought. This sent me into an emotional roller coaster to say the least. I had some very bad days where I felt like my world was crashing down on me, quite literally I mean, where I was close to collapsing. Other days I would slip in to very deep sleeps and I put my partner through a lot of stress during this time. However the metaformin I was prescribed really did help settle me back into a bit of normality.

After the wake up call off the doctor I tried to lose weight, I really did, but it seemed like a mission impossible. Walking was quite painful and one day I stood on a footbridge about 2 miles from my house almost crying as I thought I would not be able to walk back home as my shins were feeling like they were made of lead.

The doctor was quite good and not patronising though they wanted me to commit to all these meetings but I admit the idea of these stressed me. I did my best and the metorformin kept on helping. This was early & mid 2009.
By 2010 I had lost about 4 stone & my symptoms eventually sort of cleared up in the main and after a while I stopped taking metorformin. This was a mainly because the doctor cancelled my repeat prescription and wanted to see me again, but I thought I would use up my remaining medication and try without it. Now this is not advisable at all. But in all honesty I did feel ok. I sort of felt like I was over my symptoms.

Then in late 2012 I realised I had put some weight back on again & I got some flash backs of that day I was told I had type 2 diabetes. I sort of panicked again and although I had none of the symptoms (and hadn't for a long time) I decided I really had to do something this time BEFORE it happened again. I felt like I had been given a second chance and I was wasting it.

So I changed my diet again, this time I kept a food diary and made a lot of generally good choices. I planned out a weekly meal plan and stuck to it. I cut out all the bad foods & replaced with good choices. Critically for me this time was that I was able to walk without pains, so I did. Every evening after work I walked 4 or 5 miles. This time the weight dropped off me, thankfully. After a few months of this I started running (I found something called the C25K program, and it got me into running). This was the life changing point really as now there was no going back. Eating well was making me lose weight and running took that further. I had never run before this but I sort of got a bit addicted to it.

That was last November. I have now lost over 11 stone in total and I'm currently just under 17 stone. Sounds heavy I guess, but not to me, I look normal now as I am very tall, and I feel fitter and stronger than ever, and well and truly on my way to being "normal" weight/bmi.

I am running 4 times a week, proper running I mean, I've ran in local 5k races, 10k races, and soon to be running in a half marathon.

So my story turned out to be very positive in the end, but it did come down to me sorting my weight & fitness levels out.... But before that, the trip to the doctor I dreaded so much proved to be vital, as like you guys told me above I needed to be helped.

I only remembered this thread on here as I recently moved house & I had to re-register with a new doctor to see about a ear problem I had. The nurse inducted me in and I told her about the diabetes. She agreed with me I probably didn't have it any more but sent me for a blood test.

I was given the all clear today and I've vowed to myself I will never again allow that to happen to me again.

Thank you for reading and the support I was offered at the time, but I was too scared to even use an anonymous message board as I just wanted to bury my head in the sand as much as possible really.

To anyone reading this going through similar feelings as I had in my first post (like I did when I registered on here and read others experiences), all I can add to what was said to me is you HAVE to seek medical advice, the doctors will be able to help & the medication they give will be the start of getting better, or at least getting it all under control. I got my life back on track but only with the help of the tablets & advice I was given. I know many people with diabetes are not overweight, but lets be honest obesity is a massive reason for many people with type 2 diabetes. I never thought I could lose this sort of weight but I did, but not even doctors telling me I HAD to actually got me to do it. Something just clicked last year for me and I got my head down and went for it.

I am glad I did now though. Having the nurse telling me that my blood glucose levels, my cholesterol and my blood pressure are all fine and healthy felt amazing to be honest. That's a very negative chapter of my life behind me.

All the best and sorry for a massive post, I wanted to explain what happened, and sorry for taking so long to update. Good luck to anyone who has to drop some serious weight, it really can be done. 🙂
 
Hi SAM-TAN, great to hear from you again, and to hear how much progress you have made in recent months! Well done! 🙂 It's truly inspirational to hear such stories as yours - you have battled, failed, regrouped and battled again and conquered your diabetes. I hope that the running helps keep you motivated to keep the weight off and keep up with the diet and exercise, for surely you must now feel a million times better than you did back in 2008 when you were a 28st recent ex-smoker!

I hope everything goes well with the half-marathon, that will be a special and tremendous achievement - even now, you're not the typical marathon-running build 😉 But I've been passed in races many times by men your build, so make sure you pick off a few of the skinny, little ones! :D Let us know how things go, if you can.
 
Thank you Northerner 🙂

You are right that I am not the usual build for running though I now look more like a rugby player than a sumo wrestler! And I will never look anything like a marathon runner, that is quite certain!

Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes hit me for six at the time but it really felt like I didn't have it in me to sort my weight problem out. I am fortunate that eventually I got there and I'm now a very different person to look at and in the way I think about my lifestyle generally. I can't really stress enough though how vital it was for me to see the doctor and get diagnosed correctly as that was ultimately the start of me getting where I am today.

I know its not the case for many people with diabetes to be able to simply go & lose a lot of weight and then be cured, but there are many people who this really is an option for.

All the very best. 🙂
 
Hi SAM-TAN, well done for sorting yourself out. I've also been lucky in that losing weight (6 stone for me) has helped me get my BG under control. I will always be diabetic, but my levels are bang in normal-person range and I hope to keep them there! :D
 
Thank you LeeLee - and well done yourself, it really is a great feeling once you have lost that weight isn't it. And thank you once again Northerner. I just read Silkman Bobs post, he has had a very similar experience and feelings to my own but Bob has managed to put it into words better than I did.

I hope others that do as I did and find this forum (those who are obese I mean), can see that it is possible to lose a lot of weight relatively easily and quickly when you try. Something I always found impossible in the past but when I actually gave it a serious go it happened.

In case anyone is interested here are some things about how I lost the weight. I'm not trying to sound preachy at all here, but know it probably looks like that. I am just saying what I did in case it helps. I picked up lots of tips here and there which I have used to help me so I am passing on what I can think of.

Its hard to say how I did it but I have to stress it is not as hard as I thought it had to be. In short it meant cutting calories down and increasing my calories used. This bit sounds obvious. And it is, but surprisingly a lot of small changes are needed to make it happen.

For me (a 6'6 man) I learned to watch calories and aimed to eat around 1200 to 1500 a day. On a Saturday I would ease off a bit and allow myself to go up to 2500 calories, but I did cut out everything obviously "bad". The longer I didn't eat sugary things the less I wanted them. I cut out bread (which was a big thing for me, I had bread as part of every meal) now I do eat some wholemeal bread at times, but not that often. My calories are still watched quite carefully, though the first few months obsessiveness over them got me into knowing roughly what everything is without having to be so obsessive now. (The food diary I kept was essential in this part.)

Breakfast is usually cereal, or sometimes I have 2 soft boiled eggs & two wholemeal toast; lunch is usually pasta with tuna and (ultra low fat) mayo; evening meal is always fresh cooked with meat, potatoes and green veg, peas, etc, but I bulk the meal out a bit with green veg instead of the white potatoes. I do not eat anything processed at all any more. The calories in processed food are just shocking usually. I never snack on anything other than maybe some fruit but even this is rare now. When I started I used fruit to get me through sugar cravings for chocolate and crisps, etc, I didn't know this at the time but these were a stepping stone and now I don't 'crave' sugar at all. I never drink soda drinks at all, not even diet cokes, I always drink sugar free squashes or water. I used to go through shed loads of diet coke. I do have nights out and drink alcohol on some weekends, and I even have a takeaway meal on occasion, but these are both dips in an otherwise very healthy 5 or 6 days in my week.

Walking 4 or 5 miles every night obviously helped me a lot physically, but mentally I think it stopped me from being in the house and fancying a snack, and when I got home I would never want to snack as it would make the walking seem a bit pointless. Once I lost some weight I started jogging, this was a massive step but my biggest help really in what I hope to be the long term success I guess. The internet is simply full of advice if you need to get more info at all, it has made a lot of aspects easier I think.

All my writing above is from my own experience only. I am no expert and other people may have medical reasons to NOT do some of the things I have said so please take my words with care, but hopefully some of the above may be useful? Like Silkman Bob I don't fear putting the weight back on as I have changed so much in how I see food, how I see myself, and how I live my life. My lifestyle is now much more active and my food choices are now much better in general.

Sorry for another very long post. oops! 🙂
 
Well Done "Sam Tan". You deserve to feel on top of the world ! 🙂🙂
 
Thank you very much Hobie. I do feel "on top of the world" and my wife also tells me I am a much more positive person generally these days. Running non stop in a half marathon less than 11 months after the first time I put on a pair of trainers will be the icing on the cake for me. I couldn't run for a bus this time last year.
 
SAM-TAN said:
Thank you very much Hobie. I do feel "on top of the world" and my wife also tells me I am a much more positive person generally these days. Running non stop in a half marathon less than 11 months after the first time I put on a pair of trainers will be the icing on the cake for me. I couldn't run for a bus this time last year.
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Which one are you running in? Great North Run? 🙂
 
No it's Cardiff which is a lot closer to me. I only decided to enter it a few weeks ago to be honest. I'm doing the Swansea 10K on September 22nd and then this is exactly two weeks later. My 10k training had me running up to 18k once a week, so I thought why not its only another few km. So I ran the full 21.1k distance a few weeks ago, went quite a bit too fast at the start and when I finished it felt like the hardest thing I had ever did. However the memory of that passed too quickly and I entered the Cardiff half the day after! Hopefully will not be quite so hard the next time. Think I will have one more go at pacing the full distance before the big day.

Hoping for a time below 2h 30m but not going to be too bothered either way.
 
Good stuff 🙂 You'll be fine as you will have learned how to pace yourself by your experiences. I like to save a tiny bit in reserve so I can do a grand sprint over the last 100 metres (probably doesn't look as impressive as it feels!)

It's a good idea to try a long run at around the same time of day as the event if you wouldn't normally run at that time.
 
Yes a sprint* at the end will be a nice way to finish, and hopefully be easier with a crowd willing me on I guess! Good idea about the timing of the run practice. I never run in the mornings but this starts at 9am (normally run late afternoons on weekends, and evenings in the week.) So that is something to consider I guess.

It sounds like you are quite experienced in running, and seeing as you are type 1 diabetic that sounds like a big achievement in itself. I admit I am not sure how much of a difference it makes, but can only assume diabetes must not help things like distance running, and quite a lot of extra must be taken into account?


*more likely to be me crawling on all fours begging for someone to put me out of my misery! 😱
 
SAM-TAN said:
It sounds like you are quite experienced in running, and seeing as you are type 1 diabetic that sounds like a big achievement in itself. I admit I am not sure how much of a difference it makes, but can only assume diabetes must not help things like distance running, and quite a lot of extra must be taken into account?
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Yes, I have been a runner for 30 years! 🙂 I actually didn't get diagnosed until I was 49 though, so most of that was without diabetes to consider. I was actually supposed to be running the Stockholm Marathon the week I was diagnosed - needless to say, I didn't make it :( Obviously, I wanted to get back into it as quickly as I could so I read up on all the science and then just experimented, doing short runs initially and testing every 15-30 minutes to see if/how it was affecting my levels. Also had to take into account when I last ate/injected. Eventually managed to build up to running longer runs and did the Great South Run about 4 months after diagnosis. I think the main problem for me is that it used to be more spontaneous and I could get up, have a mug of tea and go out and run. Now I have to plan, have some insulin, wait for it to get working, have some toast, wait a bit longer, check my levels are OK and then go out and run - so I have to be much more organised🙄 But I'm glad I am still able to do it OK and it helps a lot with keeping my blood sugar levels nicely controlled 🙂
 
Love your profile "Type of diabetes"- Carer/none ! Really good luck with the 10k in Cardiff 🙂
 
At least you have proving that it can be worked around, even if it does take some very careful planning that most others don't have to even consider. I guess there are lots of people on here who will benefit from your very specific experiences regarding running and diabetes, and your support in general.

Thanks again for your comments, and for actually reading my very long posts! 🙂
 
My doc is a bit more reserved - I'm a well-controlled Type 2 for the rest of my life, on the grounds that if I lost the plot again I'll be back where I started.
 
SAM-TAN said:
At least you have proving that it can be worked around, even if it does take some very careful planning that most others don't have to even consider. I guess there are lots of people on here who will benefit from your very specific experiences regarding running and diabetes, and your support in general.

Thanks again for your comments, and for actually reading my very long posts! 🙂
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Not at all, thank you for taking the time to share your experiences with us, I am sure it will help others facing similar problems 🙂
 
That is an amazing story of your life and shows that anyone with enough belief in there self can actually make a difference.

I applaud you for your determination 🙂
 
I have been reading the stories on here and they are so inspirational, everyone seems to be so together and coping really well. I have just been diagnosed type 2 and so I am checking out different posts seeing where I go and what to do. Still very confused and upset about everything I am not in a good place with it at the moment but realise that the getting upset easily etc is all symptoms that can go with the diabetes so I live in hope that if someone says boo to me I won't burst into tears on them.
I have been out today and tried to buy what I think I can eat but until I go to the nurse on Friday I don't really know about portions and carbs etc so will do what I think until Friday and cut out all sweets and crisps.
I am struggling at the moment as I haven't felt well for weeks now, I had a holiday early july and within a week of coming back I was shattered again, along with that I keep feeling all shaky I don't know if this is down to eating wrongly or not enough of something maybe someone can tell me.
I will keep reading the posts and hopefully get some control of my life and weight again with everyones help, I am due to go away again in 5 weeks time so little worried about it but hopefully will managed to calm myself down before then and get some sort of grip on everything.

Helen
 
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