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Katetype2

Katetype2

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Edit:

So I’m feeling a bit less blah, mentally, this morning. Weight has come back down a pound and eyes are not so sore.
Had my results back already - incredibly fast! No diabetes damage to the eyes - really good news.

I’m feeling slightly under the weather today. I think it’s just a bit of diabetes/metformin yuck. Nothing major. I shall soldier on.

Thanks all x

———————————————
Hello all.

Had my diabetic eye screening this afternoon. Was ok. Still have slightly sore, blurry, watering eyes 6 hours later - but it could be worse. The optician had a Quick Look at my scans and said it all looked good - so although it’s not the formal result, it’s positive.

Weight wise is a bit frustrating. I’m doing all the right things but the weight has gone up a few lbs. Not sure if it’s a bit of water retention from starting the gym recently. Maybe a bit of constipation. I don’t know. But it is disheartening when you know you’re doing everything you need to do. Perhaps my body is having a little wobble about losing weight fairly quickly? I don’t know.

Having said all that, today I have gone over my calorie allowance by 89 cals. I was feeling sorry for myself and had a naughty bag of scratchings after my eye appointment. So that’s 1440 cals today. I feel quite guilty, which I know is ridiculous. I just worry about falling back in to bad habits.
 
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You are doing really well @Katetype2 - you can have a treat every now and again, don't beat yourself up! The eye screening is not much fun, but glad the initial look appears ok - keep going 🙂
 
Katetype2 said:
Weight wise is a bit frustrating. I’m doing all the right things but the weight has gone up a few lbs.
Click to expand...
How often do yo weigh yourself?
 
Once my weight-loss was well underway I experienced some side-effects. One of those was slowed digestion - basically constipation for stretches of five or six days, over and over again, for weeks on end. This is thought to be one way the body reacts to sustained weight loss - trying to extract as much energy from your food as possible. It's also one reason why 'water weight' can vary so much from day to day. Other side-effects were poor circulation in my hands and feet (except after meals), feeling very lethargic, particularly after exercise, my resting heart-rate (RHR) dropped (according to Fitbit) and while all this was happening the rate at which I was losing weight slowed down.

I suspected at the time that the lowered RHR was evidence that my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) had gone down while I was in a state of sustained weight loss. A few months ago I read this paper about the concept of 'metabolic adaptation' - Link - which indicates that this seems to be the case - BMR and TDEE calculators don't reflect this effect. I emailed one of the researchers involved with that study to ask if the Fitbit RHR metrics might be an indicator that this effect was occurring. I sent the graph below - shows changes to my RHR over Christmas 2023 - I went off my diet on Dec 18th and back on it after New Year. The researcher responded to say that yes, changes to heart rate are probably one way the body tries to conserve energy if weight-loss is sustained for some time.

What all this adds up to is you may have to reduce your daily calorie allowance a little bit if you want to continue losing weight at the rate you were losing it before. Also that if you are experiencing the constipation effect you won't be able to easily gauge your weight loss by looking at your weight on any given day. To get around that I weighted myself every morning (after using the bathroom) then averaged the readings for the week to get my weekly average weight. I used changes from week to week to see how fast I was losing weight and adjusted my food intake to hit the rate I wanted, adjusting for this 'metabolic adaptation' thing. Alternatively weighing yourself weekly on the same day of the week will give you something similar. Re. falling back into bad habits - it's probably guaranteed to happen at some point. I fell off the weight-loss wagon several times and right now I'm over 5Kg heavier than I was in September, after months of eating and drinking way too much. I'm back on my vegetable soup lunches now until I get back to where I was in September. So long as we put lapses behind us and get back on the wagon it'll work out fine I think. In the long run, we can only fail if we give up. Look forward to the day when you get to buy lots of new clothes 😉 Best of luck!
Resting_HR_Christmas.png
 
PerSpinasAdAstra said:
Once my weight-loss was well underway I experienced some side-effects. One of those was slowed digestion - basically constipation for stretches of five or six days, over and over again, for weeks on end. This is thought to be one way the body reacts to sustained weight loss - trying to extract as much energy from your food as possible. It's also one reason why 'water weight' can vary so much from day to day. Other side-effects were poor circulation in my hands and feet (except after meals), feeling very lethargic, particularly after exercise, my resting heart-rate (RHR) dropped (according to Fitbit) and while all this was happening the rate at which I was losing weight slowed down.

I suspected at the time that the lowered RHR was evidence that my Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) had gone down while I was in a state of sustained weight loss. A few months ago I read this paper about the concept of 'metabolic adaptation' - Link - which indicates that this seems to be the case - BMR and TDEE calculators don't reflect this effect. I emailed one of the researchers involved with that study to ask if the Fitbit RHR metrics might be an indicator that this effect was occurring. I sent the graph below - shows changes to my RHR over Christmas 2023 - I went off my diet on Dec 18th and back on it after New Year. The researcher responded to say that yes, changes to heart rate are probably one way the body tries to conserve energy if weight-loss is sustained for some time.

What all this adds up to is you may have to reduce your daily calorie allowance a little bit if you want to continue losing weight at the rate you were losing it before. Also that if you are experiencing the constipation effect you won't be able to easily gauge your weight loss by looking at your weight on any given day. To get around that I weighted myself every morning (after using the bathroom) then averaged the readings for the week to get my weekly average weight. I used changes from week to week to see how fast I was losing weight and adjusted my food intake to hit the rate I wanted, adjusting for this 'metabolic adaptation' thing. Alternatively weighing yourself weekly on the same day of the week will give you something similar. Re. falling back into bad habits - it's probably guaranteed to happen at some point. I fell off the weight-loss wagon several times and right now I'm over 5Kg heavier than I was in September, after months of eating and drinking way too much. I'm back on my vegetable soup lunches now until I get back to where I was in September. So long as we put lapses behind us and get back on the wagon it'll work out fine I think. In the long run, we can only fail if we give up. Look forward to the day when you get to buy lots of new clothes 😉 Best of luck!
View attachment 33438
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for this incredibly informative reply. I am definitely going to have a deep dive in to it. Thank you for taking the time to send this.
 
Hi @Katetype2 if you have only recently started at the gym, then a bit of weight gain may be possible. A friend of mine is a Personal Trainer and pointed out to me a long time ago that muscle is heavier than fat and when starting out to build muscle there is often a short period of weight gain as you build the some initial muscle before the weight starts to fall.
 
Katetype2 said:
Pretty much daily - I know some people are against that, but generally I find it useful.
Click to expand...
While it is contraindicated for certain people e.g thise with eating disorders, weighing daily means being able to look at trends and viewing the numbers over a week or longer can help 'lose' those unexplained peaks/troughs to the averages.
 
Glad to hear you are feeling less blah @Katetype2

Lots find January a bit of a slog to be honest… And it can seem to take aaaaages for the year / weather / daylight hours to start picking up.

Keep looking at those overall trends, and keep on keeping on 🙂
 
Agree with January!!!!!! I was reasonably good over Christmas, first one after diagnosis but.......cannot get motivated at all just now. No chocs /cake/ Christmas goodies in the house as such but I am roaming.looking for anything to munch....even down to spooning Peanut butter or whatever I can find......spent the afternoon on the sofa today, under a blanket as I was so cold even with the heating on. I slept, wakened then dozed more.Tea was half a tub of Pringles and I have had a couple of small whiskies, a thing I never do. It's mind over matter I hope, but as a T2 who does not test, I feel that I have lost my way. No funny symptoms so don't really know where I am.
 
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@EMcKT January is the reason that Monday 20th Jan is called Blue Monday as it is, for whatever reason, considered the most miserable day of the year. Interestingly it will also be the date of the US presidential inauguration! I think lots of people including those without diabetes suffer in January either because the best before date on mince pies has been reached or they have finished the brandy sauce and now need to find a new source of alcohol. Based on our local bottle bank I think this is possibly a true fact :rofl:

I think we all need to find ways to motivate ourselves at this time, for my wife it is the hope that Tom Cruise will return to our area in 2025 and she will finally get to meet him. As he is only six inches tall in real life, I think it is more likely she will stand on him. Me I'm holding out for Julia Roberts, a glimpse of that smile will have me running round the local park in no time. On this basis we pull on our walking boots and go outside into the cold for a brisk walk.

Finding motivation can be difficult whether diabetic or not and I really hope you find something that helps you, perhaps like my wife you can find a film start to stalk. 😉
 
JimmyBlue said:
@EMcKT January is the reason that Monday 20th Jan is called Blue Monday as it is, for whatever reason, considered the most miserable day of the year. Interestingly it will also be the date of the US presidential inauguration! I think lots of people including those without diabetes suffer in January either because the best before date on mince pies has been reached or they have finished the brandy sauce and now need to find a new source of alcohol. Based on our local bottle bank I think this is possibly a true fact :rofl:

I think we all need to find ways to motivate ourselves at this time, for my wife it is the hope that Tom Cruise will return to our area in 2025 and she will finally get to meet him. As he is only six inches tall in real life, I think it is more likely she will stand on him. Me I'm holding out for Julia Roberts, a glimpse of that smile will have me running round the local park in no time. On this basis we pull on our walking boots and go outside into the cold for a brisk walk.

Finding motivation can be difficult whether diabetic or not and I really hope you find something that helps you, perhaps like my wife you can find a film start to stalk. 😉
Click to expand...
Wasn't the concept invented by travel agents to try to sell holidays? I've always been under the impression that Christmas / post-Christmas is the peak time for depression and break-ups.
 
Hi, I’m feeling really down since since the new year. I think it’s the January blues. The cold weather doesn’t help as I can’t seem to get warm. I’ve no motivation to do anything and my anxiety has really kicked in,. Don’t know what I any anxious about but can’t seem to shake it off. I have my Hba1c test next month and have been doing really well to keep my numbers in range , but my anxiety makes my levels a bit higher. Sorry for the rant just feel so down at the moment
 
Good morning @Daffers . Sorry to read that you are feeling so down, but pleased that you are able to come on here and have a rant.
This colder weather impacts so many.
Do you have things that you enjoy doing inside?
Is there a way for you to be more active inside?

Well done for keeping your numbers in range. Anxiety increases glucose levels and makes things harder for us to manage, however all that you have done will already impact your HbA1c next month. So you already have that data under your belt. The tests are there for our own information. They are a snapshot of just how well you are doing, so try not to get anxious about these, and if possible view them as a tool for you to decide whether you want to make any other tweaks to what you are doing.

I hope that you have a better day today.
 
Thank you for your reply SB2015. I am usually busy with working in a supermarket and cleaning for older people. I have had a weeks holiday from work and got a few of my own jobs done at home. I think it is the contrast of the business of Christmas and then the quietness of the new year. My anxiety has just appeared out of nowhere.I hope I feel better when I get back into my normal routine tomorrow
 
Hope your anxiety subsides as your routine settles back in @Daffers - do you have any tactics/techniques that you’ve tried which help your anxiety to reduce (like mindfulness, grounding, or CBT?)

I’m finding it encouraging how many forum folks are going through the same ‘ugh!’ January transition. Good to know we aren’t alone.
 
Thank you for your reply everydayupsanddowns, i had depression and anxiety a few years ago and tried mindfulness and CBT which I found really helpful . I’m also not sleeping very well because of the anxiety, but I’m trying to be positive
 
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