Diagnosed with Type 2 this week

[fifilatour]

Hi I was diagnosed type 2 this week. I've been a yo-yo dieter most of my life. I'm now in my 70 s and am nearly the weight of 2 small people. Am I going to be able to sustain yet another diet without failing again?. Should I be just carb counting or calories and carbs.? I have not been told about monitoring my sugar levels. I have started Metformin.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi I was diagnosed type 2 this week. I've been a yo-yo dieter most of my life. I'm now in my 70 s and am nearly the weight of 2 small people. Am I going to be able to sustain yet another diet without failing again?. Should I be just carb counting or calories and carbs.? I have not been told about monitoring my sugar levels. I have started Metformin.

Welcome to the forum.
What you have to do now is not regard getting your blood glucose down as a DIET but as a new way of eating for life and as such it has to be enjoyable but there is no reason why you should not find a way that will suit you.
As it is carbohydrates which convert to glucose then many find a low carb approach successful at reducing blood glucose and losing weight which from what you say you need to do. It is quite hard to take account of both carbs and calories so many opt for one or the other which makes life easier.
I found following the approach in this link worked for me, though I didn't follow the meal plans as such more the principals. It is based on the suggested no more than 130g carbs not just sugar per day. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/
The book or app Carbs and Cals is also very useful as it gives carb values of a whole range of foods and meals so helps making better choices.

 

[Drummer]

Hi I was diagnosed type 2 this week. I've been a yo-yo dieter most of my life. I'm now in my 70 s and am nearly the weight of 2 small people. Am I going to be able to sustain yet another diet without failing again?. Should I be just carb counting or calories and carbs.? I have not been told about monitoring my sugar levels. I have started Metformin.

I began by simply reducing my carbs until I was in normal numbers after meals.
At the second test I was no longer diabetic, at 6 months I was at the top end of normal, where I have stayed.
As an experiment I am not cutting right back on eating.
This would have had me collapsing when I had been eating a high carb diet - something I was advised to do for decades, but now I am not even hungry.
I fast for most of the day except for a cup of coffee with cream when I feel like it during the day - some days I don't. At 5pm I have a shake - the ones from Tesco, and then I make dinner and have a small meal. I might have tea to drink afterwards or warm lemon juice well diluted,
For a couple of weeks I have been shrinking, belts and straps are looser than they were.
I will have a blood test taken on the 21st of this month, so I am interested to see what effect low calorie eating has on that.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Welcome to the forum @fifilatour

I’ve split your post and replies away into your own thread to avoid it getting lost and mixed up in replies to someone else. 🙂

Sorry to hear about the difficulties you have previously had with diets and weight management. You aren’t alone in that. many members over the years have experienced the same.

It seems to help some members to look for a new ‘way of eating’ that you can sustain in the longer term, and which is flexible and satisfying enough to maintain its appeal. Looking for a mix of foods that give you the energy you need, are enjoyable, workable, affordable, and which keep your BG levels steady, and gradually get your weight where you want it.

Many new members find it can be really helpful to keep a brutally honest food diary for a week or two. Note down everything you eat and drink, along with a reasonable estimate of the total carbohydrate content in your meals and snacks - it doesn’t have to be gram-perfect, the nearest 5-10g is fine. It’s the total carbohydrate content of meals (not just ‘of which sugars’ which will give you an idea of their potential to raise glucose levels,

Once you can see which meals or snacks are your ‘big hitters’, and where carbs might be unexpectedly lurking, your diary might also suggest some likely candidates for swaps, portion reductions, or using lower carb alternatives (eg celeriac or swede mash, or cauli ‘rice’).

Good luck, and let us know how you get on 🙂

 

[stephenS50]

Hello there @fifilatour and welcome to the forum.

 

[saffron15]

I was diagnosed in July and immediately ditched the naughty stuff. I love food and know what is good and what is not, ive eaten badly at times out of boredom or not being prepared. I make sure now I have suitable food choices in the house. If it's not here I cannot eat it. I have become a little more forgiving. I have eaten a lot of fish and veg and eggs. I've enjoyed full fat yoghurt with berries. This week I'm eating porridge but I have a nasty cold and don't know if it's that or the porridge spiking my blood sugar. I'm going to have mushroom omlette for breakfast tomorrow. Check carbs. It's a revelation. Most meat and fish has negligible carbs. I still glance at calories out of habit. Try and reduce processed food.
To my amazement cutting out or back on snacking and a 20 minute walk a day meant I was losing 2lb a week before I was given any meds. I think it helped there is so much variety in the summer. I've lost my way a little because I've been put on a medicine where I mustn't eat too low carbs. I was eating 80 to 130 and I haven't figured out how to do this well but I am enjoying being slimmer. I am now overweight but had nudged into the obese. I wish I had done it years ago.
Many people look at the freshwell site run by two GPs.
I recently ate a cottage pie bought from the WI. I ate half of it with five different veg and the same the next dayand ate the stodgy carb potato last. It did not spike my blood sugar. With portion control and light exercise eg 10 minute walk most things are still eatable.
I know the scales don't lie but I was shocked when four weeks after dietary changes a pair of cord jeans fell down!
Ultimately if you cannot alter your diet you will have nasty complications. The fact you've joined here means you are motivated and can do it.

 

[BobbleHat]

Welcome to the forum. It's a really good place to get support from people who understand.

I was diagnosed in July. I was morbidly obese from years of yo-yo dieting (as the yo downwards got harder each time and the yo back up was higher each time!). I'm still obese but apparently not morbidly so after 3 months of carb counting.

I CAN'T count calories. I didn’t realise how much mental trauma I carried from all those failed diet attempts until I downloaded an app to track carbs. I only track carbs but the app allows me to flip the tracker to kcals to see them too. The first time I did that I had a panic attack (I get them sometimes and this one was a doozy!) I can now glance at the kcals without a meltdown to see that they are naturally reducing with a low carb approach but I cannot, will not, and don't have to track calories.

I've sustained this way of eating longer than most of my failed 'diets'. There is a definite mental shift that happened with my diabetes. It's not 'can I fit into my small jeans next summer?' now; it's 'can I make sure I can still see in 10 years and still have all my toes?' - which sounds drastic but is a very strong motivator for me. And, you know what, I ENJOY eating this way. Thinking of eating most low fat diets forever used to make me cry. Eating good quality, low carb food makes me happy.

I hope you find the balance too.