I seem to be eating enough so I must have been a glutton before!

[lordburnside]

Hi,
I am a newbie here and have started with a reading of 55 which makes me diabetic according to my doctor.
I have set off to put this right (?) by walking 5 miles each evening. I am not eating an evening meal other than one banana at best.
I have oats, milk pear/raspberries and nuts with three dollops of full fat yoghurt and a naughty piece of toast for breakfast. Lunch is a salad of lettuce/tomato etc, hard boiled egg, olives and olive oil and thats it. I guess thats 1000 calories in the two meals or less but then I walk off 450 calories of that. I drink coffees at work and suck 10 aniseed balls.
I have lost 10lbs in 16 days and feel fine. I don't get headaches - I thought I would feel bad but I don't. I started at 16stone and and aming to lose 34 lbs and I am nearly a third of the way. I am not asking for congratulations (having space in my clothes for a change is enough!). I just wonder if anyone else has achieved this with such little pain. I expected to pass out from starvation.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi,
I am a newbie here and have started with a reading of 55 which makes me diabetic according to my doctor.
I have set off to put this right (?) by walking 5 miles each evening. I am not eating an evening meal other than one banana at best.
I have oats, milk pear/raspberries and nuts with three dollops of full fat yoghurt and a naughty piece of toast for breakfast. Lunch is a salad of lettuce/tomato etc, hard boiled egg, olives and olive oil and thats it. I guess thats 1000 calories in the two meals or less but then I walk off 450 calories of that. I drink coffees at work and suck 10 aniseed balls.
I have lost 10lbs in 16 days and feel fine. I don't get headaches - I thought I would feel bad but I don't. I started at 16stone and and aming to lose 34 lbs and I am nearly a third of the way. I am not asking for congratulations (having space in my clothes for a change is enough!). I just wonder if anyone else has achieved this with such little pain. I expected to pass out from starvation.

Well done on the weight loss, I'm sure it will give you an improved result on your HbA1C but you have to remember managing your diabetes is not a quick fix and has to be a regime that you can sustain long term and really needs to become a new way of eating for life. It is carbohydrates which are important but also making sure you have enough protein and healthy fats.
Your current menu looks to be very slim on protein. There is no reason why you can't eat meat, fish and cheese with lots of veg rather than a high carb banana for your evening meal as that would be lower carb and give you more protein other wise you risk losing muscle.
Have a look at this link for some ideas for suitable meals. https://lowcarbfreshwell.com/

 

[lordburnside]

Thanks for that. I am just eating this way because I enjoy it and can stick to this. I didnt mention I put in a little feta cheese in my salad. I used to have bacon and egg but I put on weight!
I think I will stick with 2 meals a day but I could easily put a bit of chicken in my salad or tuna.
When I lose my 34 pounds (6 weeks time perhaps) I will eat a bit more and maybe a glass or 2 of wine again on weekends only.
I notice my blood pressure is well down but my BS remains high - it was 11 two hours after breakfast.

 

[Leadinglights]

Thanks for that. I am just eating this way because I enjoy it and can stick to this. I didnt mention I put in a little feta cheese in my salad. I used to have bacon and egg but I put on weight!
I think I will stick with 2 meals a day but I could easily put a bit of chicken in my salad or tuna.
When I lose my 34 pounds (6 weeks time perhaps) I will eat a bit more and maybe a glass or 2 of wine again on weekends only.
I notice my blood pressure is well down but my BS remains high - it was 11 two hours after breakfast.

You have to go with what suits you. Pairs of readings are more useful as you can then see the impact of that particular meal, you aim at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase after 2 hours. I can see that your quite high carb breakfast could well have given you a reading of 11. Often people tolerate carbs less well in the morning so opt for a low carb breakfast of Greek yoghurt and berries or eggs in any form.

 

[PerSpinasAdAstra]

I just wonder if anyone else has achieved this with such little pain. I expected to pass out from starvation.

I'm feeling fine right now 16 weeks into my weight loss efforts and losing around 1Kg per week. I actually feel pretty good. When I first started I experienced some nausea, a few very short dizzy spells after standing up, a lack of energy for an hour or two after exercise, food cravings and a pretty intense 'hollow' feeling of hunger sometimes, particularly late at night. No headaches. I don't actually know which of these experiences were due to the diet, which were due to cutting way down on alcohol and which were due to new medications at the time. All side-effects are now long gone, except the hollow feeling late at night on days when I eat especially few calories. I just eat a low fat yogurt when it happens so it doesn't keep me awake.

 

[lordburnside]

Thanks for the advice

You have to go with what suits you. Pairs of readings are more useful as you can then see the impact of that particular meal, you aim at no more than a 2-3mmol/l increase after 2 hours. I can see that your quite high carb breakfast could well have given you a reading of 11. Often people tolerate carbs less well in the morning so opt for a low carb breakfast of Greek yoghurt and berries or eggs in any form.

Thanks for the advice. I will not have bananas or pears just berries and nuts and yoghurt. Once I am a decent weight I can be more selective.

 

[lordburnside]

I'm feeling fine right now 16 weeks into my weight loss efforts and losing around 1Kg per week. I actually feel pretty good. When I first started I experienced some nausea, a few very short dizzy spells after standing up, a lack of energy for an hour or two after exercise, food cravings and a pretty intense 'hollow' feeling of hunger sometimes, particularly late at night. No headaches. I don't actually know which of these experiences were due to the diet, which were due to cutting way down on alcohol and which were due to new medications at the time. All side-effects are now long gone, except the hollow feeling late at night on days when I eat especially few calories. I just eat a low fat yogurt when it happens so it doesn't keep me awake.

Thanks for the information. I don't have nausea but yesterday had a bit of lightheadedness which I think was dehydration.
I have lost 2kgs a week but I think this is too fast but I will keep walking til I am past the 17lbs/ 8Kgs loss.
My perfect weight is 70kg and I started at 100kgs. 70kg is maybe too far to go but I think 85Kgs is reasonable. As long as I lose the beer belly and keep it off. I seem to have lost my appetite now so its should be down hill from here.

 

[PerSpinasAdAstra]

Thanks for the information. I don't have nausea but yesterday had a bit of lightheadedness which I think was dehydration.
I have lost 2kgs a week but I think this is too fast but I will keep walking til I am past the 17lbs/ 8Kgs loss.
My perfect weight is 70kg and I started at 100kgs. 70kg is maybe too far to go but I think 85Kgs is reasonable. As long as I lose the beer belly and keep it off. I seem to have lost my appetite now so its should be down hill from here.

I started at 100.6Kg and after checking ideal weight calculators and such and after much changing of mind I settled on a BMI of 25 as my target, or 72.7Kg for me - right on the border between 'normal' and 'overweight' in BMI terms. That's well beyond Roy Taylor's 'magic' 15Kg loss to achieve remission but I want to go beyond that to give me a wide margin of error in case I end up losing the plot in future and putting a lot of weight back on. Also, just in case Taylor's Personal Fat Threshold theory is wrong and I need to embark on another campaign of weight loss to get the fat out of my pancreas a second time - I'll still have plenty of further weight to lose if needed. Lastly, I don't want to lose so much weight so fast that the skin that encloses my belly fat hangs all loose and flappy 😉

BTW according to Taylor's book (which I've been reading for most of the day) a 2Kg per week rate isn't too fast, especially considering the health benefits that come with the weight loss. You might experience temporary hair thinning, but according to him at least, that's the worst you're likely to experience. Do be careful of injury though with all that walking - I also started walking much more than usual as my main form of exercise and I ran into muscle pain in my shins that got worse until I rested for a few days. In my 20s I had a temporary job delivering leaflets door to door for hours every day and ran into similar pain. I couldn't stop working as I had a deadline, and by the time I finished the job the pain was fairly extreme and took a couple of weeks to heal. Even walking can lead to 'injury' if you're not used to the distances and don't give yourself a break if and when pain appears.

Best of luck

 

[lordburnside]

I started at 100.6Kg and after checking ideal weight calculators and such and after much changing of mind I settled on a BMI of 25 as my target, or 72.7Kg for me - right on the border between 'normal' and 'overweight' in BMI terms. That's well beyond Roy Taylor's 'magic' 15Kg loss to achieve remission but I want to go beyond that to give me a wide margin of error in case I end up losing the plot in future and putting a lot of weight back on. Also, just in case Taylor's Personal Fat Threshold theory is wrong and I need to embark on another campaign of weight loss to get the fat out of my pancreas a second time - I'll still have plenty of further weight to lose if needed. Lastly, I don't want to lose so much weight so fast that the skin that encloses my belly fat hangs all loose and flappy 😉

BTW according to Taylor's book (which I've been reading for most of the day) a 2Kg per week rate isn't too fast, especially considering the health benefits that come with the weight loss. You might experience temporary hair thinning, but according to him at least, that's the worst you're likely to experience. Do be careful of injury though with all that walking - I also started walking much more than usual as my main form of exercise and I ran into muscle pain in my shins that got worse until I rested for a few days. In my 20s I had a temporary job delivering leaflets door to door for hours every day and ran into similar pain. I couldn't stop working as I had a deadline, and by the time I finished the job the pain was fairly extreme and took a couple of weeks to heal. Even walking can lead to 'injury' if you're not used to the distances and don't give yourself a break if and when pain appears.

Best of luck

Thanks for that. It is just what I needed to hear. I have read Roy Taylor's book and its him I am following.
Managing fine with two meals a day - might have a little more this weekend. I put chicken boild egg and feta in my daily salad so its a good healthy meal squshed into a lunch box.
I will have a sirloin steak for Sunday lunch with salad.!
My walking is Ok to about 3 miles then my hip begins to ache a little. I did 6 miles last night and that's a little far for a work evening.
Now I am into this I will take a leisurely 8 miles tomorrow and maybe a 10 on Sunday (weather permitting) and restrict to 4 miles weekdays. My Lidl is a mile away and the estate opposite adds another mile then the return back in 80 minutes.
As long as the weight is falling, and I know I can get there, I will continue. Its incredible that I ate this diet plus a dinner and wine each night and snacks for years - now I don't have the appetite. The more you eat the more you seem to want to eat. I used to eat grapes and yoghurt for dessert and the sugar would fly up, followed by cheese and biscuits.
I can put 7 ilbs on in a week but it takes a month to lose it!
If I manage to lose 34lbs it will be my greatest achievement!