New here (I suppose it was inevitable...)

[LydiaDustbin]

General question - how often should I be checking with the ketostix? Is it an everyday thing? Or once a week? Do I stop once I've (hopefully) reached my goal weight?

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

General question - how often should I be checking with the ketostix? Is it an everyday thing? Or once a week? Do I stop once I've (hopefully) reached my goal weight?

Tricky to answer as the presence of ketones is a very different signal for T1s - and potentially a very scary one!

I suppose, of you are interested in seeing if you are still in nutritional ketosis, then perhaps on e a week might be sufficient (if you are maintaining your same eating plan), or you might want to check if you change your menu?

 

[Deleted member 21371]

General question - how often should I be checking with the ketostix? Is it an everyday thing? Or once a week? Do I stop once I've (hopefully) reached my goal weight?

I never did.
My goal was losing weight to reverse my diabetes, so I wasn't checking if I was in ketosis or not.
I just used the scales and mirror and kept an eye on the calories.
I still do.

 

[LydiaDustbin]

What does everyone think of low carb bread? I'm planning ahead for when I come off the Newcastle Diet and will probably go low carb/high fat because that worked for me several years ago when I did the Atkins diet. The carbs I'll have most difficulty cutting out will be bread and pasta, and I was wondering if there was a decent, passable low carb bread available these days?

 

[Deleted member 21371]

What does everyone think of low carb bread? I'm planning ahead for when I come off the Newcastle Diet and will probably go low carb/high fat because that worked for me several years ago when I did the Atkins diet. The carbs I'll have most difficulty cutting out will be bread and pasta, and I was wondering if there was a decent, passable low carb bread available these days?

It depends how much you intend to eat, and if you go extreme low carb or not.

For normal supermarket bread

Hovis Nimble is 8.1g per slice
Warburtons wholemeal (400g) is 9g per slice
Livlife is 3.4g per slice. (sourced mostly through Waitrose)

 

[LydiaDustbin]

It depends how much you intend to eat, and if you go extreme low carb or not.

For normal supermarket bread

Hovis Nimble is 8.1g per slice
Warburtons wholemeal (400g) is 9g per slice
Livlife is 3.4g per slice. (sourced mostly through Waitrose)

We don't eat a lot of bread normally anyway - I'll have a few days of toast in the morning before moving on to something else instead, and we'll have phases of sandwiches at lunchtime, but it's rare we manage to eat a whole loaf before it starts going mouldy. I've just seen mention of Livlife on one of the other boards here. I have a big Waitrose where I live (although I normally shop at Sainsburys) so I'll see if they have it in there. I'd really hate to give up my morning toast!

 

[42istheanswer]

We don't eat a lot of bread normally anyway - I'll have a few days of toast in the morning before moving on to something else instead, and we'll have phases of sandwiches at lunchtime, but it's rare we manage to eat a whole loaf before it starts going mouldy. I've just seen mention of Livlife on one of the other boards here. I have a big Waitrose where I live (although I normally shop at Sainsburys) so I'll see if they have it in there. I'd really hate to give up my morning toast!

I think the Livlife bread is fairly expensive so if you often find you don't eat a full loaf of bread before it goes mouldy, and you are mostly toasting it anyway, it may be better to put it in the freezer when you buy it and just get slices out as you need them. If you are only trying to maintain ketosis for the short term while you try to lose weight, then in the long term you may not need to keep to a low carb bread but just factor in the carbs in your chosen slice or slices of morning toast in the amount of carbs you want to aim for per day (whatever amount that may personally be).

 

[March]

It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and it sounds like you are losing a good steady amount.

Good to hear you can see that you are burning fats through ketosis - that should be encouraging.

Personally, like @travellor I only ever weigh post-poop (TMI? 😱 )

All the best for Monday, and the follow-up appointment. If they are checking lipids (cholesterol) or capillary glucose, then fasting can help, but it wouldn’t affect HbA1c as that measures glucose interactions with red blood cells over 120-ish days so is more of an average than a spot-check 🙂

Hello all

Well, I think it's finally caught up with me, so here I am. My mother was diagnosed with T2 probably about 10 or so years ago (she sadly died last July aged 83 of a heart attack), and I remember her saying she was convinced that her own mother (my grandmother) had been an undiagnosed diabetic, as had at least one of her late sisters, so the odds were never in my favour.

Several years ago my GP did a fasting blood glucose test and it showed 46 (if I remember), hence pre-diabetic, which spurred me onto losing weight. I was also on BP meds at the time (another legacy from my maternal bloodline). I took up running, did a 1200 calories a day diet using MyFitnessPal and did lose a fair amount of weight, almost 30lbs. I was even able to come off the BP meds.

Then I went through menopause and we all know (or, at least, us women know) how that can completely cock everything up. Plus Covid struck & my mental health took a severe battering. I developed quite severe anxiety & almost became a recluse, only going out of the house to visit my ailing parents who I worried about constantly. I started gaining weight, then developed menopausal heart palpitations which were horrific so my GP put me on HRT patches (which helped with everything bar the anxiety and palpitations) and then Bisoprolol (which did stop the palpitations but gave me nightmares!). The trouble with Bisoprolol is that its purpose, since it's a beta blocker, is to slow the heart rate which, in turn, slows your metabolism which, in turn, leads to weight gain.

Last year, 2022, was awful. I started the year with a cancer scare which turned out not to be and which has resolved itself, and then my mother died suddenly in the summer & I found her body. I had been her part-time carer and all my life we had been very very close, so it was a huge, huge shock which I'm still not over really. But everyone goes through bereavement so it's just a path I have to follow, same as everybody else. I'm an artist so am working my way through my grief through my paintings.

Just before Christmas 2022, as a general check up, my GP requested a blood test for various things - kidney function, liver function, cholesterol, that sort of thing - then contacted me in the New Year to say that my cholesterol and diabetes markers were raised. For diabetes it was 50.

I'm booked in for a fasting blood glucose test on 23 Jan which, he said, would look at levels for the past 3 months (so I think that means it's an HbA1c test?). In the meantime I've put myself on the Newcastle Diet (i.e., less than 800 cals) but using proper food with the odd replacement shake from which I was hoping to lose weight but it's been very slow, only 3.5lbs in 10 days or so. I'm hoping to reverse all this by losing weight but it's going to be a very hard slog for my motivation if the weight isn't coming off on only 800 cals a day (and I'm being very strict with it so I'm not cheating at all, often it's between 600 and 800 cals a day)

So I guess I'll wait to see what the result is from the blood test on 23 Jan but I suspect it's not going to be good.

Well done if you read this novel - I wish I weren't here!

Edited to add: Am currently 59 years old, 5ft 6in and 13st 7.4lbs as of 19.1.23. Have been pescatarian for last 7 yrs but am adding chicken back into diet as it's easy protein.

Hi just read your “Novel” tough time you’ve had.
I was diagnosed as type 2 with a reading of 49. Dr told me I wouldn’t change it.
I used my fitness pal and followed advice on here for low carb diet max of 70g per day.
Just took it day by day and over 9weeks lost 1 1/2 stone. Mon/ Thursday 800 calories and 10k steps per day.
Friday Saturday Sunday 1000 calories and 20,000k per day. Didn’t hit these all the time but did my best.
Tested and Bca1 was 41. Now working to keep at this level.
I’m not going to say it was easy but it’s not impossible and with a positive mind set and the help of all the wonderful people on here it is doable.
Be kind to yourself and take it day by day.

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi just read your “Novel” tough time you’ve had.
I was diagnosed as type 2 with a reading of 49. Dr told me I wouldn’t change it.
I used my fitness pal and followed advice on here for low carb diet max of 70g per day.
Just took it day by day and over 9weeks lost 1 1/2 stone. Mon/ Thursday 800 calories and 10k steps per day.
Friday Saturday Sunday 1000 calories and 20,000k per day. Didn’t hit these all the time but did my best.
Tested and Bca1 was 41. Now working to keep at this level.
I’m not going to say it was easy but it’s not impossible and with a positive mind set and the help of all the wonderful people on here it is doable.
Be kind to yourself and take it day by day.

Well done, how negative of your doctor, a good job they are not all like that but sadly too many are and reach for the prescription pad rather too readily.