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New to forum, not new to type 2

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JT2010

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Morning All,
First forum post here, go easy on me 🙂.
Diagnosed with type 2 ten years ago, prior to a knee operation. That came as a shock, even though my mum was diagnosed in her 60s.

Fast forward to where I am today - overweight, under exercised (knee still isn’t fixed) and utterly burnt out with looking after myself. Take my meds (not on insulin -yet) but I eat terribly. I test occasionally, but get disheartened at my numbers...
Admittedly this year hasn’t helped, other than increasing the amount of walking I’m doing, but living alone and working from home since March really hasn’t been good.

Support from my GP practice is poor, other than them saying ‘you need to get your bloods down or you’ll end up on insulin’, which is all I’ve heard from them for the past 4 years. No wonder I’m giving up!

So, looking forward to digging around in the forums to try to reset my attitude and try to get back on track.

J
 
I agree with @grovesy Set yourself one goal. It might be 10 minutes more walking a day, or loose a couple of pounds, or something similar. One step at a time
 
Is there some reason you have not altered your diet? Most people seem to relish the idea of having meat or fish as they like, bacon and egg breakfasts and so on, with the added satisfaction of lower blood glucose.
 
Hi @JT2010, I find working from home has helped because I have my entire kitchen at my disposal, instead of a grubby tea point with a mucky microwave and a limescaley boiler. Instead of grabbing a bacon roll from Greggs on my way into work I make myself an omelette. Same with lunch. Previously I'd get a baguette from Greggs or a lunchtime special from the chip shop. Now I'm eating home made soup and low carb crackers and cheese. I'm dreading going back to the office full time as I will have to work hard not to slip into the old routines, especially as I work with people who always have loads of snacks on the go.

Re exercise, I know it will be hard with your knee. Have you tried walking with a support on it?

I really wish you the best of luck and hope you can improve your diabetes. Try looking at the Food and Carbs queries section, there is some useful information in there.
 
Welcome to the forum @JT2010

Sorry to hear you sounding so down, and that you aren’t getting great support from your surgery.

Have you told them how hard you are finding things? Of course it can be a vicious cycle because high BG associates with low mood and exhaustion... and low mood reduces your capacity to tackle the high BG.

Perhaps it’s an opportunity to go right back to basics and start examining the effect of different meals amd snacks on your BG.

As you may already know, it is the carb content of your meals which will have the biggest effect on your BG, so things like rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, grains, cereals, bakery items, and many fruits. The tricky thing is that different people react differently to different foods, so it’s a matter of checking meals you already eat and then looking for tweaks and swaps if they push your BF up by more than 2-3. In the beginning the numbers themselves matter less than the differences between the ‘before’ and ‘2hrs after starting to eat’ readings.

This blog post has a useful methodical approach
 
Thanks for the messages of support, I suppose I just need to re-focus.
Exercise- I walk anywhere between 5-8 miles a day but need to get back on my bike I suppose.
And stop eating rubbish. I’ve lo-carbed in the past and it works well for me, I just gradually drift away from it, back into old habits. I’ll try not to lapse again this time.
 
Make a plan.
Failing to plan, planning to fail.
Starting with a list of meals and the shopping you need to do in order to make them is usually plan A.
Plan B involves your freezer - assuming you have one.
Plan C requires knowing where the supermarkets are which are still staying open late.
 
Hello @JT2010 and welcome to the forum.
Your good news is that you have previously found a low-carb way of eating that works for you, and I'm sure you will find a way to make it work again, also you are already in a good exercise routine and that will also be a big help,

If you can get back into a testing routine, I'm sure this will also be a big help.
Don't be to disheartened by the readings, they will improve, and they can drift up and down anyway. They will guide you on what foods are the 'good and bads' for you, and eventually lead to a longer sustainable eating plan.
test-review-adjust is an article that can give you some guidance on this.


If you read around the forum you will find plenty of tips and help on how to keep going on a good track.
The orange 'Learning Zone' tab at the top of this page also has some helpful sections,

please keep posting and let us know how it is going and we will always try to help with any questions.
 
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