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Newbie First Steps

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Caterham07

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi all. I have had a risk of diabetes because of my family history of Type 2. I have an annual BUPA medical and my number had crept up over the last 5 years and I should have taken it more seriously. I hadn’t really seen myself as needing to manage pre-diabetes. Three months ago I got a 46 and then went to my GP a month ago and got a 49 result on that test. I am 56 yo male and have dropped my weight from 78 kg to 72 kg since Jan to get my BMI under 25. The nurse offered me metformin but I have asked for three months to make more adjustments. I don’t want to just jump straight into medication at first test over the line. I am walking over 5km a day and have started attending a body pump class with my wife. In the last few weeks I have adopted a low carb diet and have lost another 2kg to 70kg. My wife is a runner and eats well so it has been easy to make the changes with lots of research on this forum. I have 75 days left until my next test and am very focussed on the exercise and diet / low carb route to see if I can get back on the right side of the line and then manage it there. I may be kidding myself but there is lots of encouragement on this Forum as I start my journey.
 
Sounds like you're off to a good start @Caterham07, you haven't got far to get your HbA1c back into the non-diabetic range. Best wishes, Sarah
 
It should be perfectly possible to reduce your blood glucose with a combination of dietary changes and the exercise you are doing. Reducing the carbs in your diet and making sure you are having protein and healthy fats.
This link may give you some ideas for an approach that will fit with family menus as it is a low carb with real foods. https://lowcarbfreshwell.co.uk/
 
I wanted to relay a positive follow-up to my original diagnosis post. Having followed the diabetes UK diet advice and dropped a little bit more weight from 73 to 68 kg, I have got my follow-up test and I have dropped from 49 to 42. I feel fitter and healthier. The change in diet has not been a big issue but I have a wonderful wife who is a great cook and has accommodated the adjustments I needed to make. Very motivated to keep weight and diet over the year until next test. My nurse was surprised at the progress I made and I am so glad I didn’t just take the advice to start on metformin. I hope this experience is helpful to others who have just crept over into Type 2 and illustrates the impact of the diet and small weight changes. Thanks of course to all the advice and support on the Diabetes UK site and Forum. This membership has been the best medication I could have had.
 
Well done Caterham07, proud of you for making a change for the better. Best wishes for you and your family for Christmas and the new year. Sarah
 
Many congratulations on a great result and thanks for posting it as I am sure it will inspire others. Very best wishes to you for the future.
 
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