Resilience and keeping going long term

M

MrBuzz

Active Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
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He/Him
Hi folks,

Hope you're all doing well.

Just wanted to ask a question of those of you who have lived with type 2 for a while. I'm coming up to a year since diagnosis and have massively reduced my HbA1c from 135 mmol/mol to 38 mmol/mol and reducing medication. How have you kept up with eating better, being more active and managing this effectively for a longer period of time? Especially when life gets stressful or other challenges come along?
 
I suppose because the way I chose of a low carb approach just became a new normal way of eating NOT a DIET.
Having experienced many 'challenges' in my life, I look upon it as all you can do is your best and take one day at a time.
Though you are a lot younger than me and have a lot more life to experience.//0
 
MrBuzz said:
How have you kept up with eating better, being more active and managing this effectively for a longer period of time? Especially when life gets stressful or other challenges come along?
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I've managed to develop a low carb diet that's proved to be sustainable, although I still tweak it now and again and sometimes, like when we're away on holiday, I more or less ignore it completely - albeit without being careless. We always go self-catering, which helps in that respect. As for being more active I really enjoy my twice-weekly swim sessions and always look forward to those days, plus I walk everywhere I can. I'm only clocking up around 100 miles a week in my car these days. I'm retired so stress rarely intrudes on my life. I left all that behind when I stopped working.

Of course, a powerful motivator is knowing that diabetes complications are serious and can be life-changing.

Well done on what you've achieved with your T2 management. Impressive.
 
Staying out of the diabetes range is my 'see I told you so' to my GPs and nurses.
My natural diet is steak and chops and salmon - though eggs, sausages and tuna is also an option. I cope better with stress if I stick to low carb eating and it gives me more energy and resilience, and flexibility too - at diagnosis I could not bend down to clean the bottom of the fridge of get a book from the lowest shelf of the bookcase.
 
I was diagnosed almost 11 years ago, and have been in remission over 10 of those 11 years.

To be honest, when sorting myself out, I was determined to find or develop a way of eating and living that kept me in a good place. Trust me, over time, this gets easier. Honestly.
 
MrBuzz said:
I'm coming up to a year since diagnosis and have massively reduced my HbA1c from 135 mmol/mol to 38 mmol/mol and reducing medication. How have you kept up with eating better, being more active and managing this effectively for a longer period of time? Especially when life gets stressful or other challenges come along?
Click to expand...

Well done on your amazing transformation so far.

I’ve seen many accounts and experiences of T2s over the years. And I think each of those journeys is unique to the person.

Some use an intentionally short-term intervention as a kick-start in the beginning, such as the 800cal / Newcastle diet. They find this not only gives them the weight loss they are looking for, but also act to ‘reset’ their relationship to food, making it possible for them to put together a more sustainable long-term meal plan which keeps their weight at the lower level.

Others opt for a change in their ‘way of eating’ which they intend to maintain for the long term - so they look for a menu which given them the BG results and weight loss they are looking for, but which they know they can maintain in the long term.

Still others go through cycles of improving numbers, and then either weight regain, or ‘carb creep’ pushing their numbers up, and then have to retweak things to get back into balance.

Hope you can find a sustainable system that works for you.
 
MrBuzz said:
Hi folks,

Hope you're all doing well.

Just wanted to ask a question of those of you who have lived with type 2 for a while. I'm coming up to a year since diagnosis and have massively reduced my HbA1c from 135 mmol/mol to 38 mmol/mol and reducing medication. How have you kept up with eating better, being more active and managing this effectively for a longer period of time? Especially when life gets stressful or other challenges come along?
Click to expand...
I've been "normal" for just on six years now (6.5 years from diagnosis) with HbA!c always in the mid-30's. I've done this by maintaining weight loss over that time. I think I got lucky with my body weight regulation body biochemistry because it hasn't been hugely difficult to do & also lucky in that I have time to do a lot of exercise, which I enjoy. I've had some life stresses along the way but no major sharp knocks of the kind which can throw everything off kilter.
 
Same story for me. I changed lifestyle, eat a lot of fish and vegetables and fruit and nuts and dark chocolate.
I've never been a huge fan of cakes/sweets and not had a sweet tooth, so it hasn't been a problem, although I do occasionally have something - usually on holiday.
 
One thing I would probably add is whatever you are doing, go from week to week, month to month. Telling yourself this "deprivation" is forever, can just heighten the desire to go astray (whatever that looks like for you.

I found adopting that approach meant I was always surprised how much time had passed just trundling along.
 
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