[pattygirl63]

I found another IF group on another low carb site and have learned a lot from them as well on how each one does IF. Some on that site does long fasts like 36 to 44 or more hr fasts. I'm not interested in doing that. I was impressed with the fact that someone said that 18 hr fasting with 6 hr eating window has be best benefits. I like knowing that because I seem to have absolutely know problem eating 6 hrs and fasting 18. Some eat only one meal, some eat two within the time frame hr that works for them. In fact, I am finding that eating 2 meals a day within 6 hrs seems to be extremely easy for me. I think it has to do with all the years I did it naturally. And while I'm not doing an extremely Atkins low, I am doing a lower carb. Probably between 40 to 100.

Yesterday was a rather carby day for me because I made a typical 4th of July lunch for just the 3 of us. Smoked boneless ribs (cooked in the oven), baked beans and homemade potato salad. Didn't make any dessert for main meal. I ended the day with steak strips and mayo just to take my Januvia.

Today, I didn't eat until 12:30 ish and had my last meal at 5:30 ish making it a 6 hr eating window. Today has been more lower carb type meals with my regular breakfast for lunch with eggs, avocado, a little cheese and greens with bacon. My dinner was a green powder with apple smoothie type drink in place of greens, put strips of beef (kind of craving that right now) in a huge salad with mayo. Oh one of the girls on the IF group says she found that she loses weight better when she eats dark chocolate ( she read that dark chocolate helps with weight loss). She found when she didn't eat it she didn't lose as well. So I'm giving that a chance. I don't like dark chocolate because it isn't sweet enough, but if it helps me lose weight, I will endure it. Worth the trial to see. I've also decided to drink more water and less of other stuff to see how that works too.

Carol Sue One of the things I did recently was to ask myself why didn't I want this enough to do what I need to do to be healthy. I've decided that it is worth all that I have to do to be successful. I will get back to my exercise tomorrow as well and will shoot for 4 days a week. May have to work up to that, not sure.

Elizabeth That is another thing I've decided. I don't want to keep the weight up or stay on meds if I don't have to. I've always wanted to do this and be healthy. I'm seeing more and more research about how healthy IF is and I want those benefits.

I just read that doctors are beginning to recommend Intermittent Fasting to their patients. In fact, they are trying to get the FDA to approve IF for some cancer patients. I said something to my sister about that this past week and she already knew that because her daughter works for American Cancer Center. Since my Mama had cancer, I surely don't want to go down that road.

Well, I guess I've been too talkative. I talk a good talk. I sure hope I can be successful at doing this. I figure I will take it one day at a time. I did stay within the 6 hr window yesterday although I ate a little more carbs than I will normally. And I've done 6 yrs today so I do have 2 successful days behind me. I'll consider tomorrow a successful day if I can get at least 20 minutes on the recumbent bike along with my 6 hrs eating.

Goodnight ladies. Catch y'all tomorrow.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I like dark chocolate. I guess I like any kind of chocolate. LOL One thing I noticed is if I buy Hershey's Kisses I can't stop eating them once I start. I used to say I was buying them for my grandson but I would end up eating most of them. Now I buy the 85% cocoa bars at Aldi's. They say that dark chocolate is healthier for your heart. It contains flavanoids that is also in red wine, I think. I can eat a small piece of that dark chocolate and stop at that without starting a binge. Sometimes I even forget it's there. I have never noticed any loss of weight from it.

[momwithdogs]

Trish, if you don't care for dark chocolate, I'm not sure there's a real reason to keep eating it. Like Carol Sue, I have read about the heart health benefits of both dark chocolate and red wine, but nothing concerning weight loss.

I think anecdotal evidence can be beneficial, but it should be taken with a grain of salt, bc somewhere out there, if you look hard enough, someone lost 100 lbs bathing in lard, lol.

Carol Sue, the old therapist in me would say there isn't anything wrong at all living in denial- we all do it and it is one of the steps of grieving. This might very well be the difference in those that get the diagnosis, jump in with both feet, and make the changes...or those like us, who need a little more time to grieve over what could have been and come to full acceptance.

IMHO, it is very hard to say, "for the rest of my life, I will not eat____" and sustain it for the long haul. Anything a person reads on the internet can be made to sound reasonable, and this can be the real reason why someone can't stick to one plan long enough to reap the benefits.

I know for myself, as soon as I feel something isn't adding up to my standards, I can go Google and convince myself something bigger and better is out there, try it for a few days and then do the same thing again.

It's a vicious cycle and I'm getting caught up in it...big time.

[Wannabehealthy]

Elizabeth, I agree that everyone lives in denial at one point or another, but with diabetes it's too big a risk. You can't wait until the damage is done to make changes because the damage to your kidneys, eyes and feet cannot be reversed. By the time you have the damage, it's too late. You have to take this seriously now. You are at a great advantage because you were told while still in the pre-diabetic stages. I was diagnosed and put on insulin while in the hospital for heart surgery. When I asked my PCP why this would happen "just like that" he said "You were getting up there." Well, why didn't he tell me? I might not have taken it seriously enough to do something about it, but I think I should have been told. He does not give the results of blood work unless they are bad enough to require medication. Fortunately for me, by the time I was released from the hospital I had stablized enough to stop insulin and just take pills. I think if I eat carbs on the low side and exercise, it will not progress to the point that I need insulin again. But the decision has to come from me.

I think every person has to find the plan that works for them. Some people can go forever without eating a starchy carb, others cannot. For me, I can go without starchy carbs at breakfast and lunch but will eat some at dinner if I cook them for DH. They key is to keep my portions small. Sometimes I can do that, and sometimes not. The plan does not have to have a name, unless it's Bob. LOL It doesn't have to be a plan that was found on the internet or one that someone recommends. I think the best bet is to find foods that contain the most nutrition, but should be foods that you like. For me, I need to keep reminding myself of the importance of exercise in controlling insulin levels. Insulin stores fat...best to keep it low.

I don't think there's anything wrong with changing plans if one isn't giving you the results you want, but sometimes you just need to review what you're doing and just make minor changes.

Having said all that, I need to find it in me to practice what I preach. I think the only way my weight will come down is if I keep track of my overall calories. I don't think it matters what I eat, but how much. I know I eat beyond the feeling of satisfaction.

Ironically, we went to the casino yesterday to eat the buffet and I am down 2 lbs this morning! LOL Explain that!!! I think it was the difference between the high carb eating on the 4th, which caused bloat and water weight, and the foods that I ate from the buffet, which although I ate a lot, it was low carb.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue Well said. I haven't had any real damage bc of the diabetes at this time that can't be reversed in time. I am not willing to go down the road to amputations, blindness etc so that is why I work so hard to find "my own path" to healthy. Hadn't thought of that phrase in years. I heard a Christian doctor say that years ago. Because I've made that my goal, I have improved my health and my Lab work proves that I have. I'm not willing to go backwards. Thus I am willing to try something as crazy as eating dark chocolate to help me lose weight.

Speaking of which, I just read about that on a article on yahoo.com. In fact a lot of the small changes the author suggest mentions, I am already doing. BTW it is working too. I am losing almost a lb a day the way I am eating right now and it does look like I have found the combination Intermittent Fasting, lower carb and even the dark chocolate is the plan for me. Like I said before, I believe this is because this is the way my body likes me to eat so that it will function properly. As long as the weight comes off (slow or fast doesn't really matter) and my blood work bears witness that my health is improving, that is all that I care about. That proves I am doing something right. I have to admit that this isn't really dieting for me because this is actually "my normal" way of eating. It has been every time I ever lost weight and was able to keep it off and I never had to go to the doctor for any kind of illness when I ate this way.

Guess, I have found "my pathway" to being healthy.

Elizabeth Your theory may work for you of grieving over the diagnosis, but I am almost 72 yrs old and I don't have time for that. I have seen cousins, friends and other family members who thought they didn't have to take their diagnosis seriously. They lost limbs, had heart trouble and one lived the last few yrs of his life on dialysis and spent more time in the hospital than out. DH watched his 1st wife lose toes, part of her feet, she went blind and had heart surgery and if she had lived after the heart surgery, she would have lost her legs as they turned black after heart surgery. I promised him when I decided to marry him that I would never make him go down that road again. We both work very hard to stay healthy for each other. I'm not reprimanding you and I hope I don't sound harsh as I don't mean it that way. Please don't stay in the grieving stage too long. You are blessed to still be pre-diabetic. Don't allow yourself to go down the path of diabetic complications. These days we know so much more about how to NOT go down that path that DH wife didn't have when she lived.

I watched home movies of her after we married. She was doing what the doctors told her to do, but as Dr. Fung tells us in his youtube videos, those things only make you worse. Many of us have learned not to follow that plan any more. I can't follow that path and I refuse to do so. I want to live as long as I can and I want to live it healthy. Funny thing is I don't eat much now and I don't need much. I am so thankful for the great info we can get online to help us stay healthy these days.

Carol Sue I remember telling you one day that I wasn't going to buy any more books or read any more nutrition books etc, but I'm so glad I didn't follow through with that. I have learned so much not only from people who have found their way to success but also the scientific reasons of why those things work. I think my "wanting know why" something had to be done a certain way has got me into a lot of trouble at times, but I think it has become a blessing for me when it comes to my health.

You ladies have a really great day.

[pattygirl63]

Happy to say my fbs was 125 today and I didn't get hungry until about 3 pm. I did a 4 hr eating window today. Drinking plenty of water. I read about a lot of Intermittent Fasters doing 20/4. I don't know if I will do that everyday, but it surely does feel good not to be hungry.

I'll be back tomorrow.

[pattygirl63]

I am so excited that this way of eating is working so wonderfully for me. Although I didn't share it on here, my weight Saturday morning had gone up to almost 228 lb. I started this Sunday and my weight is back down to 222.4 this morning. Now that I have found my way of eating, I will never eat any other way. Thank God I can still eat and lose weight the way I did way back when I was thin and healthy. I don't eat the same food, but I eat 2 meals a day within 4 to 6 hrs and have a snack only as needed which is what makes the difference of whether I eat a 4 hr or a 6 hr window. I had a 4 hr window yesterday because I didn't need a snack last night. So great to have that worked out.

I really would like my fbs to be less than 125, but that might not happen until my weight gets below 200. So until that happens, I am perfectly happy with the way things are going.

Have a good one.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I'm so glad that this WOE is working so well for you. Although I realize that my WOE is closer to CALP I'm not sure I'm ready to commit to it. Right now I find that I eat a low carb B and L and when I add starchy carbs it's at dinner, if at all. So I'm going to continue with that and not call it anything. I don't want to feel that I have to stick to any particular rules. That seems to throw me off track.

I lost the 2 lbs that I gained from the 4th. I didn't get on the scale this morning because DH's brother called and said he was coming so I had to hurry and get dressed. Once I get dressed and eat I don't want to weigh because it won't show my true weight.

I am like you with books, Trish. LOL I thought I had the CALP book but I can't find it. I need to clean out my books and get rid of ones I no longer want. Some just don't apply to me now. I am going to order FAT CHANCE though. I have it from the library and some things in that book just speak to me and I want to be able to refer back to it when I want.

I was at Aldi's yesterday and I bought 2 bars of the 85% dark chocolate. They don't always have them so I bought 2. I haven't opened one yet. Each one contains 5 smaller wrapped bars. For some reason, they are not a trigger....they don't call my name like Hershey's Kisses do. If I bought Kisses, they would be half gone.

Elizabeth, even with diabetes, you don't have to say "for the rest of my life I will not eat ___________." There really isn't anything that you can never eat again, but you will have to be cautious about how much of it you eat. Small portions of carbs, when eaten along with protein, can be eaten and not spike blood sugar. You just have to test often, to see which carbs fit into this category for you. Once you have your first big spike it will scare the bejeepers out of you.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I can't do the Hershey or the Dove dark chocolate at all. I didn't get the % dark chocolate. Ghilderdelli (sp) has one called Hazelnut Heaven that I got. I don't like bitter dark chocolate or hazelnut so I knew I would get the benefit of both without eating the whole thing in one sitting.

Congratulations on dropping the lbs you gained. And I fully understand about not weighing once dressed. I do the same thing. LOL

Elizabeth I hope you are having a good day. I hope I didn't upset you with what I wrote yesterday. I sure didn't mean too. I just hate to see you go down the path I went. I never had to let things get to this point. We have a tendency not to want to believe it is that big a deal. Boy you should have seen the reaction of my whole family when I was diagnosed the 1st time I was diagnosed as no one in my parents direct blood line had ever had diabetes although it was in the family. I as well as they always believed it came from families that my aunts and uncles married into.

My Daddy's exact words of denial was "You don't have diabetes. Don't believe it". Funny thing #1 I went to his doctor who he trusted because at the time I didn't have a doctor and number #2 Daddy was upset because I couldn't eat candy or cookies any more. So he bought a bunch of diet versions of both and brought them to me. I guess just in case I was. I've often laughed about the fact that he was more concerned that I couldn't eat sweets. LOL

My sister had her thinking cap on though. She found a book by Dr. Whitaker titled "Reverse Diabetes". I got busy and I started exercising 45 minutes a day and dieting and within a week, I was no longer on diabetic medicine and no longer considered diabetic and stayed that way for years.

My mistake was that I didn't have to do anything to ward off diabetes any more. I went back to my old habits and wham it came back. I have done that 2 times. It took me a long time to learn that I cannot play around with this disease. I have to find a woe that I can make a lifestyle for me and stick with it if I want to reverse diabetes. Yes, I do believe it can be reversed and controlled. I do hesitate to say it can be cured mainly because cure leaves the impression that once you are normal again that you can eat the way you want to and I have learned that is absolutely false. You can get it into remission and keep it there as long as you eat and exercise to control it. BUT NO DIABETIC CAN EVER GO BACK TO EATING THE WAY WE DID TO CAUSE THE DIABETES!!! The bold caps are for ME and no one else.

This is why I have worked so hard to find the way I can eat and make it a lifestyle. I know I can never be one of those low carb people who never have another bite of higher carb food, such as a slice of bread, rice or noodles, or dairy or fruit. I also know that my body will not tolerate loads of any of those things, but I can handle some of it once a day. Thus the reason CAD/CALP works for me. I also know that I don't need 3 meals a day and/or 3 snacks as I suddenly realized recently that was the cause of me gaining weight the first, second, third, etc time. I don't need breakfast. It is now 1:25 pm and I still am not hungry so why eat when I'm not hungry. Sometimes I need a protein snack at night and sometime like last night I don't. I've finally learned to work with my body rather than against it by following rules of some diet plan that worked for someone, but doesn't work for me.

My best advise to anyone after my years of struggling with this disease is

#1 Take it seriously. It doesn't have to be a lifetime sentence. It can be controlled.
#2 Search for a eating plan that fits your lifestyle not someone elses. If you try it and it doesn't work, learn what you think worked and throw out what didn't work. If you can tweak it to fit you, fine. If not ditch it and search until you find one that does work for you. You are not the failure because it didn't work for you. There is one out there that will be your friend that you body can deal with.
#3 The most important one of all is NEVER GIVE UP!!! If you give up, you are giving up on yourself and when we give up diabetes wins. I refuse to allow diabetes or anything else to defeat me.

Love you girls. Y'all have stuck with me through a lot. I've had times I've though I would or maybe I should give up. Thank God that never happened. It isn't over. I still have to stay with the plan. Right now, I'm at the place I need to be mentally... I'm afraid to change anything so will keep doing what I'm doing. And let's face it that is another big key to being successful.

[Wannabehealthy]

Great post, Trish!

[momwithdogs]

It's Wednesday!

Trish, of course you didn't offend me! I should probably announce when my family is taking our tech-free time. It's something we started bc my DH and I are always on our phones and our DD is pretty much the same. Finding it very hard to shut off like that.

I appreciate everything you girls have to say- otherwise, I'd not log back on and call it quits, lol. One thing differs for me, though, and I know it's hard to understand. Bc I am adopted and have no medical records for my biological family, I don't have a history when it comes to this kind of stuff. For instance, my mom died at 57 from pancreatic cancer, but that has no direct bearing on my health or what ailment may come my way in the future. I have that very special disconnect which allows me live in my own form of denial, lol.

My biggest hurdle is living in a world of 'what if.' I have always been a very in the moment type of person and since all of this started, that spontaneous part of me has been put on hold and I hate it.

I'm turning into my own worst enemy.

[momwithdogs]

Damn, I forgot to say CONGRATS TRISH!!!

Seriously, I hate talking about myself, lol

[Wannabehealthy]

Elizabeth, I understand your loss at not knowing the medical history for your family. For example, my mother's family ALL had heart disease and died from it. It's no wonder that I have it too, but back then they had no remedies like they have now. As far as diabetes is concerned, type 2 is not usually heriditary. It comes from lifestyle. I ate well and exercised regularly until my late 40's and when I changed my eating habits and let off on exercise I became insulin resistant and developed type 2 diabetes. There was never any diabetes in my family. I didn't know until shortly before she died that my half-sister had type 2, and she was overweight and didn't exercise, and now her son is following in her footsteps and also has developed type 2. Also, everyone who is overweight does not develop diabetes. There was a young woman named Shannon who used to post here. Her husband is over 400 lbs but has no sign of diabetes or elevated blood sugar. He could be insulin resistant, but it just hasn't raised his blood sugar to dangerous levels.

Since you are pre-diabetic, I think exercise would get your off your meds. You may want to lose weight, but your weight is not really that high. When I was diagnosed, I was told to exercise, buy I dismissed it because everyone always tells you to exercise. At that time I didn't know how well exercise would help with my blood sugar. I thought it was all diet. If I had listened, I might not need meds, either.

You can do this. I hate to see your so depressed over it. Baby steps. Babies fall down a lot but they just get back up and keep going!! As far as your family history is concerned, if I were you I would explain all this to your doctor and have him/her do very thorough exams and testing to determine what risks you have.

Trish, I got into an argument on the Fitbit forum with a young man who said his doctor wanted to put him on meds for it but instead he "cured" it with exercise and dietary changes. He insists that after losing weight he can eat starchy carbs without a blood sugar spike. If that's true, then he was not diabetic in the first place, IMO. Although other people agreed with me, I congratulated him for his weight loss and just dropped out of the conversation because neither of us would give in.

[pattygirl63]

Elizabeth I agree with Carol Sue.Talk to your doctor about other tests that can be done. It is my understanding that they now have screening they can do to ward off our risks of some diseases. Because I went to a class done at our church one time, I constantly get invites to have some screening done. DH and I even get emails from Sam's Club that they also offer screenings from time to time, but since I know my family history and because my doctor keeps such close tabs on me with the blood work etc, I've never gone for one. I've been thinking that one of these day that I just might go have one done any way, but not yet.

Carol Sue I just don't argue with people about things any more. I state what I know and move on. I absolutely hate how some people present things. I hope what that man thinks will work for him, but knowing my experience it hasn't worked for me. I've seen how it turned out for some in my family and I'm not willing to take that chance ever again.

I told my son this morning that I used to send his girlfriend info to help her control her diabetes, but she doesn't pay attention to any of it. His great grandmother loved her illness and always introduced people to them like they were her closest friends. He told me this morning that his girlfriend does the same thing. I think they like having their ailments to talk about. I told him that I noticed she never seemed really interested in learning how to improve her health so I stopped sharing info with her.

I'm not without compassion because I know from experience that it is much easier to give up except that I'm not a quitter. I just seem to have too much fight in me to survive that I just seem to stay in the gives up stage. I don't want to lose any of my limbs and I sure don't want to lose my eye sight. So I fight to learn what I can do to keep those things from happening.

DH and his 1st wife had a friend whose mother-in-law lived to be close to 100 yrs old and she lived in an assisted living. We all took her out to eat once day for one of her 90 something birthdays. I can't remember if she was a hypoglycemic or diabetic... I suppose now they would call it pre-diabetic. She ate low carb and that woman absolutely refused to ever eat anything but low carb. I theory is that her living as healthy as possible for the years she had left even in her 90s when I met her was more important to her than one bite of a high carb food. I pray that some how I can learn something from just that brief time I knew her.

I also know women in their 90s in our church that although they do eat higher carbs, they seem to limit it to only once a day. It is amazing to me every time I see them on Sunday morning as they walk to and from their car which they still drive. They seem to get around better than I do. So I not only know it can be done, but I also know I can do it too. They are my inspiration. One of them has a small bowl of cereal for breakfast every morning and they eat their lunch at Wendy's not to far from where I live everyday at the same time. I don't think they eat the rest of the day. Kind of says a lot about IF too although I'm not sure they have ever heard of it since they have never mentioned it.

Weight was up 1 lb today, but that isn't unusual for me. If I do like I have in the past, I will bounce back and forth a few days and then go down a lb or two under the 222.4 I was yesterday. It is just my body adjusting before I get a new low. Also it could be the fact that when DH decided to add some of his mixed nuts to my can of mixed nuts, I absolutely forgot what I was doing and ate about 5 bites outside of my 6 hrs window before I realized what I was doing. Isn't it really crazy how we can so habitually put something in our mouth and be eating before we even realize it? It was within a 7 hr window, but I don't like to eat anything past 7 pm at all. I was so mad at myself. Just makes me know that I have to be more aware of what I am doing. Still CALP, still IF, just not the way I wanted it to be.

I planned my meals today. I actually planned to eat at noon today, but didn't get hungry. I eat my RM/Carby meal at 1st meal. So I'm going to have my beef/stir-fry between 2 and 3 and I will have breakfast type meal for dinner between 6 and 7 which will give me 20/4 ratio today.

Y'all have a great day.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, that's a shame that your sons gf doesn't want to get serious about controlling her blood sugar. Is she pre-diabetic or already diabetic? I was very strict with myself at first but then got careless after a while.

I too am to quick to pop something in my mouth without thinking.

Today I am meeting my cousin at Denny's for lunch. We haven't seen each other for over 30 years until my sister passed away last year. We don't really have a lot in common, but want to keep in touch because we are the last 2 cousins from a very small family. Just our fathers had children, and her siblings are gone and so are mine. It bothers her a lot that she is the last one, but not me too much. I don't really think about it.