[pattygirl63]

When I lived here in TX years ago, I had allergies really bad. Now that I've moved back I have no allergies which has really surprised me. I'm not sure what changed. I had allergies really bad when I lived in So. FL especially when anyone mowed the lawns. Allergies are really strange.

DH has an ear infection and got antibiotic drops for it. The doctor talked to him about the Invokona because they always ask about the medicine you are taking so we told him that the Invikana and the Xeralto had jumped really high because we are in a gap with out insurance. He told DH that he didn't want him taking Invokona any more as it is causing people to be high risk for amputations of legs, feet etc. He will be giving him samples of Xeralto and Jardiance which he replaced the Invokana with.

He said the Reps know that Medicare Part D has a donut hole on us so they furnish the doctors with samples so they can give them to us while we are in the gap. I think that is interesting info. I can't take any of those drugs because of my tendency to yeast infection.

I was honest with him about my taking the berberine, but I'm not sure he was impressed. I'm not surprised, they seldom are. Any way, I reminded him that he had talked about taking me off the Trulicity any way. I'm not sure what he would give me since I can't take the ones like DH can take. I told him I was working to do it with diet and exercise if I can. I do think he liked that. I reminded him that our 3 mo appointment is at the end of this month. So I'll see what he thinks when I see him then. Of course, a lot depends on my A1c.

[Wannabehealthy]

I think you are best to do this with diet and exercise Trish. I don't recall you ever having a bad A1c, but I know you worry about your FBG. My doctor never cares about fasting, as long as my A1C is good. There are so many things that contribute to FBG that are hard to control. Does your DH eat so differently from you that he needs more meds? It seems to me that you are always able to plan and eat smaller meals and be satisfied with that. I can do so well until dinner. I don't know how to change that. For so many years I didn't eat dinner, but dinner is so important to DH. I think it really helped me not to have any food in my stomach in the evening. My body was used to that, and I was doing IF without realizing it. Maybe if I really set my mind to it I could eat just a few bites at dinner instead of a complete meal.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue DH eats pretty much like I do, but I think his is caused from some of the meds he takes and has taken over the years. He takes 2 Metformins, 2 glimiperide and 1 Jardiance a day. He still has a difficult time getting his A1c much lower than 7. Right now I think his will be fair because he is trying to be careful not to eat many sweets. Since I got sick, he seems to be working at it better.

I think my A1c will be okay because although the FBS is higher in the mornings without diabetic meds, when I check it before the main meal, it runs any where from 104 today to 123. I know that my meter usually reads a little higher which is why I usually think the A1c will be high. It was 5.8 last time, so it shouldn't be any higher than the accepted range as being good. I am hoping that with the diet I'm following and the exercise I'm doing that I will be to get even lower by the time I go back in October or November. I think he will allow me to keep trying with the diet and exercise.

I am doing the bike 6 days, but decided to do the weights 3 days a week.
I purchased the new book of Dr. Whitaker The Mini-Fast Diet; Burn Fat Faster with IF. One thing he explains in the book isn't something we really want to hear. He says while there are some people have a metabolism that allows them to eat anything without gaining weight, there are those of us who are going to have to burn more calories than we consume if we want to lose weight. Then once we lose the weight we will have to keep up the same level of activity as well as calorie intake down or we will gain the weight back. This is because of the way our metabolism works.

I haven't gotten any further in the book yet. I hope to have time to read more tomorrow. I will share more if there is anything new.

DH ear is already better. I'm so glad we went to see the doctor.

Good night.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, it is really up to you, not the doctor, whether you try to control your blood sugar with diet and exercise. Give yourself a time limit, until your next A1c is due. You may need something, since you are unable to take Metformin, but the Berberine might do the trick. I believe you can do it. The testing you do at home is not going to reflect your A1c perfectly, because you are only checking at certain times, and it reflects your blood sugar readings 24/7. There may be times when you aren't checking, such as during the night, and these reading, whether high or low effect A1c. And I heard that Fasting readings will come down gradually. For myself, I have found that if I watch TV in the bedroom I am less likely to snack in the evening, and therefore have lower BS in the AM.

I agree with what Dr Whittaker says about metabolisms being different. And appetites are, too. I have been having discussions with my one friend who is naturally thin and never has to think about her weight. She tells me about how she just gags if she tries to eat when she is not hungry, or how she can never finish everything on her plate. I have to work at not eating when I'm not hungry. It's very easy for me to eat by the clock, or when DH is eating, even though I myself am not hungry. And there are times in a restaurant when I will finish what's on my plate because it's not enough to take home, whereas there should be no reason to just leave it and let them throw it away. That is what my DH does, but for some reason, that is very hard for me. This is why I like restaurants that only give you very small portions, or offer some meals in 2 sizes.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I think the reason I always thought I had to clean my plate was that we didn't eat snacks when I was growing up. When tv came a long, Mama cooked and fixed everybody's plate and we set in front of the tv and ate. I think we just ate what was on our plate probably because subconsciously we knew we weren't going to eat anything else until the next meal which most of the time was the next day at lunch for me since I didn't eat breakfast. If Daddy had a lodge meeting, we knew Mama would probably make fudge and I didn't usually eat any of it. If I did, I would only have a small piece and go do my own thing. I think that was because it was so readily available that I didn't think I had to pig out on the sweets. Actually, sweets were not my thing.

I am very impressed with the Mini-Fast Diet. I have learned a lot of things about how you and I ate growing up with our 2 meals a day; no breakfast. He says one of the Myths of the "you have to eat breakfast" people is that we need to eat breakfast to jump start our engine. He explains how our engine is already started or we would be dead as it has spent the time we were sleeping keeping our heart working and us breathing plus all the other things our body does automatically. They also claim that people who skip breakfast eat more in other meals to make up what they miss at breakfast and eat more calories. He said there have been research tests that proves just the opposite. He said (which came from another doctor he quoted) if you like breakfast and want it, fine... eat it for lunch or dinner.

One thing he tells his patients to do that I didn't do when I was doing IF before was exercise while fasting. He says if you don't eat breakfast exercise while you are fasting in the morning and then go as long as you can before eating your 1st meal. I realize that I was very active when I didn't eat breakfast when I was growing up. He says some people can't or don't want to skip breakfast so he said you can eat breakfast and skip lunch and exercise 2 hrs after breakfast and have at least that long before you eat dinner. Another option is that some people eat breakfast and lunch but skip dinner and do their exercise in the evening. He says that this is "your plan" so just work you fast/eating around your exercise. He recommends working up to 40 minutes 3 to 5 days a week stressing build up to that at your own pace.

The reason behind exercising while fasting and skipping breakfast is that you have fasted while sleeping for 10 to 12 hrs if you don't eat after 8 ish. Your body has used the carbs to keep your heart working as well as you breathing and the other organs in your body working. You have used up almost all your glucose and glycogen. When you skip breakfast and exercise during the morning fast (or 2 hrs after a meal if skipping another meal instead) the exercise burns off the glucose and glycogen that is left. This means you will burn off the belly fat and fat on the thighs. Research shows that you lose weight faster. At your 2 meals, you can eat pretty much what you want but still watch the portions. He also says that because your are skipping one meal that you are cutting back on calories automatically so you do not have to count calories as long as you do watch how much you eat. I noticed when I did CAD using IF, sometimes I didn't ever reach 1000 calories in a day. So I won't be counting calories unless I have to.

I ate my breakfast at noon today because DH and I decided last night that we would go to DD and I'll do his meds and then we will come back home and eat which means it may be 4:30 or 5 before we get home. This will give me a 5 or 6 hour eating window today.

I am excited to learn all the good things I'm doing for my body if I do IF. I plan to go back to the 5 to 8 hr window depending on what is going on that day. I will have to get up and exercise before I shower etc which is the opposite of what I do now on the days that I go meet DD and DS so that I can eat at 10 to 10:30 with them. Then when I come home, I will have main meal with DH around 3 or 3:30. Then I won't have anything to eat again until the next morning at 10ish. If I do the 5 hr window which I want to get back to, I need to eat around those times any way since DH likes to eat around 3ish. Without trying I've worked up to 30 minutes on the bike the last 2 days. I'm thinking that I could do 10 more minutes sometime in the evening during my evening part of the fast and get the 40 minutes each day although I have been doing about 10 minutes of weights and stretches each day too. I might could just leave it that way, but do them at night.

This exercising sure makes me sleep good at night. I know that.

I could go back to following CAD plan with the eating again. Although I ate a lot at the RM, I did find that most of the time I did not eat even 1200 calories a day when I was eating 1 CM (low carb) breakfast with 1 RM during a 5 hr window. On days I did the 8 hr eating window, I only had a low carb snack. Now that I know to do the exercise during the fasting hours, it should really work great. Too late to do that today, but I will definitely do it that way tomorrow. My lowcarb breakfast at Whataburger will be eggs and bacon or eggs and sausage. Very doable.

Have a great day.

fatmad Hope all is well with you.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, I cannot exercise without eating. It makes me feel weak and sick. But that's probably just me. If you can do it, then go for it. I don't exercise right after eating, but usually exercise while I watch my soaps, which are on from 12:30 - 2:00 PM M-F. I have had a meal, either breakfast or lunch by then. I eat breakfast, usually scrambled eggs, when I get hungry. Sometimes it's as early as 9 AM, and other times it's not until 11 AM. There are exceptions. This morning I had cottage cheese. For some reason, I have been craving cottage cheese lately. There was a discussion about it on another forum and that's what got me started on it. I will get tired of it and go back to my scrambled eggs sooner or later. Very seldom do I eat lunch, but we eat dinner around 3:00 - 5:00. Occasionally I will exercise again after dinner. Either 15 min on the treadmill or on the recumbent bike. I have heard that that helps with AM fasting blood sugar but I'm not consistent with it.

I feel good about my eating today. I did have some more M&Ms but they are gone now and I won't buy them again. If I do, I will buy a single serve packet at the check out. That way I eat them and they are gone. I don't know what got into me to buy that family size bag. No one ate them but me. LOL I think I was shopping when I was hungry and everything looked good to me. I have noticed that I'm getting hungry more often. To me, that means I am not snacking/grazing like I used to do. Foods tastes so much better when you're hungry.

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I was hungry this morning when I did the exercise, but I noticed that it passed. Not sure that will happen all the time, but I was determined to do it. I really didn't know about the exercise while fasting until I read about it while riding the recumbent bike. I will not have a problem riding while fasting, but I will have a problem waiting the 2 hrs until I eat especially on the days I have to go to meet DD and DS for breakfast. I plan to just do the best I can.

Today was very carby, but that is ok. I'm still satisfied with the day because I did do a 5 hr eating window. We got Chinese food on the way home and DH got mixed up on what we usually get and ended up with orange chicken. I don't think I've ever had it and I won't have it ever again. I didn't like it at all. I usually get Sesame or Lemon Chicken. The guy way over did the portion. We usually are able to divide the meat in half and together eat 1/2 the rice. DH said it was enough for 3 people. We ate what we wanted and put the rest down the garbage disposal. I didn't think I ate that much but feeling very full right now.

Tomorrow I will go back on CAD/IF exercising while fasting. I'm thinking about doing 20 minutes while fasting in the morning and then wait 2 hrs after our afternoon meal at 3 and do 20 more minutes then. I had not heard of exercising in the evening helping the morning bs reading. Maybe if I divide the 40 minutes and do half in the morning and half at night that would help with the FBS reading. I think it is an experiment worth trying. I figure it probably take me a couple of weeks back on CAD/IF before I see good results.

My niece and my great nephew are coming to see me in a couple of hours when she gets off work. She goes in the hospital Wednesday for a C-Section unless she goes into labor before then. I had planned to keep my little great nephew when she goes to have the baby but DH and I have labs that day and we have eye doctor appointments the next day. My nephew will be with her in labor and her mother is taking care of her son. So sorry I can't be there for her.

[Wannabehealthy]

Trish, it's not so much that I get hungry, but I get a weak, sick feeling if I exercise before my first meal. Squeamish. I have also heard that AM is the worst time of day for heart attacks, and since I have heart disease, I won't exercise in the morning. I get up from bed gently, and relax for a while with my first coffee. I don't know if there is any valid reason for doing this. I know a lot of people recommend exercising upon waking, before eating, but I just don't do it for these reasons. I don't know if my fears are founded in fact or not. Do not stop something that works for you because of what I'm saying about me. We are all different. I don't exercise shortly after eating, but somewhere in-between. It sounds as if you are exercising after your largest meal, and that's what I was talking about, not necessarily exercising in the evening. It's evening for me, because my largest meal is around 4-5 PM.

Rather than post a whole article about walking after your largest meal, here is what it says.

In other studies, researchers have found that walking has a significant effect on blood sugar after meals. Blood sugar typically rises and then falls after eating, but large spikes and variations can raise cardiovascular risk and potentially signal diabetes.

In a study published in 2009, researchers found that a 20-minute walk about 15 minutes after dinner led to lower post-meal blood sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes than either a walk before dinner or no walking at all. Another study, published recently in Diabetes Care, found that in older adults who were overweight and sedentary, walking for 15 minutes shortly after each meal improved daily blood sugar levels to a greater extent than a single 45-minute walk in the morning.

Researchers say that a post-meal stroll helps clear glucose from the bloodstream in part because more of it is taken up by the muscles.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Heading for a brief walk, instead of the couch, about 15 minutes after a meal may improve digestion and blood sugar control.


So, by doing this after your usual 3PM meal, you are already doing this. There were a few people at work who always took a walk around the parking lot after eating their lunch. Unfortunately, I used to sit at the table and talk to my coworkers.

Most of the time when we go out for dinner, we head to Walmart of Target afterward. There are usually a few things we need, but I never considered that it was healthful to do this. I have noticed some discomfort if my meal was exceptionally large, so this give me incentive to keep my meal smaller.

Trish, you have been there for so many of your family members, you should not feel bad that you can't be there for your niece. I pray that all goes well for her and her baby.

[Wannabehealthy]

I found this interesting. Enter your stats and check "all nutrients." I printed out my results and saved them. Not sure what I will do with them. ha ha I don't know how I would check to see how close I am to getting the recommended individual nutrients.

https://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/interactiveDRI/

[pattygirl63]

Carol Sue I can understand your situation and by no means should you do something that may be bad for your heart. That is why they always remind us when we read things to check with your doctor etc and he is careful to basically say "this is your plan" so do what works for you. I can't do it exactly like he says because it doesn't ALL fit my lifestyle. Also while I agree to eating less saturated fat etc, I still like my bacon and I do not like turkey bacon so I will keep my bacon thank you. I do like turkey sausage and will use it when I'm at home.

I had a really good visit with my niece and little great nephew. She understood everything and already had things covered. I can be there for her later and of course be with her in prayer. In fact, we will be in that part of town the day after she has the baby and depending on Maternity hours of the hospital, we could run in and see her and the baby after our eye appointment before coming home. Otherwise I'll see her when she gets home as she lives 7 minutes from me.

My niece is going on a diet plan after she has the baby that is similar to the Mini-Fast Diet by another doctor. You exercise 15 minutes with the DVD and then stay busy for a while after. She and her little son go walk for 30 minutes as he likes to do it all with his Mommy. So there are evidently different ways of doing it. Dr. Whitaker got his plan from a friend Dr. that did the research and developed this way of eating. I think his name was McCarty, but I can't remember his 1st name right now. Oh another thing Dr. Whitaker tells his patients to do is drink coffee before their exercise as it helps with the exercise and the burning fat. Whatever works. So I did drink one cup of coffee this morning before exercise. And it can have sweetener and sf creamer in it.

I'm back on CAD/IF 5/19 ration with the MFD (Mini-Fast Diet). I did 21 minutes (2 miles) on the bike this morning and will do 20 more sometime this evening and see how that works. If it doesn't seem to make a difference then I'll go back to doing the way I was. I'll give it a month or so before I decide if it really works or not. I've had such a difficult time of losing for such a long time that it would be nice if it would help me to consistently lose. I also thought about not weighing every day and go to weighing once a week on Sunday morning.

Well I'm headed out to the beauty shop and then meet DD and DS for breakfast. My Low Carb breakfast.

fatmad Are you ok? I hope all is well with you. I know you are probably really busy.

Y'all have a good day.

[pattygirl63]

Interesting morning. DS decided she wanted a hamburger. When I told DD, he decided that sounded good and he wanted one too. I was going to eat eggs and sausage because they were still serving breakfast, but I decided to eat lunch since I am allowed. I got a Plain Jr. Burger w/o bun. They just put a extra lettuce, tomato, pickle, a beef patty and onions w/o mayo or mustard. I forgot to ask for mayo so they didn't put it on. I decided to eat it plain and it was really delicious. I got home and put it in MFP and it was only a 330 calories low carb lunch.

I went to HEB and got some organic spinach, kale and chard salad veggies. I noticed in my last WW Mag that Blue Diamond makes crackers with almonds. I goofed and got the cinnamon ones instead of the other one. I was going to eat half a sermon with my salad. Since I only eat them at RM now, I'll have to use them for dessert. I can spread pb on them some time for dessert. Any way, I have a really good RM planned for today and will not eat anything after I finish eating it. I will have less than 1100 calories for the day. I'm going to enjoy this eating plan and I do plan to make it a Lifestyle rather than a Diet.

[fatmad]

Feeling disappointed;
I had a bit of a feast of cherries the other day, (a large bowlful) and weight went up, but it hasn't come back down. not sure what I am doing wrong now.
And have been working lots of night time stuff. but have been doing ok in spite of that.
Makes me blue and want to eat off plan when it doesn't work.
Early to bed, maybe a nights sleep will help .

Thanks, have been reading your posts.

[Wannabehealthy]

Mad, I know it's very discouraging when weight goes up. Mine is up a bit right now, too, but you have been following plan and I have not. Cherries are a healthy food, so it's not like you pigged out on sweets or snacks. Try not to let it bother you. The stress just makes it worse. Maybe next time you buy cherries you can divide them into serving size packets and that will remind you to eat a smaller servings. We all have to play these games.

We went to the casino again and had a successful day financially, I'm happy to say. Actually, we just won back some of the money we lost to them previously, but it's always good to come home with extra money. I didn't do as well with eating. We did not have coupons for the buffet and did not want to pay $26.95 for it, so we ate at the food court. I usually get a burger and skip the bun, but yesterday they had a special on pulled pork so I had a pulled pork sandwich and I did eat the bun. I also substituted cole slaw for the fries, and put the cole slaw on my sandwich. It tasted delicious because I was hungry, and I didn't eat nearly as much as I would have at the buffet, but there would have been no carbs involved at the buffet. Just protein and veggies. But I consider it a wash. Smaller meal, but more carbs. I ate it, it's over, and today's another day. My weight was up before I even went so it's probably not a lot better now. I did get 5K steps in with all the walking around the casino.

Trish, you did a good job with your bunless burger. I am used to eating a burger with the bun now.

[pattygirl63]

fatmad I'm sure the weight gain is temporary, although I also know the frustration of the gain. I had several days this week when my weight went up because of eating the Chinese food etc. Sodium always gets me. But it will come back down. I've had few days back OP and hope that by my WI tomorrow that it will be back down at least to where I was last week. One can only hope.

Like Carol Sue don't stress out over it because the stress makes it worse. I remember reading somewhere that stress is as bad for diabetics as what we eat. I remember thinking at the time (I had grown kids acting like crazy teens driving me crazy) "God if stress raises my bs, I'll never get it down to normal. How do I live without stress?" I wonder how much of our high bs is caused by the fact that we stress because we are not losing weight or the fbs is too high. I decided that I have to find a way not to be so stressed out. You do Yoga which I never got into, but maybe you could use it some how to relieve your stress. You work so hard and I know there are times when that is the most stressful part of you life. Keeping you in my prayers.

Carol Sue That one meal shouldn't be a problem and you might be surprised by a loss. I know once in a while that happens for me. Any gain will be temporary if you have one since you are back OP. We all need to remember those are just "bumps" in the road that won't really derail us.

I checked my bs last night before I went to bed. It was 114. It had been 113 before we had our main meal. Weight is almost back down to ticker. Hopefully it will be tomorrow.

My hip was hurting when I got up this morning so I didn't exercise. Dr. Whitaker says 3 to 5 days a week and I did the 5 days and I did 40 minutes on the bike yesterday. I decided save that extra day for the time when my weight gets down to when I may need to work more, I can do 6 days then if necessary. May not happen from the testimonies he included in the book, but we are all different so will see.

I'm waiting for the on call nurse to call me from CHF. May have to go to the ER with DD. His BP is up and hasn't come down. I have no idea what this man eats. I'm not sure he tells us everything.

Catch y'all later.

[Wannabehealthy]

Today I went to lunch with 2 women from high school. The one was my closest friend. After graduation, they went on vacation to FL and never came back. They found jobs and stayed there. The one came back when she got married and only lives a mile from me but I never see her out and about anywhere. The one who still lives in FL came here for a week for a visit to family. I had gone to FL to visit her in 1972, and she had been here in 1980, which was the last time I saw her. It was so unbelievable to see these 2 women,again after so long. It was like it was 1961 all over again. We talked from 11:30 to 4:00, and probably still had more to talk about. Just between you and I, I think I look younger than both of them. LOL They are probably saying the same thing about me. It was a beautiful day out today....warm and breezy, but not hot and muggy. Something funny happened. The woman who still lives in FL said that since she came a few days ago she has been coughing and feels congested. This really makes me think that all the problems I'm having is from something in the air around here, with lots of allergens.