TheSecondHalf Glad you decided to join us.

silentarctic I'm not doing CAD except on days when I have to eat in a place where I have no other choice. My main diet/way of eating is low carb. My goal is to eat no more than 40 carbs most days.

I'm checking in tonight before I head to bed because my neighbor is an earlier riser and she is coming over at 8 am for coffee before I head to the beauty shop. I changed my appt to Friday this week. Thinking about Friday my regular appt day.

I am actually eating low carb not Atkins Induction. I went on MFP and changed the ratio of protein, fats and carbs as best that I could. I'm not doing AI because I'm eating 1/8 c beans a day which makes my carb count above 20 g. I ended up with less than 40 g which I believe is actually good giving me a little fiber. I even kept my sodium under 2300 g which I hope isn't too low because that means leg cramps. And my calories were less than 1600 which MFP allows me 1660. Got plenty of exercise too. So I had a very good OP day.

I am going to the grocery store after beauty shop. I will check back when I get home.

We ended up eating dinner (tacos, LOL) at 3PM since I hadn't had lunch, and then I wasn't hungry the rest of the night. When I went to bed my BS was 126 and when I got up this morning it was 124. Barely moved. I wonder if early dinner and nothing else before bed was the reason. I'm going to have to try that again and see what happens. I didn't get hungry at all in the evening. I also wonder what my BS did during the night. Did it just stay even, or did it go up, or down and then just happen to end up the same. I'm obsessed with my BS. My weight is down 1/2 lb.

Artic, I never checked to see if whole grain bread spikes my BS. I keep multi grain bread in the freezer but I rarely eat it. Most of the time when I have bread it's when DH is eating something and shares with me, and he always eats white bread. A lot of bread labeled as wheat bread is not really whole grain. Bread is very dangerous for me, even whole grain. One slice usually leads to a bread binge. If I DO eat it, I have to be very conscious of what I'm doing and fight to stop at one serving, so I'm better off not to eat it at all.

I don't think a high intensity workout is necessary for blood sugar control. It IS for weight loss, but IMO movement is better than no movement. Just keep moving every day. Intensity and endurance will follow eventually.

SecondHalf, WELCOME to the chat! I'm glad to see you. I was the same as you, shocked that my high weight gain brought on diabetes. Not everyone who is overweight gets diabetes. Shannon told us about her husband who had perfect lab results in spite of the fact that he's overweight. Don't dwell on what got you here, that's in the past. Now you are doing something about it and that's what's important.

Laurie - Thanks for the info about Olive Garden salad. We don't go there because they focus so much on pasta and bread sticks, neither of which I need, but that must really be some salad! What is in it that makes it so bad? To me, a salad is a mixture of green leafy vegetables. I'm glad to see you're reading. Stick around. It sounds as thought you could give us a lot of information we could use.

Trish, I think you can count calories AND be low carb. I did it while on WW and I lost. I want to get back to tracking on Fitday just to see where I stand. I just go according to my BS, weight and how I feel, but don't really know how many calories, carbs, protein or fat I'm taking in.

Shannon, there are a lot of people who will argue that low carb is unhealthy, but it is LOW carb, not NO carb. We do eat carbs, they are just low glycemic carbs. It's true that carbs provide energy, but I don't think they have to be starchy carbs and definately not at the quantity that the American diet supplies. Protein also turns to glucose eventually, it just takes longer, which is what we need as diabetics. Back when, there were diets that were high protein and fat and not much else. They gave low carb a bad name, I think.

Rennie, you have come such a long way since you started posting here. I remember thinking our weight and blood sugar was about the same. There is no way that you haven't greatly improved your A1c.

You are into the next decade! Woot! Woot!

Good morning lovelies! It's probably a fluke but my daughter slept 11 continuous hours in her bed last night. This has only happened a few times since birth. I feel like celebrating! Of course it happened on a night I tried to go to bed early but had trouble falling asleep (even with melatonin). I thought my tea at lunch was decaf but I'm thinking now that it wasn't. Also I got some horrible news late last night about friends at my old company being laid off. Anyway, the daughter sleeping calls for party hats!

I'm making scrambled eggs this morning. I'm starting to worry about whether I'm getting too much BPA exposure with the eggs in baggies. I wasn't worried before but now I eat them that way 6-7x/week rather than once or twice a week.

Hoping to hit up the library today since storytime has started back up!

Yep, weight seems to actually be a symptom of insulin resistance, not causative, from what I read. Hubby has been overweight since age 5 or 6, lost weight in high school through college and then overweight since. He did lose down from 375 to 300 (he is 6'4") before we married but he is now (7 yrs later) 420. He has had perfect glucose, A1c and lipids the entire time. He was exercising when we met but has been sedentary for the last 5 yrs.

wannabe - Okay, I just guess, I was told to do 150 minutes moderate intensity activity mimum by my health care team, which makes me feel like everything else I'm doing isn't good enough. As for your BS's Even though its not prescriped I kind of want to get a glucose meter BUT I'm petrified of lancing my fingertip I know thats silly but true it freaks me the heck out I don't know why. Hope you are doing well.

Shannon - Glad your daughted had a good night.

I am sleepy today. Went to a friends and :-\ was bad, had a glass of wine and even a cookie last night. This is ridiculous, I know better but I still do stupid things. :-|

No coffee visit with neighbor this morning. She wanted sit on the front porch and visit and it will have to be high than 53 degrees for me to sit on the porch in the morning and do anything.

My ticker is right own this morning and my fbs was back down to 125. So I evidently have the calories and carbs ration where it needs to be. I've decided to think about this differently with a new attitude. I know that if I want normal bs that I have to eat low carb so I have to change my focus from what I cannot and may never be able to have again to what I can have that I really, really like that possibly I couldn't have on a regular lowfat/low calorie diet.

My new favorite breakfast has become 2 eggs, 2 sl bacon, 1 sl American cheese and 1/2 avocado. Once cooked, I mix them together in a bowl and eat it and drink my coffee. On lf/low cal, you usually cannot have the regular bacon, cheese or avocado because of the fat and high calories. So I think of it as a real treat of low carbing. Plus the benefits of an avocado and eggs are tremendous.

Carol Sue When reading the New Atkins Diet Made Easy, they say the same thing about most people think that Atkins/low carbing is high protein/high fat, but she says it was never meant to be a plan where you ate all the meat and fat that you want. In this book, she clarifies things better. Women should have between 4 to 6 oz of meat at a meal depending on how big she is. Average men are to eat 6 oz while a man 6 foot tall or taller may need 8 oz. She goes on to say that if you eat too much protein and or too much fat that you will not lose weight and you may even gain weight. She also stresses the fact that we are to eat at least 12 or 15 g of daily carbs are to be good low glycemic veggies. I was so glad to read that because I also thought you had to eat a lot of protein and fat and I couldn't do it because it actually made me gag. Now she says that you do need to eat healthy fats and while you do not have to cut the fat off of the meats you eat, you sure can if you want to. I had someone tell me recently "You know low carb is really bad for diabetes". I said, "Really? Then why is it that when I eat low carb that my blood sugar becomes normal and when I eat carbs it goes up?" She said, "Oh, well that is just what I heard".

This is why we who are working to control our blood sugar needs to know why we do what we do. I know from what I've read that Diabetes can be reversed. And I know other people do it other ways. I just know that their way does not work for me and this does. And as my doctor would say "the numbers don't lie".

I talked to my sister Monday and she had just come back from WI in WW and she had gained one lb. They were waiting to get news of her DH biopsy and she had emotional eaten and she knew it. She said she was actually thankful her weight wasn't higher. She weighs more than me poor thing and had lap band surgery a few years back and can only snack and doesn't lose weight very well. We talked about stress eating and I told her "I think we need to just calm down and do whatever way we are using to diet and enjoy it and not worry about losing weight in a hurry". I honestly believe we sometimes get stressed out about our weight and we get into a circle of emotional eating because we set goals too high.

So I've got the plan that works for me and I'm not going to worry about how fast or slow I lose. I'm just going to focus on what I can do and enjoy the journey. Not going to worry about what I can or cannot eat on the trip in June. There are ways to make this work. I know 4 little ladies at church who are sisters in their late 80s and early 90s. The eat at Wendy's once a day for lunch. They live together and have 2 refrigerators and each has her own side of the fridge with their own food. No one bothers the other. One is diabetic and low carbs Dr. Bernstien's diet. She shared with me one day what she eats. She eats a boiled egg for breakfast which she buys at the grocery store, eats la salad at lunch at Wendy's, has 1 frankfurter at another mealtime or snack. She drinks Hoods chocolate low carb/low cal milk. I think she is one of the ones in her 90s and she gets around really good. So I figure if she can do that daily then I can use her idea to make this work on my trip because if nothing else I can get hard boiled eggs (not my favorite but in a pinch) on my trip.

Got to get running. I've become chatty this morning.

Have a good one Chickies. You are all great.

Laurie yeah I was so shocked to see that ... I should have known something that taste that good couldn't be good for you. And I honestly eat almost all of it and ask for more each time we go because only my daughter and I eat it. My husband and the boys won't touch it. Thank goodness we don't go but maybe twice a year if that

ONE NEEDS TO KEEP WATCH ON THIS THREAD - IT'S A NOVEL MORE DAYS

Trish it's crazy that MFP won't allow you to adjust the nutrition fully the way you want. I'm glad you are in tuned with everything. You'll have the right balance for sure

Thanks Carol Sue Good job on the half pound down It's mainly the dressing that is so high calorie for Olive Garden.

it is LOW carb, not NO carb. We do eat carbs, they are just low glycemic carbs. It's true that carbs provide energy, but I don't think they have to be starchy carbs and definitely not at the quantity that the American diet supplies. Protein also turns to glucose eventually, it just takes longer, which is what we need as diabetics. <-- well said

I hit post before I was finished ...

Shannon on your daughter sleeping 11 hours. She must have been exhausted. Great day in pre-school Sorry about the lay off of your friends. I hope they get some type of severance pay. What is BPA?

silentartic, 150 minutes a week? Welcome to that part of the journey "stupid things" I sure do enough of them. Don't beat yourself up. Even though I do too ... I try to make them learning experiences. I think you did great, one cookie, ha I would've had a few

Trish it was chilly this morning here also 55, yesterday was pretty warm and the day before was hot at 6:10am (that's the time that I leave out for the bus stop each morning). I like your breakfast minus the avocado (I have only tasted it once and didn't care for the flavor)

I had someone tell me recently "You know low carb is really bad for diabetes". I said, "Really? Then why is it that when I eat low carb that my blood sugar becomes normal and when I eat carbs it goes up?" She said, "Oh, well that is just what I heard". Good for you Trish

I just know that their way does not work for me you are on a roll today my Sister

My fbs was down to 130 but I opened a new vial of strips (not sure if I should have done that or not) but I think it's crazy that no matter what I eat my fbs is 134-136 ... so we shall see. I have them separated and I will even use a different finger because this is crazy to me.

Thought you all would enjoy reading this
http://authoritynutrition.com/5-cont...t-advice-ever/

Welcome Restless! Killer is a cutie! We look forward to hearing about your progress and getting to know you!

Restless to the thread Hooray for Killer I use to drink ACV in the evening and here lately I forget. Thanks for the reminder All I do is walk so any walking that you can do is great in my opinion and it's a start. Great A1c's also

I'm thinking we are becoming the team to beat! I'm loving all the newbys.

Welcome Restless. Thank you for bringing Killer to our forum. Love him! We are just a friendly group who are working to control our weight and diabetes by comparing notes between ourselves. We will help you!

Shannon, Good article! It reminds me of a woman we know who eats the Dean Ornish diet, which is extremely low fat, vegetarian. She has had 5 heart attacks! I keep wanting to tell her to get off that diet, but her doctors told her to follow it.

Artic, You seem to be very down on yourself. We will change that! I too was told at Cardiac Rehab that for health you need 150 min per week of moderate intensity, and to lose weight you need 300 min per week. I think your health team told you this for a goal. If you start out slow but steady, eventually you will work yourself up to what they are suggesting. If you try to jump in with both feet you might get discouraged. If you are constantly thinking that what you are doing is not enough, you will give up. Instead, think that what you did today was better than what you did yesterday. I walk on my treadmill while watching TV and sometimes I get so engrossed in the show that it's over before I realize how long I walked. One of the reasons I don't like to go to a gym is I have had strangers tell me that I need to increase my intensity. I just nod and smile, but I would like to tell them "You don't know anything about me. You don't know my medical conditions or my limitations." I think a stroll down the block is using more energy than sitting my my recliner pushing buttons on the remote.

Rennie, my step-daughter talked about guacamole so much I had to try it, and I liked it. But to make it just for myself, it goes bad before I can eat it all. I will buy 1 avacado once in a while but I can't eat them fast enough to keep them in the house. DH won't go near them. LOL

Trish, I definately cut the obvious fat off my meat. I can't even eat crispy chicken skin anymore. So I have cut back on fat, but it seems that when I enter my food into Fitday I end up with more fat than I thought. It's hidden in a lot of foods. Also, because of all the eggs I eat, a lot of fat comes from the yolks. I only concern myself with sat fat, and Fitday breaks it down.

I eat way more vegetables than is recommended in any formal low carb diet, but how can vegetables be bad? They are very low calorie, low fat except for what you add in cooking, high in fiber, very high in nutrition. Cooked vegetables are only 1/2 cup per serving, and when I eat wilted Kale I probably eat 2 cups cooked at one time. 1/2 C would be one bite! So I can't follow a formal diet. I have to do my own thing. Eat as nutritiously ad I can, and go by the way I feel. If I fill myself up with vegetables, what harm did I do? What am I missing here? If filling up with vegetables helps me stay away from other less nutritious foods, I can't be wrong. Right? So I don't understand any diet that limits vegetables. Even those like peas, carrots, corn, limas or other beans. Joel Fuhrman says the fiber and nutritional value outweights the higher carb count. And I only eat them when I eat mixed vegetables, like in soup.

I think I gave away my CAD book because I just couldn't do that one, but I am going to get out my Atkins books and see what their reasoning is. I understand that they are all about weight loss, but I am also trying to get as much nutrition into my body as I can. If that slows my weight loss, so be it.

I am in NO WAY criticizing your choices. I am just trying to understand their reasoning.

It's the same way with milk. When I was first diagnosed, they had me drinking 3 cups of skim milk per day. I loved it, and I felt that it helped me satisfy my hunger and lose weight. Now everyone is saying people should never drink cows milk. LOL If I drink it now, I feel ashamed, as if I smoked a cigarette. A cup of milk can stave off my hunger for a long time.

I just looked online for Olive Garden salad. Most sites said that it was anywhere from 110 to 150 calories, depending on if it included croutons or dressing. The only site that said it was 300 cals was SparksPeople. I can understand 300 or more if it contained things like meat and cheese or eggs, but not a vegetable salad. Dressing can really raise the calorie count depending on which dressing you choose and how you use it. I have been told to dip the fork in the dressing and then into the salad, to get a small taste of the dressing with each bite of salad. I do that sometimes, but not always. But if you are going to eat one of the entrees at Olive Garden, the salad should be the least of your worries.

Congrats Rennie - into the 150's!

2ndHalf - We all get disappointed in ourselves. We just have to be determined to do something about it. Forward!

Restless - ACV - I didn't know about that. I try to stay away from vinegar though because it inflames my rosacea but a teaspoon might be okay. I'll try it.

Shannon - I used to eat whole bags of chips etc also. I live alone now but when my son was still at home that was really embarrassing. Have not done that in 2 months, been on the low carb train, UNTIL LAST NIGHT! Ate almost a whole pizza! I was craving it all day. Plus I was tired from lack of sleep all week and that pizza just called my name all day long. You know how you think you deserve a reward after a long week??

Well FBS was 204 this morning! The highest it has ever been ever! What a shock! I started drinking water, ate some nuts and cheese and got on the treadmill and now it is 188. My A1C has always been very high 6's, not into the 7's. So it's like I'm really realizing for the first time that I have a major problem with carbs, not just borderline anymore. I cannot play with this again.

Shannon again - I agree about the BPA even though your eggs procedure sounds so efficient.