January PreD/Diabetes Support & Chat
 

Welcome to 2015 and to the PreDiabetes and Diabetes Support and Chat thread. Let's continue supporting one another!

Good morning ladies and Happy New Year! It's so clique to say this on the first day of the year but it is time for change!! Oh my goodness, I weighed and took measurements this morning (I do that every year on New Year's Day) and wow, I can't believe how much of my hard work has been undone. I am now down to a net loss for the year of 20 lbs (had been 35 lbs at my lowest weight earlier this summer) and even my measurements have increased significantly just since I last took them two months ago! I have the whole "wheat belly" going on again - all puffed out through the middle, looking pregnant. So, yeah, got to do it. I want to share this post from Gourmet Girl Cooks that really spoke to me, in the 3rd paragraph - maybe it will resonate with some of you too. http://www.gourmetgirlcooks.com/2014...-low-carb.html

I sent Mark and Olivia out for breakfast this morning and I am having a laid back morning with a cup of coffee and leftover spaghetti squash casserole. I am still going through cookbooks, almost done though. Mark is going to be gone next week for work so it's actually a good time for me to work on me and not have to worry about cooking to please him so I will take advantage of that.

I made Olivia go to bed at her usual time last night (she doesn't know about staying up late anyway) so she would not be cranky today. She woke around midnight anyway, lol! Fortunately, after that she stayed asleep til morning so I got more sleep than I usually do.

Shannon, I think having a week without having to cook for Mark will help you to get back in the groove, and make it easier for you after he returns. DH wants to go out for breakfast this morning, but I do so much damage when I do that. I love eggs, and I can fix them at home without any carbs with it, but it's impossible to find a carb free breakfast item in our town. One place used to have some items, but they took them off the menu. Of course, I could order a full meal and only eat the items I want, or ask them to hold the carb items, but I feel cheated when I do that because I still get charged for those items. So he is sitting here fuming because I won't go out for breakfast. Poor baby.

We didn't stay up for midnight. I went in to bed around 9 to watch TV. Naturally, I fell asleep. DH came in around 11, so he did not stay up for the New Year either. I think we figured it would come if we stayed up or not. At our age, we are just happy to be here for a new year. LOL

I too am not happy that I gained back 20 lbs after my low of 181. I think that low was a result of surgery, not hard work on my part. I can't imagine giving up. I just wish I would find the proper mindset. What I've been doing the past year isn't working.

Good luck to all in 2015!

We took our daughter to see the most recent Night At the Museum movie (sigh, Robin Williams, so sad), which was great as "family friendly" movies go. We went to one of those places where they serve food as well. All of their salads either had piles of croutons, candied cranberries, or candied nuts - all three are hard to pick out in the dark. I ordered grilled fish tacos, with the plan of eating them with a fork and leaving the flour tortilla. No such luck, I couldn't get someone to bring me a fork? So weird. So I did my best to tear off the excess tortilla, but then there was some kind of (not mentioned on the menu) sweet sauce or chutney. UGGGGGGGHHHHH. The theater was full and they had one waiter and three food runners for all of us so I guess it was kind of overwhelming for the staff. Anyway, I did my best. It's frustrating when you try so hard to be careful and it just won't work out. At least the movie was fun!

Wannabe, I love brunch but we have a lot of places that do omelets. The problem is ignoring the biscuits!

Shannon, thanks for that link!

Ok, today is my first big day of...no Diet Coke. I'm drinking this one can I had left in the fridge, I will let myself have it outside of the house sometimes (you can not trust tea around here, you will get sweet tea every time) but no more buying it at home!

Off to have NY lunch with the family. I guess I'll go heavy on the cabbage and light on the black eyed peas.

Second half, I don't know if I'm going to be able to give up my Diet Coke. I was out of it, but DH had one in the car, so I drank half of it today. I buy the 12 oz bottles. I will not order it in a restaurant because they fill the glass with so much ice and with what they charge, I could buy an 8 pack. I only order water in restaurants.

I hate when I go somewhere and there is nothing to order that is low carb. The choices at that movie sound terrible!

I think black-eyed peas are healthy, depending on how they're prepared. I love cooked cabbage and eat it a couple times a week.

Lettinhgslenderin, I finished my other library books and can now start reading Diabetes Miracle tomorrow.

One thing I like about where I live, we are in a residential neighborhood, but we are only 5 miles from the PA Turnpike Interchange, so we have everything close by. Lots of restaurants, every fast food joint known to man, supermarkets, Target, Kohls, Walmart, lots of little strip malls with small businesses. They all want the business from people coming off the turnpike. It's very convenient.

Hi everybody :) I'm not really too new to 3fc, but I am back to taking my diabetes more seriously (after a recent reminder on Christmas). I'd like to start participating in this thread if that is okay. Great to meet you all.

Welcome Madison! We are happy to see you here. The more people we have here the more ideas and opinions we get, and the better for all of us.

Tell us more about yourself....including your diabetes diagnosis and treatment so far. You can jump into what others are discussing, or you can just post what you want to discuss. Some of us, including myself, get very wordy, LOL. We all have our own interesting story.

Hi, Madison! I'm also pretty new to this area! Nice to have you!

Wannabe, this is my first morning without Diet Coke. I normally drink two when i wake up :o I'm so glad I got a Keurig for Christmas and my favorite coffee finally makes K cups. I miss the bubbles. I also like LaCroix mineral water but I'm out! Poor planning! Still, I think as long as I have the caffeine to get me over the hump, I might make it. My husband and daughter have both suggested maybe "cold turkey" isn't the way to go - poor things, they have been through this with me before. Guess I get a little cranky ;)

I can't believe Christmas break is almost over :( with all the various illnesses, holiday stuff, and extra kids, it went by too fast. Two weeks always sounds like a HUUUUUUGE break, and it just blows by.

My weight is back to my ticker weight as of this morning. I was up 5 lbs over the holidays which took me back into the 200s. I was not a happy camper, but was happy to see the drop this morning. It was probably temporary holiday bloat, from eating foods I don't usually have around, such as the ham, with all the sodium. My blood sugar is better since I got my meds straightened out, and I'm hoping for an improvement in my blood pressure, too.

Carol Sue, how cool that you are reading it. I am going to re-read it this weekend.
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My weight jumped three pounds since yesterday, hope it is just a blip and not a trend. I'm not going to update my ticker, but went from 204 to 207 overnight. Yeah, yeah, I know don't weigh daily, but I always have and always will.

I always weigh daily, otherwise it's too easy for me to "drift" and not think about it, however I don't get too excited over those three pound "mystery" drops or rises. I have a really great program that let me track my weight with a graph. It shows your daily weights, but also your overall trending average and can even project forward to show you how you'll do if you continue on your current trend...so even if you're up and down from day to day, you can still see your overall downward trend. I don't, that just helped me balance my need to weigh every day and keep myself in line against my tendency to freak out if I was up half a pound...or three.

I haven't really looked at the overall sight in forever, so I just realized they have a mobile site. Who knew! Anyway, if anyone is interested it's www.weightcommander.com the site is now free. I think I paid for the program once upon a long time ago. It doesn't look like they have the feature to project your overall trend going forward, but you can see your progress so far.

This morning I received an email with some interesting info regarding how low carb fights belly fat, but I can't post it because it is actually an advertisement from Jorge Cruse for his new book The 100, and also a nutritional shake he is selling. I am not into shakes, but I might look into the book and see if it's available through the library. I don't want to spend any more money on books, but will read them if I get them free. He talks about how people who count calories are spinning their wheels, using the example of eating 1400 calories consisting of Snickers bars vs eating 1400 calories of grilled salmon and steamed broccoli. In some of his other books he recommended some weird foods that I would never buy or eat, but I think his theories are good.

Lettingslenderin, I do not agree with those who say "don't weigh every day." I say, do what works for you. It doesn't matter whether you weigh every day, or once a week, you are going to gain what you are going to gain, and you are going to lose what you are going to lose. Getting on the scale or not doesn't change that. The only thing it does, is cause psychological issues for anyone who does not understand fluctions that occur for everyone. If you don't get upset over it, it's OK in my opinion. One thing we always say on this thread is "one size does not fit all." Everyone is different, and needs to do what works for them.

I got on the scale mid-holiday because I could feel that my weight was up and I knew that finding out exactly how much damage I had done would work in my favor. It would give me incentive to get back on plan and get it back off. Since it came off so quickly, I know it was water weight from the types of foods I had been eating and not fat.

You are getting very close to onederland! That should give you incentive!

Happy New Year everyone!

The last two days were not so great for me. I ate badly (no binges though) just alot of food that was high calories/carbs :( My husband works alot and I can do perfect the days he works but when he is off I seem to let it screw up my plans. I have to learn to change that.

This morning though I am back on plan. I even took my morning walk even though it is all snowy out. Very proud of myself for just doing it even though I didn't want to.

TheSecondHalf Goodluck giving up coke. I swear when I first quit I had withdrawls. but you can do it!

Hello Madison Welcome :)

lettingslenderin I weigh in everyday just to keep it in my mind and also so I don't forget to do it ever lol. But I only count my weight every sunday. I was down to 215 at the beginning of the week and now back up to 217 this morning. Hopefully it is mostly the sodium i ate and today and tomorrow I will get it back down before Sunday.

Moonkissed, you are also knocking on the door to Onederland!

I also have trouble with carbs because my DH eats lots and lots of carbs! He has never had a weight problem and can't understand my aversion toward carbs. I also post on a LowCarb Forum and this week one of the girls posted that once your spouse/partner gets used to you avoiding the carby foods he will realize that you are serious about this and how much better it makes you feel. This made me understand that by giving in and eating carbs when I eat with him, I am giving him the message that I am not really serious about this.

Shannon, who also posts here has mentioned that she runs into the same problem since sometimes her DH works out of town for a while but doesn't always care for the healthier meals she cooks when he's home. We all have to start becoming firmer in our dedication to this WOE. We have the right to choose what we will and will not eat!

Welcome to all our new folks and returning folks!! The start of the new year is a great time to get more serious about our health - nothing like the motivation of new years for some reason!!

I'm on Day 2 of return to low carb. Had a horrible headache most of last night, went to bed that way. Feeling a little better today but VERY hungry! I've gotten back on the wagon enough times to know that it takes about 3 days minimum to get past the withdrawal and for the body to stop feeling hungry because it is missing the carbs and switch over to burning fat for energy but it may take me longer this time, I've been off so long. Tonight is the hubby's dinner out for his birthday. We are going to the (inexpensive) steakhouse we always go to on Friday nights. Bread and baked potato or fries come with almost every meal, LOL! I have not yet decided what I'm going to get. I just picked up the birthday cake and it is gorgeous - the Walmart here did a good job. Living in a small town is tough sometimes. I don't think I told ya'll but I got our Happy Birthday Jesus cake at the Food Lion by my house and it looked terrible. The writing on it was thin and shaky and they MISSPELLED Jesus - yes, it was spelled Zeuss. Really??? Anyway, I digress....all that to say I went to the other choice in town (Walmart, LOL) for this cake and am very happy with it. It will be hard to say NO to the cake! But, I will. Though is is my very favorite dessert - happy birthday cake is my true love, LOL! I did purposely get this one "marble" instead of "yellow" since yellow is my favorite and while I will eat marble it is not as appealing to me. DH doesn't care so I knew he would be fine with it.

My machine stand was just delivered so hopefully hubby can put it together before he goes out of town. Yesterday he began to install the new kitchen faucet and oh my, what a mess. Unbeknownst to us the shut off valve under the sink was broken. The time that elapsed between realizing that, running to the hot water heater to shut off the valve there and then realizing the main shut off valve was actually at the street and getting it turned off resulted in a massive outpouring of water in our kitchen. I went through all our towels drying it up. My brother had to come over and help us - he and his wife renovated their house over the past year so he has learned alot. We had to replace all the guts under the sink. I love my new faucet though! My pics are on my iPad and hubby is using it for work today so later when I get it back I will post a before and after for you!

Hi everyone and thank you for the welcomes :)

Well,here's my story in brief:
I'm almost 34 years old (bday in less than a month). I actually startethe , d on Metformin before I was ever diagnosed, as part of fertility meds. It wasn't too long after, though, that my doctor told me that I was "officially" a type II Diabetic. I lost a little weight, went back on Metformin, and did fine for years. Then, on my 4th M/C, my doctor wanted me to see a specialist. That doctor told me that it is very likely that most of my fertility issues have been related to my diabetes, and that my levels were out of control. He quickly took me from an increased dose of Metformin to insulin. And those shots quickly increased to 4x/daily. I did that for awhile and finally got my levels down to an average of somewhat reasonable. However, I still had difficulty keeping my eating under control. In June, 2014, I started focusing on losing weight and getting healthy. I went off of the insulin and am now still trying to manage it with my eating plan and exercise. I have lost about 33 lbs. now and my levels are okay, but not great. I'm still working at it, and hoping that as my levels become more consistent, I'll keep losing weight and praying that it helps with my fertility problems. I'm assuming part of it is because of eating healthy, and then on Christmas eating everything in sight and of course all of the wrong stuff, but I had a scare....my levels went super high. It scared me enough to start looking at more than just weight loss, but has got me to re-focus on making sure I am eating healthy and exercises because of my diabetes.

So, that is me in a nutshell with my story.
I also had a question for you guys.....
Does anyone have trouble with headaches when/after exercise because of your diabetes?

Thank you and happy to be here!

Thanks for sharing with us! I am still "prediabetic" but I skipped my most recent labs and dr appt due to moving. I want to find someone here in my new town and not keep trying to go back and forth (an hour away) so who knows, I could be 'official' by now myself.

Oh girls!!! I FAILED, epic FAILED tonight! I ate the french fries, bread, ice cream and cake - Oh LORD!!! So, restart tomorrow!

I had to euthenize my little Maltese tonight. My heart is broken. He was such a sweetheart and I am going to miss him terribly. We were pretty sure he was going to die, but he was peaceful and didn't seem to be in pain so we were just waiting it out. He has not eaten for a few days. He was drinking water up to last night. None today at all. Around 9PM he had a violent siezure. Blood was coming out of his mouth, then he just seemed to be in a coma. Breathing, but his eyes were not focused. Our vet was closed so we took him to the Vet ER in the next town. There was no way we wanted him to go through the night after that seizure. He is at peace now, but I can't stop crying. I miss my baby.

A quick flyby as I'm getting ready to run out the door, but I just wanted to check in and let you know I'm still here. I've just been busy and the day gets away from me.

I did end up losing a total of 21 lbs in 2014. So now I have to get my act together and get back OP so I can keep losing. I'll try to get back here later. If not y'all have a great Saturday.

Checking in. Gained a bit of weight but FBGL is still stable. Actually more than a bit - 10 pounds Dec. 1 to Jan. 1 but 3 pounds are gone already.

Carole Sue, my deepest condolences on the loss of your fur-baby. They certainly do leave footprints on our hearts. We do what we have to do so they won't suffer but it is one of the hardest thing we do. Give yourself grieving time.

My crazy friends, the Hyper Pypers, are on their way for lunch (beef stew and cole slaw) and there is a reception I must attend tomorrow afternoon. After that it'll be back on the straight and narrow food path.

Happy New Year, every Chick!

Oh Carol Sue, I'm so sorry!!!

Getting back on track this morning. Trying to get in a new mindset of if I mess up, I just get back on with the next meal and not letting it become a 4 month free for all.

I woke up to freezing rain, which fits my mood. I had a rough night, but once I fell asleep I slept deep. I have lost 5 dogs in 37 years with DH. 4 of those 5 had to be euthenized...one died naturally. Although I felt bad, this is the first time I have actually cried. For 2 reasons, most of the other times we had 2 dogs at a time and I had another dog to come home to, and this time we have decided "no more dogs." SS does not provide enough money for vet bills and $40 groomings. Although we are retired, we cannot go anywhere overnight because we have the dog at home. For some reason, I feel as though this happened so fast with him, I didn't get a chance to hold him and pet him and tell him goodbye. If I could just hold him one more time....or get another dog.

Ok, enough of that soppy stuff.

Lettingslenderin, I read parts of the book last night and this morning and so far I like it, and give it 5 stars. For anyone planning on reading it, I suggest you read part II first and get a feel of what the program entails, so you can start following it right away. Then go back and read from the beginning. I read up through chapter 5 then FF to part II. Not that the beginning chapters aren't good. They are very good and have some information explained in a way I've never heard before. I will still go back and read the chapters I skipped.

One of the things explained in the book was why we are told to eat smaller meals throughout the day. Also, it totally nixed my theory about the benefits of IF, at least where diabetes is concerned. I don't know that I will change, but at least I have an idea what effect it actually has.

I don't understand what place the DM website has in all this, except to make money for them. The plan can be followed without any outside help. I compare that to WW, where you not only pay someone to weigh you, but also to give you a meal plan that you can get online just by googling.

Shannon, did you happen to check your BS after the french fries, bread, cake and ice cream? That always has a way of waking me up to reality.

I'm sorry, but I'm laughing my butt off at Happy Birthday Zeuss!! Especially when I think about what it was supposed to say! It seems as though they fed the information into a computer and it had spell-check! The same way every time I try to text my son-in-law's name, Sean, my phone changes it to Dean.

I have read that when you go on a low carb eating plan, you have 1 golden shot. If you try to do it a second or third time it is so much harder because your body is saying, "Oh, she's going to try that one, again." Your body is fighting you because the easiest way for it to get glucose for energy is with carbs.

Madison, those really high blood sugar reading do have a way of scaring you. I had them often over the holidays, and for some dumb reason, in spite of them scaring me, I keep making the same mistakes over again. I am searching for something that will make me realize that Diabetes isn't a sometime thing.

Good to see you here Ruthie, and thank you! Your Hyper Pypers sound like fun.

Glad to see you're still around Trish. I know you get busy. Keep working that Trish's Plan, which seems to be working for you!

I am having a good day. Got my morning walk in! It is hard to get up and get moving but I keep pushing myself.

Yesterday my steps were over 7500 so I am on my way to getting in 10k.

Carol Sue I am so sorry for your loss :hug: Losing a pet is always so hard.

Madison Congrats on your 33lb loss so far. I also have fertility issues but its related to PCOS. But can be helped once I lose weight and get my diabetes under control too. I am also on metformin too.

Carol Sue, I am so sorry for your loss :(

Sorry I was in such a rush this morning.

Madison WELCOME. Glad to have you here with us and with your 33 lb loss, you must have a good plan that is working for you. Congratulations on your success. I think we all have those moments when we have to be jarred into the reality that diabetes is something to take seriously although there does seem to be those times we also tend to forget it. Good for you realizing the seriousness of it and getting back on track. Looking forward to getting to know you.

As for your question, about headaches... I'm not sure that I've had headaches after exercising, but I have experienced exhaustion after exercising. I have actually forced myself to exercise when I didn't really feel up to doing it and then had to lie down for a bit to get my energy back. So it is quite possible that you could get a headache after.

Carol Sue I am so sorry that you had to let your precious pet go. I know that isn't easy. You started reading the DM book. Have you read the diet plan yet? I wonder if she does it different than the way she did in her other book The Metabolism Miracle?

Shannon We all have that one meal that is off and I've finally learned that one meal off isn't going to ruin things for me if I will just get right back on track at the next meal or snack. I am the kind of person that thinks it has to be perfect which used to cause me to feel like a failure because of one slip. Since I've read so much about different types of diets, I've learned that even when low carbing that one off meal or snack does not mean all is lost. That makes it easier for me to get right back OP at the next meal or snack. If I allow myself to feel guilty etc, it will do me in every time and my one off meal or snack can become a day or days off. I agree that it takes at least 3 days to get the body functioning right again.

Well the problem I am having right now is that with all the meds I've been taking to try to get rid of the cold or whatever it is, I have no appetite and when I do get hungry, I don't want to cook. So I end up grabbing whatever is easy. While I am not doing a VLC diet, I still try to keep them limited. DH is tired of pork and I'm tired of trying to figure out what to fix. Food is just plain boring to me right now. The only good thing is that I am staying within my 8 hr window of eating. Even with the meds, my fbs was 137 this morning which is good. Just got to make myself do what I know to do even when I don't feel up to it.

I am feeling better as far as this sickness goes, but still have a lingering cough.

Well, before I get too wordy, I will close.

Carol Sue, I'm so sorry to hear about your pup, at least he is at peace now. It is never easy, I lost my 16 year old Malinois last year and I still think of her. I came home without her and the house was so empty even with 3 other dogs wanting attention.

Chris

Trish, I just started reading the diet plan. It is very strict. The first 8 weeks are similar to Atkins induction I believe. The second level is a little more lenient but not much. I think what she's saying is that if you really want to control your diabetes you have to tow the line. I agree with that, but I doubt my ability to stay on something that strict.

She also says that you should never go longer than 5 hours without eating. At about 5 hours after you eat, your liver starts to dump glucose into the blood and your blood sugar goes up even without eating anything. This goes against my beliefs about IF. I think I am going to test her theory. I will pick a day and around 4 hours after dinner I will start to test every hour and see if my blood sugar starts to rise. It is very true that many times I go to bed with a blood sugar of 120 and in the morning it's up to 150 or more. It gets very confusing when you are trying to improve your blood sugar AND also trying to lose weight. You just don't know what to do. It seems than anymore my whole life evolves around what to eat and when.

I would also like to read her book the Metabolism Miracle, if I can get it from the library. I've read every other book, why not that one? LOL

For dinner tonight I made the Shrimp & Grits recipe from the Satisfying Eats cookbook - it used cauliflower in place of regular grits. Wow - YUM! Of course, not shocking, hubby ate it but was making faces the whole time. Seriously, it was delish - what is wrong with him??!! It was an expensive meal though with the shrimp so not something for all the time! I have enough leftovers for me to have maybe Monday night for dinner after hubby is gone for work :-)

I also made the sausage balls from the Satisfying Eats website today for breakfast http://www.satisfyingeats.com/holida...ge-balls-ever/
They are pretty comparable to the regular sausage balls I know and love but without the grains. I do make Melissa's "yummy sauce" and dip them (which I never did with regular sausage balls).

I need to come up with lunch recipes for myself. Lunch is where I always get in trouble. I start off the day good but then I don't know what to do about lunch and I wait to long to eat because I can't decide or I have to make something that takes a while and then boom, I get very binge-y. I had been making alot of taco salads but I kind of burned out on those and the last couple days I've just been making salad with lettuce, cucumbers, shredded cheese and a ginger dressing (low carb naturally) but I will get tired of salad pretty soon. I do not care for "lunch meats" so that is not really an option. I am going to have to research this!

Oh, and here are the old and new faucets

Anyone want to do Diabetes Miracle with me? I'm starting tomorrow. I will share my fitbit information as soon as I figure out how to keep it private.

Everyone -- I hope you can try testing before you eat, then at one hour, two hours, and three hours after your first bite. Go to the Blood Sugar 101 site and explore.

Books: The other major book to read is Blood Sugar 101. There is a 99 cent short kindle version that is excellent and I highly recommend it. I give Blood Sugar 101 book and website all the credit for my fasting blood glucose dropping 120 points in a few weeks with no medication (not even metformin).

Carol Sue, I am so sorry about your sweet Maltese. We are major dog lovers here and I know it's hard. Thanks for sharing your impressions about DM. I'm going to start on it tomorrow. My FBG was down to the 80s without meds just before the holidays. I have found that my weight loss is following the stabilization of blood sugar, not the other way around in my case. I"m testing 8 times a day and like your idea of testing hourly to find out what is happening. My carbs are already below 50.

Trish, congratulations on your weight loss for the year!

Moonkissed, I am far behind you but want to catch up to your steps.

Madison, welcome to these forums. Congratulations on your impressive weight loss and the steps you are taking towards reclaiming your health. Can you test your blood sugar before and after exercising to find out if your glucose is affecting you?

Shannonsnail, forgive yourself on the meal and move on.

Shannon, I would not even attempt to get DH to eat low carb meals, no matter how good they taste. It is just not going to happen in this lifetime. LOL I do agree that your DH would do well to go low carb in some form with his weight what it is. He is lucky not have any weight related medical problems right now, but it's just a matter of time, IMO. I would just continue to keep making these dinners if your marriage can stand it, and maybe eventually his tastes will change. Also, instead of looking for low carb dishes to serve, you could just cook a regular meal of meat, veggies and a carb for DH, and you eat the meat and veggies. That's how I work around my carboholic husband.

I'm glad you're not eating "lunch meat" because the sodium alone is terrible. Since lunch is only you, maybe you could bake some chicken that you could keep on hand for a few days. You can do a lot of different things with cooked chicken. There's also canned tuna, if you like it. Many people don't. I am just trying to throw in some ideas that will keep you from having to stop and cook every day. You could do omlets. If you vary your menu from day to day you might not burn out of salads, since they will only be a couple times a week. Another choice is to increase the amount of dinner you cook so you have leftovers for lunch the next day. Already cooked, just heat up.

A year or so ago we had to get a new kitchen faucet. It was similar to your old one. A month later I decided I wanted a high one, so we went out and bought another one. In the bathroom, we needed a new one. I loved the old one and saw a similar one at Home Depot, but DH talked me into getting "something different." I still hate it, and want the one like the old one, but I'm afraid to ask him to switch again. LOL

Lettingslenderin, my testing every hour after 4 is primarily to test her theory about the liver dump raising blood sugar. I don't doubt that she is right, but I want to see to what degree. I feel that everyone is different, on size does not fit all. I want to see where I am in this theory. I like having an 8 hour eating window and a 16 hour fast, but if it is going to be detrimental to me I will cut back on my portions and follow her directions to eat every 5 hours. But I have to see proof that it is going to be an improvement over what I'm doing now.

I commend you for the progress you have made, dropping your blood sugar so much just with lifestyle change! It shows that it CAN be done. You are an inspiration to the entire diabetic community, especially those who think that life as they know it is over. Not everyone can make these changes as easily as you have.

Hello Ladies. I just got home from my morning walk in the rain! I feel exhausted but I did it so yay. Figured the rain was worth it since it wasn;t very chilly but the next few days are supposed to be very cold like in the low teens or single digits and today it was quite nice besides the rain.

I decided my big plan for today it clean out and organize my bedroom and move the dvd player and Wii in there. Giving myself a nice space to workout when the weather is bad, do yoga in and have privacy. I can't work out with people watching me even the DH I feel too self conscious. This will give me no more excuses to get my work out in daily.

Today was my weigh in and I was fearing it hardcore. I was sure I gained and was just praying to be the same weight I was no higher. Instead I lost 1.8lbs! I reweighed myself like 5 times to make sure it was correct lol. I am so happy!

lettingslenderin you are very much an inspiration. I wanna get my numbers down down down where i can be proud of them. Right now I am like 50% of the time happy with them lol.

I wanna get up to 10k steps so badly. Its tough!

Diabetes Miracle looks like an interesting book I will have to check it out.

Carol Sue I was always told and read that it is better to eat smaller meals through out the day. It will be interesting to see what your BS says.

Moonkissed, eating smaller meals has never worked for me in the past, but DM stresses the need to go no longer than 5 hours without food. To me, that means I will be eating breakfast around 7, lunch around 12 and dinner around 5. We usually eat dinner at 4, so it's in the ball park. DM also stresses the need to eat a snack within 1 hour of bedtime. A snack at 9 or 10 would do the trick, but I would still be going from 10 PM to 7 AM without eating. The book does say that if you wake up in the middle of the night you can eat another snack. This is all supposed to keep your blood sugar down. ???? I'm just not sure about this, therefore, I want to go longer than 5 hours without food and see if my blood sugar rises. It does normally rise overnight, and that is usually longer than 5 hours. I don't usually take what I read in a book as gospel. I have to try it out for myself and see some results one way or another.

I do know that if you eat a very large meal your blood sugar will go up, even if it's not carbs.

Hi friends, and Happy New Year!
I had posted at the end of December but have been working like a fiend since the New Year. It seems all the babies were vying for the New Year baby, and we got busy for several days. I think there will be a brief lull now.
My ticker is correct so overall, no weight loss for me this year.
I have been using my fitbit and have been more active this year in general, so am happy with that.
I am wavering about diet these days.
I have had a lot of arthritis like pain for several months now, and I recently went off "nightshade" vegetables. These are plants related to deadly nightshade, specifically, eggplant, tomatoes, peppers (green, red or any other colour) and potatoes.
This seems to be helping, but I sure feel limited in food choices. I am not sure about the extent of pepper mattering, for instance, hot peppers.
I have also noticed more "bloat" and feeling overfull with eating wheat.
Overall, I don't eat a lot of wheat, but have been eating more over the holidays.
I have done low carb and find this generally good for me, but I think I will modify this to South Beach style, which allows more complex carbs, as I am concerned about the issues with so many food restrictions.
I also have some food allergies, (all citrus) and medication allergies (all non-narcotic pain relievers other than tylenol) so it all feels daunting at times.
I will read some posts and try to catch up on things. 4 days into the month, and there are already 3 pages of posts to read! Must be all those resolutions!
Best wishes to all for a healthy new year.

I know it seems odd. But I think its about stabilityof the blood sugar. Also, its important (but difficult) for a snack to be a snack, not a meal. How many calories are allowed?

Mad! So happy to see you here! Glad to hear those babies are popping out and keeping you busy. LOL

We have increased our membership here, some new posters with new insight and ideas. Like it was in the old days.

I have just started reading this book, Diabetes Miracle. Lettingslenderin mentioned it and I got the book from the library to see what it was all about. So far, it doesn't say anything about calories. It's 3 stages...carb detox, carb rehab and then maintenance. I haven't really gotten to the allowable food lists yet.

I'm stuck on this eating every 5 hours for glucose stability. I've been told this before, but never explained. I always thought that the longer I could go without eating, the lower my blood sugar will go. Seems that's not the case. But I want to find out how it effects ME. I don't believe everything I read, and I don't think that one size fits all. We're all different.

I think for me a snack would be a cube of cheese, couple nuts. I am not usually a before-bed eater because of my acid reflux.

So far in the new year my pattern seems to be one day on plan and the next I am on until sometime in the afternoon or evening when I cave into something carby/sugary. I will take it though because honestly it is huge steps forward over the past several months! I will consider the bad choices to be blips on the way to more good choices!

Carol Sue my husband is kind of half and half with the stuff I cook, some he is fine with and others he hates. I keep trying because frankly, I like cooking and I like experimenting and it would be a sad life for me to just cook meat, veggies and a starch but I totally understand what you are saying. I'm a creative and it is hard for me to surrender to simple but I may have to balance my creativity with some simple. I am looking forward to this next week, being able to just not worry about him. With Olivia, I can make something easy that she will like and spend my creativity/time on just me. However, sometimes I think that is going to happen and we just have a busy week and end up mostly eating out. If that happens though I am going to do my best to make the best choices I can. I know that a couple days will be like that. Mondays we have preschool, a couple hours at home and then dance which ends at 5:30 when she is to the starving point. There is a burger joint next door to the dance studio so we usually end up there. And on Thursdays we spend half the day in the next town over (where my mom lives) for bible study, lunch with my mom and our weekly trip to stock up at Sam's. I think though instead of being tempted to eat out for dinner that night I am going to bring home a rotisserie chicken.

Today my "bad choices" were at a birthday party (which then led to eating bad at dinner too) - CAKE is totally my "can't say no" thing. But, let me tell you about this party. It was a FROZEN party and Anna and Elsa came!! My daughter was so excited to spend time with them in person. She kept asking how they got all the way here from Arendelle! LOL!

Today has been the big reorganization day in my sewing room. Hubby got the new machine stand assembled and we got the machine moved onto the stand. It weighs 91 lbs so it's kind of a big deal to move it. We got my desk (which previously held the machine) moved and then moved the other two pieces of furniture in there as well. I had been looking forward to a very nice custom built room with cabinets/countertops and shelving but instead I am going to use what I have. We already spent so much money on my machine. I think it makes more sense to use the money we get back from the sale of MIL's house on renovating our attic space into hubby's office.

I look forward to hearing you all talk about the new diet plan. I honestly do not have time to read any diet books. I spend any reading time right now on books to try to help me figure out what is going on with my daughter. My latest thought in researching online is she fits the hypo-sensitive subtype for sensory processing disorder. I am wondering if all her anger is stemming from something related to that. I am going to see what happens as she returns to preschool in the new few weeks and then decide whether to take her to the pediatrician to discuss.

I read a little bit more of the book this morning. There are no calorie requirements and no portion sizes. In the first stage, detox, you eat protein, fat and allowed veggies. There are a lot of foods on the allowed neutral foods list. Eat if you are hungry, stop when satisfied. Sounds like IE, except with IE no food is banned. Her example was this. You are allowed natural Peanut Butter as a neutral food. But that doesn't mean you can sit down with a jar of natural Peanut Butter and eat the whole thing just because it's neutral. Normal portions, and I think if most people are honest with themselves, they know what a normal portion is.

I have not read about stage 2 yet, where some carbs are added. One thing I read this morning is that it depends on the degree of your blood sugar control how long it will take to start noticing improvement. 4 days if you A1c is in the 6.5 range. Over 7 and it will take a little longer. This is one mistake I make. I will try something one time, and if it doesn't work, I quit. Example. Snacks at bedtime usually raise my FBG. I did try a scrambled egg a couple times and did not have the BS spike. Last night when I went to bed, 4 hours after dinner, I tested at 115. I ate 2 tsp of ricotta cheese. I woke up at 2AM so I checked my BS. It was 202!! I ate 2 more tsp of ricotta cheese. At 7AM I tested and was at 167. I considered the bedtime snack a failure, until I read this morning that it will take me at least 4 days, maybe more, before I see improvement. This detox phase cleans the excess glucose and insulin out of your body. Then the next phase, rehab, adds some other foods gradually, and at specific times, to retrain your metabolism. She is not claiming that diabetes is gone. If you have a slip up, your blood sugar will still spike. It's about moderation to keep that from happening. Another must is a minimum of 30 min of exercise 5 days a week. Doable. It can be all at once, but 2 smaller sessions per day is better.

This sounds so promising....but going by past experience, I do not see myself going 8 weeks without a slip up. I can't even get through 10 days of Atkins Induction. The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I'm jut being honest. But what I'm doing now isn't working, either.

Shannon, I agree that the money invested in the machine far outweighs the custom cabinets and countertops. You can make this work.

I also agree that if you are on plan 50-75% you are headed in the right direction. It's hard to jump back in with both feet. Olivia sure gets invited to a lot of birthday parties! LOL Lucky little girl to have so many friends.

I understand your desire to be creative and cook more interesting meals. My way works for us, because we both like plain foods. Like meats without sauces etc. And when faced with a difficult choice, like a hamburger joint, I am happy with a hamburger patty with no bun. And if I can add lettuce, tomato and onion to it, all the better. Also we have a local restaurant that serves a plain grilled chicken breast, and I can order 2 vegetable choices instead of a carby side dish, and it's delicious. I rarely eat low carb substitutes, such as cauliflower potatoes or rice. Too much trouble since DH won't eat them. I do still love my zucchini pasta made with the Vegetti with either pesto sauce or alfredo sauce. Don't like it with tomato sauce.
I hope you can find solutions that please both you and DH. Maybe in time his tastes will change. It took a while for my sugar cravings to go away, but they're gone.