Trish, I remember before my abdominal surgery, exercise was like an addiction for me 5 days a week. I kept a strict record of my weight, BP, BG, food and exercise. I didn't lose a lot of weight, but my lab work was so good my doctor asked me how I did it. My notebook just stopped abruptly when I had the surgery and has been sporatic since then. I haven't been able to get back to it all every day, but I would like to.

Do you check BG before and after exercise? I did that yesterday, then checked hourly until dinner. My BG continued to come down nicely. Some people say that exercise raises their BG, but I do low intensity exercise and I think that's the difference. But I think even if higher intensity exercise raises BG it will be temporary, and you will get a nice drop farther along.

Trish, one thing I noticed with using my recumbent bike is my knee doesn't click anymore. I am assuming that's a good thing. I have been taking Move Free for a few weeks now and I'm hoping it helps with my knee. I think the muscles around the knee need to be strengthened, too. It's very important to me that I don't lose my mobility. I need to keep that in mind to keep me exercising regularly.

I have been reading up about problems with gut bacteria, thinking that might be my problem with bathroom issues. They are becoming less frequent for some reason.

I also have been reading about the second meal effect with blood glucose. If you eat a low carb meal, the blood sugar response is less for the next meal, even if it contains carbs. I don't know if it works that way for me, but that's how I normally eat. Eggs for breakfast, and a more varied dinner, that sometimes includes carbs. My biggest problem is still eating between meals and I think that is something I will always have to work on. I need to leave that 4-5 hours between the two meals, and I have a bad habit of snacking.

I agree that your DAD should wait for the doctor to OK his driving. Will he remember to take his meds when he should? Do you have a med box for them that you could set up for the days of the week? That's how I have mine and I like that. It would be best if he could do it on his own, but with someone checking periodically to be sure he's doing it correctly. It's really great that you have moved closer to him.

Mad, I'm glad your weight is back down. Keeping a food/bg diary is a good idea. You can always check back to see what you had and what affect it had. I really want to get back to mine.

p.a. How are you doing? Are you back on track? How is your new grandbaby?

Well, my repeat blood work still have high potassium, higher in fact. Its a mystery.
After meeting with my doc I am increasing metformin, to 1500 mg daily. So today I am very gassy and have abdominal discomfort, as per usual with increasing the metformin. I also want to get onto this garmin site that was suggested and see what I can do to sync up. I had 2 walks yesterday!

I had typed another post and tried to copy and repost because I had gotten a phone call and when I got ready to paste, it was gone.

Fatmad - So sorry about the potassium being up. Hope you can get that back down soon.

Carol Sue I just read in an article from WebMD that diabetics can wait up to 5 hrs between meals. I was glad to hear that since I do very well some days waiting 4 or 5 hrs between meals and find that my bs readings are almost normal most of the time when I do that. When doing IE, it is not unusual for me to go up to 5 hrs between meals. It is good to know that it is not a problem for most diabetics. Of course, I will have to be attentive doing it now because of the Trulicity, however, the times I've gone 5 hrs I do seem to do very well.

Things are getting ready to be normal again. Daddy has been released from his homebound therapy as of today. He will soon be released from his homebound nurse either this week or the next. I will continue going to do his meds as he said something yesterday about him being more comfortable for me to set them up for him. I do that once a week. I may decide to start doing them 2 weeks at a time when we get his refills. The nurse and therapist told him that once he is released from them that he can start driving again. The therapist asked him why he isn't driving now and he told them that his daughters wouldn't let him. We think he needs to be released to drive by his cardiologist. At least that is what we were told at his last appointment with the PA. He will see the cardiologist on March 6th. I don't think it would hurt for him to wait that long if we can get him to wait.

IE is working very well for me. I've got a few books on it that I already have and I also ordered a kindle book that was recommended by the FB group. I've gained a little weight, but I knew that would/could happen when switching back to IE, but decided this morning that it is time to calm down and settle back into a more mindful eating. I am blessed that I normally want what I consider healthier choices and some of those choices I really like even though they are diet foods. I made a fruit cup with LF Greek yogurt for breakfast, just because that was what I was hungry for. We went to the store when we left Daddy's yesterday and I got some things I really do like to eat and most of it was healthy foods. LOL

p.a. and others reading. :wave:

Y'all have a good day.

Hi kids!
I'm back after about a year.
It's still a worthy battle, so I'm re-engaged.

Mad, I was reading up on high potassium and it seems it is really a serious concern. You mentioned in your earlier post that it was just slightly high. Did you doctor say how he wants you to proceed with that? There were some suggestions online, such as drinking a lot of water, exercising, avoiding foods that contain potassium. Also, there are certain meds that can raise potassium levels.

Trish, it's good that your Dad mentioned that he wants you to continue taking care of his meds, because that indicates that he's really not comfortable doing it himself. You don't want him to make a mistake with them.

Welcome back Watercolor! Good to see you. How have you been doing with your weight loss journey? I was looking back on some of your past posts where you mentioned you have celiac. Are you still managing that successfully?

Morning everyone
Doing well here,, weight loss is up and down . I'm eating lower (then before) carb . I'm following a lady called Casey Duranger who has lost 92 pounds on Keto diet. She is on YouTube and Facebook. Her body has changed so much she's only eating when hungry , which is often 1 meal a day. Now she did say at first it was more but as her body adjusted she needed less and less. I'm trying to 'listen' to my body and only eat when hungry.
One of her approaches is to not add a lot of fat to your food but to eat the natural fat occurring fat in food. So she dosnt load up everything with tons of butter, cream etc. She will add a tiny bit of some fat if she wants to such as a bit of butter on broccoli.
She talks a lot about a Dr.Westman(?) I believe is his name. But I haven't looked into him. There is a list of approved foods to eat though,,,
She did not exercise at all during this journey but now wants to strengthen her body. She's over 60 and has done amazing!
She talks about how this way of eating heals your body from the inside..
So I'm really trying to focus more on eating this way ...

Hi Carol, Trish, Mad and Watercolor!!!

Hi p.a. Good to hear from you that you are doing better with carbs. I think I have heard of Casey Duranger, and I know I've heard of Dr Westman and have read his books. As soon as I hear "keto" I lose interest because I don't think I could ever eat that way and stick to it long term, and I'm on the fence as to whether I actually consider it healthy, because vegetables are a big part of my diet. I guess if I would go as close to keto as I could I might find that I'm successful. Actually, I am jealous of people like Casey who do this and lose such an incredible amount of weight and keep it off. Just not jealous enough to do it myself. Also, I don't like to hear when people say they lost without exercising. Exercise is important for so many other things besides weight loss.

I rarely feel hungry, what I would consider real hunger. I know I should work toward that. There is just too much food in our house to pick at. Too many times I find myself eating because it's meal time, or many times it's something leftover from another meal. I still have a hard time throwing food away. I have a lot of demons to face. With me, I don't think it's what I eat, but how much and how often.

Take last night for example. We went to Bob Evans. I had grilled salmon with carrots and broccoli. Very healthy meal. But in the evening DH got out the potato chips and it was all over for me. If he didn't bring them out I would have never thought of them. For a while I did very well with not eating something just because he was eating it, but I'm sliding back to old habits. It's a constant struggle for me.

Trish, here is how I understand the 4-5 hour deal for diabetics. You should leave 4-5 hours between meals to allow your blood sugar to come back down. If you eat a snack between that time, your are keeping your blood sugar high. This is why I test before meals, to be sure my blood sugar is not too high, because by eating, I will just be raising it higher. This is a problem I have. Also, you should not let more than 5 hours pass without eating, because after 5 hours, your body will release glucose because it isn't getting any food. And your meals should be small because if you eat too much you will get a higher blood sugar spike. Because of these issues, diabetics should not eat one meal a day, as some do with IF. Most of the time that one meal would be bigger than the smaller meals we are supposed to eat.

There's also the second meal effect. If you eat a low carb meal, the glucose response to carbs in the next meal will be lower.

Now, I'm not saying this is correct. It's just the way I understand the things I've read. On the other hand, Dr Fung says that IF is the way to cure/control diabetes. Some people on another forum who have done Fung Fasting for extended periods of time say that their blood sugar has come down. It gets confusing because you don't know who to believe, or maybe like we always say, it's different for each person.

Now I thought of something else. When you do IE and don't eat until you are hungry, that doesn't take into consideration that there are other people, such as DH, whom you normally eat with. DH ate banana bread for breakfast today so he didn't make breakfast. I still wasn't actually hungry at noon, but I ate, because we normally eat dinner around 4 or 5, and I knew DH was going to want his dinner. It's really not practical to do IE when you have meals with another person. So what's wrong with eating every 4-5 hours whether you are hungry or not? That is a reasonable amount of time for your body to require fuel.

Once I get started, I just don't shut up! LOL

Welcome back Watercolor. Hope all is going well with you.

p.a. Dr. Westman is one of the 3 doctors who wrote the book "The New Atkins for a New You". He holds classes or meetings (?) not sure which at Duke's University in N.C helping people learn how to eat low carb and improve their health. I learned about him from a woman on another lowcarb site I was on when doing lowcarb who had gone to some of his meetings. I think he also has some YouTube things himself. He also has some books he has written you can find on Amazon. Never heard of Casey Duranger, but I do believe that you could heal your body just as she says. In fact, when I my doctor told me I was diabetic again after having it under control for many years, I got on Atkins and within 6 months all my blood work including diabetes was back in normal range. I was stupid and went back to eating the way I had been eating before and I've never been able to get back on Atkins again. Just can't stay with it because it doesn't fit my lifestyle. That actually sound stupid as I wrote it doesn't it. I know a way of eating that would make me completely healthy again and I cannot do it because it doesn't fit my lifestyle. Makes me wonder why, my health and life isn't more important than my lifestyle. Maybe I should think about that one. :( Thinking that way should actually make me :mad: :?:

Carol Sue I agree about the waiting 4 - 5 hrs shouldn't matter even if I eat one of those meals at a certain time to fit it into my lifestyle with DH. I have to do that for one meal each day too. Which probably doesn't fit into IE 100%. I remember reading where a man said that he ate toward his meter or something like that. He never really explained what that meant but I often thought that just maybe, I might use my meter to check and see what my bs reading is before eating and make a rule that if it isn't low enough then maybe I really wasn't hungry. However, I haven't ever tried it. Might be something to think about.

I've been having stomach trouble which I realized is what causes my lightheadedness. Maybe smaller meals would work better for me rather than 3 larger meals a day. Or maybe I'm just eating too much at a meal. At least I'm not having potty issues.

I recetly read an article from WebMD that says some people either cannot eat any or very little fiber. I copied the article because according to what it says, that may be why I was having all the problems I have had in the past with having to run to the potty. I should be careful eating too much broccoli :(, my favorite, and I already know that I cannot eat coleslaw any more. So I'm going to be watching that a little closer.

I joined IE group on FB and they were talking about paying attention to how food makes you feel when you eat it. Does it make you feel. I know that some food makes me feel sluggish or leaves me feeling no energy and some food makes me really feel energetic.

Didn't get to go out with my DS and DD. I came out of the beauty shop to go to Daddy's and my sister was sitting there and said "You have a low tire." I told her I didn't know how to put air in the tire and she didn't either. So we decided that I needed to come home and let DH take care of it. He just came in and said that it had a nail and staple in it. I probably picked it up somewhere in the neighborhood since they are still building houses here. He plugged it and hopefully it will fix it. If not we will have to have it changed and get another one.

Y'all have a good weekend.

Hey everyone: Re the high potassium, given that its the only value that is high, I am pretty sure it is being caused by the blood draw, and some of the blood cells are hemolyzing (being ruptured) and thats causing the problem. I did a draw on Thursday, and did it just before the pickup and put a rush on it, so hope that will help. Next step is to do it at the lab, and you may know how much I hate that. Lab techs don't seem to care if they hurt you, and I often have pain for a while after a blood draw at the lab, which NEVER happens at my office. I have taught so many students to draw blood, and they never hurt me that way.
Weight is also down another pound, slow and stead loss.
Carol Sue, I agree, having certain foods around has an effect. When its not in the house, its much easier. DH and I have talked about this, and we are minimizing the junk in general, for my sake, and I have agreed to get rid of the alcohol in the house for his. He does better at avoiding the drinks than I do the food, but we can support each other to keep temptation at bay.
Hello to all, have a good weekend.

I thought about what I wrote yesterday... "Why am I willing to allow my lifestyle to dictate what diet I am on when I know it will lead me down the road to an healthy end?" I even discussed this with my sister. So I decided that I don't want to go down that road any longer.
p.a. I listened to a few of Casey's YouTube talks on getting started on Keto and I liked what I saw and heard. I like the fact that she also shares in another one what she ate that day. She is good at explaining how we do not need so much protein and she said she doesn't eat but about 13 carbs most days. Those were some of the things I didn't like when I did Atkins/LC before. Where she really sold me on this was when she said that she is over 60 and how we have been told we can't lose weight as we get older. She also shared that she knew she had to do something when she started eating this way because she didn't ever want to have to take insulin because of T2 diabetes. I think she hit every area I am concerned with in my own life. I also went to Amazon.com and got Dr. Eric Westman's book for free on my kindle.

I don't know if I will stay under 20 carbs throughout my weight loss, but I will start with it the way Atkins people do. Today is day one of the plan. I will do it for at least an AI period of 2 weeks.

I had eggs, bacon, cheese and collard greens scrambled together this morning. We have to go to Daddy's this afternoon so I can get his meds ready for next week so we will eat out. I am going to suggest Gold Corral so I can stay OP. I can have their roast beef and greens without any starches. Perfect for eating this way.

Thanks p.a. for sharing it with us.

Mad Thanks for sharing your situation. I was concerned about the high potassium too. When my 2nd husband's potassium went up the doctor put him in the hospital to get it off ASAP. So wondered but hadn't had time to ask you about it. I also know you are in nursing and you know what you are doing.

Have good day everybody.

Day 1 of the Keto diet, my calories were under 1200 and my carbs were 17. I also did 20 minutes on the recumbent bike. I am happy with the results. My sodium was up a little, but not that much and the good thing about that is that it will keep me from waking up in the middle of the night with leg cramps. I did get a little hungry to night and the diet allows up to 4 oz of cheese so I had 2. I think if things keep going this good, I will have no problem with it. Although I am doing this more of IE way since Dr. Westman says not to eat until you are hungry and eat only as much as it takes to satisfy hunger. So I am till using MFP because it makes counting the carbs so much easier.

p.a. Did you sign up for Casey's blog or do you just go read there?

Headed to bed. I will check in tomorrow evening before I go to bed. I think I will check in with my progress each night to hold myself accountable. I read this way of eating is also good for my joints. I am looking forward to my knuckles not being so stiff.

Hey all, just a quick stop by.
Trish and Carol Sue, I just haven't been able to sustain low carb, as much because of other people in my life. I don't to all the cooking, what with working and irregular hours, and DH doesn't want low carb. SO same issue as intuitive eating. Not sure how to adjust for that.
Am interested though

Mad, it's difficult to do IF or IE when you have someone else to consider unless they follow the same plan, like Trish's DH. I just had this discussion with someone on another forum. I used to eat breakfast and lunch and no dinner. Dinner is very important to DH, so now that I'm retired, I eat a late breakfast and dinner around 4, so that works for us. Also, since DH wants his carbs, I cook a side of potatoes or rice for him and I just eat the meat and veggies. When we eat out, it's easy, since we can each order what we want. Since you are still in the work force and sometimes other people are cooking, it's a different situation for you. I have always heard that if you stick to plan 80% of the time, you'll do fine. You need to work through this somehow and find a plan that suits your personal situation....doing low carb when you can, and doing the best you can other times. Your off and on work schedule makes it hard, too.

I brought my weight back down to 1/2 lb above ticker by stopping my night time eating. I hope I can continue that. I don't do Keto but I seldom stray from low carb, and don't beat myself up over it if I do. I am slowly learning what my body needs.