Carol Sue I'm pretty sure that DD using the cane when he goes other places. However, I know many times at home he doesn't use it all the time. It is my understanding that he still uses his walker at night when he goes to bed, because he doesn't want to fall when he goes to the bathroom during the night. I'm pretty confident that he is pretty careful. My step-mom would never do what she was supposed to do to keep from falling so I think that is why he is so careful. He used to get so upset with her because she didn't have to get as bad as she did so quickly if she had done what the doctor's told her to do. She wanted to go home with him so much after she had to go to the nursing home, but he couldn't take care of her any more. She fell so many times that she finally had to use a wheel chair plus her bones were fragile. They finally told her if she fell one more time that it would probably kill her. Thank God he doesn't want to go through that himself or put us girls through that.

My FBS was down to 169 this morning, but my weight was back up to 217.4. I feel like I'm on this crazy roller coaster, but I still believe if I keep doing this that it work out okay.

I did eat almost 1800 calories which the doctors have told me to do, but I do believe they are wrong. The diabetic nutritionist and educator told me that I could eat as much as 1500 calories if I'm doing 30 minutes of exercise each day. I think they are right. So I'm eating around 1200 today. I am also trying to watch the sodium better as well. I've got the starchy carbs down to 55 g today too and will try to keep those closer to 55 or 60. I remember in the book, she said to work at not going over the 75 g. I'm not sure about some foods I eat so I count them too and decided not to subtract fiber. I don't think she did so I won't either. Another lesson learned as I learn how to make this all work for me consistently.

DH goes for bloodwork today. I already told him that I am not going any where today. I've got pork loin steaks in the crockpot trying to get them to cook tender. I did use some gravy in it which I'm not sure I will even eat the gravy. I usually do and did count it in calories/carbs. I usually want it on a slice of Sarah Lee break, but if I don't eat it, it would cut back on the sodium as well as the carbs.

I noticed when looking at taquito on line for cals etc, that McDonalds breakfast burrito would be a nice choice if I ever have to eat breakfast there. I think they use a little more sodium so we don't go there any more because of DD. In fact, it seems that any where we go other than Whataburger DD gets too much sodium so we are stuck going there. LOL

I love steakhouses because it is so easy to eat healthy. I always get a salad with my steak and if I want a sweet potato, I can have it or just get some kind of veggies. Their steamed veggies are always so much better than when I fix them at home.

fatmad Hope all is well with you. I figure you are trying to get moved.

Trish, I think we each have to find out for ourselves how many calories or how much food to eat that allows us to lose in a safe healthy way. I don't believe there is one set number than applies to everyone. If you aren't losing at 1800 calories, lower it a bit. You are eating healthy nutritious food.

I used to eat the sausage burritos from McDonalds when we ate there, but when I saw how many carbs were in the tortilla I started eating the big breakfast and leaving the potato for DH and the biscuit for the birds. LOL Or sometimes I got a Sausage and Egg Biscuit and took off the biscuit. I now realize I could open up the burrito and eat the filling, or just eat a small portion of the tortilla.

A quick flyby getting ready to go to beauty shop.

I was doing very well on this for a while. FBS is still inching down, but my weight is going back up. I'm not willing to lose ground here. However, I am wondering if low carb this way works like VLC does. Weight and measures seem to reverse. People who low carb lose inches more than pounds. I am beginning to think ALL carbs count just as ALL calories do.

I have lowered the calories to 1600 on MFP. I don't go over that often anyway and I don't want to. I am going to watch the carbs better or maybe eat less starchy carbs than the book suggests. Perhaps I read on the Diabetic 2 group that women don't need more than 60 g. I know my veggies won't hurt me so I will shoot for 60 g or less of starchy carbs. In fact, lowering them a little more wouldn't hurt.

Hope you legs are feeling better today Carol Sue. I liked it when you said your friends 94 yr old Dad had a girlfriend. That is another reason I think living in assisted living would be good for my Daddy. I don't think he would ever marry again, he might find someone he would enjoy doing things with. I know he gets lonely and thinks to much about the past. Not good for him.

BBL

Well, one more day I have avoided eating after dinner. I forgot to get on the scale this morning and now I've had coffee and breakfast, so I don't want to do it now. I don't want to get on the scale until I feel that I might have gone below 200. I'm tired of being discouraged.

For 2 days my blood sugar was nearly the same when I got up that it was when I went to bed. It was in the 130 range both days, which is so much better than when it was close to or at 200. So the loss of the night eating is helping tremendously with blood sugar.

I have had pretzels only twice this past week, and only 5 or 6 instead of half the bag. So that's also an improvement. I was craving popcorn one night but DH couldn't find the popcorn we bought. I spotted it right before going to bed, but I wasn't making it then, so I bypassed that problem. If you wait awhile, the craving does go away, I'm learning.

Although my personal plan is to eat no starchy carbs, I do eat them here and there. I don't take a serving, but last night I had roasted chicken with green beans, and 4-5 slices of DH's fried potatoes. Just a taste, and I was satisfied with that. Maybe I would do better if I had none, but I honestly think it's OK to eat a few bites. This morning I had scrambled eggs with some kale mixed in, and a couple bites of DH's french toast. I am doing this because I read that people who do zero carb become much more carb sensitive than those who eat small amounts. I am able to eat small amounts without it becoming a binge.

From the way DH is behaving today, I think he is going to want to go to the casino. I know the signs. LOL My meal there will be a cobb salad, since we don't have coupons for the buffet. We only eat the buffet when we have a coupon.

Trish, I would not count vegetables as carbs, but would count all others, including fruit, because fruit contains sugar. That's just my own opinion. I believe Diabetics have to make tweaks that other do not have to make based on their own results.

I just entered my food from yesterday into Fitday. I had 1100 calories. 40% fat, 20% carb, and 40 % protein. I don't know if the macros are good or not, but I had 60 gm of carb. I am surprised at the 1100 calories, but I don't know if it calculates them correctly or not, especially for the chicken. I did not weigh or measure it, but just eyeballed it, so it might have been higher calorie. I did not feel stuffed or hungry, but did get hungry in the middle of the night. I get that every night that I don't eat in the evening, but by morning, the hunger is gone. I think it's just caused by the ups and down of my blood sugar during the night.

All I know is I have come such a long way from the quantity of food I used to eat. I really miss toast. I think if my blood sugar is good before we leave for the casino I will have a piece of toast and maybe a piece of chicken to hold me over until we eat at the casino. And I will try very hard not to eat any pretzels or crackers on the long ride home. LOL Maybe thinking of my Onederland goal will keep me from indulging.

Hi everyone! I was looking for an active thread on pre-diabetes and so glad to have found one! I need to read up on all the insight here, but seeking some advice ...
so I have been pre-diabetic since my last pregnancy, but generally everything was stable even though I was eating like a pig (in hindsight, really like a carb-loving pig)... Gradually my AC1 levels had been rising and I already suffer from high blood pressure.
About 6 weeks ago or so (FINALLY), I decided to change how I eat for life, and lose the enourmous weight I've been carrying around and never getting around to. I started eating the way I did during gestational diabetes (where I was very much able to keep very normal numbers through portion and carb control)... I started doing a little bit of carb cycling but am generally really strict with carbs. Like a piece of fruit every other day - no potatos, rice, pasta, bread at all ever. I lost 10lbs and at first my sugar levels seemed to be getting much better - I hit normal under 100 for fasting blood sugar a couple times.
But something's gone weird lately. Even with a super low carb diet, I've seen numbers like 122-130 first thing in the morning - yikes! Numbers I never saw even during carb binging. Also my weight loss seems to have stalled the last 10 days or so.
I'm trying to understand more about blood sugar and how to best control it while losing weight. With having weighed 100lbs less than I do now before, I HAVE to believe that losing the weight will do wonders for my health. But trying to figure out what works best for sugar impaired tolerance people, and especially how to best control fasting blood sugar. During the day after meals, my readings are always normal - even though higher than they'd been in the past. (I don't hit the 80s anymore). But the general pattern is they are highest in the morning and taper off over the course of the day.

any thoughts/words of advice?

Hi Facingfacts. Good to see you here. Sorry to hear you have been diagnosed pre-diabetic. It's good that you are looking to take care of it now. I was never told I was pre-diabetic, and not diagnosed until I was full blown diabetic. You are actually at an advantage. You were informed early and have the opportunity to stop this in it's tracks.

Are you on any medication? Some doctors start their patients on Metformin right away and some don't. My advice would be to limit your carbs as much as possible. Each person is different, and we each have to find just how much carb we can eat and still control our blood sugar. What works for me might not be right for you, and vice versa.

My eating gets out of control now and then and my blood sugar readings and A1c suffer for it. I am very carb sensitive, but I have a hard time giving them up. Do you know about the Dawn Phenomen? That's what makes blood sugar go higher in the morning. I have recently been working toward lowering my fasting readings and have found that not eating anything after dinner is working. My morning reading are still too high, but they have been improving with this new eating schedule. It's hard, I admit. But I don't want to lose my eyesight or my toes, so I'm trying very hard to do what I know I have to do.

You are right that losing weight will improve your health. Hopefully, watching your carbs closely will help with weight loss and bring your blood sugar readings and A1c down. Exercise helps lower blood sugar too. Even taking a brisk walk after meals can do wonders.

I'm hoping you'll come back and discuss this further. We will try to help you however we can.

In the meantime, here is a website that has a lot of information.

http://www.phlaunt.com/diabetes/

And you can also read Dr Fung's Blog on Intensive Dietary Management.

This is a very happy morning for me. My weight finally went below 200. I know I have been in Onderland before, but not for a long time, so now I need to work at staying there and continuing down.

Yesterday at the casino I had a cobb salad, with chicken and hard boiled egg. I was satisfied after eating that but got really hungry by bedtime, but I didn't eat anything. When we left the casino it was 97, and at bedtime, with nothing to eat or drink, it was 111, still pretty low for me. When I got up this morning at 9 it was 124. So I got hit with the Dawn Phenomenon, but that is still lower than my past morning readings, so I am satisfied, and hopeful that it continues to come down.

Trish, do you remember before my foot started hurting I was having cramps in my calves? Well, the foot pain is subsiding. It is more like an ache now than a pain, but now the cramps are coming back. I don't understand. The cramps are just during the night, and without the foot pain I can walk so much better and hopefully get back to exercising.

facingfacts12 We are glad to have you here. I see you have already lost 10 lbs. CONGRATULATIONS!! You are on the right track. Not much I can add to what Carol Sue has shared. It is good that you are working to take care of this now. And yes, as you lose weight and should be able to get your bs under control. I've done that a number of times myself, but I have to tell you that the main thing I did was that I didn't make my way of eating to get the weight and blood sugar a lifestyle.

My previous doctor back in S.C. told me to find a way of eating that I could live with the rest of my life. That is what I am trying to do now. Exercise is also key to lowering blood sugar. Good luck on your journey. And feel free to check in and ask questions. If we don't know the answer, we will do our best to find it. That is what we do. And remember, what works for someone else may not be what works for you. This also a lesson of learning what works for us as individuals.

Carol Sue for reaching onderland. I knew you were going to reach it sometime soon. Very happy for you.

I'm glad the foot is better, but sorry the leg cramps are back. Not sure why. I just re-read what you ate yesterday. You didn't eat a whole lot and I doubt you had enough sodium. If you remember, Atkins says when sodium is too low that it can cause leg cramps. Take that plus the fact that Metformin can cause leg cramps, I think that just might be the problem. You aren't taking the magnesium any more are you? You know you can eat a few nuts to get the magnesium you need to help with those leg cramps too and probably not have the side effects of the pill.

I think I have figured out how I must eat. I ate less starchy carbs (although not as low as I thought I should) and total calories were less than 1600 yesterday. Kept the calories barely over 1500. I was rewarded on the scales this morning with weight back down about 3 lbs. I hope I will be able to hold on to it as my WI is tomorrow on MFP. My FBS was down to 163 and after my 1st cup of coffee before breakfast and after 32 minutes of exercise, it was 142. My afternoon bs readings before main meal is still good. It was 111 yesterday. My bp has been great lately running in the 1 teens over sixties. I believe this way of eating of lowering the starchy carbs to less than 75 g and calories lower than 1500 along with exercise is working. I think eating 2 meals and a small snack in the evening is working so well because of the way I ate growing up. My calories for today will be 1330.

I suspect that is why your plan is working so well for you too because you only ate 2 meals a day growing up. I experienced last night what you did the other night. I got so hungry last night and thought about getting a protein snack, but I decided to see what time it was. It was so close to time for me to go to bed and I decided it was too late to eat anything so I went to bed instead. I try not to eat anything for a minimum of 4 hrs before bedtime.

I forgot to take a berberine before breakfast yesterday because we went to beauty shop before meeting DD and DS's DH for breakfast. Although I only took 2 of them yesterday the FBS etc was still pretty good today continuing to steadily go down. I'm going to try to remember to take all 3 today and take them 1 hr before I eat like I am supposed to do.

DS takes Vanilla NF yogurt, some SF pudding powder and nuts and has that for a meal. I decided that is going to be my evening snack each night. It will feel like a treat and be the signal that eating is over for the day. Hopefully that will keep me from being hungry at night.

DD and DS are now eating taquitos for breakfast when we meet. DBIL ate with us yesterday and Whataburger has a new thing. A charrizo taquito. I'm going to check it out and see how it compares with the one I usually eat and see if I can sub it sometimes. I think it is just more of a Mexican type and a little spicy. I don't always do well with spicy.

Have a great day.

ladies thank you for the welcome and encouraging words!
I watched my calories closer yesterday - and Carol, what you said about not eating a late dinner and not snacking after is SO true.. its often made all the difference for me also, as it did yesterday - I was rewarded with a 1.5lb drop this morning. And my blood sugar was better at 106. I'm not on any medications at all. In fact my dr has been EXTREMELY casual it seems with all this. I'm on blood pressure meds and I think she's focused on controlling that. I'm hoping that losing weight and getting healthy will take care of BP and BS.

Yes, I'd been reading all about the dawn phenomenon - trying to understand it and how to deal with. One day when I was watching my sugar patterns I was stunned when I had a low 100s reading first thing in the morning, but then before I ever ate, it shot up to like 130. How??? I have a LOT of weight to lose so hopefully all this will help.
congratulations on being in ONEderland!! What I would GIVE to be there! I'm hoping by mid spring... fingers and toes crossed. The vision of myself there is wonderful just by itself. I haven't been there is... sigh... maybe like 8 or 9 years. How sad to say.

pattygirl63, so glad your numbers are down. I'm still learning all the terminology! Its so true that figuring out the right way to eat that's both healthy and maintainable is such a big part of it all. But in a way, its fun to find out what it is that makes OUR own bodies more healthy vs not.

Trish, a few months back my grocery store had a clearance on Chocolate SF Coffee Creamer. I didn't like it and went back to my French Vanilla, but I didn't throw the chocolate away. Now I've been using it in my plain Greek yogurt, and that is a nice treat, like your sister used the pudding mix. After this Chocolate Coffee Creamer is gone I am going to try Diet Hot Chocolate Mix. I have some of that and don't drink it much. I might also try the pudding mix.

Findingfacts, I first got into Onederland in 2008. Then I started bouncing up and down and have been doing that ever since. I'm sorry to say that I have not been successful with weight loss. I try, but do have a hard time staying on plan for more than a few days. Right now I'm thankful that I haven't been gaining. I am not a young woman, and I have a lot of health problems, most of them cause by poor lifestyle choices. That's why I try to advise the younger ones to catch the problems now, before they get worse.

I'm glad your blood sugar was better today.

My blood sugar spiked a bit today as I had a grilled cheese sandwich for dinner. I knew it would happen but I was craving that sandwich. I will not beat myself up, as I don't make a habit of doing that.

Carol Sue I have learned that if I don't satisfy the craving, I end up eating everything I can get my hands on because I didn't satisfy something I evidently needed. However, if I go ahead and have the food I'm craving it satisfies me and I probably won't want it again for weeks or even months. I'm learning now to just eat them within my allowed calories.

That is one thing I like about My Plan is that there are no foods I cannot have as long as I keep the calories within the 1500 to 1600 limit and my starchy carbs within 75 g or less. Makes this so much easier so that I do not feel the need to cheat. And I think for me that is key.

Trish, I also allow all foods, but know that certain ones raise my blood sugar and prefer to limit them. That's why I don't beat myself up over the grilled cheese sandwich. It wasn't the best choice for me, but in the past I would eat 2 grilled cheese sandwiches at once, so having one was an improvement. I have not been counting either calories or carbs. For the most part, I have been only eating when I'm hungry and eating what I want, while being mindful of carbs and also portions. I wish I could get back to tracking my food on Fitbit so I would know how many calories I'm eating, and my macros, but I don't have a certain calorie or carb count that I'm aiming for. I know from the past that I can lose if I stay below 1500 calories. As for carbs, only very small portions of carb keep my blood sugar in line. By small portion, I mean a couple bites of something like bread, pasta, rice sweets, eaten along with a protein and vegetable meal. So other than keeping my carbs to a minimum, I can't say that I'm following any plan. Sometimes when I track I'm surprised to see that my food for the day was only 1100 calories. Other days, they might be 1700 or 1800. I never eat more to come up to a certain calorie count because I know that on other days I may go over. Having said all this, the weight is not falling off, but it's not piling on, either. I have not had a significant gain in 9 years. Never more than a few pounds up and down. Maybe if I was more diligent in tracking I would avoid those days when I'm at 1700 or 1800 calories and would continue to lose, but that's how it's been for me thus far.

Recently I have only been taking 1/2mg of Glimiperide twice a day. Yesterday, because of the grilled cheese sandwich I had to take 2mg because of the spike. I was still below the prescribed dose for the day of 4 mg. My blood sugar this morning was up a little, at 154. I did not get on the scale. I will wait a few days when I feel as though I might have lost another pound before I get weighed again. I don't even want to see a 2 again. LOL

facingfacts12It is really good if you can keep your bs down without medication. I took Metformin for years and suddenly could not take it because of potty issues and I told my doctor that I was not going to take it any more. I like to go places and I couldn't go any where and enjoy myself because I might have to run to the restroom.

When I moved back to TX, I went on Trulicity, but I went into a Gap on my Part D insurance and the payments went to over $135 a month. Now I got word from next years coverage and it is going to cost me half which going by last years cost of it would cost me over $300. I can't take some of the other meds because I have a tendency toward yeast infections and the doctor I had in S.C. wouldn't give me glimieride because he said I would gain weight so I'm on my own. I did read on another diabetic site that some doctors are giving the ones who can't take Metformin a natural pill I purchase on Amazon called berberine. I have been taking it for almost a month. They say you take it about 90 days before you see any real results. I decided to give it a chance.

For the first time since I was diagnosed, certain foods are actually causing my bs to come down. I was first diagnosed years ago when my previous husband was living. That is when I learned that the yeast infection I had was because my bs was high and I was diabetic. It took me less than 2 weeks with exercise and diet to the blood sugar under control and was taken off the medication. I remained diabetic free for years. When I moved to S. C., I went to see a doctor when I got on Medicare. I told the doctor I thought my blood sugar was up again and he verified that it was. I went on Metformin which worked fine for a while until I couldn't take it again.

He nor I could ever understand why I could eat oatmeal and my bs would go up because it should have brought it down from what my FBS was that day. He decided after a while that maybe I must be insulin resistant more than diabetic. Now for the first time, I can check my FBS as I did this morning and it was 159 then after I drank my cup of coffee, it was 143 instead of up as it always was before. This has only begun to happen this past week.

facingfacts12 I share all this because I think that is how things are supposed to be after we eat when our bs is functioning correctly. I noticed you said that your bs seems to work that way for you which tells me that your blood sugar has not gotten out of whack yet. I believe if you continue doing what you need to do by eating the way you can make your lifestyle that you will get your bs under control and never have to deal with all that goes with full fledge diabetes. You are pre-diabetic which means you can get it under control and keep it under control. I wish I had done that when I was younger. Learn what works for you. If you find something working for you, don't be influenced by anyone else who tells you to do it a different way. I did that for years and I think I messed my system up. In fact, I was diabetic until I was doing something that was supposed to be so good for my body.

My Mama had died from the results of cancer and I was determined not to ever have it. So I was doing a body cleanse that was so popular back in the early 1990s. I started itching so bad and I would ask the practitioner when this was going to stop, but I was told I was cleansing all the impurities out of my body. I had a terrible vaginal rash that I could not get rid of and I was embarrassed to go to the doctor and I didn't have any insurance. Finally, my sister made me an appointment with her doctor and insisted I go. I never told him about the cleansing, but I lied about how long I had the rash and I told him, I was embarrassed about the rash as I was dumb and thought it was a sexual thing. He said to me "it isn't that kind of rash" although it was a yeast infection. The cleansing had caused me to get my blood sugar out of whack and I was now diabetic. So be careful as there are a lot of crazy ideas out there.

Another thing I learned. This is your journey and it is you body. I have learned to do what works for me. I trust my doctor and some other people but I have learned to take responsibility for my own health. Be as honest as you can with your doctor. I ask questions. I want to know exactly what I'm taking and what it does to me. Example. My doctor wanted me to go on statins. I believe statins are what caused my husband to be diabetic. He is thin, he has no history of it in his family, but statins will cause diabetes from what I've read of their side effects. I'm trying to get my blood sugar under control so why would I take something that causes diabetes? I refuse to take them.

I hope this helps you and keeps you off the roller coaster I've been on for years. It has taken me a long time to get things working right.

Carol Sue I am proud of you and me because we have worked so hard for so long to learn what works for us. I understand exactly where you are coming from on how there are some foods you just can't allow in your eating although they are not really "off" your allowed foods.

I have learned how to make this work for me and I am now learning how to eat certain foods within the calorie/carb counts. I'm doing pretty good about keeping the starchy carbs below 60 g right now and it is working. I think I shared that I set MFP calories at 1600, but I work at keeping them closer to 1500.

I know that DH and I have always gone nuts with Halloween candy which I thinks stems from our childhood. I have cut down how many pieces I eat and the neat thing is now that I can have them, they are losing their grasp on me. My new goal isn't to not eat any but to eat only 1 bite size piece. I take a bite and savor it the way Intuitive Eating says to do. It is my hope that it will come to the place to where I can have it in the house and have no desire for it at all. I've learned that with potato chips and if I can do it with candy/sweets it will be a milestone for me.

I always knew my Mama was a sweet eater, but didn't know about my Daddy. He asked us the other day if we had ever eaten a certain chocolate candy. DS and I said no and I told him that I had never heard of it. He said, "That is because your Mother and I bought a package when they were on the trip and at the whole thin". He said, "I told your Mother we have to go back and buy some of these for the kids". He said they went and bought another package and never made it home with it because they ate all of it.

I am convinced a lot of my eating disorders were learned at home growing up. LOL

Weight was down to 215 this morning so according to MFP and the side bar on here, I did manage to lose 1.2 lbs this week. My FBS was 159 this morning and it had come down to 143 just before I ate breakfast. I exercised 120 minutes on the bike besides the active minutes shown on MFP. So it has been a good week because a loss is better than a gain. Plus bloods sugar is still steadily coming down which is something that wasn't happening a year ago. The good thing is that it is happening without medication.

I've been thinking about talking DH into turning out bedroom we were going to use for an office into an exercise room. I would like to put my bike in there and get a treadmill for walking. I wouldn't mind getting some kind of weights to use in there as well. Not sure I can talk him into it but it would be very good for us and weather would never be a problem.

fatmad I am thinking the way moves go that you are probably getting ready to be moved into your new place by the end of the month. I hope all is going well for you.

Y'all have a blessed day.