Just Diagnosed with T2 Diabetes

Nomoremrbigguy

Hello. My name is Chris. I am 5 11 and 257 pounds and was just diagnosed with T2 diabetes. I have a beautiful 9 year old daughter, an amazing girlfriend, and a job as a teacher I love. I have much to live for. I am interested in getting to know other people who are dealing with diabetes and working to reverse/manage their diabetes with lifestyle changes. Please friend me if you are looking for the same thing.

thegreatcanook

A horrible disease...My father-in-law's death because of it lit a fire under my wife and I to take charge of our health. Feel free to add me!

RachelSteeners

I'm sorry to hear that. What was your A1C? Has your doctor referred you to a nutritionist?

I am currently pre-diabetic. My initial A1C was 6.6% then after three months of diet and weight loss I was able to reduce it to 5.5%!

ImaHazelnut

Hearing the words "You have diabetes" can be quite a shock, but it sounds like you are taking a positive approach. Wishing you all the best on your journey!

angcharmil

Hi Hang in there , last year I got my sugars down from 28 to 6.2 , have had a lot of stress this year and Iam now doing it all again , I too work as a teacher ... would love to support you and bounce ideas of each other :

inneedofanap

Sorry you're dealing with this. I've been diagnosed with Metabolic Syndrome that includes pre-diabetes. I'm having my A1C drawn Monday. Keeping my fingers crossed. Getting your weight down, as I'm sure you know, should be your best chance at keeping your disease in check. Good luck to you!

Nomoremrbigguy

Rachel, Wow - terrific! My initial A1C was 7%. I have only had one test. I haven't been referred to a nutritionist but I have been doing a lot of reading. What changes did you make in your diet?

Nomoremrbigguy

Thank you. , Ima

Nomoremrbigguy

Exer, I am still learning - when you say 28 to 6 do you mean A1C?

Nomoremrbigguy

Inneed, I wish you good health!

angcharmil

Hi there, no that was my BSL but after 6 months of no processed food and walking everywhere my A1c was 6 lower than the recommended for diabetes . Good Luck

poedunk65

Dude, been there. Watch Forks Over Knives if you would like to control it without meds. Friend me and I will help all I can.

GlucernaBrand

Ask your doctor for a referral to a diabetes education program so that you can learn as much as possible about how to manage diabetes. Are you testing your blood sugar levels? That's an excellent way to learn how different foods, exercise, stress and sleep habits affect your blood sugar. You have a positive, I can do this attitude, and that's going to carry you far. ~Lynn /Glucerna

spoiledpuppies

I don't have experience, but I just wanted to say good for you for looking to manage this through your lifestyle. Best of luck!

SandraJN

I have insulin resistance, diagnosed in March. I never did eat processed food or have a soda habit, but I did eat a lot of simple carbs. I have cut all simple carbs from my diet, anything white. Potatoes and rice, including brown rice, head right into sugar and spike fast. I feel so much better, I can't even begin to say how much. I've lost 33 of the 80 lbs I have to lose and this alone brought my blood pressure back to normal. I'll have blood work done again in Sept. to see how all of my other stats are.

You can do this, it's not nearly as difficult as I thought. Add me if you want a bootcamp food buddy! I'll leave that up to you. :laugh:

handbagfan

Hi,
I don't have it, but my dad, Grandad and uncles all had it so I decided to start looking after myself as I'm over the big 50 (selfish huh?) Earlier this year my husband was diagnosed with it and we have been working hard to lose weight. Unfortunately he can't do very much exercise due to spinal issues and very bad Arthr. So I do know a little of what you're going through. You sound very positive and Yes you have a lot to look forward to. I also work in a school and although children and parents are kind / thoughtful its sooooo hard at term ends due to all the sweets, cakes and chocolates we get Anyway just want to say I wish you good luck on your journey.

zcb94

I know exactly how you feel. There's a Type II Diabetes support group on here that has been a fountain of strength for me. Let me FR you, then invite you into it.

TheRealNoodlette

I have insulin resistance, diagnosed in March. I never did eat processed food or have a soda habit, but I did eat a lot of simple carbs. I have cut all simple carbs from my diet, anything white. Potatoes and rice, including brown rice, head right into sugar and spike fast. I feel so much better, I can't even begin to say how much. I've lost 33 of the 80 lbs I have to lose and this alone brought my blood pressure back to normal. I'll have blood work done again in Sept. to see how all of my other stats are.

You can do this, it's not nearly as difficult as I thought. Add me if you want a bootcamp food buddy! I'll leave that up to you. :laugh:

This is me too! I have cut out grains as well and eat mostly Paleo and it has made a huge difference in my life. I started my new lifestyle in March and I have lost 40 lbs since then. I joined this community a few days ago because I needed more support and it's been great!

I have craved sweets for my entire life it seems, and I was trying to be "healthier" by eating things like dried fruit, but it really affected my bloodwork. I think the most important thing to do is to cut out sugar and simple carbohydrates first. There are lots of different methods of weight loss (nutritional ketosis, Weight Watchers, South Beach Diet), but for T2 and pre-diabetic types, it's really important to monitor our sugar intake. Watch Sugar: The Bitter Truth by Dr. Lustig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

Good luck!

HeatherScottTN

You are right... You have LOTS of Great reasons to want to get healthier and Live Longer! You came to a Great place to start making yourself much more away of what you eat and how much. LOG Everything you eat. Put the app on your cell phone...mine has a great option when I"m looking up the food to scan the barcode on the item....speeds up the logging process and accuracy. I'm not a diabetes expert but there's lots to read online.

I suggest you log your food so you become aware.

Cut out all processed junk sugar (especially due to the diabetes)

Cut out the bread, potatoes, corn, peas (especially due to the diabetes)

buy as close to real whole food as possible

Oh yea, just thought of this... check out the WHOLE 30 as a kick start consideration...

Good Luck... well, actually, it's not luck.. it's work. Good Work to you! You CAN DO THIS! You have lots of reasons, take them serious. Invest in improving... it's a struggle. I just came back today... really want to make it happen this time. ya know!

Let's do this... Health is our reward! One Choice at a time!

HeatherScottTN

Ok, so after I blah blah blah... I see you are logging your food already so good for you! CONGRATS on your weight loss already.... keep after it... the small choices, really do ADD up! You can do this....

FatFreeFrolicking

Rachel, Wow - terrific! My initial A1C was 7%. I have only had one test. I haven't been referred to a nutritionist but I have been doing a lot of reading. What changes did you make in your diet?

I don't have diabetes but I have insulin resistance and hypoglycemia (I also take Metformin). Diet is similar for both diabetes and IR though.

This is what my dietician told me:

Keep processed foods at a minimum
Avoid simple carbohydrates
Complex carbohydrates only
Never eat carbs alone- always pair with protein and fat
Lots of veggies
Berries have a lower carb/sugar content
30 grams of carbs or less per meal
15 grams of carbs or less per snack
6 small meals a day or 3 larger meals with 2-3 snacks
Eat every 3-4 hours
Drink a lot of water- at least 11 cups a day
No soda, juice, sugary coffee
Minimal alcoholic beverages
Protein, protein, and MORE PROTEIN

By the way, I looked at your diary and your carb intake is WAYYY too high. As a male, your carb intake should be 180 grams a day or less in order to keep your blood sugar stable and prevent spikes. Also, start tracking protein in your food diary!!

RodaRose

Find all the ways to add more veggies to your plan: baked, grilled, steamed, raw, sautéed, pickled,. . .
Grilled Romaine
Baked Kale
Steamed Asparagus
Sautéed Mushrooms
Zucchini Slaw
Curry Pickled Cauliflower

Mauthos

Was diagnosed at age 27, supposedly very young for a white male, but them are the breaks (did find out it was in the family on my father's side eventually though).

Things got bad in the last 3 years and I ended up on insulin, but now due to weightloss and a lot of exercise weekly I am off of insulin and lowering slowly all other meds. It is daunting to find you have this diagnosis, but eventually you will realise as long as you are careful and look after yourself, it shouldn't affect you too much.

Feel free to add me if you want too

amberj32

Hi, nice to meet you! I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in April of this year. My A1c was 11.4 when I was diagnosed. I just got tested again and it was 6%. There is a good group on here for type 2 diabetes. Friend me! :-)

Smirnoff65

I found out at the end of December that I had T2 Diabetes, that was the spur I needed to start this journey, my A1C at that time was 16.5 and now it is around 5, the key to it was losing the weight and exercise. When I started I could barely walk a mile without being out of breath, now I'm running 4-5 miles on the treadmill 2 or 3 times a week and walking the same distance in between days. Take this as a positive warning to get you on the right path.

acpgee

Take a look at the Newcastle study, which helped me enormously.

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm

I have managed to reverse my T2 diagnosis by losing 20% of body weight. I was diagnosed in August 2012 with an hba1c of 10+ and put on 2000 mg of metformin daily. After a year of watching my calories and exercising I had lost 10% of body weight and my hba1c was 4.9 so my GP gave me license to experiment with reducing dosage. By November 2014 I was 20% down on highest body weight, and was only taking a single 500 mg tablet every other day. My hba1c was still 4.9, so I was instructed to stop medicating completely at this point. My last hba1c of 5.0 was March 2014 after 4 months without medication.

A T2 diagnosis can be beat by significant weight loss, in my experience.

Patttience

Check out a diet like Atkins low carb. I have recently dabbled with it and did a lot of reading about it and i've come to the conclusion its the ideal diet for people with diabetes T2, insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome.

Get hold of an older Atkins book, and also try reading the Art and Science of Low Carb.

You don't even need to go the whole induction route to reap the rewards, just go 100 carbs and try gradually lowering it til you find a place you feel comfortable. Or if you love meat and want to dive right in, go for 20 carbs. I don't think it matters too much. Though you have to be under about 90 to get ketosis happening i believe.

Also there's a useful site called phlaunt.com which has a lot of useful information but i recommend you read a book first.

one think that atkins says to do before starting is to get all your bloods done thoroughly before you even start. Also weigh yourself and measure yourself. Right at the very beginning. Its important because then you know what progress you are making because of the diet.

I am not diabetic myself but i found the diet interesting and the food is rich and yummy. I got over all my fears about fat.

Another option is Paleo. There was a guy on another forum site who basically banged on about this diet so much and the benefits he'd gained (and he probably had a lot of health issues before he started) that he finally got through to me to give the low carb thing a try. Basically paleo is a slightly different version of low carb.

The main reason why i think people should understand that low carb, even moderately low carb is worth consideration for diabetics etc is that it circumvents your whole disturbed insulin system. A reason why its useful for anyone trying to lose weight is that appetite is reduced so it makes weight loss that bit easier.

mockchoc

Take a look at the Newcastle study, which helped me enormously.

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal.htm

I have managed to reverse my T2 diagnosis by losing 20% of body weight. I was diagnosed in August 2012 with an hba1c of 10+ and put on 2000 mg of metformin daily. After a year of watching my calories and exercising I had lost 10% of body weight and my hba1c was 4.9 so my GP gave me license to experiment with reducing dosage. By November 2014 I was 20% down on highest body weight, and was only taking a single 500 mg tablet every other day. My hba1c was still 4.9, so I was instructed to stop medicating completely at this point. My last hba1c of 5.0 was March 2014 after 4 months without medication.

A T2 diagnosis can be beat by significant weight loss, in my experience.

Thanks so much for all of that. I have forwarded it on to a loved one. Hope they use it.

catcalledjinx

The 5:2 Fasting Diet is credited with possible diabetes reversal. It can't hurt to have a look http://thefastdiet.co.uk/ or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9Aj6hRYg4A

Both of my parents have T2 and I was told some years ago by a GP that I should expect the same. Well, 24 lbs lost later (on the 5:2) and I'm not having that.

Good luck

TEMMEAlexa

The best part in your case is that you are ready to make those lifestyle changes which will help you control your diabetes. T1 diabetes is a disease you are born with but T2 is purely a lifestyle problem so you just need to make some positive changes to your diet and the exercise regime to reverse it.Get in touch with your nutritionist and follow the diet plan.I am sure very soon you will be well on the road to recovery.Losing weight in your case is certainly going o help. Good Luck.