Hi Matt and welcome to this group where you will find lots of encouragement and support. There are quite a few supportive people in this group who are only too willing to share their knowledge and experience with those of us who less experienced. MFP is a great programme but it must be applied honestly ie you must record EVERYTHING you eat. Take your time to look at the various boards in this and similar support groups. When you've got a feel for the site then pick one item to focus on and only move on when you feel ready. A very important lesson to learn is that you are engaged on a change of lidestyle and not a diet. It will take time and you need determination and persistence. The great news is that the system really works as can be testified by the many success stories on here. I wish you well as you start your journey and will certainly share any knowledge I have learned where you feel it may be appropriate.

Hello Ladies and Gentleman

I'm Juan, proud to be 50 yrs young. Father of 2 great boys one a graduate of Univ. of Va. the other a rising junior at George Mason Univ. Wife Veronica of 26 years and Type 2 Diabetic.

I went to war on my disease this year (2012):
- Quit Smoking in April
- Started 30 min walk in April
- Added Jogging to the am routine (up to 10 min. mile)
- Added Biking to the am routine ( 6 miles in 30 mins.)

Since declaring war: A1C went from 11.3 to 7.1
Got Cholesterol under 200
Blood pressure from 166/100 to 135/80
Made dietary changes
Happy as a Pig in Slop!

I am continuing my fight and sharing and gaining knowledge with good people like yourselves. If you win more battles then losing our quality of life greatly improves...I'm a witness.

Juan McCall

Welcome dmgippner. Glad you found us and there is great support here. I also had gestational which is why I was getting tested every year. I was diagnosed at 34 before I had symptoms since I was being watched. Despite that, I still had some eye deterioration but that cleared up after a few years on metformin. Stress can be really bad for BG so I'm glad you are working on reducing yours. It is great your hubs is so supportive.

Thank you for your kind words and encouragement. You are so correct about a "change of lifestyle". I find it amazing that this new meal plan and scheduled exercise has given me so much more energy. I am finding allot more to do around the house on top of my exercise routine. I don't watch as much tv as I used to. Thank God !!!

Welcome BigG59. You are off to a good start. With a 9.1 A1C I'm pretty sure your glucose test will come back high also. Yuck, I hate those nasty drinks. It is good that your dr. is being thorough. Many drs. no longer use that test although it is much more accurate, just more expensive.

This is a great place for support and ideas. Glad you found us.

I introduced myself several months ago, but haven't bee very active in this group, until now. This week the nurse case manager for my insurance carrier decided that I need to start monitoring glucose and ordered a meter. I have a lot of questions and suddenly my focus is off strictly weight loss and exercise and on to this monitoring mode. I've gotten some good answers to my questions in the past two days. Thanks.
I'm 59 and live near Washington, DC. I'm involved in animal rescue and rehoming when I'm not working at a private University. I welcome new friends.

Hi everyone,

my name is Sun and I was diagnosed July 18th 2012. It was my first general checkup with 35.. and bam, there it was. I always thought I might become a T2D with my weight, diet and desk job, but I thought I had a couple more years. I actually told a friend that I fear a diabetes diagnose the night before I got the results.
My 1AC was close to 10, my fasting blood sugar that day 244.
Felt bad for a couple of hours, then decided that I will not take meds as long as possible by controlling it by dieting and exercise. Guess it helps that I'm an optimistic person.
I was however how very surprised how fast the results kicked in.
Enjoyed 3 more days of eating my favorite unhealthy foods, then started to change my diet and take walks. Lost about 3kg in the first week.
Within 10 days my fasting blood sugar was down to 100. and I decided to not even start taking Metformin.
Then added strength training (3x a week 1 hour), and currently I average 82 over the day (4 measurements).
As my levels are currently very good, I will reduce the measurements, as I have to pay for the stripes myself, insurance covers them only if you are on insulin as a T2D.

Next goal: stop smoking. That will be harder than the eating and the exercise. I will stop as soon as I reach 86 kg, so roughly 3 kg or 3 weeks to go.

Hello, my name is Fred and I just came over to this site because it has a lot more to offer with well maintained information. I have used another simular site for a few years and have learned to be honest in what I log and have maintained a 5.4 to 5.6 A1C for the past few years and have reduced my Metformin down to 1/2 tablet a day! Added benefit has been a significant weight lose! I have added the Fitbit in hopes of enjoying an improving lifestyle. I love to travel so being able to access this info from my phone is very important to me. Having real time access to my daily intake helps me manage each day with very minimal effort!

I joined myfitness yesterday and thought I would pop in and say Hello- Please feel free to call me Shell- I am very new to diabetes and was only diagnosed in July of this year so I am steal learning but have managed to loose around 17kg's so far.

I am a mum of 2 adult children one of which has 2 chronic illnesses and he is my inspiration as when he is at his sickest he is all ways smiling and happy and takes nothing for granted.

I live in Australia and I hope to get to know some of you soon

Be good to yourself there is only 1 of you...
Hugs

Robert,
Thank you so much for your reply- Things are going smoothly for me at the moment- Have dropped 17kg's and my Blood glucose have dropped back to normal range- I am still on medication but hope to come off them rather sooner than later.

Unfortunately I am unable to get in to my diabetic educator until the beginning of October so a little while to go.. but I seem to be managing at the moment on my own but it's nice to know of others that are willing to help when things get a little confusing.

Take Care

I'm new to this thanks to a friend. She is concerned and wanted to help... I am trying to fight diabetes without insulin and with diet and exercise... any helpful tips would be great...

Chris

HI... I was given the news on August 8 that I had a Fasting number of 101 and a A1C of 6.5. This was the first time I had a reading over 5.8(A1C) and only 2nd over 100 fasting and because I have a family history of diabetes with everyone on mother side and a few on my fathers side. My mother was diagnosed at 57 and was overweight by about 30 pounds and had a number 7.1. All her siblings didnt take care of themselves and complications hit in their 70's, where as my mother lost weight and was strict and able to stay off meds(metafornin) untill she was 79, today she is 80 and more importantly no complications. Again, she was very strict about her diet and just walked daily. Because of my history, my doctor who is an endocronologist in Louisville, KY. where I reside is also very versed in lipids. That is why I went to her 3 times a year to watch cholesterol and sugar. As she explained,I was dealt a bad hand with genes and have BMI of 27.1.She wanted me to start metafornin, but I told her I wanted to try diet and exercise. She agreed to see results from next test. Since August 8, I have lost almost 10 pounds, from 201- 191.6. She strongly urged me to get to 185.

Since my number was 6.5, she is retesting me in November. Question to all, I am thinking many have tried this strategy exercise and diet and my exercise has been intense 6 days a week. I am 58 years old and thinking my history is following the same course as what my mom went through. The nutrionist has set me up to have no more than 150 carbs, which is a little more than my average, of 148. I have measured as my doctor suggested once a week and readings have been 2 hours after eating. The readings have been 92 in the doctors office . The others have always been read 83, 94, 92 and only once after fasting early morning number was 121. two hours later it was 95.

Thanks to everyone for reading and any responses as to their thoughts on my strategy. So far it has not been to bad and only an inconvieance. It is an unsettling experience, but with focus, family and everyone support I belive it is very manageable. I hope that is not naive. Also, I am celebrating today my 36 anniversary , so I went out to dinner and only had one glass of Chardonay. Any thoughts on drinking low carb drinks, never more than 2 now.

I am also Director of Sales for packaging company and travel often. Thank goodness all hotels today have execise equipment and eating often at Cracker Barrel when not entertaining for vegetable plates. Goal by November of 183-185 weight. A1C reading back to 5.6, fasting back to normal prior test 96.

I'm new to this thanks to a friend. She is concerned and wanted to help... I am trying to fight diabetes without insulin and with diet and exercise... any helpful tips would be great...

Chris

Welcome Chris,

It can be done and many have been able to control BG using diet and exercise. The key thing is to record food and activity and test often. Eventually you will figure out what your body wants and may be successful with it. For most people that means eating lower carbs, combining carbs with protein or fat, and regular exercise. I have even known people who walk a few times a day to keep their BG steady. Be aware that sometimes diet and exercise is not enough and there is no shame in taking meds. The goal is to stop the rot and if taking meds does that then it is all good.

Welcome Bighog,

You are off to a great start. Eating healthy and exercising will help your BG and MFP can help you keep track of it all. We have a great, supportive, and knowledgeable group here so I'm glad you found us.

Welcome and great job on 50 lbs lost so far! You CAN adjust your carb goals on MFP, not by the day but by a percentage of your daily calories. Just click the tab at the top that says "My Home" and after the page loads, click the word "Goals" then click "Change Goals" and another page will load asking if you want MFP to calculate them automatically or if you want to manually set custom goals. Select the manual method and go in and lower the percent of your total intake that should be carbs, which will raise either protein or fat. Just adjust the three of them until each is at the percentage you'd like it to be and together they total 100%.

You've made such a lot of progress already with your weight and your glucose levels. Keep up the good work!