Back in August I wrote about my need to lose weight as it was causing me some health problems. A week later I was officially diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. While I’d had a week to steel myself to that potential information it was still quite a blow. The fact that it is essentially self-inflicted made it worse and I had a genuine sense of shame about the whole thing (a side effect of this is that while I am now eligible for free NHS prescriptions I refuse to sign up and be any more of a burden to the state!)
My numbers were pretty bad and my blood sugar was really high apparently. There wasn’t any discussion about trying to resolve it via diet and I was prescribed drugs immediately (only Metformin though which is pretty lightweight in comparison to some options.) My cholesterol, liver, blood pressure and everything else really wasn’t great either!
Anyway it has been pretty all consuming and to be honest my work and social lives have suffered since I was told.
Four months later though things are starting to look a bit brighter. My recent appointment with the Diabetes nurse was really positive with all my blood tests returning in the ‘green’ — my blood sugar down into the normal level. I’ve lost 40lbs so far — am a bit stuck at this level now — just need to lose a couple of pounds to say I’ve lost 3 stone. I’d like to lose another stone by my birthday in late March but think that is going to need a new approach.
I’ve not had a can of Coke (or any other sugary drink), bar of chocolate, slice of cake or really anything else obviously sugary since the diagnosis. I’ve cut down on carbs — less bread, less pasta etc. I haven’t been able to stop though — I also still have a lot of rice in my diet (but much of it is brown rice now.) I eat a lot more vegetables and fruit and am down to one takeaway a fortnight (from about four a week!) and I barely have any ready meals now — cooking and batching meals for the freezer instead.
Also — and this wasn’t really planned — my portion sizes are now much smaller and shrinking all the time.
It is pretty boring and when I was ill with man flu it was pretty hard to stick to things — I did though.
I haven’t given up drinking entirely but I have massively cut down. Though I am giving myself a couple of weeks of having a few drinks for Christmas before taking January and February off totally again. I’ve given up beer almost entirely though — basically I drink white wine or straight bourbon or vodka & soda.
The plan for 2018 is to stick to my healthier diet but to add some genuine exercise to the mix. I’ve been walking a lot but it isn’t enough to make real change. I don’t want to run — I’ve never liked it. I can’t swim or ride a bike so my options are a bit limited! I like the idea of a rowing machine maybe and I’ve researched some workouts you can do at home on a morning which I’m definitely going to start with. That and some yoga in front of my massive TV — which I suspect is not how most purists would prefer it! I’m keen to do yoga properly actually — but I want to be more confident before I join a class.
My goal is to start playing football (some kind of veterans five a side or something I guess!) by the summer — whether this is realistic is dubious and even more so is whether I’d be any use but I’d like to try.
Thanks to everyone for being so supportive so far — I know its a bit boring when I go on about it so I do appreciate it.
