Joined
·
6 Posts
Hi Folks
I am 61 years old, first diagnosed as Type 2 in 2000. After a lifetime of pretty much doing everything wrong when it came to my health (overweight, sedentary, smoker, etc.), when I was diagnosed I "got religion".
I started watching and controlling what I ate, I was on glipizide 5mg twice a day, I was bicycling daily. Got laid off from my techy job and out of desperation I took a job as a motorcycle mechanic... which turned out to be pretty physical.
My weight fell from 278lbs down to 232lbs (I am only 5'10, so I was still about 50 lbs overweight though). At some point along the way I was able to stop the pills completely and my blood sugar stayed around 100. I could eat pretty much anything I wanted and my weight and sugars stayed the same, normal, due to all the exercise. I was riding sometimes 50 miles in a day, rode 20 miles most days.
Winter came and I stopped bicycling, but I continued eating too much. I got laid off from the physically active mechanic job and got back into a sedentary tech job. Stopped smoking.
My weight shot up... fast forward to now. I am still not smoking, but have been laid off yet again (still unemployed and without health insurance). My weight a week ago (nekkid) was 290lbs. My blood sugar has been very high (A1C is about 11 !!), almost never getting below 220, sometimes 500 or more after eating way too many carbs, in spite of the fact that I now take 1000mg of metformin twice a day along with the glipizide 5mg twice a day.
I got into a city-sponsored program called Healthy San Francisco (which I do have to pay $600/year for, but it sure beats zero health care). My doctor there is great, and wanted to put me on insulin. I didn't want to do that and instead proposed that I make a concerted effort to lose weight and watch what I eat. He agreed, and we made a deal for me to lose 1.5lbs a week for six weeks when I will see him again.
I have cut WAY back on carbs, with a goal of 100g of carbs a day (which I have not yet achieved, but I will). For the past several days I have been eating only about 2000 calories a day and less than 200g of carbs. Lean, skinless chicken, leafy greens, still eating some fruit because I would rather die than go without fruit.
I am either walking briskly or riding my bicycle 1 or 2 hours a day.
It has been less than a week, but I have lost over 3lbs so far. I no longer go into a sugar-induced coma in the afternoon and take a nap. I have significantly more energy already.
I ran out of test strips for my meter and unfortunately they are not paid for by my health plan... so I found a good deal for some on ebay and ordered them. I do want to stay on top of it this time.
Diabetes complications: My vision still seems OK (and last year when I still had medical insurance I did have a retinopathy (sp?) test that confirmed it. I still have to get up to pee several times during the night. I have some numbness in my feet (right foot more than the left). My hands are still OK.
I am on a crusade. I intend to keep losing weight. I figure I am really about 110lbs overweight. I want to lose as much as I can at a slow rate so I can keep it off. I recall that when I was down to 232lbs (about sixty pounds less than I am right now) I felt better than I can remember feeling for a long time.
It's going to be a long journey, but unless I do this it will be a short one into the grave.
I am 61 years old, first diagnosed as Type 2 in 2000. After a lifetime of pretty much doing everything wrong when it came to my health (overweight, sedentary, smoker, etc.), when I was diagnosed I "got religion".
I started watching and controlling what I ate, I was on glipizide 5mg twice a day, I was bicycling daily. Got laid off from my techy job and out of desperation I took a job as a motorcycle mechanic... which turned out to be pretty physical.
My weight fell from 278lbs down to 232lbs (I am only 5'10, so I was still about 50 lbs overweight though). At some point along the way I was able to stop the pills completely and my blood sugar stayed around 100. I could eat pretty much anything I wanted and my weight and sugars stayed the same, normal, due to all the exercise. I was riding sometimes 50 miles in a day, rode 20 miles most days.
Winter came and I stopped bicycling, but I continued eating too much. I got laid off from the physically active mechanic job and got back into a sedentary tech job. Stopped smoking.
My weight shot up... fast forward to now. I am still not smoking, but have been laid off yet again (still unemployed and without health insurance). My weight a week ago (nekkid) was 290lbs. My blood sugar has been very high (A1C is about 11 !!), almost never getting below 220, sometimes 500 or more after eating way too many carbs, in spite of the fact that I now take 1000mg of metformin twice a day along with the glipizide 5mg twice a day.
I got into a city-sponsored program called Healthy San Francisco (which I do have to pay $600/year for, but it sure beats zero health care). My doctor there is great, and wanted to put me on insulin. I didn't want to do that and instead proposed that I make a concerted effort to lose weight and watch what I eat. He agreed, and we made a deal for me to lose 1.5lbs a week for six weeks when I will see him again.
I have cut WAY back on carbs, with a goal of 100g of carbs a day (which I have not yet achieved, but I will). For the past several days I have been eating only about 2000 calories a day and less than 200g of carbs. Lean, skinless chicken, leafy greens, still eating some fruit because I would rather die than go without fruit.
I am either walking briskly or riding my bicycle 1 or 2 hours a day.
It has been less than a week, but I have lost over 3lbs so far. I no longer go into a sugar-induced coma in the afternoon and take a nap. I have significantly more energy already.
I ran out of test strips for my meter and unfortunately they are not paid for by my health plan... so I found a good deal for some on ebay and ordered them. I do want to stay on top of it this time.
Diabetes complications: My vision still seems OK (and last year when I still had medical insurance I did have a retinopathy (sp?) test that confirmed it. I still have to get up to pee several times during the night. I have some numbness in my feet (right foot more than the left). My hands are still OK.
I am on a crusade. I intend to keep losing weight. I figure I am really about 110lbs overweight. I want to lose as much as I can at a slow rate so I can keep it off. I recall that when I was down to 232lbs (about sixty pounds less than I am right now) I felt better than I can remember feeling for a long time.
It's going to be a long journey, but unless I do this it will be a short one into the grave.
