I've been lurking for too long
 

Hello everyone,

I have been logging my food for about 2 months but only started reading the forums.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes on August 30, 2011. I had no idea I was even remotely at risk so when I was told it felt like someone had kicked me in the gut. I allowed myself a pity party for the rest of the day and got up the next morning and hit the ground running.

I went out and bought a good food scale and armed with that and my measuring cups and spoons set out to bring this disease under control with the ultimate goal of getting off the meds.

I'm 56, 5'7" and had 73 pounds to loose. I say had because I am happy to report that as of today I have lost 31 pounds. The exciting thing is that I do not feel deprived in any way shape or form. I refuse to say I am on a diet because, for me, it is all about a lifestyle change.

I look forward to making new friends and be able to help others in their journey.

Linda

Linda, welcome! FitDay is THE place to be to help you get fit and lose weight. Just like Hooked on Phonics, it's worked for ME! :D

Keep up the great work and join right in on the forums here.

Regards,
Michael

Welcome aboard and congratulations on the 31 lbs off! Whooo hoooo hoooo. I must say you have a tremendously motivating attitude, and that right there is pretty awesome, there are a lot of folks that would let a diagnosis like that sink them into a state of constant doom and gloom. You go girl.

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/213/welcomewqn.gif

Welcome Linda!

I absolutely love your ultimate goal. You're well on your way to achieving it. Keep up the great work.

Welcome Linda! I love your positive attitude!

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome.

With help and support from people like you I know I will achieve all my goals.

Linda

Hi Linda,

I'm new here too. Congrats on losing 31 pounds, that's awesome. Keep going.

Hi Linda,

I'm a type 1 diabetic, diagnosed 15 years ago at age 30, on an insulin pump and CGM (continuous glucose monitor). While I realize that T1 and T2 are entirely different conditions, the *goal* in managing our condition is still the same -- to normalize BGs as best as we can. I've been weighing and measuring and logging my food into Fitday since Good Friday 2004, and have only missed a handful of days. I don't have weight to lose (some would say I'm underweight, but I don't agree; I'm currently 89.2 lbs at 5'3" and would like to be a bit lower, but that's my eating-disordered history coming into play), but consistently weigh, measure and log my food to be certain that I'm looking at my food in as accurate a manner as possible. Since my insulin doses are inherently linked to my carbohydrate intake (and my protein intake; with T1 we often do have to dose insulin for protein eaten, as 50 to 55 percent of protein breaks down into glucose after several hours -- if I eat three or more oz of protein, I need to properly calculate that as part of my meal bolus), I need to know EXACTLY how much carbohydrate I'm consuming, to the gram or tenth of an ounce (and that includes veggies, as I tend to eat close to a pound of veggies per day over two to three meals). Diabetes is a full-time job; I admit that having never lived the life of a T2, I don't know *how much* of a FT job it is, but T1, with the precision of counting, calculating, weighing measuring, determining proper bolus dosing, do I need a correction WITH this meal dose, properly dealing with lows (my biggest diabetes achilles' heel; I'm hyper-insulin-sensitive and hypoglycemic-unaware, which means that I get no symptoms of low BGs until I'm well into danger territory and have fallen unconscious for long periods of time due to lows more times than I care to admit -- I live alone, and if I'm home alone on a night or weekend, I have to be *so* diligent with testing; the CGM does help a great deal and I am so grateful to have it and to have my insurance cover it and the sensors), and all the rest -- it's WORK. What sort of diet are you following? Are you eating a reduced-carb diet? I tend to get most of my carbs from veggies, and eat ~105-ish grams per day, and I'm very carb-aware and carb-selective.

Again, welcome. It's good to have you here!

Christine

Good for you, Linda! That's the way to be!

I was diagnosed with diabetes two weeks ago--after 32 years of hypoglycemia (controlled with Atkins & Nutrilite Double X multi-vitamin, -mineral). I, too, had a short pity party. The truth is, though, that I was told I'd have 7-10 years of being hypoglcycemic before I became diabetic. As it turned out, I was able to stretch that to 32 years. Yay!

Still, it's depressing and my doctor told me I would no longer be able to control my blood sugar with diet. That doesn't mean that I have stopped Atkins. Like Christine, I have weighed and measured my food for years (since 1978). I have used several versions of fitday and like it the best--though I still keep a paper journal from time to time.

Sometimes I'm better than others...I have gotten careless with carbs once in a while, but have always been able to use Atkins to get the weight back under control. I have 25 lbs to go to my goal weight--hopefully, the metformin combined with Atkins will be enough to do it.

The reason that I went to the doctor about diabetes was that I was gaining weight on a 1300 cal/day, 25 carb/day diet. I gained 14 lbs in about 2 months. It was scary, and I knew that I was overtime for becoming diabetic. I just keep telling myself that I made it an extra 25 years...it doesn't help a lot, but it does keep me grounded to reality.

My cousin's hypoglycemia went into diabetes within 3 years of diagnosis (at the age of 25), my aunt's went into diabetes within 10 years of diagnosis (at the age of 28). Neither of them watched their carbs or even attempted to follow a healthy lifestyle (food or exercise). I watched my food intake and exercised until the last year--when I had foot surgery and was sidelined.