New beginning
 

Hi ! My name is Liz . I am a 55 year old type two diabetic . I have been on the Atkins program for one week yesterday and have lost nine pounds and four inches off my belly. I also have lowered my insulin from ninety units a day to 12. Never in my six years of uncontrolled diabetes have I had these results. I even discontinued my long acting insulin with the advise of my physician to start from scratch. I only take sliding scale at meals. My b.s. last night was 101. It had been running 200 to 500 with uncontrolled eating.
I have tried every diet program there is and could lose pounds but never my waistline. I am the perfect apple. My bust ,hips and waist were all the same last week. I weighed 154. I think that a lot of my weight was from all the insulin I was taking. I am addicted to carbs. I had daily hinges. Boxes of cookies,dozen cupcakes, bags of chips. So far I am not hungry between meals this week and the no carb flu was not bad. Ate a lot of salt and fats last week. I am doing strength and cardio workouts with jessica smith tv.com. amazing workouts fit for anyone's activity level. Only three days a week during induction. So exciting to make this a lifestyle change. I feel great already. Sleeping better and lots of energy. I know this website will help me get through all of the highs and lows of a low carb eating way of life.

Hi Liz and welcome to a whole new lease on your life! You'll find tons of helpful information on this site.

It sounds like you have a doctor who is willing to help you go low-carb and reduce your meds proportionately as needed. If so, that is wonderful...especially since you're already taking insulin. Going low-carb while on insulin is much more difficult because the medication CAN make your blood sugar go dangerously low. But, it is NOT the low-carb diet that is dangerous, it is the injected insulin that is dangerous.

Unfortunately tho, many T2 diabetics (even those who are not yet on insulin) wind up having to fight their doctors who advise against low-carb... until the patient finally proves to the doctor that this WOE works.

My husband is T2 and, in fact, his diagnosis was the impetus that got us both into low carb. You can read about it in my journal if you're interested. Upon diagnosis, Hubby's doctor just told him to watch his diet (with zero advice on what to watch out for except that he should not eat too much sugar....well, DUH!) Doctor just put Hubby on a couple of oral medications and told him that, if he couldn't get his HbA1C (then 12.4) down to around 7.5 to 8 within 3 months, he'd need to start insulin therapy.

Three months later, after we figured out for ourselves that it is carbohydrates of all kinds - even those from the so-called "healthy whole grains" - that are the enemy of diabetics, Hubby went back for his 3 month check up and his HbA1C was down to below 6.0! His doctor was so surprised he was certain the lab must have made a mistake so he made hubby come back in for a second blood test. :lol:

3 1/2 years later, Hubby and I are still low-carbing. Hubby is off ALL diabetes medications and his most recent HbA1C was a perfectly normal 5.3. In other words, if he went to a doctor who did not know his history, the doctor would have no way of telling that Hubby is diabetic. Cured? No, because if Hubby went back to eating a SAD (Standard American Diet) his BG would very quickly go hay-wire again. But, as long as he doesn't ingest too many carbs, he might as well be "cured." He no longer has any greater risk of going blind, suffering neuropathy, having a heart attack, losing a limb to amputation or any of the other complications of diabetes that does a non-diabetic. And that is cured enough for us!

At first, when Hubby told his doctor at his 3 month check-up that he had begun following a low-carb diet (less than 30g of carbs per day) the doctor insisted "you NEED more carbohydrates for energy and to keep your brain functioning, all the fats and protein you're eating will kill you if you keep it up!"

Then, as Hubby's HbA1C kept going down and his lipid panels actually improved, and his kidneys showed no damage from too much protein, the doctor started saying "well, what you're doing seems to be working for you....but let's keep monitoring things." Then he decided that maybe Hubby's diabetes was just responding exceptionally well to his oral meds so took him off of them to try to prove to Hubby that it was NOT our diet.... warned us firmly that Hubby's BG would probably go up so keep testing BG EVERY day and to come back in if he saw ANY readings over 150. (BG did not go up. Seldom saw any readings over 130 and then only when hubby occasionally deliberately splurged and even those few high reading would drop down within about half an hour.)

Now that Hubby has been off all his diabetes meds (even metformin) for over a year and is still doing great, we notice that Hubby's doctor NOW has a ton literature about low-carbohydrate diets for diabetics available in his waiting room. :D And he has even cut Hubby's HbA1C tests back to just twice a year instead every three months.

You are so right ! I have fought high sugars while on insulin for so long ! My Dr said we will add the long term insulin back after he sees my blood work in three months if needed. If it gets high during day I am to give novolog before meals. So far all readings are in normal range except morning one which has always been high. So nice to hear other stories. Thanks for responding.

Welcome aboard. Congrats on the weight loss and the diabetes situation. Both are huge accomplishments. I can't speak to the diabetes but I can offer some help by pointing you to the recipes section. There's tons of meal ideas there.

I'm an apple too and that has its own set of challenges clothing wise.

There's lots of helpful people here. Popping into journals is a wonderful way to get ideas and support. Good luck on your journey. You are off to a fabulous start!

Hi, elbmom. Congrats on getting a great early result. Keep doing that! :thup: You'll be glad you found this site, as there are many experienced folks here with things like T2. Make yourself at home.

Best wishes.

Hi Elbmom! Welcome! I am also T2, and I will enjoy watching your story and getting motivation from it -- no joke, knowing that this is for life can be daunting sometimes, but I have also had such a positive experience on low carbs, and just need to review my reasons and methods occassionally!! Thanks for being here and adding to our cooperative strength!! :rheart:

:wave: Welcome elbmom

Hope you have found your way to the Diabetes sub-forum, you can find some more tips to help you there. http://forum.lowcarber.org/forumdisplay.php?f=45
And this guide too https://www.dietdoctor.com/diabetes
You are doing great! Isn't it amazing how quickly BG responds to low carb?
As Dr Westman has said in a few talks, it is so unbelievable, people do not believe it. :) https://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf-dia...dr-eric-westman
All the best,

Congratulations, Elbmom!! Although I am not diabetic, I am simply amazed at the results you've had with your b/s in such a short amount of time!! Keep it up.......you're doing fantastic!!

Blood sugars going down
 

Thank you all for the encouraging words. Since posting my blood sugar readings are even lower. Can't wait to show my doctor.

Hi Liz - nice to meet you. I am a type 1 diabetic who has been addicted to carbs for a long time. Carbohydrate addiction is actually very common with diabetics. Like you, by eating low carbohydrate I have cut my insulin requirements down to almost nothing and my sugars run at or around 90 most of the time. I need to lose around 35 pounds because I fell off the band wagon for almost a year! I would like to encourage you to consider reading Dr Richard K Bernsteins book - diabetes solution revised. He is a type one diabetic MD with about 40 years of low carbohydrate research. His plan is almost identical to atkins but with diabetics in mind - both type 1 and type 2. He also has a you tube channel with plenty of helpful videos on managing blood sugar and low carb/medication/etc.. Well, in short, nice to meet you and good luck with your weight loss goal!

So excited to see blood sugars near normal
 

I have Dr Bernstein's book and love it. I am following Atkins along with his principles also. I am very pleased with my progress and encourage everyone to go this route for your diabetes . In two weeks my blood sugars have dropped so much. The last few days have not had a b.s. of over 120. Still away to go but as I increase my exercise and my low carb eating I have confidence my readings will improve. My quality of life is so much better. I have about ten pounds to go but am going really focus on strength training not the scales. Goal is to lose it by Christmas.