Quick backstory.

In late May, I went to a LC diet, of 35 gross carbs a day. At that point my A1C was 10.4.

Six weeks later I had my A1C checked again, and it was down to 7.4.

Since then I have had a couple of slips ( 1 day slips ).... and I have adjusted my LC WOE to intentionally include some extra carbs. I truly hate eating LC, but I must do it to keep my diabetes in check.

For instance, ONE day a week, I let myself eat 50g - 75g of carbs, but the rest of the days I stay at 35 or under gross carbs.

One day per month, I allow myself to hit 100 carbs IF I FEEL LIKE I NEED IT. ( meaning need it mentally, not a blood sugar issue. )

So, approximately 25 - 27 days a month of 35 gross carbs or less. 3 -4 days a month of 50g - 75g. "Maybe" 1 day a month of 100g.

I feel great! My blood sugars seem to be pretty stable in the 90 - 125 range. Before going LC, my blood sugars were well into the 200's.

So, with that said, as I don't understand A1C 100%, but I know I want it under 7. Should I expect that my A1C is still dropping? I have another blood work test set up for January. I hope that I am under 7, but worry because I have added some carbs back into my diet. I probably used to eat 400g of carbs a day. YIKES.

I can feel fairly sane ay my current levels of carbs. I don't feel like every day is a day where I hate my food.

You truly don't like meat, veggies, dairy products, butter, cheese, cream? You don't like a nice ribeye with a pan sauce?

How about a deep dish pizza quiche? Better than pizza, IMHO.

Maybe rather than saying "You hate LC food" you could invest some time into finding LC foods you like?

I have no way of knowing what your A1c is going to be. You'll just have to find out.

I don't want to be a bummer, but I haven't ever seen anyone stick around here who didn't like LC foods. It is too hard to stick to a diet if you're convinced you hate the food.

If you want to get nerdy about it, there are formulas, but you will only find out how accurate they are when you have the test: http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/...to-average.html
Would also note that some doctors would recommend an A1C even lower than 7.

Remember a while back you stated you can't go as low as Dr. Bernstein or Westman plan. The Atkins Diabetes Revolution book from 2004 has 20,40 or 60 net carb plans…and there are used copies easily found on-line. Maybe you could find more foods and carb level you like in that.

Well, I have been eating LC since May, and I haven't given up.... I just can't do it 100%, 24 / 7 if I want to stay sane. And BTW, I have LC cookbooks, I have the internet, and I am a highly skilled cook. And I still hate eating LC.

I think I said I want to be under 7. Ideally my goal is about 6. But if 5 wandered my way, I wouldn't say no.

Have you read Jenny Ruhl's Diet 101 book? She personally eats moderate carbs (around 100g I think) and has tons of advice for diabetics specifically. I'm not diabetic so found myself skimming many parts but she really goes into detail of tweaking a lowish carb diet to control blood sugars.

I'm not crazy about LC food either and eat this way for my health.

You won't know until you have another test, but if my experience is any indication, LC is effective, even if not 100%. My A1c was 14.2 when diagnosed in July, 2012, dropped to seven point something by Oct , then later to 5.1 and 5.6 was the latest last April. I only ate Bernstein type levels for about 6 weeks.

I guess I'm fortunate that I like all the LC food I've had (except for a LC chocolate dessert - yuck) - but I do miss some of the goodies I used to eat. Yesterday I ate some meatballs without thinking first - and as I popped the 6th one in my mouth, I remembered what Dr. Bernstein said about BBQ sauce - oops. When I got home my BG was sky-high. So no more lovely meatballs.

What keeps me motivated are my good-bad-examples. I know 3 diabetics who are in worse shape than I am: my father (now deceased) who spent his last 3 years in a wheelchair and his last 6 months in bed; an acquaintance who has had both legs amputated and is dying; an old friend who used to dance but is now in a wheelchair.

Every time I'm tempted to chuck the diet - even for just one "goodie" (which is really a baddy) I think of them. I do NOT want to end up like them. I wouldn't be able to take care of my animals if I were in a wheelchair.

My husband asked me if it was "fun" learning about controlling my diabetes and all this stuff about low carb foods. I told him getting to live is fun!

I may never be able to eat more than 20g of carbs - so far that's the only way my BG gets low enough. I think I sort of backed into the LC diet. I started at 30, then realized that wasn't good enough. Went to 25 - now 20. I'm more interested in my blood sugar going down than my weight. Tho that's a great bonus!

The A1C relates to roughly the last 3 months of blood sugar. Having the value go from 10.4 to 7.4 in only 6 weeks is great! It will take about 3 months to get the old glycated hemoglobin out of your bloodstream, so you should expect your A1C to continue to drop for about 6 more weeks.

Bonnie, they often put bread crumbs in meat balls too.

JLx... I saw you eyeing that Pumpkin cheesecake recipe, girl!

Not yet, but I have a link to it.

Hey Bonnie, You are doing great finding the level of carbs that works for you, good BG to show your doctor next visit. "Thriving, not just Surviving" like Diabetes Warrior, who has over time moved a little lower carbs. http://www.diabetes-warrior.net/a-m...ritional-chart/

Along with whatever sugar was in the sauce, that was probably why I ate 6! One might have been OK - I should have paid attention to the siren call they were emitting.

I keep telling myself that before long this will be second nature and I won't get tripped up by the hidden carbs. I know to avoid the pastries, but meat can look so innocent.

True enough. Losing the actual sugar is the least onerous part of the diet to me because the benefit feels the most obvious and I can make my own sweet treats. I've found a bread recipe I can tolerate for most sandwiches these days too but it seems like a PITA to have to make it all the time. I don't like most veggies except the ones I'm not supposed to eat. I really miss starches and fruit and that's usually where I backslide.

Rather than thinking you like or don't like low carb eating, it is more useful to find what specific low carb recipes you like or don't like. You do have a lot of specific dislikes that make things harder. Perhaps you could expand your likes just a bit.

Also if you use insulin you can eat some more carbs, but you have to watch out for weight gain.