This is for Aristomaniac....and Peeon Me

[rareboy]

Sorry...nothing salacious.

I have meant to follow up on the attempt to control the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Since July, when I was advised that I had tipped into the diabetic range and was given Metformin to try to control it....I am a reformed food whore. 4 months of clean eating and stripping back to a 750 to 800 calorie per day diet has me at my lightest since 2004 and isn't really hardship.

PeeonMe recommended Loseit! to track calories, nutrition and exercise and I have been rigorous about it every day. It has helped me learn even more about the food I eat.

So my AC levels are now back to below diabetic range and if this trend continues....I will be off the Metformin in the new year. My Family doc actually teared up when he said that it was incredibly rare to have someone actually do this instead of just looking to meds to solve the problem.

The only thing I have no intention of doing, that Aristo did...is going to the gym. Because we don't have one out here in the country and I learned that exercise was really just an excuse to eat more as I think I may have mentioned.

So tip of the hat to both for some inspiration and suggestions.

Thanks again guys.

- - - Updated - - -

oops.don't know where the space came from with PeeonMe's nom de guerre.

 

[Dominus]

I think you misunderstood what I recommended.

Going to the gym helps with type 2. But it's not necessary. Water fasting followed by intermittent fasting rebooted my system and made me healthy again.

It's not for everyone. But once you get into it, it isn't as scary as people think. Hunger pangs aren't that bad once you're used to it. LOL

At the moment, I'm eating 3 meals a day. I was able to bring my BFP down to 12%. Now I'm bulking muscle.

Regardless of how you get here, you got here. Huge congrats on beating type 2. Most people don't even know it is reversible.

 

[peeonme]

I am so glad that Loseit worked for you!

 

[Dominus]

Just curious. When did you guys find out you got type 2 and how?

For me, it was 2015. I started feeling numbness in my left leg. Or was it right? Went to the doctor and congratulations you got type two aduot on-set diabetes! Was on meds for several years before I found fasting.

 

[Cormac135]

Glad to hear everythings on the up.

 

[Telstra]

I am so glad that Loseit worked for you!

any details?
So loose weight fixed the diabetes problem ?

 

[rareboy]

Just curious. When did you guys find out you got type 2 and how?

For me, it was 2015. I started feeling numbness in my left leg. Or was it right? Went to the doctor and congratulations you got type two aduot on-set diabetes! Was on meds for several years before I found fasting.

My Docs screen for AC levels based on age, family history and issues with blood pressure...so the AC levels had been monitored over the last year. I also had a suspicion, based wounds take forever to heal that something wasn't right.

btw...I didn't mean to imply that you recommended the gym...only that you started exercising as part of your lifestyle change....it is a great thing to do...but I am just too lazy now.

 

[Alistair]

How about my recommendation to quit drinking so much?

 

[Dominus]

My Docs screen for AC levels based on age, family history and issues with blood pressure...so the AC levels had been monitored over the last year. I also had a suspicion, based wounds take forever to heal that something wasn't right.

btw...I didn't mean to imply that you recommended the gym...only that you started exercising as part of your lifestyle change....it is a great thing to do...but I am just too lazy now.

Yeah... It was bloody hard to get started. It was even harder to get husband to get started. The first 2-3 months was really hard to get off our asses to go to the gym. But once we built it into our normal routine and especially once the results started getting noticable, we couldn't stop going to the gym.

We went on vacation a couple months ago. And while there, we actually did not break our routines.

Making this lifestyle change has been a huge huge huge improvement to our quality of life. This is why I encourage everyone to make this change. I feel better than ever before in my life.

Anyway, I still highly recommend you add working out into your normal routine. Get the hubby on-board, too. Nothing better than the both of you helping each other to achieve certain goals together.

Do you still take any med? Have your doctor cleared you of diabetes and prediabetes completely?

 

[rareboy]

How about my recommendation to quit drinking so much?

I now have a 440ml of Guinness (156 cal) about 5 or 6 days of the week having lost my taste for most wine

But I am aware of the cardinal rule....

Don't drink your calories.

 

[rareboy]

Yeah... It was bloody hard to get started. It was even harder to get husband to get started. The first 2-3 months was really hard to get off our asses to go to the gym. But once we built it into our normal routine and especially once the results started getting noticable, we couldn't stop going to the gym.

We went on vacation a couple months ago. And while there, we actually did not break our routines.

Making this lifestyle change has been a huge huge huge improvement to our quality of life. This is why I encourage everyone to make this change. I feel better than ever before in my life.

Anyway, I still highly recommend you add working out into your normal routine. Get the hubby on-board, too. Nothing better than the both of you helping each other to achieve certain goals together.

Do you still take any med? Have your doctor cleared you of diabetes and prediabetes completely?

We are too old at this point to travel a half hour back and forth to hit a gym.....over the years I had a treadmill and a recumbent cycle, but in both cases, I ended up with unexpected damage from the exercise....

If my AC levels are below 5 when I see my doc next, I get to stop the Metformin. yay. In the meantime, my cardio guy is also going to be delighted with the impact on Blood pressure. Maybe I will be able to be an example for him to drop some weight as well.

 

[offthewall14420]

You should probably consult with actual doctors instead of anon people who could be 400# trolls.

 

[PrinceCory]

Sorry...nothing salacious.

I have meant to follow up on the attempt to control the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Since July, when I was advised that I had tipped into the diabetic range and was given Metformin to try to control it....I am a reformed food whore. 4 months of clean eating and stripping back to a 750 to 800 calorie per day diet has me at my lightest since 2004 and isn't really hardship.

So my AC levels are now back to below diabetic range and if this trend continues....I will be off the Metformin in the new year. My Family doc actually teared up when he said that it was incredibly rare to have someone actually do this instead of just looking to meds to solve the problem.

I'm not trying to hijack this thread from Rareboy, but I've been meaning to post the same type of thanks...only I was going to add it to a previous thread started by Aristomanic concerning the fasting. I don't remember the exact timeline of that original post but I think it was just after I was into that diabetic range in April of this year. In August 2018 I was pre-diabetic and the Doc said lose weight or else it is medication time. I lost 15 lbs in 2 or 3 months, but gained all but 5 back by April 2019 which included the Thanksgiving/Christmas holidays. I woke up one April morning and noticed I had a loss of some temperature and pain sensation on my left side from foot up to arm. The Doc said you have had a stroke, or your MS (multiple sclerosis) is back. That week I started Metformin twice a day since my weight was still up. Blood/urine tests taken later that day confirmed I was diabetic.

Like Rareboy I quickly reformed because I was motivated to clear up or stop the neuropathy. I immediately stopped the "added sugar" items and a couple weeks later got serious about cutting out the carbs and fats. My 3-month checkup had me back down into the normal range for my blood sugar. At my 6 month I'm still in the normal range and down 40 lbs and my Metformin was cut in half.

After reading Aristomanic's fasting post I started with a 12 hour fast. These days I'm doing about 15 to 16 hour a day fast. I'm doing no exercise yet.

 

[PrinceCory]

any details?
So loose weight fixed the diabetes problem ?

Losing weight can help a lot. I'm taking a Diabetes Education Class (6 hours total) provided at no charge by our local hospital. I've learned that your liver try's to put out the necessary hormone to digest/absorb the sugar in the blood.

But the hormone is being pushed thru your fat and can't get to where it is needed. Think of it like a straw filled with rice and try to push a liquid through the straw to get to where it is needed. Last year when I agreed to lose weight rather than start meds for being pre-diabetic (above normal, but below the level that causes damage to your organs) he said that if I lost 20 lbs I would probably get down into the (high) normal range. At the time I was just over 100 lbs overweight.

 

[Dominus]

^ I'm glad you're in better health now than not too long ago. As I have said many many many times, getting into the health and fitness lifestyle has been the best decision my husband and I ever made. Ignoring the health benefits, just the energy level we get is well worth it.

Type 2 plagues a lot of people right now. It's in the food, drinks, snacks, and everything else we consume in this modern age. I remember when I first got diagnosed with type 2. I was shocked. I was 30 and only about 20 lbs overweight. I'm 5'8 and I have never hit the 200 lbs mark. The highest I ever got to was 190 lbs or so. This just proves that you don't have to be severely overweight to get hit by type 2.

Anyway, I just want to end this post withthe following advice. You will not see the full benefits of intermittent fasting right away. This is one of those things that require long term commitment. So, don't get discouraged if you don't see results right away. Like Biden said, you gotta keep punching at it.

 

[PrinceCory]

Sorry...nothing salacious.

Since July, when I was advised that I had tipped into the diabetic range and was given Metformin to try to control it....I am a reformed food whore. 4 months of clean eating and stripping back to a 750 to 800 calorie per day diet has me at my lightest since 2004 and isn't really hardship.

PeeonMe recommended Loseit! to track calories, nutrition and exercise and I have been rigorous about it every day. It has helped me learn even more about the food I eat.

I realize it has been 10 months since this topic has had any activity. But I thought i would give a personal update. In addition to PeeonMe and Rareboy, I recommend the LoseIt! app. I did see PeeonMe's original post about the LoseIt! app. But it wasn't until Rareboy mentioned it in this topic thread that decided to check it out. But after trying the app and figuring I would be counting calories with the app I thought it was going to be too much trouble.

Fast forward 6 months from that point and I found myself not losing any weight for the previous 5 months (well maybe like 4 pounds) I was really getting frustrated because I felt I was eating about the same for the previous 12 months (May 2019 to May 2020) and had lost 40 pounds by Thanksgiving 2019. So I took another look at the LoseIt! app and put in my food intake for a week to see how many calories I was really eating compared to what the app suggests I eat for someone my age, weight, and activity level. Turns out with my 40 pound loss I needed to reduce my intake of calories. I've been using the app everyday since last May and should hit the total loss of 60 pounds sometime this week. My primary doctor of course is thrilled.

I currently have the app configured for me to lose 1 pound a week. Although I always put in the necessary information to track nutrition I don't use the results to change what I eat (such as fat / fiber / carbs). It also tracks the sodium (but not caffeine) so if my blood pressure spikes I have something to look at to see if I'm consuming a lot of sodium.

 

[NotHardUp1]

That's really great. Thanks for going to the bother to post it and help us all.

 

[rareboy]

I realize it has been 10 months since this topic has had any activity. But I thought i would give a personal update. In addition to PeeonMe and Rareboy, I recommend the LoseIt! app. I did see PeeonMe's original post about the LoseIt! app. But it wasn't until Rareboy mentioned it in this topic thread that decided to check it out. But after trying the app and figuring I would be counting calories with the app I thought it was going to be too much trouble.

Fast forward 6 months from that point and I found myself not losing any weight for the previous 5 months (well maybe like 4 pounds) I was really getting frustrated because I felt I was eating about the same for the previous 12 months (May 2019 to May 2020) and had lost 40 pounds by Thanksgiving 2019. So I took another look at the LoseIt! app and put in my food intake for a week to see how many calories I was really eating compared to what the app suggests I eat for someone my age, weight, and activity level. Turns out with my 40 pound loss I needed to reduce my intake of calories. I've been using the app everyday since last May and should hit the total loss of 60 pounds sometime this week. My primary doctor of course is thrilled.

I currently have the app configured for me to lose 1 pound a week. Although I always put in the necessary information to track nutrition I don't use the results to change what I eat (such as fat / fiber / carbs). It also tracks the sodium (but not caffeine) so if my blood pressure spikes I have something to look at to see if I'm consuming a lot of sodium.

Well done.

I found that I had to be more aggressive and targeted between 2 and 3 pounds per week. And it worked perfectly. But as you note, it is necessary to keep updating weight and your target calories. It was most enjoyable when I was starting out....the allowable calories per day were still pretty generous, even with a weight loss factored in. Now my calorie intake has to be 1600 or lower per day. What I would note though is that I really can only consume about 1200 calories per day in order to maintain my current weight.

I hope you are feeling the other benefits from changing your food consumption....I certainly am.

 

[Dominus]

I realize it has been 10 months since this topic has had any activity. But I thought i would give a personal update. In addition to PeeonMe and Rareboy, I recommend the LoseIt! app. I did see PeeonMe's original post about the LoseIt! app. But it wasn't until Rareboy mentioned it in this topic thread that decided to check it out. But after trying the app and figuring I would be counting calories with the app I thought it was going to be too much trouble.

Fast forward 6 months from that point and I found myself not losing any weight for the previous 5 months (well maybe like 4 pounds) I was really getting frustrated because I felt I was eating about the same for the previous 12 months (May 2019 to May 2020) and had lost 40 pounds by Thanksgiving 2019. So I took another look at the LoseIt! app and put in my food intake for a week to see how many calories I was really eating compared to what the app suggests I eat for someone my age, weight, and activity level. Turns out with my 40 pound loss I needed to reduce my intake of calories. I've been using the app everyday since last May and should hit the total loss of 60 pounds sometime this week. My primary doctor of course is thrilled.

I currently have the app configured for me to lose 1 pound a week. Although I always put in the necessary information to track nutrition I don't use the results to change what I eat (such as fat / fiber / carbs). It also tracks the sodium (but not caffeine) so if my blood pressure spikes I have something to look at to see if I'm consuming a lot of sodium.

First of all, kudos to you for figuring out what works for you.

I have run across this app and several others. I'm actually not a fan of them. Here is why.

I think they encourage too much of the yo-yo dieting mentality. When it comes to it, one shouldn't have to count calories to lose excess body weight and get healthy.

People need to understand something. Sodium causes blood pressure spike and sugar causes blood sugar spike the same way that water causes sink overflow because of a clogged drain. When our sewage line is clogged and we have sewage water backed up, do we blame the water or do we blame the clog?

Well, yes, when the drain is clogged the first thing we have to do is stop pouring more water down the drain. So, I do agree that we need to watch our sodium and sugar intake at the moment. But wouldn't you want to unclog the drain rather than having to avoid pouring water down the drain for the rest of your life?

This is where health and fitness comes in.

You mention that you don't change what you eat. I encourage you to reconsider this. We as human are designed for certain foods and not for others. In our modern society, it is too easy to overload on things that we are not designed to eat.

As a lot of doctors nowadays are pointing out, what did those aristocratic noblemen and women look like in those portraits we see in museums? They looked like overweight and obese Americans. Gout was at one point a mark of nobility.

On the other hand, physically trim and fit people rarely count their calories or watch what they eat. I have heard from multiple sources who work in retail that what they notice is trim people always buy regular coke and overweight/obese people always buy diet coke. I encounter plenty of fit and trim people daily and rarely do I find anyone who says they count their calories.

Anyway, the main message I want to get across is I urge you not to fall into the trap of a yo-yo dieting. The only permanent solution to health issues and obesity is a lifestyle change. And forgive me for bringing myself into this as an example. I know my haters love to point out using personal experience as a sign of conceitedness (so they only talk about other people because they are psychic), but once I made a lifestyle change, I stopped counting calories or even paying attention to what I eat. I used to have diabetes, high blood pressure, IBS, high cholesterol, etc. Yes, watching what I ate temporarily relieved that just like how being careful with how much water we put down the drain temporarily stop overflowing due to a clog. But the more permanent solution was I made a lifestyle change and now I can eat whatever I want without restrictions. My body weight has pretty much stabilized at 160 +/- 5 lbs.

Aim to unclog your drain. That's what I tell people. And this message isn't something new or revolutionary. Every fitness instructor in the world will tell you the same thing. A lifestyle change is the only permanent solution.

 

[rareboy]

^Everyone just needs to find what works well for them.

This app is a very good tool for people to learn more about what they are eating and the quantities they can consume.

Loseit helped me permanently change my eating habits and diet.

If anything, they train people out of yo-yo dieting.

And while fitness and exercise are good for the body and likely the soul, using the gym to burn off the calories so that you can feel okay about eating more of the stuff you love is fine...until you can't exercise and haven't fundamentally changed your calorie load or diet. I've been there.

So if these apps help people like some of us by reinforcing that everything is measurable and you just need to learn how to get the most satisfaction and nutrition out of your food and drink, then they can be a real benefit for people who need to lose and keep off the weight.