Having neglected to update my blog last week I thought a fresh post would be appropriate. When I started the BSD I have to admit my body was in a bit of a mess.
date. 12/1/18
weight(kg) 109.2
waist(cm) 112
fasting BS (mol/l). [mg/dl]. 16.0 (288)
However the first few weeks of sticking to 800 kcal per day made a real difference to my weight and my fasting BS. I have followed some of the recipes but generally looked at the advice and made my own menus that have excluded bread, pasta and potatoes, plus of course any sugary drinks or foods. Also we( my wife is doing this with me) have moved away from “low fat” foods of all descriptions. We also bought an “air frier” which is now the main cooking apparatus we use. We have also made a big effort to be more active, going to the gym about five times a week and making a point of doing more walking. The use of a heart rate monitor at the gym has been a real revelation. tracking energy burnt on our phones and having the machines keep pushing you work load to keep the same heart rate as you improve really seems to pay off. The other day in a 90 minute session I burnt 920kcal, not bad when you are only eating 800 per day. I know we could be much stricter on this diet than we are but the results are staggering.
After five weeks my weight loss has been slowing down but other advantages are showing, I put this down to the gym work.
today 16/2/18
weight 95.8 kg – a loss of 13.4kg ( 29.5lbs)
waist 99cm – a loss of 13cm (5.1″)
BS 5.2 (94) – the average for the last 10 mornings has been 5.0 (90)
I also had my BP checked at the doctors this week and it was 120/72 as good as it has been in years.
It hasn’t been without some issues though. This week I had my HBA1c results which were disappointing at 75. I put this down to the fact that I was in such a state before I started this diet that the new reading haven’t affected my last 3 months average enough to show yet. I have been advised to have it checked again in three months so I am not moving to the maintenance phase yet and have a desire to drop another 6kg.
The other issue that did start to really affect me was blurred vision. I normally need glasses for reading but even with them I struggled to read for a couple of weeks and my long range vision also suffered from blurring. I understand this is due to the fact that when your BS is high other fluids in your body, in this case inside the eye also have higher glucose readings. As this happens gradually the difference isn’t noticeable. However when there is a rapid drop in your blood sugar the levels in your eye take longer to adjust and the difference then becomes noticeable as the pressure of the glucose in the fluid subtly affects the shape of the eye ball throwing the vision a bit out of focus. This has passed now but it is worth noting and I wondered if others had experienced this when starting the diet.
The other “problem” is the fact that I am having to buy a whole new wardrobe of clothes as my older ones are falling off me. Not a bad problem to have in some ways and it was great to buy the first pair of size 34 jeans since I was in my 20s.
The benefits from grasping this nettle have far out weighed any problems though and I feel like a new man. My wife has also lost about 25lbs and is also loving the results.
ensuring our lifestyle changes to maintain all this good work will be the next challenge in the coming weeks.