Hi. I’ve just finished my first week on the 800/day BSD and I’ve lost 10 lbs. The most surprising effect is on my my need to continue my medication. I’m checking my BS 4-5 times per day, and it’s come down remarkably to the point that I’ve reduced from 200Mg/day Gliclazide to just 40Mg/day and my BS is still around 4 (used to be 8 – 10). I’m just a bit concerned that It’s coming down so quickly – what are other peoples experiences? And I know I need to speak to my doctor/diabetic nurse!

Congratulations on a great weight loss and good BG results. I had the same problem (although not really a problem). I was having lows of around 3.5 in the afternoon and read that it is Gliclazide that can cause serious lows so I was on 90mg and cut to 60mg. I am also on insulin so I have slowly reduced from 38 units at night to 24 units. However, this has been over a 6 month period. I asked my doctor, what do I get rid of first, the insulin or Gliclazide and he said insulin then reduce the Glic even further if I am getting low or normal readings.

You have only been on the diet for one week and already drastically reduced the Glic from 200 to 40 mg. If you are on insulin I would reduce that first. If not on insulin I would leave the Glic at 40 mg until your body stabilises. Give it until the 8 weeks are up or until your next official HbA1c, as the readings you get on a daily basis may not be your true overall reading e.g. my BG daily runs at around 3.8 to 5.0 but my HbA1c was 5.9. The only caveat to that would be if your BG constantly drops really low, just reduce a bit more. I see you are going to discuss with medical team, remember they might be totally against it. My doctor knew I had reduced my Glic but kept my prescription for the full amount until last month when he dropped it to the 60mg I am taking. He says you never know what might happen to derail the good results, ie greed, hunger, Christmas, birthdays, holidays, infection, illness, many things.

I am sure that now you have found this plan and know that it really does work you will not go back to your old way but give yourself some leeway for those days you just cannot resist that cake or pizza and dont chuck the meds just yet.

Hi Sunshine girl

Thanks for your reply – I’m not on insulin – in fact it was my surgery’s suggestion that I start which prompted me to try the BSD. I will stick on the 40Mg / day to see how things settle down. I’ve been doing quite a lot of exercise as well, which is clearly having an effect. Thanks you for encouragement! I must admit – I cracked last night and had a leftover mince pie! 🙂

I also do a lot of exercise. In summer I swim up to 3 times a day (I have my own pool) and it was always around my late afternoon swim that I would go seriously low. In winter I tend to do my exercise nearer meal-times like aerobics in the morning about 1 hour after eating or walking in the afternoon, again about an hour after eating. In order to swim 3 hours after eating (4 or 5 pm) I test my blood before I go in and if it is below about 4.8 I eat a couple of prunes and a small plain Greek yoghurt. If it has dropped after exercise I do the same (although not before and after, just once). Before when I had lows I would panic and stuff my face with something quick and either carby or sugary, the prunes and yoghurt saved me from messing up my blood sugar and weight loss efforts.

This diet is a massive learning curve and can be quite scary because you see changes so quickly. Just keep on keeping on…… (my catch phrase)

Hi. You may want to look at a thread ‘this has to work for me ‘. Bill records his journey and how he dealt with blood sugars, medication, retinopathy, etc. Long, but worth a look.

Great result by the way.

I wonder if anyone else finds that their blood sugar levels go up even when they don’t have any carbs? Last night my bs was 6.2, but this morning, without even a cup of tea, it was up to 7.1. Made me think I have a long way to go before my diabetes is reversed.

I read about someone who decided to limit their eating to an eight hour period in every twenty four, and decided to give it a try. I am retired, and have developed the habit of staying awake a lot of the night, and then sleeping until midday, and have been eating between 1.00 pm and 9.00 pm. I have noticed that this has led to me resisting snacks outside that period, and realised that much of the time I was eating for something to do rather than because I was hungry.

Just apropos of my recent post, I realise that I probably need to combine exercise with my low carb eating,

Iwanttobeslim, If you dont have something to eat late evening your body thinks you are being starved and the liver pumps out glycogen at around 5 am. This is called the Dawn Phenonomen (I cant spell it) and is very well known. Try to have a non carb snack before bed like a piece of cheese or cold meat or a glass of milk. I also read that a teaspoon of vinegar can prevent this but I have yet to try that as I always leave a few calories to spare so I can have my snack.

Thanks sunshine. I will give that a try. I have managed to skew my daytime and night-time, but I suppose a snack in the wee small hours will do the trick. My night/sleep time starts about 5.00 am and day starts at 1.0 pm ish. Not ideal, but I remember without regret the times I have gone to bed and worried about not sleeping because I was so aware of having to get up to go to work just when I felt sleepiest.

I wanttobeslim, you dont have to get up at 5am to have a snack, you have it around 10 or 11pm before you go to bed. The Dawn effect happens about 5am. Or are you saying you dont sleep, which can really upset your BG.

Sunshine-girl I think iwanttobeslim is saying they stay up all night and go to bed at 5am – hence a snack before bed is in the early hours of the morning.

Hi sunshine, I do sleep, but I have somehow managed to get to where I go to sleep at around 5am until about 12.00. As I said I used to worry about sleeping, because I knew I had to get up for work, but my current routine means no pressure and seems to suit me. I live alone so don’t have to fit in with anyone else. I will definitely try having a snack before I go to sleep