Day One

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  • posted by PattyB
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    I recently learned that I’m pre diabetic. My doctor told me to reduce my glucose level, lose body fat, gain muscle and lower my cholesterol. He failed to tell me exactly how to go about doing this. In my search for information, I found the 8- Week Blood Sugar Diet and decided to fully commit to the program. My glucose level is presently 104. My goal is to significantly lower it before my next doctors appointment that’s scheduled for the end of October.
    I would be more than grateful for some diet and workout buddies for encouragement and advice. Reducing my calories while engaging in a weight training and aerobic program, sounds really difficult.

  • posted by JackieM
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    Hey PattiB me too! The pre-diabetic thing. I’m 4 weeks in.

    Week one 1 ditched all obvious carbs – all bread/flour/pastry/sugar/alcohol/milk. Felt better almost immediately. Stopped snacking between meals. Massive headache week 1 – carb flu apparently. Lost weight.

    Week 2 started thinking about how to reduce carbs in other ways – was still not measuring properly at this stage, but reading packets more. Not losing as much weight. Finding 2 meals a day enough. Started drinking more water. Became so thirsty I couldn’t not drink water – water is your friend! Drink loads of water!! (I used to hate it!)

    Week 3 – began fast800 properly, measuring and counting. Not as hard as I thought having worked way into it. Hardly ever hungry, on less than 20 carbs and just under 800 carbs a day. Losing at least 100g – 200g a day. By now I had enough energy to start wanting an evening walk.

    Week 4 – exercise in gym. Not hungry after (never am). PT recommended protein meal after.

    Week 5 – in France, can’t think I am losing weight but maintaining principles of BSD. Feel 100% better, walking up and down hills – lots of energy on minimal carbs.

    Not saying this is the right way, just hope to show you it doesn’t have to be daunted and you can ease into it. Also, your sugar levels will improve even on more than 800 calories, it’s just we all need to lose weight to give our poor pancreas a rest and 800 cals will let you do that fast.

    Don’t feel you have to cut calories/go exercise crazy etc on the first day. This is for the rest of our lives!!

    Lots of fab advice on here, lots of different journeys and lots of support. I feel 10 years younger!! Best of luck.

  • posted by legreen
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    Hi PattyB

    I’m on week 7 at the moment – prediabetic and have PCOS.

    The first few days I didn’t think I’d be able to manage on 800 calories a day but am now finding it easy. Reduced my blood sugar to normal after a week and maintaining this. I could only do short walks at a time for the first week whilst I adjusted but was able to increase this massively after. I’m nowhere near fit (getting there slowly!) but easily walk over 10,000 steps a day/at least 90 minutes walking a day and can do aerobics, weights and time on the exercise bike now.

    I have lots of weight to lose and have lost 2 stone so far on the BSD.

    There’s so much information on here and lots of inspiring people with great advice. Good luck.

    Louise

  • posted by PattyB
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    JackieM,
    It sounds like you are doing great! I really appreciate your advice.
    I have several FitBit buddies. We have a great time participating in all of the challenges. The competition has encouraged all of us to walk for longer periods of time. Weight training is the only way I’m going to be able to gain muscle so it’s time that I just do it.

  • posted by PattyB
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    legreen,

    You have really improved! Thank you for sharing your progress.

    PattyB

  • posted by Esnecca
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    I didn’t find it at all difficult. I was walking short distances and doing an hour of resistance band training a day when I started the BSD, and I had no problems at all continuing that on 800 calories. If anything it was easier.

    Resistance bands are a great way to get started with weight training, by the way. They’re low intensity, don’t put you in danger of injury as much as free weights do and build long, lean muscles. Also you can very easily use them at home with an investment of a few dollars. No need for trainers, dumbells, gym memberships or expensive equipment of any kind. YouTube is full of instructionals. I used a combination of those videos and the instructions you get on the manufacturers’ websites to create my own program. I took the revolutionary approach of only including exercises I liked and cutting all the ones I loathed. It made it a lot easier to stick to.

    Good luck!

  • posted by JackieM
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    Hey PattyB, I love weight training, I like fairly low rep high weight. Because it ends quicker! I’ve been doing it for years, before all this insulin resistant malarkey.

    My PT gets me doing squats and lunges whilst holding a pole straight above my head too.His theory is the glutes and quads are big muscles that burn calories for longer once they are strong.

    We have a lady in the village who’s always walking, I bumped into her the other day, on a walk (up a hill!) and she’s been diabetic 5 years and lots of walking and diet is how she’s been successfully controlling it. She says everyone has to really listen to their own bodies to know what works for them – she’s not officially on BSD but has learnt through trial and error what works for her – so, for example, she has a big lunch, small dinner. She’s Type ‘1.5’ because it’s genetic and her insulin is slowly drying up but still there.

    Oh, meant to say before we came to France I’d dropped 5.5kg – another 11kg to go to not be overweight. But feeling so much sharper and ‘on it’ even now!

  • posted by PattyB
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    Hi JackieM,

    It sounds like you have a knowledgable trainer and have made great progress. I purchased Dr Phil’s personal trainer’s book today. Out of all of the books, it looked like a good place to start. I’m also going to follow the fitness workout in The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet. I think Dr Mosley has an online program ifit12 if I remember correctly, that goes into greater detail on weight training along with diet. I couldn’t find enough information about the program before joining. If I fail to see any improvement, I might look into finding a personal trainer in my area.

    Have you recently moved to France?

  • posted by PattyB
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    Hi Esnecca,

    I’m embarrassed to say that I have a home gym. I have bands, balls, free weights, a bench, a weight machine, a treadmill and a pilates reformer. Right after my husband and I moved and setup all of the equipment, I learned that I had a brain tumor. It took a year to fully recover. Since that time I’ve only used the treadmill and the pilates reformer. I actually look forward to spending time on both pieces of equipment. I forgot how to use the weight machine while recuperating from surgery. I just kept putting off getting out the instructions and going through the learning process again. I know how everything works now so it’s finally getting some use. The bands are being used once again, too.

  • posted by JackieM
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    Hey there PattyB, no we are here for a week so my husband can race in the UTMB 100. Back to the UK on Monday!

    Maned to find some broccoli and some rocket so feeling a lot better as otherwise it was cheese and meat with one treat of garlic butter escargot!

    Everyone is so flippin’ fit here, there’s 2,400 Ultra runners in one race alone, and there’s a series of other races which are also hardcore by any sane persons standards.

    Pete the personal trainer is so good! He’s an ex-gymnast and ex- ice hockey player, he bust his shoulder which is why he’s now a PT in a small Surrey town. I couldn’t bear some of the other PTs at the gym, they are more of the ‘get on and do it, again again’not ‘have a rest you are doing so well, great form’ like Pete.

  • posted by Theodora
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    Jackie – my mad son in law is in Chamonix too preparing for the UTMB, which starts on Friday evening I believe? Will be ardently following his progress online.

    These people are totally bonkers imo but Rich loves it – always looking for a new challenge. He’s done very well a few times in the Marathon des Sables, but the UTMB is a new one for him. Mad – but exciting. Good luck to your husband (and our Rich of course ๐Ÿ˜‰)

  • posted by JackieM
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    Theodora – yes, Friday, Andy’s just gone to register. It’s very exciting! He’s basically hoping just to finish, as he’s not done this altitude before, though has a few (5!!!!) 100 miles under his belt.

    I can feel the emotion of it all and I am just watching (at the moment I am just lying in bed not even watching!) my main challenge is getting us spectators to the right place at right time to cheer and give him a fresh t-shirt. Made slightly more complicated by my son getting altitude sickness day before yesterday, so he can’t go up in the bus, has to stay broadly ‘down’. Though the tablets they gave him make him very perky! He distinguished himself by vomiting all over a restaurant, there are probably ‘do not serve this boy’ signs all over Chamonix. In my defence I thought he had earache, if I’d known there was the remotest chance of that happening we wouldn’t have been there. Not that that made it any better for the waiter who had to clean it up. ๐Ÿ˜ฑ๐Ÿ˜‚๐Ÿ˜ณ

  • posted by Theodora
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    Oh dear, Jackie – I do feel for your son, suffering from unexpected altitude sickness (and the poor waiter for having to deal with it ๐Ÿ˜) Let’s hope the runners (and our 2 in particular) don’t get affected by it. I don’t think Rich has ever run at that altitude before either and the air must be somewhat thinner than they train in. When Rich did the des Sables, he ran in 50 degrees (personally, I can’t even imagine sitting in those kind of temperatures, let alone running ๐Ÿ˜†) doing, I think, the equivalent of 6 marathons in 5 days across the Sahara, but he had put in some training in a heat chamber. I don’t think he is quite as well prepared for endurance running at altitude. So just keeping our fingers crossed all goes well. Please keep me posted on how your fella gets on. And hope your son recovers quickly.

    Sorry, everyone, didn’t mean to take over the thread with endurance running, but Jackie is the only other person I know (apart from our family) who has someone doing the same bonkers run!!

  • posted by PattyB
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    Jackie, I hope your son is feeling better. My physician prescribed two different altitude medications to take with me on a long trip in high altitude areas. One was for prevention and the other to ease symptoms. The prevention medication didn’t work, however the other medication worked within a few hours. I felt great! I was more energetic in Machu Picchu and Tibet than during the other parts of the trip. I thought it must have been a type of steroid because I carried my 40 pounds of camera gear like it was nothing.

  • posted by JackieM
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    Hi PattyB

    Whatever they have given him he is flying! We call them his happy pills, although today he’s back to grumpiness whenever his sister does … oh, anything …. but they say don’t give them after 12 lunchtime ‘else he won’t sleep’. So we are giving them v early! Hopefully last dose tomorrow I think.

    Theodora – will be cheering them all on! After a georgeous week there is low cloud cover and rain. I hope they get some views at least! I’ve been literally crying every time I see a family run the last few metres with their runner. My kids think I’m mad! It’s so moving! And I think I will do the Moonwalk or similar next year, I am so inspired!

  • posted by Theodora
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    Wow Jackie – must be a great atmosphere and how lovely to be there as a family to share in it and offer support. I just love walking, either in the hills or on coastal paths (average 8 – 10 miles a day) but I’m afraid I’ve never even been vaguely tempted to run. Not even for a bus๐Ÿ˜‰

    Go for the moonwalk – sounds like a much more sensible, not to say achievable, goal!

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