I’m getting quietly desperate at my current lack of progress. I started the BSD on the 24th January and, apart from 11 days early last month visiting family when it simply wasn’t possible to stick to it and I have no idea what my ‘numbers’ for food would have been, I have kept to it – with a few ‘bad’ days when a good bit more than 800 calories were consumed (by which I mean up to 1,000, not something enormous). My weight has dropped – in the 1st of January I was 14 stone 2 (198 lbs, 98.5 kgs) and is now 12 stone 6 (174 lbs, 78.7 kgs) which is gratifying, but I am more concerned at my FBG levels. Late January they were 7.2; they are now this week 6.9, but more worrying than the very small improvement is the fact that over the last couple of weeks they have started to creep up; at Back in March I was seeing under 6; now I haven’t seen anything under 6 since 31/3/17 and the last two readings have been 6.9. The trend is now up, not down and I am at a loss to know where I am going wrong. I am eating the same food in the same amounts – obviously with some variations from day to day. My average ‘numbers’ since staring the diet are Calories -781, Fat 38g of which 14 is saturated, Carbs (excluding fibre) 43g of which 8g are processed sugar and 8 natural, Fibre 9g, Protein 66g and salt 3g. The average dry weight of food consumed (excluding liquids) is 574g.
Any ideas, please? Sorry if this sounds like one long whine, but at 80 years old in a couple of months and a disabled wife to care for, food and drink are about the only pleasures left to me, and what I am eating now is a far cry from what I really enjoy – things that I guess are gone forever.
Mike

Because of your age I cant advise you too much but make sure you are not stressed out. Mindfulness and rest is vital part of this process. Be happy in every moment and live to the fullest. All the best Michael

Hi Mike — it actually looks like you are making excellent progress — you have lost a lot of weight — huge congratulations especially because you are feeling a bit desperate about the blood sugar levels and that can derail you but you have stuck to it! That is really strong and determined.
Although I am not diabetic, I will just recommend what I have extensively read about blood sugar — you should try some weeks with absolutely NO NO NO sugar and no refined carbohydrate — I looked at your “average” intake and I think you can tweak it to improve your blood sugar even more.
Cut carbs down to 20 grams or less. Increase your fat intake to make up the difference. Your protein intake is good so don’t add more protein unless you take up weightlifting. Which, now that I think about it, would be really good for you two or three times a week. Follow that for a few weeks and see if it doesn’t lower your blood sugars to a level you like.
It sounds like you are a very important person to your wife — she really needs you. That can be exhausting — I know because I help care for my demented 94 year old dad. It gets so tiring, I know the urge to eat. Can I suggest you look for other pleasures in the day? Maybe as I mentioned, some gym time or some relief care so you can have lunch or a walk with a friend — a pot of herbal tea watching the birds… Whatever you love to do.
And I will be straightforward — it is important to accept this new way of eating as the best solution to control blood sugar forever — the good news is it just becomes automatic (as you are experiencing) and I think, over time, starts to feel so much better than how we ate before.
Don’t quit! Your desperation just is signaling that you need some new ideas/strategies. You have made amazing progress — well done you!

Thanks folks. One of my ‘parameters’ is that unfortunately Veronica can’t be left alone for any great length of time – she has very bad tremors in her hands so can’t cook, make cups of tea or the like without being at serious risk, so although we can, and do go out together to walk the dog, and, when she is good (her condition sis cyclical) shopping and the like – but now with my diet we can’t even really go out for a meal together any longer. To be honest, it does also worry me that my restricted diet impacts on her as well, although I do my best to produce things for her.
Don’t see how one can have absolutely no sugar at all in any normal sort of diet? I mean, even things like salad leaves and cauliflower (which I abhor!) contain sugar – only things like venison, etc are OK from that point of view and chicken, ham, and other zero meats do figure in my diet.
Thanks again
Mike

Hi Mike — grab a copy of my favorite book, “Why We Get Fat and What To Do About It” by Gary Taubes — it has excellent advice on low carb diets and the science behind it. I think it would be helpful!

Why are you having sugar of any kind or is it the natural sugars found in some foods like fruit – which are only to be eaten sparingly on this plan. Or are you having some slip ups.

most things have sugar in them, whether natural or processed – milk, mushrooms, cauliflower, seeds, walnuts, cheese, brazil nuts, yoghurt, kimchi, eggs, brocolli, asparagus, bean sprouts, cabbage – etc., etc.. The only things without any sugar that I can find are things like bacon, beef, ham, mange tout (yuk!) venison, Camembert, salmon – I eat a lot of ham and salmon especially. I don’t actually add sugar to anything at all , and I haven’t had so much as a piece of fruit in over two months since I realised just how much sugar fruit contains – used to have a Granny Smith after lunch every day – boy, how I miss them!
MIke

Hi Mike, the best discussion on the dawn phenomenon and why the fasting blood sugar values is not a reliable indicator is on Bill1954’s thread entitled ‘This has to work for me’. If I remember correctly Bill eventually simply ignored high fasting morning readings, and measured before/after meals instead. He was younger than you are but successfully reversed his T2 diabetes and lost a lot of weight. I would also echo Californiagirl’s suggestion to maybe do some strengthening exercises, this may have a beneficial effect on your blood sugars. Your macros look very similar to the ones I used, although I never split the sugars as I didn’t have that information.

I would say though that there is nothing wrong with allowing yourself the occasional small amount of apple etc. Particularly if it is something you really enjoy. Depriving yourself of food you like just to make some numbers smaller is the recipe for giving up on the way of life in my opinion. Try a couple of higher calorie and carb days, maybe a ‘planned weekend off’ and see what happens to the readings then. You have clearly done really well at sticking to the plan, but be kind to yourself when you are feeling like this, and mix it up. You will be back to the way of life with renewed vigour afterwards as I was when I did this. Oh, and some bacon does contain sugar, called ‘sweet cure’. It’s a minefield avoiding it completely I agree, and I don’t even try. I think as long as I do my best to avoid added sugar and sweeteners, and limit fruit and the sweeter vegetables to small portions then that is sufficient.

Hi Michael, my doctorssays fasting blood glucose level under 7 is “good” especially if hba1c is normal. Don’t forget that stress can put up your blood glucose level as can dehydration. I think you may be being too hard on yourself and I would suggest eating that grannysmith apple. It will give you pleasure and limited fruit is ok on the bsd. You have done really well. Try to be a bit flexible with your approach. You and your wife can eat out, you just have to be careful with YOUR choices. It can be done. You have done really well, so give yourself a break, relax and enjoy and congratulate yourself.

Bigeater

Once again, many thanks, folks. As to exercise – on average, aprt from walking the dog and the like, 5 days a week I do 20 minutes on a manual treadmill, the equivalent of walking up a 1:10 hill and 20 minutes of exercises split between using light weight (2 kg each) and general flexibility exercises to care for my back – had back problems for the last 63 years!),
Round here the medics look to a FBG level of 5 – used to be 7 but they moved the goalposts. NICE ( the National Institute for Clinical Excellence) says that for pre-diabetes one should look to levels of FBG 6.9, pre-prandial 7.0, post-prandial 8.5. Apart form the first few days before the diet begn to kick in, none of my readings have exceeded those numbers, with . pre- and post-prandial averaging 5.5 and 5,8 respectively. To be honest, if it weren’t for the fact that my numbers in all three categories have started to edge upwards over the last couple of weeks I wouldn’t be worried – but I don’t like seeing them going the wrong way.
On the bacon issue – yes some types do have sugar, depends on the curing process; I only buy that with no sugar.
Thanks again, everyone
Mike (oh, and just a minor cause of amusement – until I saw what I had typed. Until I corrected it, I had typed ‘pre-nuptial’ instead of ‘pre-prandial’!)

Should have said – those NICE figures are, of course, maxima.
Mike

Hi Michael, I am so impressed by everything you’ve said – you are doing brilliantly and obviously have a lot of knowledge now about the subject of carbs/dieting etc.

We all love food which is partly why a lot of us are in the situation we’re in – I’m T2 and I know full well it is because of my past dreadful eating habits and I only have myself to blame.

However, you say you have stopped going out to eat and by the sound of it that was a very enjoyable social occasion for both you and your wife – rightly so. Do not deprive yourselves of this – I think it is vitally important that we carry on doing exactly what we did before we started this way of eating provided we adjust where necessary. If we don’t, we will give up sure as eggs is eggs! Or as chips is chips ha ha!

My friends and family love going for Indian food – I used to order (and share with others not just for me) chicken passanda (creamy and delicious), pilau rice, onion bhajees, brinjal bhajee, peswari naan and bombay aloo……………ha ha ha – can’t believe that! Now I order a chicken shashlick – chicken breast, peppers and onions on skewers and that’s it…………..absolutely love it to bits AND I have a glass of red too! Boy do I look forward to going out for a curry…

I met a girlfriend for lunch the other day in a French restaurant and had for a starter asparagus followed by steak frites (asked for salad instead of the frites)…………..for my dinner I had a handful of nuts…………..didn’t affect my weight or blood sugars…………I feel like a normal person, not depriving myself – if I didn’t go out to share an enjoyable evening with friends/family in a restaurant I would feel so depressed.

If eating out I will usually not have a starter – perfectly acceptable – but I may well have a starter as a main course – again nobody queries this – one I look for is prawn cocktail as my default position in case there’s nothing else obvious – then have a coffee as a dessert. The important thing is the company, being out in a social situation and leaving the restaurant thinking ‘oh yes, I AM in control, I can do this!’

Just would hope I would find something on the menu I know will be safe – I usually google their menu and may suggest going somewhere else instead if I don’t see anything appropriate. Also means, if you know the menu beforehand, that I can visualise what I’m going to eat and know what that will be so don’t get sidetracked by other people’s choices!

Tallyhoo – that is exactly what I do when I go out for a meal. I love eating out and wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes on the BSD if I couldn’t have gone out with friends and family.

If everyone else is having starters and desert plus a main meal and wine – I will order the most expensive main meal (usually fillet steak which I absolutely adore) as I am not having all the extras. It just feels so deliciously wicked and extravagant – but as I am not having any of the extras my meal probably costs less than everyone else’s. The restaurant is always happy to substitute a salad instead of the frites.

I take my Lindt 90% to have with my coffee in place of a desert – which makes a lovely end to an enjoyable evening. So Michael – please don’t give up going out to eat.

Thanks a lot folks – I’m beginning to feel encouraged!
Mike