Hi,

I’m hoping someone may have some words of encouragement. I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes a year ago but after the birth I was deemed not to be diabetic as my fasting readings were fine. I have kept an eye on my blood sugars since and noted that they were creeping up despite being fairly low carb with treats kept to a minimum so started the BSD on 10th February, supported by my GP. She thought it best for me to have the HBA1c as it was due a year after the birth anyway and would confirm whether the sporadic readings I had been taking were an accurate reflection of a trend. I had my first hba1c on 9th march (week 4 of BSD) and the result was 54. My GP suggested that the test be repeated two weeks later (week 6 BSD) and I have just had the results, now 52. I’m feeling rather disheartened. My daily readings had been looking really promising over the last couple of weeks, fasting numbers reduced from 8.5 in January to a fairly reliable 5.9 (that I hope to reduce further) and post meal readings, even though only taken once in a while as I didn’t want to get too obsessed/stressed by it all, have all been in the 5s or 6s. Given that progress I was really hoping that the hba1c might have come down a bit more. As the name suggests, I am a Tofi and have lost 7lbs on the diet and have 3lb to go until I will have reached my 10% loss target. I suppose I’m hoping someone might be able to be the voice of experience and that I need to be patient. I know there was only two weeks between the two hba1c tests and I have no idea how high it might have been if I had one done back in January so may have made more progress than I realise. Also of course the hba1c takes the average of the preceding 8-12 weeks so would cover the period before I started the diet but I had read that it is the final 4 weeks that are most crucial in determining the hba1c result – anyone know if that’s right?
I am now not going to have another hba1c until June so hopefully that will be a better indicator as to whether the diet has actually reversed the diabetes but any words of wisdom in the interim would be most welcome. I come to the end of week 8 of BSD next week but am minded to keep going with it (perhaps with a slight increase in calories but continue as very low carb) until I reach the 10% loss and my fasting sugars are lower. Am I right to feel a bit gutted though?
Thanks in advance

Hi TofiEm, From the UK Diabetes site ‘the HbA1c test serves as an overall marker of what your average levels are over a period of 2-3 months’. The final 4 weeks are not most crucial in determining the HbA1C result. Given your tests were only 2 weeks apart that period of time is measuring a small proportion of the HbA1C test, so the improvement is pretty good. Your June test will be a true test of the your HbA1C. Good luck.

Congrats on your baby! And it’s great you are acting early to reduce your blood sugars. I had gestational diabetes 20 years ago and now I’m Type 2. I had very high blood sugars.its much better now. I know when I had my baby it was exciting and wonderful but also challenging and exhausting. I believe stress throughout my life contributed a lot to me getting type 2. I’ve read that cortisol is increased when people are under stress which raises blood sugar. Perhaps that could be another factor to look into? All the best with your baby!

Thank you both for your responses.

Jenni – that is really useful to know that the last 4 weeks aren’t any more relevant than the other 12 weeks. As I’ve only got a couple of pounds to go before I reach my 10% loss I’m going to carry on with the 800 cal diet (possibly relaxing calories very slightly but keep very low carb) until I get to that target and then have the repeat hba1c in three months.

FluffyFluffy – yes you are right about the cortisol. I didn’t see the doctor until a year after the birth because I thought it might well take a while for my body to settle down and sleep deprivation never leads to a very good blood sugar level! I have quite a high pressure job as a lawyer giving lots of presentations so I think that may have an impact, but I always do my tests at the weekend to try to take out that factor. I also don’t test when I have children yelling at me to make them breakfast for a similar reason!! I’m doing the headspace app and am reducing stress where I can but as my husband works away, it’s an extra challenge. Any exercise has to be done once the kids are in bed and then it’s pretty much time for me to go to bed! Fortunately the positive comments I’m getting and the delight of trying on clothes etc is helping as well as my skin looking younger so there are plenty of motivating reasons to plough on as well as the impact on my daily readings and the looming hba1c. I suppose it’s just made me realise how much of our life is punctuated by food and drink – celebrations etc and I’ve always been people’s go-to-gal for prosecco and afternoon tea recommendations! I feel like I need to have a personality transplant as so much of my social (and work)life revolves around meeting up for drinks, meals etc – I’ve never drunk so much fizzy water! Probably why my skin is great! A wedding last week was a challenge as the pudding/chocolate wedding favours/chocolates with coffee/wedding cake seemed to last about two hours! I managed to ignore them all but felt very grumpy about it!

Hi, sorry to hijack your thread but I have a question about HBA1C and thought it wasn’t important enough to start a new one.

I’ve just got bloods results from my doctor and I’d asked for the test because my mother was recently diagnose as prediabetic and we are very similar physically. So it was done after 8 weeks on BSD and 10kg lost. The result was 5.5/ 37 which she seemed to think was a bit on the high side. I thought it was normal? What she actually said was that it is all right but I wouldn’t want it to be any higher. Cholesterol was up too, 7.8 from 6.4 a year ago. Going to retest that in August. I’m worried that the higher fat is pushing it up. Would welcome any comments. Thanks.

5.5 is totally normal. Weird that such a response was given.

Mariet, As Jenni says, 5.5 is normal. As for your worries about high fat in this diet pushing up your cholesterol then you need not fret. Remember the fats in this diet are healthy fats (LCHF stands for low cal high fat but should be re-named low cal healthy fat). Try to use rapeseed oil for cooking, olive oil for dressings, full fat dairy is much better for you than chemically changed low fat or low sugar but stick with plain yoghurts also use butter not margarine which is full of chemicals. You still use it sparingly but if you are not having mashed potatoes or toast or savour biscuits you will not have much use for the butter except for cooking scrambled eggs. That is another thing, dont worry about eggs in your diet, it is not true that they raise cholesterol. Also eat a few (just a few) nuts daily and avocados once or twice a week. The fat in this diet is natural but it is also there to make you feel fuller.

Here are a few of my results, total cholesterol was 6.3 and is now 3.9 and I take 50% less statins and hope to stop soon when I convince my doctor I am on this diet for life, my triglycerides (liver function) was 1.55 and now 1.21, HbA1c was 8.3 now 5.4. Also my blood pressure is down from 140/90 to 110/65. I worried too and I even started a thread with the title ‘what are we doing to ourselves’ because I was so scared at the rapid improvements it thought something had to go wrong. 9 months later and I as still on the no carbs and 800 plan except for high days and holidays when I still have no white carbs.

As you learn to look after yourselves you learn to ignore the medical advice. Good luck.