# New to this support group



## SuzyQ0211 (Nov 18, 2020)

Good evening
My name is Susan, I'm new to this support group and in high hopes of getting direct support and eating habits, as I've listened to too many people and landed myself in trouble. Now I was diagnosed two years ago with type 2 diabetes, and was told to go to Slimming World which didn't help me in the least, I would loose a pound and pick up three. My Dr. put me on a prescription drug to help, I've lost 11kg, and just will not budge again. Then you have all those so called experts out there who tell you to do this or try that and in the end you're in trouble once more. So I'm looking now for support, friendship, understanding, and a correct eating plan. 
Im looking forward to hearing from you.
God bless stay safe Susan


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## Vonny (Nov 18, 2020)

Hi @SuzyQ0211 and welcome to the forum. There are people here who do Slimming World and find it works for them, but the majority of us are on a low carb, high fat diet. You've done massively well losing 11kg, and it's usual to plateau at some stage. What kind of things do you eat? Do you test your blood glucose? 

I'm sure someone will be along soon to explain what carbs do to your body...I'm no expert but I do know I've lost a lot of weight (over 3 stone) by cutting out spuds, pasta, rice and bread. However, everyone is different and some people can tolerate a certain amount of refined carbs.

The diet section of the forum has a lot of great ideas for low carb eating and you could do worse than look at the thread: "What did you eat yesterday". 

Best wishes


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## rebrascora (Nov 18, 2020)

Hi Susan and welcome

Congratulations on the loss of 11kg. That is a great weight loss. I am guessing you have more to go from your comments. There are two ways to tackle it, diet and exercise. If you can hit it from both angles ypu will push through the plateau you have hit. It doesn't have to be exertive exercise, a good brisk walk will help and Diabetes UK has just started an initiative to help people get more active, so that might be something to look at.  It's called Live Well, Move More








						Live Well Move More!
					

Diabetes UK would value your help with our new Live Well, Move More Programme which aims to support people living with diabetes to be more active. We know that moving more can really help people to manage their diabetes, and we will be helping people to making it part of their day-to-day.   We...




					forum.diabetes.org.uk
				




As regards diet many of here find a low carb higher fat way of eating helps both with our Blood Glucose Levels and also weight loss but importantly the fat element which we have all been told to avoid for so long, actually helps you to lose weight because it stops you from feeling hungry. You have to combine it with the low carb though otherwise you will gain weight. I used to love bread pasta and potatoes pre diagnosis as well as being a sugar addict.... I never ate just 1 chocolate bar... I had no off switch and a multipack of snickers could be gone before I knew it, or a whole large packet of Tangfastics as well as just tipping sugar into my coffee rather than counting spoons. I freely admit I was bad and if I wasn't physically active I am sure I would have been double the weight I was. 
Now that I have cut out the carbs and eat more fat, I just don't crave those things anymore and that is incredibly liberating as I have had an unhealthy relationship with food for most of my life. I love that someone can eat those things in front of me and I don't want them and it is not hard to say no when offered and that I rarely feel hungry anymore even when I only have 1 or 2 meals a day. I know how scary it was in the beginning at the thought of giving up these things, but I have discovered new things that I enjoy which don't cause my BG levels to rise and whilst I enjoy them they don't make me crave them like carbs did. I start my day with coffee and real cream and I often end it with a nice piece of cheese and a small glass of red wine and plenty of meat and salad and eggs and veggies in between so I can't possibly feel deprived. I just make good low carb choices, which fill me up and I enjoy.

I hope that gives you a bit of inspiration and motivation. I am not saying it has been easy. There has been a lot of effort put in to get to where I am now, but I love being in control and able to get into clothes that have been in the back of my wardrobe for 20 years and I feel fitter and healthier than I have for maybe 30 years and at 56 I am more than happy with that.... so there have been a lot of positives to my diabetes diagnosis.


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## Ralph-YK (Nov 18, 2020)

Welcome to the forum Suzy from a fellow T2. There are lots of people who find dieting schemes don't work long term. People loose weight short term, then put it back on. You've to find a food programme (as opposed to a diet) you can live with long term. Best advice I can give for weight management is to start with the generic "healthy eating" advice.
On top of that you've to work on eating to help manage your diabetes, which I see as a separate question. It's not food that affects your blood glucose (BG) levels. It's carbohydrates in particular, and they can make it spike. This is potatoes, pasta, rice, bread, breakfast cereil (particularly bad for me).
I'd suggest self testing to see what affect food has on your BG levels, along with any changes you make. Keep a food diary, as well as a record of your levels. After a couple of weeks you should start to see a pattern.


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## KARNAK (Nov 18, 2020)

Hello Susan welcome to the forum.

I think from members posts you are starting to get the idea of what you need to do,
If you can let us know what medication you are on, if you test your blood sugars on
a daily basis also your latest HbA1c result we can work with you, thankyou.


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## Drummer (Nov 18, 2020)

I used to be told that I was doing it wrong when on diets - even if I stuck to the regime exactly - but I was always eating more carbohydrate than I could cope with.
We are told that a healthy diet comprises good carbs - well - it doesn't work for me and never has.
If you list a normal days meals we might be able to give you some pointers.


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## SuzyQ0211 (Nov 19, 2020)

KARNAK said:


> Hello Susan welcome to the forum.
> 
> I think from members posts you are starting to get the idea of what you need to do,
> If you can let us know what medication you are on, if you test your blood sugars on
> a daily basis also your latest HbA1c result we can work with you, thankyou.


Hi Karnak 
So yeah I'm on plenty medications,
I am a post transplant recipient so here goes....
Azathioprine, predispose, levothyroxin, pantoprazole, enalpril, colopfoger, bidoprolol ,rosuvastatin Amitriptyline, hydro cortisone, Pramipexole, 
i checky levels once a week, they range between 6.9 and 10.8.
thank you for you support


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