Tips for maintaining. Add yours too

I have been diet & excersise only for bout 3 1/2 yrs now. I did some tricks like i bought new smaller dishes, especially plates & bowls. My dinner plates are what used to be called “Bread plates”.
I stopped eating at “all u can eat buffets”. When at sizzler i do eat off the salad bar, fruits, veggies & some chicken wings.
Had to stop with the red meats cos i can no longer digest them in a 7 hr period of time.
I kept notes of what foods caused me to become sluggish, gave me cramping, which one’s filled me up without raising blood sugars & how i felt after a meal.
I buy sooooo much less food now. What used to be 2 meals is now 4 meals.
Meat portions should be no larger than a deck of cards & at 1st u’ll try to make sure it’s exact but as your stomach shrinks you’ll not be distrubed if it’s less.
I was a big candy eater. So i found safer sweet tasting snacks. Like so called “sugar free” candies.
Don’t be fooled there is sweetner in there so try it & then test your blood sugar. Some people can’t handle even that.
I’m fortunate in that switching to splenda type products has been good for me. Some people can’t even use that. Everyone’s diabetes is unique to them.
I stopped eating white potatoes and started eating yams or sweet potatoes baked or boiled u can bake them but NO marshmellows. They have less starch . Starch turns to sugar in your system.
If i’m having potatoes i have green veggies as Corn , carrots and peas are high carbs. All portions are smaller.
I changed to Diet Rite soda’s , one or two in a day & that’s it.
Caffiene can effect your blood sugar so i switched to decaf everything.
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oh btw i still eat supreme pizza or chicken pizza- Pizza Hut- i just don’t eat 6 slices anymore. I eat two and savor every bite. I usually bring my own soda to the restraunt & explain that if they have diet caffiene free soda i’ll be glad to drink theirs & pay for it. I tell them i’m diabetic & they usually bring a glass with ice & i try not to be conspicuous. Other times i just order delivery, take my slices out, eat them then devide the rest into 2 slice packages , wrap them in wax paper when cooled, then in foil & freeze them. I get a lot of meals from one pizza now. Having a salad with each serving really fills you up. Be careful of salad dressings cos many have corn syrup in them. READ Those labels.
I’d like to hear how other people are managing as i might learn something new to help me even more. TY

When i started out 3 1/2 yrs ago i weighed 255 lbs at 5’ 1" tall. I was very round ! I am now at 203 lbs and still loosing. I get off track from time to time & that has slowed my progress. I’m walking about 2 hrs a week in excersise form and i don’t count when i’m out walking the mall with a friend or shopping Wal Mart for 2 hrs. I do stretches in the morning & evening so i’m not so stiff in the mornings. I’ve noticed an ever increasing amount of energy as i loose weight and less aches & pains. My depression is now occassional where it was constant before. I find that my skin is improving, it’s not as dry as it was & doesn’t crack anymore. I have developed a lack of desire to be in public though and spending more time at home. I have to force myself out of the house to even go shopping. I don’t know what that is about.
Whenever my BSL gets to about 70 i start snapping at people and my patience level goes to almost zero.
I have a brother with diabetes as well, we share the same parents where as we have 2 step brothers & 3 step sisters (non of which have diabetes). Our father & his father have diabetes , my father is type 2 on insulin, my brother is type 2 on pills & had to have a kidney transplant about 3 yrs ago, i’m type 2 on diet & excersise with no medications… but then i don’t have private insurance (medicaid/medicare which seems to get you as little medical attentions as if u were a nat) . Haven’t found doctors who are willing to be active in my well being other than the A1c test & to tell me if i don’t take care of this i’ll die. So i’m pretty much doing it on my own as doctors who treat medicare/medicaid patients are scarce here. If i have a problem i have to go to the hospital er. It sucks… but until i can move to a more populated & medically evolved area i’m stuck with this. I’m trying to get enough money together to move to Tacoma Wa which isn’t far away,… but without a car it might as well be in South America.
So i think i’m doing pretty good, lost a lot of weight & my A1c was 5.4 last time. We have a hospital here but it ranks like 87th on the hospital ratings for the USA. Which is 1 to 100; 100 being the lowest.
I have friends here who have private insurance through their work & they get excellent treatment from doctors here so the problem is that i don’t have private, good insurance.
When i go to family dinners & i know they will have things i can’t eat i take substitues for myself. I bake a great sugar free apple pie, it has splenda in it. I don’t like to cook anymore but i do it in quanities sometimes so i only have to do it a couple of times a month. Then i can just heat & eat & i know what’s in it for sure.
I boil 6 eggs at a time cool them then put them in the wax paper bags i save from the cereal boxes & store them in the fridge. They don’t discolor when protected from the fridge air. Also when you get new eggs leave them in the carton, wrap them in the plastic bag they came in & they’ll last much longer cos the shells are porous. They’ll taste like an egg too !
Wel gotta go. Bye

Sounds like you are doing great. Do U take pills or inslulin and how is your A1C.

David

I didn’t know caffeine affected your BGL’s. wow guess i need to wean myself off and go to decaff coffee.

I agree… also the glycemic index plays a big part in glucose levels. For example carrots have a lowe glyceminc index although higher in carbs.