future EX diabetic

I'm 30 years old. I have been insulin resistant since I was 17. It's time for a change, so follow me through my journey toward diabetic remission using a low carbohydrate diet.

[futureexdiabetic]

When I got home I checked my blood sugar and it was 257, almost 100 points down from this morning’s waking blood sugar. I have dawn phenomenon where my liver dumps sugar before I wake, so that wasn’t too surprising. 

I ended up making 4 large eggs cooked over medium in butter with a small amount of green onion, salt and pepper and I had it with two Aidells pineapple and bacon sausages cooked in the air fryer. I felt tired, so I napped. I need to get myself sorted because this exhaustion is real. But also I think I am getting sick or something (not sure if I mentioned that earlier or not). I accidentally slept from about 7PM to 10:30 and missed picking my husband up from work. Thankfully a coworker gave him a ride home. 

We ended up ordering some food and while we waited we went to Taco Bell for some drinks. We ordered the food from a local dive bar. I got a 2/3lb burger with cheddar cheese and had it bunless, adding pickles, a tomato slice, two bacon strips, and mustard. It came with a side salad that I had with italian dressing. From Taco Bell, my husband wanted a burrito and I really wanted to try the nacho fries, so we got those with drinks. I had two bites of the nacho fries and I got a diet Mountain Dew Baja Blast (I can’t taste the difference so I really hope they gave me diet like I ordered). 

I checked my blood sugar again before we ate and it was 273. 

I am resisting my usual urge to binge. I have to be really careful because it is too easy for me to spiral. I had half a serving of some sour cream and onion potato chips and a small chocolate chip cookie. 

Based on my totals in My Fitness Pal, I am currently low carb. However, I had 77g of carbs yesterday and 54g of carbs today. It’s progress, which is all I can hope/try for. I’ll get there. I am going to be more strict tomorrow about not eating out or as much processed foods. After I finish this soda that I have been nursing the last couple hours I will close my eating window and start water fasting again. 

Oh, I also want to mention that when I started half-ass fasting on the 21st I was 229.1 and as of this morning I was 221.8. I’ll weigh again on Sunday.

Curious to see what my waking blood sugar is in the morning. I’m also curious if I will be able to sleep tonight since my legs are super sore. Anyway, goodnight. 

[futureexdiabetic]

I am rocking this fasting and ketovore thing! Day two but I feel a lot better than yesterday. Blood sugar this morning was 340. I fasted for 13 hours and broke my fast with two baked chicken legs and two baked chicken wings from Safeway. Roasted chicken never tasted so good! I also had a mozzarella and procutto roll up that I hated. I have two more hours of work and then I can go home. I will take my blood sugar when I get home and make some Aidells sausage and probably some broccoli. Or I may keep it dirty carnivore, who knows!

The only thing that feels sub par is my legs hurt a little bit and I am having some allergy or cold symptoms. Maybe keto flu? I will have some of my electrolyte powder when I get home, and I have another brand of electrolyte powder on order that I am excited to try. It should be here in a few days.

I also signed up for Diathrive supply subscription again so I never have to worry about buying strips. Things are feeling promising today.

[futureexdiabetic]

I thought about just updating tomorrow, but no. I need to be consistent.

I fasted to just over 18 hours. My blood sugar was 284. I made four eggs and had roughly 8 ounces of kielbasa. Then I took a nap because I have been feeling so run down lately, likely due to my blood sugar. When I woke up it was 307. I picked up my husband from work and we got McDonald's which I had three bacon McDoubles with only cheese, mustard, mayo and pickles. I also had some diet coke, a couple bites of a McFlurry and a couple pieces of almond milk chocolate. So no, I didn't stay carnivore but it was still keto at least which is a win for day one.

The ultimate determining factor is my blood sugar. Hoping for a lower number in the morning and an even lower number when I break my fast.

At this point, I am in a lot less pain from my leg ulcers so that is a good sign.

See you tomorrow.

[futureexdiabetic]

I have been trying to mentally get where I need to be all year now. It is July 29, 2021 and looking back I made this Tumblr over 8 months ago. I am ready, truly ready. This is proof that if you aren't truly ready to commit, you won't.

This morning I woke up feeling sluggish and exhausted, stuffy, groggy, etc. I checked my blood sugar and it was 510. I haven't had that high of a number before. Close to 500, sure, but never over. It was a true wakeup call.

I am ready to heal my body from it's various ailments, especially my leg ulcers. I am done being awake in pain until 3 in the morning almost every night of the week. I am done with bandage changes three times a day and limiting what I can and cannot do based on my pain level and what risk there is for bumping my leg on something and getting more ulcers. I am done with the risks of infection which could lead to amputation. I am done with taking so much Naproxen that I worry about damaging my already diseased kidneys. I am just done with all of it.

And I am finally ready to care for my body. It is the only one I have for the rest of my life.

So today I have been water fasting and I will post an update when I break my fast. It will be relaxed carnivore, or potentially keto (if I feel like cooking vegetables). I will update you on my bloodsugar then. Until then, here, have a picture of my lunch:

[futureexdiabetic]

My friend is a rockstar!

I’ve known this friend since 2012 and we’ve always had similar struggles with diet, diabetes, the like. For the last three months she has really stepped up her game and is reaping the rewards. She has binge eating disorder and food addiction problems like I do and was feeling really down on herself this last week because she had caved in to binges and temptations despite her doctor’s appointment coming up. Her A1c was above a 14 in May, a 9.7 in July, and now it is a 6.5 in November! She’s been using about 40 units of insulin a day and has been eating low carb (about 100g a day) most days with no exercise and a binge about once a week.

It’s inspiring to me because it reminds me that I too can do this. I have done this. It’s all about the effort. Later I will post my “day one” stuff after I eat my final meal of the day. I had some BK nuggets and am waiting to see how my blood sugar reacts (they don’t raise her sugars, somehow) and I’ll report back around 9. Until then, adios. 

[moodsandmatters]

[remanence-of-love]

[the-inspiring-quotes]

[futureexdiabetic]

The Game Plan

There’s a lot of misinformation out there on what actually reverses diabetes, but I have done my research and I know what needs to be done. If you think there’s a “better way,” let’s just agree to disagree for now. 

For the rest of 2020, I am going to be slowly decreasing my carbohydrate intake to be eating a relaxed carnivore diet by January 1, 2021. 

When I say relaxed carnivore, I mean that I will be using spices and on rare occasions I will be allowing some low carb vegetables. Once I have been on carnivore for a while and reached my goal weight of 135 pounds (90 to go!), I will start reintroducing vegetables and track my blood sugar along the way to see what my body can handle to stay in remission. The eventual goal is keto paleo. 

Along with this, I plan to work toward intermittent fasting and eventually one meal a day. I also plan to start incorporating gentle exercise on January 1st. 

[futureexdiabetic]

I’m ready to restart now.

It’s been a long time coming, honestly. My health journey has been long and hard, and I am hopeful that I can finally get back on track toward better health. 

I’m not going to do a really long account of my entire health history with you, but if you’re curious on the highlights, they’re under the cut.

I wasn’t terribly fat growing up, just normal chunky. I started really putting on the weight at 16 and I noticed that my periods had stopped. Growing up I didn’t have health insurance. My family was poor and my parents didn’t think it was necessary for me to have. I was able to get on government insurance and see a doctor at 17 years old when I was 280 pounds and diagnosed with insulin resistance (basically prediabetes, though I had no idea at the time) and PCOS. 

I didn’t fix anything, I lost my health insurance, and ended up reaching 315 pounds at 21 years old. Again, I didn’t really change anything substantially (you’ll notice a theme of that) and I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes at 23. I was also diagnosed with high cholesterol (really only my triglycerides). 

At 25 years old I got pregnant after 7 years of trying to conceive but I lost her in my second trimester and had a missed miscarriage. During that time I was diagnosed with high blood pressure (stress related) as well as stage 2 chronic kidney disease. 

At 27 I went out for a night of partying with my best friend at the time and ended up contracting mono from him. It got complicated and I got left with not only mono but a rare comorbidity called erythema nodosum which got even more complicated and resulted in ulcers on my lower legs (either pyoderma gangrenosum or necrobiosis lipoidica, we’re not sure yet). 

Now here I am at 30. Health conditions galore. Ulcers on my legs. I am fed up. I have regrets. But I am more than ready for this change. And it starts tomorrow morning. 

Starting Weight: 226.0 pounds as of November 9th. (Weigh in tomorrow.)

[futureexdiabetic]

It is currently 4:33 AM and I just made a new Tumblr. I am a 30 year old.