Hi, I’m coming up on my 6-Month Keto Anniversary and I am so pleased with the results.
I started at 259#, taking metformin and insulin (50 units Lantus nightly, and 10 humalog with meals = 80 units daily (and sometimes more because my post-prandials would go so high that I would self-treat).
With the 80 units daily, my HbA1c was 8.0 at the end of August 2017 and my physician increased my insulin dosing and prescribed Victoza.
In short, I became I was really angry. Not angry at my physician. Angry at myself, my body. I was vegan 
(had been for nearly 1.5 years in an attempt to lose weight/control glucose). I felt helpless, lost. I was giving up.
Instead of giving up, it occurred to me that if I were gluten intolerant, I would give up grains. If I were allergic to penicillin, I would not be prescribed that med. Well, I am intolerant to glucose, AND as I learned, I have serious insulin problems. So maybe… MAYBE I should give up carbs.
Crazy idea and to be honest, I was worried for the first three months that my heart would explode. So far so good. And in the meantime, in the past six months:
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I have lost 38 pounds.
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My HbA1c dropped from 8.0 on 80 units insulin/day to 6.9 (this past week) with metformin only.
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6.9 - 6.9 - 6.9!!!
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I am down from a 20W-22W (US fat lady sizes) to a 16. Notice NOT 16W - that is important because “W” have larger waists. I am, for the first time in 20-25 years buying “Regular People Clothes”, as I have always referred to them. And lately, the 16’s are getting a little loose. My waist was thick long before I became obese or T2DM. That was my body, screaming for help!
To be transparent, this is what I do:
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Zero to 20 total carbs/day.
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Intermittent fasting. I fast 20-24 hours/day, most days. My eating window is 5p-9p, more or less (usually 6-7). I do use cream occasionally with my coffee or tea (so call my fasting what you will, it works). I do occasionally - very occasionally do a 48hr fast; frankly I get a little mean at the 24hr mark, but it resolves itself if I just go to sleep! haha
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I don’t usually track what I eat. I ‘spot check’ occasionally. At first - first three months - I weighed and measured EVERYTHING, and also did a lot of boold glucose checks (on weekends hourly just to watch glucose responses to foods).
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Exercise - maybe, maybe not. I live 2.5 miles from work and often walk or ride my bike to and from. Less so this winter due to a fear of slipping on ice and breaking some limb or another. This winter, I occasionally go to the gym at work and do one 30 minute routine - I get on a recumbent exercise bike and do HIIT of a casual variety, meaning I here and there increase the tension up and down (4 then 15 then 3 then 8, etc). Completely randomly; frankly, planning this is too much trouble. I have some 8 pound hand weights at home and if I need to burn energy I lift them, do squats, planks.
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I weigh daily and record. I also chart on a graph. It helps me SEE the process.
Also, to be transparent:
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I don’t have cravings for high carb foods. Completely DO NOT miss bread, rice, pasta, pizza crust. I DO NOT miss insulin - or the blood sugar rollercoaster, the aches and pains, the trigger thumb that was killing me either - so fair is fair.
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I do still use artificial sweeteners but have been weaning myself off. Sometimes I want ‘dessert’, so I put splenda in coffee. But this is my next project - no sweeteners, because I know they can/do trigger an insulin response.
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Recently, I did buy a box of Atkin bars just to see what would happen. I counted the total carbs but I did learn that they are a BIG no no for me.
One Atkins bar in my mouth and I started craving. A raging desire to eat them all. Not really a craving for ‘real’ carbs, but let’s be honest, how long would that take? THANK GOODNESS that the gastrointestinal side effects of one bar was extreme. It was very easy for me to "just say no’!
I think of the relationship between sugar and artificial sweeteners (of ALL varieties) similar to the relationship between heroin and suboxone. I’m in the medical field and I see this a lot. The risk of going from prescribed suboxone to buying ‘extra’ on the street and then back to heroin is a well worn path. Same with sweeteners, if you ask me. But don’t ask me. Read the science.
Also, I am currently at a stall with weight. For the past 30 days (since 1/19/18), I have been riding up and down the same two pounds So, on a daily basis, I have lost 36-38 pounds since 9/1/17! I can’t say it doesn’t bother me, but I do make an effort to talk myself down. Even with the stall, I have lost inches, especially in my abdomen and neck/face. My glucoses continue to trend down and I FEEL fabulous. But who doesn’t want the numbers to go down?!
In the end, I trust it will. I have not weight this little since 1995, maybe. Certainly since 2000 when I was diagnosed T2DM.
Sorry for the long post. I just feel that maybe it will help someone who might be out there a week or two in and giving up because nothing is happening. This takes time - for some of us it take longer. I wish I were one of those people who could lose 50 pounds in three months but I think their metabolism is just different than mine. Mine seriously sucks.
sorry. Not about me lol
awesome!!