From then until now my A1C has remained between 5.4 and 5.6

I still count every calorie/carb, plan all my meals and track everything that goes in my mouth

That may sound like “work” but now it’s such an “ingrained habit” that I don’t even notice – it is “second nature”

In the spring of 2019 – about 2 ½ years into “my program” I sat with the Dietitian and she conducted an in depth analysis of “what I was eating”. I was concerned the way I was eating may be leading to the unintentional deficiency of some vitamin or mineral

(when you restrict what you eat, that is possible to likely depending on what you cut out)

After almost 2 hours of chatting, questions and checking charts, Allison shook her head and said “I got nothing – there is nothing I can think of to add or change”

So I have just “stuck with my program”

So far, this is working “for Me”

You don’t need to figure it all out on “day 1”

Take the time to “ease in” and you will increase your chances of success…

I did more reading and found the DiRECT study designed to invoke remission

Their “program” was less than 130 carbs/1500 calories a day, noting that 26% of calories from carbs seemed to be the “magic number”

I adopted the 26% and compromised at 1650 calories a day

I switched to 4 meals a day, 4 hours apart with a 400 calorie/25 carb “target” – not carved in stone, but simply to try and get my “meal planning” streamlined

During the next three months I found “foods” that I could “plug in” to that diet

I wasn’t worried about the “nutritional value” (yet) simply the carb count and calories

Feb 2017, D+6 months my A1C test came in at 5.4 – clinically not diabetic

Now that I had achieved “normal” I started taking the time to start replacing/incorporating more nutritious foods and “smarter carbs” into my diet

Control allowed me to experiment a bit with portion size and the re-introduction of some foods (potato/pasta) I had totally cut out

I started to really “eat my meter” and tweak the number of carbs in a meal and not blow myself up

After all, we need to keep “eating this way” forever so if we don’t make it as satisfying as possible while striving for “total health” benefit we are not likely to stick with it or will cheat often

By now the weight was starting to come off

When you eat fewer calories, weight comes off – that is “THE” Secret formula

No funky diet, no special foods, you don’t even need to exercise (which is great for maintenance, cardio health and circulation, but very few can exercise their way to ideal weight – that is a “fantasy”)

Just eat less calories then you “need” and the weight will come off

I was down 46 pounds in 4 months

I made no other changes for a few months – weight loss was slowing but was still shedding a couple pounds a month

Feb 2018 (D+18 months) weight down 60 pounds (exceeding my goal), still losing a bit, off to the Dietitian to figure out a “maintenance plan”

Her advice – add calories until I either hit 2000 OR I started to gain back weight.
Over the next couple of months I put the calories back

With weight remaining stable, I stopped at 2000 calories and called it good

So in about a year and a half, my “diet” was pretty well ironed out; the weight was lost and holding and the sugar control was solid

This is great information Graham thank you for sharing

@GrahamLamb- Graham- Thanks. I will ask for a homa IR test.

Good Morning @A DiabetesTeam Member
Your journey to finding what works for you and the advice of doing one thing at a time has been very helpful for me.

Thanks so much for all of your help and support. I really appreciate you

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