I haven’t been away from the blog for ten years, but ten years is how long LoseIt keeps your data. I started using LoseIt a little over ten years ago, and kept at it for the first two years. Then slowly started trying to get back on the wagon. Ten years later, I’ve reached the point in the slow — what’s opposite of decline, incline? Where it’s time to put pressure downstream again.
I documented a lot of my weight-loss journey of 10 years ago on this blog. I personally learned a lot of good techniques to help me. But I just never go back to making them my daily routine, until about a month ago when I was diagnosed with Type-II diabetes. A wake up call I desperately needed.
I cut down my carbs drastically, went back to logging EVERYTHING in LoseIt, and now have about a month of solid data to make decisions on. I read back through my blog, and ten years ago I was struggling through a plateau, and trying to make sense of what was happening. In the day-to-day it was confusing. But – as I stated back then – time and pressure paid off. I dropped below 300# and got to almost 275 before the wheels came off, and the incline began.
The dip at the left side of the graph shows my progress at the time. I was jogging everyday, and logging all my food. The drop at the top right shows my progress since the beginning of October of this year. What is off the graph to the left is where I started. I started at 378#, which is about where I am now. So I’m traveling a path I’ve traveled before. Gonna enjoy the view as I go.
What will I do differently. Well with age comes more patience, and a type-II diagnosis comes with a different priority. I need to do this for my health. Not pride or vanity, but to keep living. I had a frightening week just before I started this new trek, and I don’t want to be there again. So what is different in my diet. This next chart will be kind of show my plan.
The far left shows my macros from my first trek down the weight loss trail. The right show my current macros. Back then I strived for “zone-like” 40carb-30prot-30fat – struggled to get protein into the 30 percent, but limited carbs to around 40% of diet for almost 20 years. The data points get sporadic from there.
The far right shows two months of the new normal. Trying to be “keto-ish”, the first few weeks my goal was 40g of carbs, to get to the 5/25/70 Keto standard. I met and discussed my goals with my dietician and adjusted my goals up to 10-15% carbs, 25-35% protein, and 40-50% fat. This seems ultimately sustainable long term.
What that breaks down into – back in 2010, my daily carb intake was in the 250g range, now my goal is 80g. That means a lot less french fries and hamburgers, not as much hot fudge sundaes, etc. But there are a lot of foods that I can still partake of.
What has this done to my glucose levels. And another chart to show progress:
These are two week trends from my continuous glucose monitor (CGM), which isn’t measuring the same as a fingerstick. But close enough. The bottom block is the first two weeks, then the next two weeks in the middle. Then the top block is my current two week period. Much better readings, much tighter control. One hypo (that is a low reading under 70 mg/dL) that was from last night (my blood glucose was ~81 for that period – the CGM was reading a bit low).
The point of that is that controlling carbs is working. My weight has dropped almost ten pound since the first week of October. I know the trail downhill will be slow, but I feel in control now.