The biggest change in what I’ve eaten over the last three months is cutting carbs drastically. This has had dramatic improvements in my blood glucose levels, with fasting (in the morning when I wake up) levels lower than 110 mg/dL and inching lower week by week.

Changing my diet has also resulted in less consumption, daily calories, and also a drop in weight (over 25lbs since September 15th). I’ve read some great books on diabetes specifically, and currently making my way through Good Calories, Bad Calories: Fats, Carbs, and the Controversial Science of Diet and Health by Gary Taubes. It’s a fascinating book, wish I would have read it ten years ago.

Speaking of ten years ago, as I wrote previously, my current diet is taking advantage of habits I learned (then discontinued) ten years ago in the middle of losing 60 pounds in a year (Apr 2010 – Apr 2011). I was trying to hack my diet using what I would now refer to as the standard dieting, lower calories. I never bought into a low-fat diet, but neither did I adhere to a low-carb diet 10 years ago. I was trying to hit more Zone Diet goals in macronutrient ratios (30-fat, 40-carb, 30-prot), but I wasn’t trying to be very precise.

This is what a the first week of December looked like for total intake:

Now, compare this to the first week of Dec 2020

Calories	16157	2308
Fat	1051 g	59%
Protein	1043 g	26%
Carbs	604 g	15%
– Sugars	177	4%

Some comments to add context. I’m not really managing calories, I’m managing my carbohydrates. My goal is 10-15% of my calories from Carbs, and limiting sugars as much as possible. I don’t micro manage Fat and Protein because one usually comes with the other (meats, fish, poultry). There are some foods that have more fats than protein (dairy, cheese, nuts), but those are more garnish. I’m a carnivore in principal.

The question I’m asking myself which is a) more sustainable, and b) enables effective weight loss. I should mention, I’m not going back to my 2010 diet, my type-II diagnosis precludes me from consuming that level of carbs over the long term. I have pretty tight control over my blood sugar levels, so immediately – at least by that measure – this is a sustainable diet for me.

How effective has it been. It’s hard to compare a week in the past against a week in the present. But I’ll go back to the previous three months for each week above. Assuming that my diet was roughly the same for that period. (A fair assumption, but could be researched in more detail – the trick to dieting is eating boring – consuming the same things, makes tracking easier).

Date	Weight
Sept 15	315
Dec 10	300

Date	Weight
Sept 15	392
Dec 10	366

To fair to the math, I’m eating less calories presently, generally around 2100 calories a day. While in 2010, my calorie goal was 2400 calories. That raw number doesn’t tell the whole story though. While a 300 calorie per day difference isn’t trivial, it would add about a half pound loss more per week, it’s also not representative of my activity level.

In 2010 I was doing the couch to 5k program, and tracking my exercise calories. Each week I burned on average 2400 calories above my resting metabolism. So my extra calories burned makes up most of the difference in calories between the two diets. Presently I’m not exercising, I walked for about a week, 20 minutes a day the first week of October (when my blood sugar levels were astronomical), after that I’ve been as sedentary as I have been since the start of the pandemic.

So the numbers are curious, and I fully admit this is an experiment with an n of 1, so it’s anecdotal. I do know that I track my intake carefully, logging my meals before I take a bite, and I wear my Apple Watch that reminds me I’m not being active. The numbers, however clearly show that something has changed, and my diet is more effective.

I should note that in the weeks between September 15th and October 1st, I was taking a steroid for my cough, and that resulted in two things. Excessive urination, and through the roof blood sugars (at least by October 2nd my blood glucose was 420 mg/dL). I don’t really have I idea of my blood sugar levels before I started wearing a continuous glucose monitor. I do know from an annual blood test that glucose was around 90 mg/dL in 2010 (which is a skosh lower than what my average level is presently – over two months since diagnosis). The point being the last few weeks of September I wasn’t dieting, and I was losing a lot of water. I dropped 12 pounds between Sept 15th and Oct 2nd, without changing my eating. I only changed my diet after October 5th.

So the new diet seems to be both achievable, and effective. There are other things to consider. In 2010, I was drinking a lot of water – now I drink water, but not at the levels I did back then. I vaguely recall the diet left me hungry, especially after a hard run. Whether or not to eat back activity calories in my diet was a common question. I’m hardly ever starving now, I generally adhere to a 16:8 intermittent fasting (IF) regime. I stop eating around 8pm, and then aside from a cup of coffee or protein shake with my morning medicine I don’t eat until noon the following day. So I have two normal meals with a snack in between within 8 hours. I don’t go to bed feeling hungry at all.

That’s all I have for this post, I’ll write more next month. I am doing this so I have a bit of history of this journey. It has been helpful to look back at ten year old blog posts and re-read them for what that journey looked and felt like. Hopefully I’ll be able to enjoy these ten years from now!