End of week 6 Results

End of week 4 results

Here are the results from this mornings weigh in!

Weight 91.4 kg a loss of 2.3 kg or 5.1 lbs

Blood sugar level 5.4 which is down 1.6 from last week.

 

After the bitter disappointment of last weeks gains, the contrast to this week has been huge. But before I discuss the weigh in results, I thought I would tell you how my check up at the hospital went. They measured my weight at around about 94kg, it was just after the last weeks weigh in. They also had the test results from my blood, covering the last 3 months. Please note this period includes both Christmas and New Year. During the festive period, I behalved like a non diabetic, eating whatever I wanted. Mince pies, chocolate, the works...Oh and my favorite...Crisps.

 

So with that background and the fact that one part of my normal medication (piglitazone) was no longer been taken, I expected the worse. However my blood sugar was 6.4 a great average all things considered. Colesterol which most people think would be high, on a high fat diet was normal at 3.0. All other blood measurement were normal. My blood pressure, which has always been good, was also normal. BRILLIANT!

 

So why has my weight shot up and then shot down again? Simple answer is I don't know. I don't care either the whole point is that it is still heading in the right direction. I was over the moon with my blood sugar level, I aim to get it lower, but considering the reduction in my oral medication I don't think my goal of 4.3 is attainable. That doesn't mean I'm not going to get there, it was my goal, and it remains my intention.

 

If you are reading this please take heart. If you want something bad enough, you will get it. I hope to look back on this blog in another 10 weeks time and be amazed at the journey. I can see myself at 85kg with my blood sugar levels around 5.0. Still with a bit to go to get to my ultimate goal of 79kg and 4.3, but well on the way.

 

If you want to come with me, you are most welcome. But please tick the follow box, please.

End of week 4 results

Here are the results from this mornings weigh in!

Weight 91.7 kg a loss of 0.5 kg or 1.1 lbs

Blood sugar level 6.3 which is the same as last week.

 

This weeks results are good, but once again I am feeling dissappointed! On Thursday I weighed myself and I was only 91kgs, so I thought, or I was hoping that by today I would have lost even more. So why have I gained weight since Thursday?

 

Glycemic Loading.

During the week I read a lot of interesting articles on Glycemic Loading (GL) of foods. This is the effect foods have on the bodys blood sugar levels. Foods that are generally high in Carbs produce a spike, a high level of blood sugar about 15 minutes after being eaten. What I was interested in was the fact that some foods that seem to be moderately high in carbs, actually have a low GL. With my diabetic hat on I decided to introduce some of these foods into my diet with the hope that they would have a significant effect on my blood sugar levels. One food that stood out to me was peanuts. Quite high in carbs but has a very low GL, meaning that if eaten with other foods they would, or should, lower that blood suger spike after eating. As you can see the effects on blood sugar was nil and the only significant effect was putting on 0.7kg in 3-4 days. Needless to say the peanuts are out!

 

Other ways to reduce that blood sugar spike after eating.

If we think about what happens after we eat - the energy in the food is converted into sugar to be transported around the body in the blood stream. Therefore if you can use this extra energy up, your peak blood sugar level will be kept down. We can do this by burning this energy. After a meal, if you exercise (Lightly) your muscles will use that extra energy. Recently I have, after the days main meal, jumped onto an exercise bike and pedalled for between 10 and 20 minutes. Each 10 minutes burning just less than 100 calories. I think the effect this will have will be more apparent next week when the peanuts are out of the diet. I will also be doing another mid-week weigh in to see if the effect kicks in early.

 

I hope you are doing well on your diets. I know people who are losing a pound a day! My target of 85kgs remains in the distance, but I strongly believe that fine tuning of this diet will soon bring it closer to me. See you next week.

End of Week 3 results

Here are the results from this mornings weigh in!

Weight 92.2kg a loss of 0.3kg or 0.66lbs

Blood sugar level 6.3 which is an improvement of 0.5 from last week.

Mixed emotions after this mornings weigh in. As you can see I lost less than a pound in weight. It is at times like this that you need all your strength, mental strength to carry on. One thing I do remember is that one week you might lose next to nothing, but the following week you will lose more than usual. It is just the natural ebb and flow of your body. Any supportive comments would be gratefully received. I think the other reason could be that I have been far less active this week. Normally I go on a 2 or 3 mile walk everyday and I haven't been able to do that this week.

Blood sugar. Remember that this is early morning blood sugar level which is always high as the organs of the body rise levels to wake you up! So this mornings reading of 6.3 is fantastic and more than makes up for the small weight reduction achieved. Another bonus of this way of eating is that as you lose weight your insulin resistance improves and so further reduces your blood sugar levels. Once the ball starts rolling the improvements in health get bigger and bigger. Don't forget that because your body is now burning fat as fuel, your cholesterol levels go down too.

I think in life and in business it is important to set yourself goals, or targets. So for this coming week I am aiming to lose another 1kg in weight and keep my blood sugar to 6.3. Set yourself a target and see how you get on.

Do keep drinking lots of water. If you are dehydrated all the cells in your body store water. As you may know a Litre of water weighs 1Kg so if your body is storing water it is easy to see why your weight can vary so much, whilst diet remains constant.

A great way to speed up weight loss is to excercise more. If you can afford to join a gym thats great, if not go jogging, running or if you need to build your fitness slowly then just walk. Wether you run, jog or walk a mile the amount of calories burnt is the same. You just get there faster and can improve your heart if you get it to beat faster. So if you walk, walk at a decent pace, or as quickly as you can.

I look forward to reporting for you next week!

End of week 2 results

Here are the results from this mornings weigh in!

Weight 92.5kg a loss of 1kg or 2.2lbs

Blood sugar level 6.8 which is an improvement of 0.4 from last week.

I want this diet blog to be open and honest and I am dissappointed with this weeks results. But when I think about it the results are great considering what I have been eating. I have had a couple of stir frys this week one chicken and a beef one. I had a kebab last night and I have also had a steak and my favourite Gammon and eggs. For desert I have been munching on Atkins chocolate bars. I think if I substitute these for strawberries I will be better off, so thats the plan for this week. Whilst the burning of calories seem to happen faster on a low carb diet, they still need to be burnt off. Therefore a 200 calorie bar every day will almost certainly not help the cause - as lovely as they are!

The one result I am proud of is my blood sugar level. A "normal" person will have a reading between 4 and 6 and diabetics are higher. So for me as a diabetic to have a morning (mornings are the highest) of 6.8 is definately heading in the right direction. The low carb way of eating was chosen by me, because it does reduce the peaks and troughs of a higher carb diet.

If your blood sugar gets low, thats when the cravings start. Your body screams out for more sugar, so in goes another chocolate bar or a sugary drink. Carbs are very addictive, I ve never taken drugs and dont smoke, but giving up carbs was the hardest thing Ive had to do. When I have come off the diet I have found that even if I have a small amount of carbs, my body wants more and more. My advice if you want to lose weight and keep it off - stick to a low carb or low GI diet.

There was a program of Channel 4 this week about Atkins called "Fats or Fiction", you might be able to get it on catch up TV. In California all the celebrities are shunning carbs. Where 10 years ago they were low fat and found this didnt work, they are all switching to low carb. Such is the effect that most restaurants dont serve bread and potatoes!

I hope that if you are following this diet that you are getting great results. Remember that if you need any help or advice contact me at dunkcal@yahoo.com

I have several business websites related to photography the main one being: http://www.portrait-wedding-photographers.co.uk/

Report at the end of Week One

End of Week One Results

Here we are just one week on with my low carb diet. I popped on the scales this morning and they read:

93.5 kg a loss of 2.9kg or 6.4 pounds
Morning Blood sugar level 7.1

I think that is quite impressive, don't you?

Isn't it dangerous to eat high fat?

After all the research I have done - this is my conclusion which seems to be backed up by most online research and more importantly, by my quarterly blood analysis!

The problem with most peoples diets is the MIX of fats and carbs. Your body can run on either fat or carbs. You must have heard about marathon runners who hit the wall? This is where your body switches between burning carbs for energy and fat. Most food today is high carb, if you're not doing it already - read the labels! Your body is lazy and would prefer to run on carbs - any left over are converted to fat and stored in your body.

People on a low carb diet get their energy from fat. So whilst my diet is essentially high fat - none of it stays in my blood stream because it is all used by my body as energy. In fact - and this is a fact my cholesterol levels DROPPED after I switched to my high fat diet.

The But! Just because this diet uses fats it doesn't mean that you should suddenly switch from grilling to deep frying. If you can grill your meats and eat more chicken or fish this will dramatically improve your health even further. What you have to be careful of is things advertised as low fat - these almost certainly will have replaced fats with harmful carbs. As a for instance choose full fat philidelphia spread over the low fat version. Next time you are in the supermarket compare the two to see what I mean!

This week I have eaten things like ham, lots of brie cheese, snacked on cheese strings and pork scratchings and brazil nuts. (Not too many nuts!) If I feel hungry I always have a no added sugar dilute juice drink. Its is important to drink plenty of water. I dont like water much so I flavour mine with juice. If you like your drinks fizzy then choose the diet versions there are plenty to choose from. Main meal have been stir fried chicken with bacon and jalepeno peppers, mushrooms and leafy salad. I have also had two lots of Gammon and eggs (my current favorite!). I also like the all day low carb breakfast - Bacon, eggs, mushrooms, sausages and even a burger! Steak is also great with a leafy salad and home made coleslaw. Home made because you can control the carbs and use full fat mayo.

If you like your fruit, yes you can have it but be careful what you have - most is very high in carbs which is why it is sweet! As a general rule anything ending in berrie is ok in moderation. For instance I have a fruit salad made up with strawberries and blueberries with full fat cream mmm.

Are you a chocoholic? Restrict yourself to a maximun of 1 Atkins bar per day. Please note the word maximum, they actually taste quite nice but are around £1 a go. Advalite an online low carb specialist is a good source for most things, including low carb replacement meal shakes, but I have had one on this diet yet, but they seemed ok last time out.

Any questions please email me at dunkcal@yahoo.com or on my facebook page http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=1347261946

Dynamite Diet

Dynamite Diet - What it is and the Results

In 2009 my type 2 diabetes was getting out of control. A self confessed chocoholic, I didn't want to inject insulin, so I turned to the internet to see what I could do to reverse my worsening medical condition and improve my overall health. I came acroos a study carried out in Scandinavia, I think it was Sweden? They took a large group of diabetics and put them on two different diets, one was low fat, the other was low carb. The results were that the group on low card diets lowered their blood sugar levels - some to the point where they were no longer considered diabetic! To me this was what I was after, you maybe more interested in the other side effect - loss of weight!

From March 2009 until October 2009 I lost just over 3 stone! I started at over 100kg's and went down to nearly 75kgs. Im 6 foot tall and 100kgs is considered obiese. So thats my results, but I hit a problem. I went on an all inclusive holiday to Dominican Republic and in two weeks put on nearly 2 stone! But boy did I enjoy it!

Now in 2011 with my wedding fast approaching and frankly fed up of carb loaded meals, I am back on the track. I thought this blog, which I intend to update weekly, would provide me with encouragement to stay on the healthy track and hopefully encourage, diabetic and non diabatic slimmers to do the same.

So what is the diet?

You may have heard of Atkins - well this is similar, but I don't believe in spening money on pre packaged snacks or meals or shakes, I just eat low carb foods. I aim for less than 10grams of carbs a day. I do not eat potatoes, pasta, bread or rice. Think of things that are normally bad for you and you can eat them on this diet. Go for high fat things like chesse, cream, butter, bacon, ham, eggs - you can also have chicken and fish like Tuna. More diet details will follow or if like me youre impatient, I would love an email and may be able to offer advice by phone, or facebook.

Where am I now?

Last Suday 2nd January, when I started my healthy eating I stepped on the bathroom scales and weighed myself at 96.4kg. I prefer kgs as I know, I can visualise pounds and stones and prefer to concentrate on the numbers. Do keep a record of your weight - on a weekly basis - and measure at the same time of day.

I will post more results as time goes on, and for the diabetics I will include my blood sugar results too.

dunkcal@yahoo.com