A1C down to 6.7!! I know, I know, not ideal, but MUCH better than the low 7’s I’ve been living with since I was diagnosed. My goal for this a1c was under 7. I got that. My next goal is 6.5 or less. If I actually start watching my diet, I can do it!!!
OTOH, my triglycerides and cholesterol are "borderline" high, but that’s still an improvement over last time, which was flat out high!
My BP, however, is through the roof — 150/90. I KNOW it’s the weight gain, because my BP goes up 10 points for every 15 pounds I gain!
And, the grand finale, we think we know WHY I’ve been gaining weight! The problem is that I’ll be at the same weight, exactly, for MONTHS. Then I’ll gain 5-10 pounds in under a week, and that weight will stay on me for another couple of months until I gain again. Exercise doesn’t help, and any kind of diet makes it worse, because I’ve been unable to stick to it, and flip out and eat crappy instead. I’ll be good all day, and then flip out and eat a whole day’s calories before bed. It’s literally been feeling like I’m slowly starving to death, even though I’m over 200lbs and obviously eating just fine. Also, given my excessive stomach problems, especially, shall we say, the rather fast and icky method my body has of eliminating my food, I should be a twig!
Well… My digestive enzymes are low. It took 3 visits to a gastrointernologist, an endoscopy, 4 vials of blood, and a friggin STOOL SAMPLE to figure this out. Surprisingly (note the sarcasm) the enzymes that are low are the same enzymes produced in the pancreas. Apparently, my pancreas will not be happy until it’s entirely freeloading and not contributing anything.
So the upshot is that I’m not digesting fat very well. I’m always deficient in dietary fat — and since I was trying low-carb and 2/3 of my calories were from fat, it’s not surprising I was always hungry! Being deficient in fat makes me tired… makes my skin and hair dry… makes me vitamin deficient…and makes my body always unsatisfied with food and makes me feel like I’m actually slowly starving to death. No wonder I can’t stick to a diet!!! I was actually eating food even though I didn’t want it, and was almost physically repulsed by it. I was eating food even though my stomach was already upset from being so full.
I’m now on some very expensive meds that I THINK are already working. I have to take them 3x/day, one with every meal, and a full glass of water. This will definately help my diet, if I’m already restricted to 3 meals (instead of being a grazer — I CANNOT afford to take more the reccommended!) and upping my water intake! However, I was satisfied with breakfast and lunch — but not with dinner, when I didn’t take them. Even though I ate a dinner that was bigger than lunch, I kept roaming the house looking for more food. And then I ate that. That was a bit of an experiment, and it gives me hope that this is all fixable.