T1D Here to stay

[Axiel]

My Story? Hmmm.

 

Well, my real name is Stan, also known as Ziggy and my online persona is Axiel (pronounced Ah-shell, don’t drop the S ). Currently 50 years old, (6 ft) 255 ish lbs. (Down from 270 4 weeks ago).

 

 I’m a 30+ yr Type 1 diabetic that’s been reasonably well controlled with no major complications as yet, other than a slight neuropathy (numbness) in the feet and frozen shoulders (which until recently I didn’t know was a complication from diabetes).

 

For all this time I’ve been following the standard dietary advice of my dietician and endo, and generally gained 2-3 lbs a year. The few times I’ve tried ‘dieting’, always ended disastrously as I found trying to balance insulin and high carb meals to be almost impossible. (Standard dietary recommendation for diabetics from both the American & Canadian Diabetes Association is along the lines of 60-70g carbs per meal plus 2-3 snacks, and avoid all fats – boy is that bad advice )

 

So, about 5 years ago, just after turning 45 I suffered a minor heart attack (MI), with no permanent damage, and a follow-up angiogram indicating two additional ‘future’ blockages currently at about 35%. At that point I was terrified to do anything exercise wise, and dieting was still difficult for me to break out of my established eating / insulin regimen.

 

Shortly after turning 50 earlier this year,  I was almost defeated, I would get up, eat breakfast, go to work, come home, eat supper, sit in front of the TV for the rest of the night, and repeat.  Weekends weren’t much different, except I’d be in front of the TV more, and I finally had the simple realization that if I kept on the same path, I would be lucky to see my 55^th birthday.

 

Since I was never successful dieting, but I knew there had to be others that had been, lets just say my life changed with a simple google search ‘lose weight as a type 1 diabetic’.  The search results from this exposed me to tons of research which I’ve devoured over the last few months, and has led me to adopt a low-carb diet. For anyone interested, an excellent starting point would be to lookup ‘Dr. Bernstien’s Diabetes Solution’.  I won’t get into details here, but send me a note if you want.

 

So adopting this style of eating (wasn’t too difficult for me as I was also diagnosed celiac 10yrs ago, so cutting the rest of the processed carbs out of my diet wasn’t a big deal), has already seen some weight loss over the last month, but more importantly, much better controlled blood sugars.  For those curious my target is 4.6mmol/L or 83mg/dl (for the math nerds, that’s a conversion factor of 18).

 

My plans as I see them now are to:

1.       Reach and maintain a 30 day avg blood glucose of 4.6,

2.       Bring my HgA1C down to under 5%

3.       Reach an eventual target weight of ~180 lbs

4.       Get my 1^st degree black belt in Taekwon-do (long range, still waiting to meet with instructor about shoulder injuries)

 

I’m quite introverted by nature, and really have to work to put myself out there, but I hope to bring a level of dedication to the community to be able to help and encourage others with their journeys.  I'd love to follow along any other T1 or T2's journeys (well anyone's journey to be honest), so introduce yourself and we can journey together. I haven't found much in the way of discussion here regarding this lifestyle for diabetics, and I really hope we can change that, cause diabetics can do everything 'normal' people can.

 

Now to see what I want to do for my first challenge and battle log.

 

tldr; 50yrs old, 30yr Type 1 diabetic, time to get off my ass and do something about my health and life.

 

Oh, and 25xp to anyone that can name the game where my online name came from.

 

 

[Laghail]

Hey welcome to NF. Isn't Axiel the name of the half-dwarf prince in Hurog?

[Axiel]

3 hours ago, Laghail said:

Hey welcome to NF. Isn't Axiel the name of the half-dwarf prince in Hurog?

 

It is, or at least some character - I'd never heard of that one before - now on my reading list.  I'd first heard the name in a PC game published about 8 years earlier.

 

[Guzzi]

Hey, welcome to NF!  I think you've done a fantastic job so far and I have no doubt that you will achieve those goals of yours.  My mum is type 1 and has been since the age of 7 and eats a fairly low carb diet herself with good results.  

 

Have you found your way around the forum alright?  Is there anything you wanted to ask about?

[Axiel]

On 5/11/2017 at 1:18 AM, Guzzi said:

Hey, welcome to NF!  I think you've done a fantastic job so far and I have no doubt that you will achieve those goals of yours.  My mum is type 1 and has been since the age of 7 and eats a fairly low carb diet herself with good results.  

 

Have you found your way around the forum alright?  Is there anything you wanted to ask about?

 

Thanks for the welcome and the encouragement! Yeah, I've been experiencing some pretty awesome results with low carb maintaining much more regular blucose - (I think I just made a new word?)

 

So far the forums been pretty straight forward, tons of info though - have to limit what kind of time I spend on here

 

 

[Guzzi]

 

6 hours ago, Axiel said:

So far the forums been pretty straight forward, tons of info though - have to limit what kind of time I spend on here

 

 

 

Haha!  Yeah, it's like going down a rabbit hole sometimes.  You start reading one thing, that leads on to another, which leads to another...  

 

If there's anything you need to know then just ask.  I've been around here long enough to know who to ask if I can't answer myself.