Did It Work?

I had my follow-up blood test to find out if my carb cutting changes worked.  (I've been running ahead with my posts, so it has been quite a bit longer than two months since the original diagnosis.)

Aside from the weight loss, I have noticed some changes in how I feel.  They were symptoms that I had associated with other possible conditions, not putting together that they could also be part of pre-diabetes. I had fatigue (stress), occasional lightheadedness (dehydration, aging, possible long Covid), blurry vision (haven't gotten new glasses this year), and a wee bit of weight gain (Passover, stress, aging).  One change that may not be directly related to diabetes, but improved with a lower carb diet, is a decrease in asthma.  I went down a dosage at the beginning of this, and I've adjusted to it well.  That's an autoimmune and anti-inflammatory improvement.  I would love to go off daily meds entirely and only have an inhaler, like how I was pre-Covid.

What has astonished me is how much energy I have.  A higher percentage of my calories are from protein just from cutting half of the calories from carbohydrates.  On top of that, I'm having more protein as a way to have some of those calories back.  I'm not weak at all from weighing less than I think I should.

I did get a migraine.  It had only been three months since the last one.  I need to watch my salt, caffeine,  and other triggers.  I don't actually need as much caffeine anymore to get me going, and that comes attached to sugar, so cutting back would help both issues.

It's important to note that none of the improvements happened the first week.  Well, except the first two pounds of weight loss.  It took me a month to figure out what I was supposed to be eating, and I made a lot of mistakes that probably made things worse for a while.

I finally had my recheck appointment last week.  I showed the doctor some of the blog photos of what I had been eating, and she was impressed.  She was even cool with keto cheesecake.

So how did I do?  My cholesterol went up, as I expected.  Come on, all that meat, eggs, and dairy I have been enjoying had to have messed with it.  However, it wasn't horrific enough to go on statins.  My ratios improved, which is what drove up the numbers a little.

But, drum roll...

I'm no longer pre-diabetic!  It's one of the lower readings on my graph over the past 10 years.  I haven't been below 5.3 at this practice.  Downside, I'll need to keep my carbs relatively low to maintain it.  A splurge once in a while won't kill me.  I also now know to time my annual physical so it isn't close to some time I might be eating a lot of cake.