A1C dropped from 8.1 to 7.0

[EmmetFitzhume]

So I got checked 2 months ago and got the bad news that my A1C showed me to be diabetic. The A1C was 8.1.

I started the McDougall program 6 weeks before I got the bad news so my A1C was probably even worse than 8.1 to begin with.

Two more months down the road I just got retested and the A1C is 7.0.

My doctor is frankly baffled and stunned. She thought it was going to be the same or a little bit worse. So she said "wow at this time I think we should just monitor your progress and see how far you get." She said her usual goal was to get the patent's A1C down to 7 though medication and weight loss. Since I'm already there she doesn't want to use any drugs!

My only concern is what I can do to improve my A1C even further! Should I expect it to drop more over time as the weight comes down and as my body heals on the program? Or do I need to make changes to the diet. Currently I don't do Maximum Weight Loss.

Thanks for reading!

[f1jim]

Congrats on the improved numbers! Time will prove the veracity of your efforts.
f1jim

[EmmetFitzhume]

Thanks for the reply Jim. Honestly I was slightly disappointed when my doctor called with the news. I was hoping to have an A1c of 6 by now.

I'm down a little over 30 pounds. I probably need to lose about 60 more to get to my goal weight.

Maybe I need to study my diet for little sources of fat that I have been eating and try to eliminate them. Or maybe this is good progress and I need to be more patient.

I really want to do everything I possibly can to eradicate the risks of this disease.

[nicoles]

Congratulations! What great news! I think that is great progress Although searching your diet for *hidden* sources of fat should probably accelerate your progress, as will doing MWL, sticking to the diet as you are will most likely continue to improve your numbers, albeit more slowly than on MWL.

[victw]

Maybe I need to study my diet for little sources of fat that I have been eating and try to eliminate them. Or maybe this is good progress and I need to be more patient.

Congrats.

Tough call. If you can imagine eating the way you eat now for the rest of your life then I would suggest hanging with it unless you plateau. And then consider MWL and/or other tweaks that work best for you.

Not sure about your age and the number of years you might have eaten an unhealthy diet - not sure it's realistic to expect great numbers overnight. You've certainly proven that commitment to changes creates change.

Great news - avoiding the drugs.

Vic

[EmmetFitzhume]

Tough call. If you can imagine eating the way you eat now for the rest of your life then I would suggest hanging with it unless you plateau. And then consider MWL and/or other tweaks that work best for you.

Good point. I am very comfortable eating the way I have been. Staying this way as long as my results - weight loss, A1c, blood pressure keep improving is a good idea.

Not sure about your age and the number of years you might have eaten an unhealthy diet - not sure it's realistic to expect great numbers overnight. You've certainly proven that commitment to changes creates change.

Well I'm 41. My diet has probably been fairly SAD for most of my life. About 10 years ago I became a lacto-ovo vegetarian but I was eating a lot of junk food. Too many eggs too. I'm not sure how long I've been diabetic. It probably happened sometime in the last 3 years.

After thinking about it some I guess I am happy with dropping from 8.1 to 7.0 in 9 weeks. I was looking at Neal Barnard's book and one of his patients named Vance dropped to 7 in a couple of months. Took Vance 14 months to get his A1c down to 5.3 aka normal.

[Randrews]

Tough call. If you can imagine eating the way you eat now for the rest of your life then I would suggest hanging with it unless you plateau. And then consider MWL and/or other tweaks that work best for you.

Good point. I am very comfortable eating the way I have been. Staying this way as long as my results - weight loss, A1c, blood pressure keep improving is a good idea.

Not sure about your age and the number of years you might have eaten an unhealthy diet - not sure it's realistic to expect great numbers overnight. You've certainly proven that commitment to changes creates change.

Well I'm 41. My diet has probably been fairly SAD for most of my life. About 10 years ago I became a lacto-ovo vegetarian but I was eating a lot of junk food. Too many eggs too. I'm not sure how long I've been diabetic. It probably happened sometime in the last 3 years.

After thinking about it some I guess I am happy with dropping from 8.1 to 7.0 in 9 weeks. I was looking at Neal Barnard's book and one of his patients named Vance dropped to 7 in a couple of months. Took Vance 14 months to get his A1c down to 5.3 aka normal.

consider adding CRON Calorie Restriction with Optimum Nutrition.
I'm doing MWL with Cron and a few tweaks and my Post Prandial numbers for the past two days have been 98 and 105

[Randrews]

So I got checked 2 months ago and got the bad news that my A1C showed me to be diabetic. The A1C was 8.1.

I started the McDougall program 6 weeks before I got the bad news so my A1C was probably even worse than 8.1 to begin with.

Two more months down the road I just got retested and the A1C is 7.0.

My doctor is frankly baffled and stunned. She thought it was going to be the same or a little bit worse. So she said "wow at this time I think we should just monitor your progress and see how far you get." She said her usual goal was to get the patent's A1C down to 7 though medication and weight loss. Since I'm already there she doesn't want to use any drugs!

My only concern is what I can do to improve my A1C even further! Should I expect it to drop more over time as the weight comes down and as my body heals on the program? Or do I need to make changes to the diet. Currently I don't do Maximum Weight Loss.

Thanks for reading!

I should have mentioned that there is a new study that came out, where they put 11 subjects on a 600 calorie diet, after 6 to 8 weeks it seems at least some of their pancreatic cells were reacivated! Something that was thought impossible. Thats what I did although I could only do it for a few weeks as I didn't have much weight to lose. I then upped the calories till my weight stabilized. My postprandial number yesterday was 105 and today was 98! I think this only works if your pancreas is only recently damaged. Get your doctor to supervise you and try it.

[EmmetFitzhume]

So I got checked 2 months ago and got the bad news that my A1C showed me to be diabetic. The A1C was 8.1.

I started the McDougall program 6 weeks before I got the bad news so my A1C was probably even worse than 8.1 to begin with.

Two more months down the road I just got retested and the A1C is 7.0.

My doctor is frankly baffled and stunned. She thought it was going to be the same or a little bit worse. So she said "wow at this time I think we should just monitor your progress and see how far you get." She said her usual goal was to get the patent's A1C down to 7 though medication and weight loss. Since I'm already there she doesn't want to use any drugs!

My only concern is what I can do to improve my A1C even further! Should I expect it to drop more over time as the weight comes down and as my body heals on the program? Or do I need to make changes to the diet. Currently I don't do Maximum Weight Loss.

Thanks for reading!

I should have mentioned that there is a new study that came out, where they put 11 subjects on a 600 calorie diet, after 6 to 8 weeks it seems at least some of their pancreatic cells were reacivated! Something that was thought impossible. Thats what I did although I could only do it for a few weeks as I didn't have much weight to lose. I then upped the calories till my weight stabilized. My postprandial number yesterday was 105 and today was 98! I think this only works if your pancreas is only recently damaged. Get your doctor to supervise you and try it.

Amazing! What was your blood sugar like before the very low calorie trial? Where did you get your 600 calories from? What supplements do you take?

[Randrews]

My blood sugar after a meal could run as much as 200, if I ate biscuits and a lot of sugary snacks it has run to 400.I didn't take any supplements, I ate enough veggies to get all my vitamins and then I ate enough fat free chicken to get enough protein. I have dropped the chicken now so don't anyone flame me.

[EmmetFitzhume]

Congratulations! So I hope at this point you plan on mostly eating a McDougall - style diet to maintain your health going forward.

I'm very tempted to try something like this. Before I heard about the 600 calorie a day trial I was conjecturing that if eating too much caused diabetes then maybe fasting for a time would cause opposite effects in the body and reverse it.

I don't know if I could function on 600. It may work faster but I wonder if I can expect similar results from the McDougall program eventually.

[Randrews]

Congratulations! So I hope at this point you plan on mostly eating a McDougall - style diet to maintain your health going forward.

I'm very tempted to try something like this. Before I heard about the 600 calorie a day trial I was conjecturing that if eating too much caused diabetes then maybe fasting for a time would cause opposite effects in the body and reverse it.

I don't know if I could function on 600. It may work faster but I wonder if I can expect similar results from the McDougall program eventually.

I have fasted for 10 days, I'm sure you could function on 600 cals a day, as long as you don't have a physically demanding job.