caish

Yep I'm a clydesdale, lol.
10 weeks ago i was 332 lbs. and diabetic.
Physical for work gave me a 3 month card.
i had to fix it for my family, A1C was 13.
Friday last week, was back at the doctor.
302 lbs, 30 lbs in 10 weeks, and A1C is 7.8
I bought a bike, Schwinn Aluminum Comp, yep its rated for 275 lbs i think it is.
I was much heavier, but never let that stop me, started riding a little every day.
Cut carbs out 90% my sweet tooth is satiated with a Banana and home made peanut butter with honey/cinnamon added.
I'm nearing my first goal under 300#, the Schwinn never complains even taken it on some intermediate Mtn Bike trails.
Replaced the forks with air forks, flat pedals and better seat for me.
So those working on it like me, it can be done, am I riding 20 miles no way, my cadio sucks but
every week it improves and gets easier to ride...

talphie

JLDickmon

Keep diggin' bro!

caish

Thank you,
The hardest part is denying yourself.
Carbs are very addictive and breaking the addiction can be hard as smoking for some. The sugars, processed meals, especially corn syrup, and it's used in everything.
Aspertain is no better if your dieting it creates ups and downs and again understanding bio-chemical nature of these things.
Your not completely at fault but mass marketing is to blame. These things your body can't readily process it literally stores as fat reserves. Corn syrup is the words worst, it's almost completely processed into fat. So it takes the extreme step to force the body to use these up.
Aspertain is broken down in the body to wood alcohol and everyone knows or should that drinking rubbing alcohol will make you blind. My dad literally drank nothing but diet Pepsi for last 10 years of his life. He was nearly blind, with bleeding in his cornias, when he passed.
Your diet has to get creative, and it's an attitude change. Ask yourself if you eat to live or live to eat?
The hardest part is breaking our western diet, understanding that it only takes a little to satiate the hunger feeling.
I have eggs, sausage, breakfast.
During day, I'm a cheese lover, have some ham wrapped around a sharp cheddar stick, and I get hungry I'll eat one, for snacks I have pickles, sometimes broccoli or cauliflower, sometimes it's pickled, drop cauliflower Ina jar pickle juice for a week.
Then at supper it's salad with meat of choice, hamburger, steak, pork chops, ham and a low carb dressing or just olive oil and vinegar.
My peanut butter is diy.
Take jar of peanuts drop it into processor and add one tablespoon of peanut oil, a tablespoon of honey, and teaspoon of cinnamon.
I'll have a banana and a dab of the peanut butter with each bite.
Hardest thing is breaking old habits.

cyclist2000

Congratulations on your weight loss and getting your diabetes under control.

I am also a diabetic, insulin dependent type II. Since retiring, my goal is to concentrate on my health. I have increased my riding to about 20+ miles per day, 4-6 days per week. My long and short acting insulin usage has decreased by 50%. A couple of weeks ago during a week long tour with daily mileage around 55 miles, I needed to decrease my long acting insulin by an additional 25% and stopped using the short acting insulin entirely. My last A1C drop to 7.1 from 7.8.

For me, riding 25 miles per day really helps the diabetes and if I could ride 50 miles per day, I would almost be free of insulin.

squirtdad

congrats, before you know it you will be looking for a faster road bike but short term if you are riding paved, you can put non knobby tires on the bike and you will get a good efficiency/speed increase

Milton Keynes

Congratulations on your successful first steps to changing your life. I, too, realized I needed to make changes a couple years ago so made some major changes to my eating habits. Like you I cut sugar & carbs out of my diet and went from 280 to around 240-245. Then I started keeping close tabs on my calorie intake and eventually dropped down to where I am today, at 217. I will be happy if I can keep going and lose the last 17 pounds. Just going to stick to my high protein, low carb/low sugar diet.

Regarding your comments about aspartame, I personally was a sodaholic. I had to drink at least one 12 oz. can of soda a day, though usually it was more than that. But back before I made the decision to lose weight I just cut soda out entirely. A lot of people suggested that I should drink diet soda, but first, I never liked the taste of diet sodas, secondly, there's a lot of debate as to whether the artificial sweeteners are OK or actually make weight loss harder, and most importantly, diet sodas always give me headaches, and always have since I was a kid. So it was much more preferable for me to just stop drinking soda. And I really don't miss it. I do have one on rare occasions, and the funny thing is that when I first taste it, I cringe at how incredibly sweet it is. But years ago I'd chug it and not notice the sweetness.

Also, one of my favorite snacks or breakfasts is a banana with peanut butter. While it's true that peanut butter has a lot of sugar in it, I must not be eating so much that it's interfering with my weight loss.

caish

Ultimate Peanut Butter.
Gets a jar salted peanuts, 12 oz jar i think it is.
Food Processor,
Add nuts, and start blending, add 1 tablespoon peanut oil, 1 tablespoon of honey, and 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon.
Blend it till its smooth, won't ever get as smooth as store bought stuff, but will get close.
Store in the fridge, as its not quite as thick at room temp.

As to sodas, like you, i like em.
I drink Zevias, made with natural stevia sweetner. I don't have glucose spikes that even most diet sodas give me.
Stay away from even the sugar free energy drinks. That really causes my glucose to go crazy.

i was 200 lbs when i was 18 heck was 200 when i was 14, and 6' tall.
Made my goal of 300 today..
Now on to 250 mark...
Thanks for the comments and encouragement.

Milton Keynes

I never drink energy drinks. I don't really see the need. Two cups of hot tea in the morning to help me get the day started is good enough.

I don't remember what I weighed when I was 18 but I know it was when I was 19 that my metabolism started slowing down and I started to put on a bit of belly fat.

why1504

caish

Congratulations,
its an uphill battle in our world today, at least US where it seems everything works against you.

why1504

Milton Keynes

I'm just happy to be at my lowest weight in about 20 years or so. Still have about 20 more pounds to lose, will get there soon.

caish

Congrats,
Yes the hard part is psychological, glucose is like a drug, and its very similar to quitting smoking etc.
Your body goes through withdrawls.
I find a 3 day fast apple cider vinegar 1 ounce day, and just drink water actually helps, at the end you bowels will clean itself out, not to be gross.
Then continue diet.

caish

Finally broke the 10 post mark,
I got a couple big box bike to ride.
Schwinn Aluminum Comp, changed seat, bars, stem, pedals and the fork.
Yes its rated for 275# but i was riding it without issue at 330# even on a few moderate Mtn Bike trails.


I'm a firm believer that bikes don't have to be expensive to have fun...

Porters

Congrats caish! That is a great start on your journey!
Something I have found, for a post ride snack (where you are prone to gobble up anything because you are hungry and tired), is turkey roll ups. Take 3 slices of turkey sandwich meat, half an avocado split between the three and spread over them, and some red bell pepper slices, and roll them up. Filling, healthy, tasty and about 300 calories. Granted, it replaces most of the calories that you burned off, but it is a healthy replacement and keeps you from making other poor choices. And your A1C will not mind

Synack42

Honestly just registered on the forum to say congrats!

My story is actually identical. A few months ago I was ~330 lbs with the same blood sugar... Picked up an old Magna of all things on Craigslist for $10, fixed it up and just put 180 miles on it since June. Combined with counting calories like crazy and cutting sugar I'm down to 296 lbs, blood sugar is starting to look much better as well.

Looking at rewarding myself with a decent bike when my weight falls more in line with the recommended capacity and hitting up some local trails.

Blumenkraft

Congrats! Inspiring stuff. Hope to get there myself given time and effort.

breadbin

Congrats man! I am in the same boat more or less. I have to do something now to stop myself becoming diabetic. My hba1c was high but my doctor said it is the weight and if I lost it he would be happy. I haven't lost it despite promises to him, myself and this girl I'm seeing. I feel like i've been living a lie. I went for a spin today on my aluminium framed Brodie Romax and despite it being aluminium and me at 145kgs it doesn't give out. The Mavic Aksiums never give out. I think you are right about the bikes, it doesn't have to be expensive to be worthwhile. Also just because it is rated at 275lbs don't let it stop you. I'm sure this Romax is not rated for 150kgs!

Today I had 2 sausages and an egg for breakfast except I had a slice of toast in there too. I then had 2 sausages left over from breakfast in a sandwich with a cup of tea. I don't think it is the worst diet ever. They are good quality sausages, but the bread. I need to kick it out. I did it before but I couldn't keep it up. I lost 4 stone in 3 months by not eating carbs and it was great but then I slowly let them in again.

Thanks for the motivation. I saw a huge guy jogging on the internet in a GIF or something and it said, "As slow as he is going, he is still lapping all of you on the couch!" I felt like that today going up some little hills. "I'm struggling but I could be sitting on my arse at home so well done."