End of week one – BSD Reload

Here I am at the end of my first week revisiting the blood sugar diet and I’m really happy with how it’s gone.

My blood glucose levels have gone down, my vision is clearer, I’m sleeping much better and I managed to drop a couple of kilos.

But it’s not all been plain sailing.

I made the mistake of not taking my own lunch to a work conference on Friday and ended up having to plump for the lesser of two evils when it came to the lunch options and ate the vegetarian wraps.

Previously this would have sent me into a little bit of a melt down, but at the end of the day I needed to eat.

This was the only real deviation from my plan; I have been craving cheese and fried chicken – but this is to do with me being a cheese addict and my instagram feed being full of succulent fried chook all week

Over all I’m really pleased with the way things have gone, but I still need to find that balance between what I eat, when I eat and how much water I drink to keep my blood glucose levels in check.

I said last week that I was convinced that the thing that would make the biggest difference would be the amount of water I drank.

This week when I have drunk a minimum of 3 litres of water, (plus my daily coffees and teas), my figures have dropped to normal levels.

On Saturday when I checked my blood glucose they were slightly elevated, but I realised I hadn’t had anything other than a couple of coffees. I mainlined about 1.5 litres of water and after and hour rechecked myself. My readings were now within the normal range.

With this in mind my aim this coming week will be to do a minimum of 1 litre of water before my first check and try to get through a total of 3 -4 litres of water a day and see how this effects my results.

Unlike the first week of my challenge last year, this week I have trained every day, doing a mixture of core and hiit circuits.

These exercises are all completed in a set amount of time, controlling the periods of exertion and rest.

As promised here are the routines that I did, take a look, and if you fancy having a go let me know how you get on.

HIIT Cardio Circuit:

Drop squats

Superman (or any) Press ups

Mountain climbers / plyo jumps

Planche hold

Dumb bell snatch

V sit ups / cross over crunches

Standing sprints

20 seconds on / 10 seconds rest

6 rounds

Core Circuit:

Flutter kicks

Boat pose

Superman’s – left side

Superman’s – right side

Walk outs with press ups

V sit ups

30 seconds on / 10 seconds rest

4 rounds

And so to the figures

Weight – 81.7kgs

Body Fat % – 23.1

Muscle % – 37.1

Visceral fat % – 11

Whilst my weight has gone down, my trousers already feel a little looser, my body fat and muscle have fluctuated a little, (both seem to deviate by about 2% every few days and I wonder if this is also down to hydration?) The biggest achievement is the reduction in the visceral fat.

This is the fat that surrounds your organs and stops them effectively communicating, which for a diabetic, is essential, so to already see that drop is brilliant.

Now on to week two and to see if I can stabilise all my figures, stay hydrated and most of all, eat some tasty, low calorie, low carb food.

Wish me luck

My names Simon, and I’m a cheese addict

So, to recap.I did 8 weeks on the Blood Sugar Diet to help reset my body so that I could more effectively deal with my type 2 diabetes.

This was a low calorie, low carb regime that helped me lose weight, more importantly lose visceral fat and even more importantly, enabled me to reduce the medications I take for my diabetes.

I finished this phase nearly two months ago and have tried to maintain my physical and chemical state through a variation of the Fast Diet.

The Fast Diet, or the 5:2 as it is more commonly referred to, consists of a restricted calorific intake of only 600 hundred calories, (this is for men and 400 for women), for two days a week, whilst, (technically), being able to eat what you want for the remaining five days.

After a couple of weeks on this regime I found that whilst my weight was ok, fluctuating up and down by about 1 kilo, my blood sugars became more erratic.

I upped my training and felt physically fitter and stronger, but my blood sugars were still not responding and this was beginning to concern me.

As the weeks progressed I tried to mix up the regime. I fasted for consecutive days, I fasted for more days and then I tried to restrict my daily calories to between 800 and 1200 a day for five out of seven days, but still my blood sugars were not responding.

What the f#*k was going on?

I was starting to become frustrated and disappointed in myself. All my hard work was starting to unravel.

I hadn’t completely embraced carbs, although the odd slice of toast had snuck in with my breakfasts, but it wasn’t until I analysed what I had been eating that I realised that I had become a total cheese monster.

Blue cheese, goats cheese, pecorino, manchego and copious amounts of fabulously strong Cheddar.

I had gone cheese crazy and to make things worse my visceral fat had started to sneak up.

When I looked at what I had reintroduced into my diet this was the one thing that I had eaten to excess – and now the thing I probably needed to cut out entirely.

I needed to do something, and do that something FAST.

So here I am, being honest with myself, being honest with you.

My name is Simon and I am a cheese addict.

Cheese – my nemesis

Whilst cheese can contribute to the ‘good’ fats within your diet, it’s all a matter of volume.

100g of Cheddar cheese is made up of 75% fat, 24% protein and only 1% carbs.

Definitely low carb, but when you reflect that this is also over 400 calories you start to see where my problem is.

Even if you decline the accompanying biscuits, pickles or jellies and plump for the delicious walnuts and grapes the whole thing starts to spiral out of control, well, for this diabetic it does anyway.

So back onto the wagon I go.

I have some short-term obstacles to deal with, most notably a four day trip to Lisbon, but I hereby declare my intention to restrict my calories for five days a week and to share my results with you here and across my other social media accounts so that I can hopefully get my diabetes control back on track.

Wish me luck

Si