67 Years Old and got scary news from the Doctor today

[Jim-W1JT]

Hello everyone, I'm Jim and I live up in the Boston MA area.   As my Subject: says, I'm 67 years old and today got some news that definitely grabbed my attention.

I'm comfortable with a computer but haven't really joined any groups...that is until now.

You see, I need your help, well I'm humbling asking for some help.

I've always enjoyed great health.   My blood pressure has always been right where it needs to be, I take no medication with the exception of a baby aspirin and a single pill before bed that controls heartburn.

I am however, definitely overweight.   I'm six foot one inch tall and I weigh 250 pounds.   

So, I had a physical about 2 weeks ago and naturally they did blood tests.   

Today, I stopped in to see my doctor and get my results.  

She told me that she was concerned because my blood sugar was definitely on the rise and that I was borderline diabetic.

I asked her if there was anything at all I could do to reverse it so that I can remain healthy.

She told me that I had to make my move now and I had to stick with it. 

So, in the next 60 days I have to drop 20 pounds minimum.   

I have to eliminate all carbs, alcohol and sugars.   

She told me to start an exercise routine and to stay with it.   She recommended

walking for at least, one hour per day minimum.

She said that if I did that, the odds of me straightening my health out would be drastically improved.

So, that's all I needed to hear.   

I came home, sat down with my wife and gave her the news.   

I figure I'll start walking for one hour per  day and gradually build up my stamina to do more.

Up until a few minutes ago, I really didn't even know what carbs were!   

I now  know that I need to eliminate all breads, pasta's, cereals, corn, peas, potatoes....stuff like that.

I'm not really a "drinker", but I will have a glass or two of wine from time to time.   For example, last Friday night I had some delicious chicken Parmesan and a couple of glasses of Cabernet.

But, no more!   

I'm on a quest and I would totally appreciate ANY help or advice anyone might have.

I'm going to keep my fitbit on me at all times and I'm going to fix this issue!

I've got to figure out breakfasts to start.   I really love french toast and waffles....that's  out.

I am thinking however that I could have a couple of eggs and bacon....

I realize that this could have an impact on my cholesterol but it's a major push for the next 45 - 60 days and then I can settle into a more "sensible" diet with things in moderation.

Right now, it's a "push" to turn my numbers around.

So, I'm appealing to you all for any advice, support, ideas, funny stories...anything at all!   

I really appreciate it!

I'm going to do this....and like my doctor said..."lose 20 - 25 pounds and you'll be amazed at the difference in the way you feel".

Thanks everyone for being there....

Jim 

[WendyB · Accepted solution]

First off if you have never walked before do not start with one hour. Build up to it. You will be there in no time.

Your Dr should also have some things to read do you can make the changes you need.

Youll do fine and keep us posted.

[bikerhiker]

@Jim-W1JT

Welcome to the forum and thank you for sharing your story with us.

First of all, if you are border line diabetic, you're not diabetic just yet.  But of course, it's wise to heed the advice of your doctor and bring your blood sugar level down.  So it's really not the end of the world.  You can truly turn the ship around because of this early diagnosis.

Due to your age, I would highly recommend that you speak with your doctor and ask her to recommend you to a local Registered Dietician.  Basically, a lot of carbs you buy out there are made with refined sugar and that cause your blood sugar spike, but not all carbs are bad.  I just don't want you, like others I met, go to the other extremes and embrace a Ketogenic or Atkins diet and eat protein and shun or limit carbs.  That's why you need to see a Registered Dietician where he or she will design a balanced healthy diet based on you and you only that won't shock your system. 

I hope this helps..

[emili]

hey there @Jim-W1JT and welcome to the community. You are going to get lots of advice and you should pick and choose what makes sense and what maybe isn't quite right. I live with a diabetic. My dad had old timers diabetes. I had pregnancy pre-diabetes.. this thing is not choosy about who it attacks. Finding a healthy diet and getting exercise is of course the way to go to improve not just that part of your health, but your overall health- heart, lung, bones- you name it. But... you can't just jump in. If you do, it isn't sustainable. No one can go from 100 to 0 and make it work for the long term. Understanding nutrition isn't about making it so restrictive that it becomes impossible to maintain, it is about understanding how much and what. You can have french toast for breakfast, but you shouldn't add butter and syrup. Bake an apple with cinnamon and vanilla and have that with it. Choose whole wheat bread and only do one slice. For lunch have egg whites or a tuna salad or antipasti, for dinner grilled chicken and a bunch of veggies- all colors. Finish your night with a low sugar treat..

Having said all that- there are minimums and maximums of all things- sugar, carb, fat, calories, macro and micro nutrients- the more you know about how much you should have per day and what your best food choices are the easier it will be to manage your healthy lifestyle. You can go to a dietitian, you can do research through reliable sources, you can ask your doctor for more help - but, get more information.. don't put yourself in food prison. best to you... E.

[Bill_k]

Ok so you are what they call pre-diabetic which is borderline on the blood sugar scale from what your doctor said.

Don't panic. You don't have to cut  out everything you said to drop down to a healthy level.

If you aren't showing any symptoms of type 2 diabetes yet it's not terrible.

You can lower your blood sugar by not eating a lot of starchy foods,pasta,desserts,candy .

You can eat some bread,noodles but not a lot.

Start looking up nutritional values on foods and adding up the carbs so that you keep it down.It will also help you lose weight .

Check a diabetes website to get an idea how much.

Don't stop eating them altogether .

Candy ,fruit juices and desserts should be pretty much out and eat fruit instead as it has fibre.

Losing 20 pounds will help as i've found fat weight has a definite corresponding relationship to my diabetes symptoms.

There are websites you can google full of people with information.

Also dump your salt shaker and use a salt substitute so you can lose water weight.

You   can still drink dry wine as far as i've read as it has no carbs ,sugar and is pretty low calorie .

As for exercise ,walking is tremendous and if you are doing an hr a day and dieting that should be plenty good enough as more than an hr could be tedious and hard on the legs.

Good luck.

[Dominique]

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@Jim-W1JT wrote:

it's a major push for the next 45 - 60 days and then I can settle into a more "sensible" diet with things in moderation. 

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First of all, welcome to the community, @Jim-W1JT!

I’d suggest another approach: instead of making a radical move and changing everything at once, make smaller, incremental changes, but make them permanent. A crash diet combined with a crazy amount of exercise may cause a rapid drop of weight, but you’ll have a high risk of rebounding.

Also realize the 20 pounds your doctor asked you to lose is merely a first step. Your current BMI at 250 is 33.0. At 230, you’ll still be 30.3 (at the border between obese and overweight), so you’d probably want to drop more weight for health reasons (diabetes is not the only chronic disease the extra weight puts you at risk of getting). 

I also suggest you have a look at the Losing All Your Weight At Once video, which advocates precisely the opposite: take your time, but make sure the results you’ll achieve will stick.

[leduck]

Hi, Jim! I'm a 54-year-old woman, and two years ago I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic like you. My doctor encouraged me to lose some weight and to exercise, and he encouraged me to improve what I do, but not to expect myself to be perfect. Currently, my fasting glucose level and A1C is in the normal range (albeit at the top of the normal range). 

I have done this over the past couple years by losing 40 pounds (I still have 15 to go) and gradually working up to exercise every day. A great thing that helped me to exercise was ditching "steps" as the main metric that my FitBit measures and setting my primary goal as 30 active minutes per day instead. I aim for 210 active minutes per week and typically get around 350. (It took me about 18 months to work up to that.)

There are a lot of other things I've done to help delay or avoid diabetes. People will give you a lot of advice, some of it sound and some of it whacky. An excellent place to start is the American Diabetes Association basics: http://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/diagnosis/. 

Good luck to you! There is a type 2 diabetes discussion group you can access on the phone app that you might want to join as well. 

[Jim-W1JT]

Thank you!   That helps a lot....I've found a dietitian and I'm making an appointment this week.  Thanks 

[Jim-W1JT]

Good advice!   Thanks!

[Jim-W1JT]

Thank you for your thoughts and the video!   It helps!

[Jim-W1JT]

I like the idea of changing the FitBit to minutes rather then steps.   I'm going to do that!

Thanks!