Today I ate half of a small brown granary baguette to add a bit of variety as my food has been very similar of late. Initially I felt guilty, but as long as I don’t go too crazy justifying treats I will be fine. A bit of what you like is acceptable.

My calories remain bang on and although there are tons of diets out there and people often (in a well-meaning way) point at one meal and saying “you can’t eat that”, my macros are calculated and my overall daily intake is within the correct ranges. I’ve looked at introducing pasta but it is full of carbs so I’m sticking with my low-carb set-up for the time being. I will introduce it in time though.

My diet is pretty much as good as I can sustainably make it. I don’t eat chips, takeaways, chocolate, crisps, cakes or fast food and I limit my carbs to under 190g a day. I don’t drink alcohol. I limit my fruit intake as despite being good for you it contains sugar and at my evening meal I eat a lot of root veg. I eat things that I enjoy and don’t feel like I’m missing out. This is vital as otherwise I would either cheat or be miserable. I don’t want to do either of those things.

The only thing I can do now in order to improve is begin to introduce more regular exercise. I am aiming to get down to a reasonable weight for someone my height and I think 210 pounds (15 stone) is a realistic target, although my overall goal is to reach 196 pounds (14 stone). I hope to be there in a years time!

After my error last night where my night reading was 4.9, I awoke at 10.1. I corrected at breakfast by taking 8 units of insulin and have calculated that each unit of insulin gets me down about 1.2 m/mol. At lunch I was 5.2 so that worked well.

My tea reading was 7.7. My calorie count was fine but I’ve noticed if I have a protein bar I need to take 2 units of insulin to gobble up the few carbs it contains. A night reading of 6.9 showed my evening calculation was spot on.

A few friends have voiced surprise that I’ve stuck this out. In the past I might have got frustrated at this apparent lack of faith, but on reflection I note that nobody will have faith you can achieve something they have not seen you achieve before. What matters is your own ‘how’ and ‘why’. View any surprise you encounter as a compliment because they can see the positive changes you have made having the desired impact.

Today was a weird day. I had my breakfast late and my lunch early hence the 7.5 reading as I had Football at 11.30am. I got to tea and had my usual meal and read 6.8. I wanted to stand still at around 7.0 by 11pm so had 12 units of insulin and came in at 11.30pm at 4.9. In hindsight I should have taken 9 units so my decision to take 12 was clearly a big error.

This forced me to eat carbs and then take a reduced amount of glargine. I am really angry as I write this! I don’t want to eat food I don’t need as it will stifle and slow my weight loss.

I will probably wake up higher than I’d like tomorrow morning and have to equalise by lunch. That is one of the problems with getting it wrong. It takes a full meal and therefore many hours to rectify the readings.

Today is supposed to be unlucky, but my readings were fine today. I struggled with feelings of depression, but that’s for another blog.

Breakfast to lunch was alright although I was surprised to be 6.3 as I’d taken 4 units of insulin so expected my readings to drop to lower than my breakfast reading. I may need to increase breakfast insulin to 5.

I went to Morrison’s after work and had one of their tiny small chicken sandwiches as a snack. It’s one slice of brown bread and chicken pieces, so is a great small snack and feels like something more substantial. It filled a massive void as I was struggling at the time. 2.30pm – 3.30pm remains a difficult hour for me. I took 2 units of insulin to deal with the 20g of carbs. It worked as my tea reading was not high.

I took 12 insulin units at tea although I almost burned my mince and it was only just edible! I felt down in the dumps all evening and really wanted a bread bun and butter! I resisted and mt reading was 6.9 before bed which was a nice lift. I don’t feel hungry, just needy for the lift I get from food. It’s psychological.

Today was an erratic day food-wise. I arranged to meet a friend for breakfast but the place we were going to opened at 9am. I ate at 9.15am so ate half a banana to keep me going before setting off at 8.45am. I made a healthy choice of scrambled egg on brown toast, which was lovely, but was 6.6 by lunchtime because I hadn’t waited the full 4 hours before having lunch at 12.30pm.

At lunch I ate sensibly and injected 5 units to hopefully level out by tea. Unfortunately my normal routine was hampered once again because I had to eat at 5.30pm where normally having ate at 12.30pm for lunch I would have waited until 6pm at least before having tea, but I had a 6.30pm meeting.

Furthermore I had ran out of brown rolls so had a tortilla wrap instead. I attempted to compensate with 12 units to get back to around 7.0 before bed and over-compensated to arrive at 6.0. The frustrating thing is I suspected 12 was too much and thought about having 11 because it was a wholemeal wrap rather than a wholemeal roll. I should have gone with my instinct!

I adjusted to 26 units of glargine before bed. It’s weird when my calorie intake is great but things still feel difficult!

After going to bed at 7.0 last night and taking 30 units of glargine I expected to be lower than 6.1 when I woke up today. However, I adjusted and injected 4 units with my sandwich.

I am due a shop so was out of veg and milk so I had to make do with a bacon sandwich. After breakfast I headed to Morrison’s at 7.50am for a quick shop. £9.64 later I returned with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, eggs, milk, mint sauce and bananas.

I got home from Morrisons at 8.20am and quickly made scrambled egg and beans to take to work. I had no time to cook the bacon but as I had eaten some already that was fine.

After work I got home and made tea after a walk to a park which was a nice bit of low-impact exercise. In the end it was heartbreak for England at the World Cup but at 11pm I was 8.3 and took 32 units of glargine as a result. I had temptation today and managed to successfully get past it.

I will adjust future evening meal insulin to 12 from now on to bring the readings a bit closer to seven, but my aim is 7.0 to 8.0, but 8.5 isn’t bad at all.

A very standard day until the evening. I struggled through the day and allowed myself an extra wholemeal roll with tea, injecting 13 units of insulin to compensate. It was a small but avoidable diversion from normal eating. I’m not beating myself up and will be fully back on point tomorrow.

It was very pleasing to arrive at 7.0 by 11.25pm! I don’t want to slip into regular indulgences and calculating correctly as maintaining weight loss is important. I am making a note on the board above my cooker on the various observations I’m making on tea readings so I can calculate what to inject more accurately.

Today I ate 1800 calories which is by no means a blow out but is higher in terms of calories than what I’ve eaten since starting this new regime. A few people mentioned that they can tell I’ve trimmed down a little which is a nice feeling and I can’t wait until I lose even more!

What isn’t a nice feeling is the rather horrible break-up between myself and, I suppose, my now ex-partner. I’m pretty upset about it but pleased it has not resulted in a fall from grace from a diet and health standpoint. That’s the last I’ll be mentioning of that.

Today was fairly standard. I kept to my diet and do not remember a moment where I was craving for any extra food at all. I had two important council meetings which did a good job of passing the time and I am pleased to note that I almost never feel hungry between meals now.

In terms of adjustments I plan on having 4 units of insulin in the morning with breakfast and 11 in the evening to ensure my sugar reading before bed gets into the 7.0 – 8.0 range and the earlier adjustment is to ensure my lunch reading reaches less than 6.0. I adjusted to 32 units of glargine given that I was just over 8.0 and the readings are spot on in the morning when I adjust.

It’s just the tea to night readings that require thought now. The rest is almost second nature.

Today’s sugar results were exactly as I hoped they would be and my calorie intake was disciplined. I even got my tea calculation right and came in before bed at 7.5, meaning my standard 30 units of glargine was taken to head to bed happy.

The health achievements were contrasted by a difficult day in other areas, but I won’t burden you with the details. It is, however, my intention to find ongoing full-time work and look to the future that way. Everything else barring my health seems to be up in the air at the moment and I need clarity in a few areas to avoid stress-related issues that do not help my diabetes. I viewed a wedding photography website tonight that gave me some great ideas for myself and Neil to push our business forward so I am focussing on that as well as getting more exercise into my routine.

Today I suffered with a huge downer in mood despite England beating Sweden and advancing to the semi-finals of the World Cup! I struggled with fancying nice food, although I did not cheat, but I really wanted to!

My readings are slightly up and that has frustrated me for a while. I’m eating the same food and the insulin same intake seems to be lead to results 1.0 higher than previously. It’s not a huge deal but it messes with my averages and makes me look like I’m slightly less controlled than I was before. But I’m doing exactly the same thing!

It was only the tea time reading that went slightly wrong again so I’ve made a note on my board that injecting 10 units with my full evening meal with all the trimmings results in +2.5 or so after 5 hours. I will get it right! The nurse said as long as it’s under 10 it’s alright, but I hope to get nearer to the 7.0 range more often than not.

Today I had a photoshoot in York as I am an aspiring photographer. Myself and Neil had to go straight from Durham and then work between 12pm and 3pm in the searing midday heat.

I managed to fit in my normal breakfast and lunch but by the time we got back to Durham I had to have a protein bar at Bowburn services and did not get home to eat my tea until 8pm. This meant waiting until midnight before taking my night reading. Sometimes life just gets in the way but I kept disciplined and did not let the day lead me to a silly snack. The protein bar was low carb and 215 calories.

At 7.7 I adjusted to 12 units but as I had ran out of wholemeal rolls I made do with a wholemeal tortilla wrap. My adjustment was incorrect (it should have been 10) and I came in at 11.50pm at 5.2 which is too low for night time. I therefore a banana and then had a reduced amount of 24 units of glargine.

As I described last week I weighed myself at my parents on Sunday and weighed in at 19st 11.5lbs. A week later I weighed in at the doctors this morning at a fraction under 20 stone. I’ve not gained weight, that isn’t possible given the discipline I’m showing with my food and low calorie intake, however, having seen the lower figure it felt a bit disappointing. Clearly the scales are generous. But I am where I am and it means I’ve maintained a 2 pound drop per week since the beginning of June.

I’m now the lowest weight I’ve been since June 2007 and I’m not stopping there. My next appointment with the nurse is in one months time, by which time I hope to be under 19 stone.

I woke up a bit higher this morning than what I had planned but nothing bad at 6.6. I took 4 units (instead of the standard 3) with breakfast, but as I had slept in a little I took this into account at lunch when I registered 6.2. I would still have had an hours worth of novorapid in me.

At lunch I made another small adjustment and took 4 units of insulin (the meal is normally 3 units) with a view of going from from 6.2 into the low 5’s by tea time. This did not work and I arrived at 6.4, which is fine but again it just means my planning is out a little. I took 10 units with tea to ensure I was lower than 8 or 9 by 11pm.

This worked as I came in at 7.6 and injected 30 units of glargine before bed. All in all a decent day. I’m still doing well with my food, remaining at under 1600 calories a day and normally in the 1300 and 1500 range. I still need to incorporate more exercise into my routine, which is hard because I really don’t enjoy it, but with summer being quiet for council work I will make that a priority.

Today I am reporting back on my adjustments from yesterday. I’ve noticed that providing I eat at 7.30am my breakfast and lunchtime readings are almost identical if I take 3 units. Therefore, if I want it to decrease by 1.0 mmol/l I should take 4 units.

I increased my lunchtime dose to 5 units for my wrap meal and came in almost identical again at 5.6 in the evening. Here marked my biggest change so far. Instead of taking 6 units which has consistently led to a high night reading I upped my dose to 9 units. I came in at 11pm at 7.7, so I may increase to 10 units to drop it to around 7. All in all a good day.

I am way under my calories for each day and whilst I do not plan to stay at eating 1400 calories per day forever I am going to use this current regime to get my weight right down.

Yesterdays learning was to take 6 units of insulin with my roast providing I have peas with it and 5 without as well as having 30 units of glargine overnight if my reading is 7.0 – 8.0.

After finishing work at 2.00pm I went to Durham to pay in my cheque and then headed home. When I got back at 3.30pm I had a Protein Choc Chunky bar which ensured I hit my 1400 calorie target for the day. I really enjoyed my tea, taking 6 units as I enjoyed my roast, with a 6.0 reading.

Unfortunately 6 units was not enough and my sugar went up +3.9 units to 9.9 before bed. I made the adjustment on my glargine (taking 34 units) but need to get better at my tea to night insulin level. What messes me up is getting to 7.0. I think the correct number of units at tea is 9 or 10 for my evening meal. That surprises me as the potato wasn’t even that big and I didn’t have peas.

However, the truth is in the readings. Tomorrow I will try 10 units and see where that gets me. I have pretty much the same meal so it’s a case of trial and error until I get reasonably consistent.

On a brighter note, according to MyFitnessPal, I will weigh around 18st 5lbs in 5 weeks! In the meantime I anticipate another 3 pounds off on Friday, so bearing in mind I will be wearing all my clothes I think I will come in (I hope) at about 19st 9 on the scales, which is 275 pounds. I’ll let you know!

Even though I ate properly and achieved excellent readings I really struggled today possibly more than I have at any point so far. I just wanted to stuff myself all day! I never felt really hungry just a bit empty. But I gritted my teeth and got through it. I took 28 units of glargine this evening because I want to check where I get to from 7.4.

Today I went to Just Meat and bought 25 chicken breasts, 2 kgs of very lean beef mince and 2 kgs of rump steak. I put each chicken breast into a freezer bag and weighed, cut, bagged and froze the mince and steak. I gave my Mother the full pack of oven chips that has been in my freezer for a while and also four tins of soup (quite a bit of sugar in soup you know!). I’m now fully stocked up and ready to kick on for another good month of weight loss. My goal each month is to lose a stone or 14 pounds and I’m on course to reach that goal by August 1st.