I have a friend visiting and we are doing a lot of photography. We even signed up our first wedding photography customer for summer 2019! I ate healthily all day with no snacks or protein bars (not that this would have been particularly bad) and my readings were excellent and controlled all day.

We could have easily ate rubbish, we normally would have done, but we kept it right and I must be honest I didn’t feel hungry. At night, given that yesterday my sugar levels went from 7.5 before bed to 4.8 in the morning having taken 32 units of glargine I adjusted to 28 units when starting from 6.6 tonight. I expect to come in at around 5.0 tomorrow to get off to another good start.

My reading this morning was exactly where I thought it would be. I had no bananas left so I had a smaller breakfast. I might save on the 135 calories and the 30g of carbs in a large banana by not eating one at breakfast. I didn’t feel any hungrier prior to lunch so it made no difference.

At lunchtime my reading was 5.1. I had speculated my reading might jump up as taking 2 units hardly moves the dial at all and feels like nothing goes in, but it was fine. I did not eat a banana so I had 1.5 tortilla wraps with a beautiful cooked chicken.

After returning home from work I cut my lawn and had a protein bar at 3pm. I prepared my veg and peeled my potato for tea, having put my chicken breast out to defrost this morning.

At tea my reading was 5.1 and I had 2 wholemeal brown rolls and gravy which was a bit of an indulgence. I should have taken 6 units of insulin and will note that for future reference but 8.1 is not the worst reading. I was probably 1 unit out of the optimal level. I adjusted glargine to 32 units which will get me back to a good starting point tomorrow morning.

The readings today were very good. I felt in control and my calculations were good. Taking 32 glargine last night from 6.8 brought me down to 4.5 so I planned to reduce tonights glargine to 30 providing I was above 6.8. I was 7.5 so took 30 glargine and anticipate tomorrow’s reading will be between 5.0 and 6.0.

I had a few hunger pangs but nothing major. The only indulgence was a protein bar during the England World Cup match, but the macros are good (high protein, low carbs and very low sugar).

I did another video which you might enjoy. Look out for a full day food vlog coming very soon.

Breakfast levels were a little low but I adjusted and took less insulin to ensure lunch reading was in the correct range. Lunch provided a nice range and I had 6 units of insulin to combat my mashed potato. I always have gravy on a Sunday which is my little indulgence. I weighed myself and have lost 2 pounds. It’s not a lot but it’s nice to get on the scales being honest with myself and knowing where I am. I will try and shed another one or two before Friday by continuing to eat well and continuing to exercise. I know it will come down as my diet is solid and healthy now. I look a lot better and not as tired.

Tea saw me hypo although again I felt no ill-effects. I adjusted the insulin to hopefully come in at 6.0 – 7.0 before tea. That worked well and I came in at 6.8 so had my usual 32 glargine and went to bed.

The weird readings today started at lunch. I was 5.7 at breakfast and had the same breakfast and the same amount of insulin as normal and can generally set my clock by a similar reading 4 hours later. The only difference in what I did today was that I had breakfast at 7.30am rather than 8am.

I was surprised and alarmed to come in before lunch at a hypo-level 3.3, so I had my lunch and tested again. I was still 3.3. I ate some chocolate and tested once more about 15 minutes after and this time I was 4.9. I took my planned 4 units of insulin hoping the chocolate had acted as a reset and the lunch would be back to normal. I felt absolutely no ill-effects from being 3.3. Not a flicker. That was also weird as I’ve been shaky at 4.1 before.

Whenever I get a setback like this I focus on what I can learn from it. The following is taken from the website medbroadcast.com/drug/getdrug/novorapid;

“Insulin aspart is a rapid-acting insulin. It takes 10 to 20 minutes to begin working after the injection, has its maximum effect between 1 hour and 3 hours, and stops working after 3 to 5 hours.”

I usually have lunch 4 hours after breakfast, so it is possible (probable) that there is a  further 1 hour of effect to be had from my breakfast insulin. I will need to adjust for this if I eat after 7am and also bear the breakfast insulin might still be killing carbs when doing my lunch calculations. This explains why I calculate my lunch insulin and often go low anyway. I probably did nothing wrong I just didn’t remember that breakfast insulin lasts longer than morning. This is a key piece of learning.

Tea came and my reading was 11.1 which is high. Obviously the 4 units I took at lunch was nowhere near enough to deal with the chocolate I took to deal with the hypo and then my normal lunch, which contained carbs. I’ll admit I had absolutely no idea what insulin to take at lunch and will ask the nurse about this when I see her next week.

The good news is I calculated carefully at tea and probably 1 unit away from the optimal amount and got things back on track quickly. I’m confident I know have the skills to make adjustments and stabilise. Whilst I took 14 units keen to get the levels back to where they should be, 13 units would’ve seen me come in at 7.2 roughly which would have been correct. I took 32 glargine and should wake up at about 6.0.

I seemed to have got the lunch insulin amount right as I was not hungry until teatime and was still at 5.7. That’s the positive. I was a bit low before lunch so will adjust to 9 units of insulin tomorrow morning as I also plan to fuel the metabolism by doing 20 minutes on the bike just after breakfast.

But first I must fess up about my nighttime reading of 10.6. I had a long-standing engagement to go to The Pavilion at Iveston as part of a fundraiser for The Labour Party, which I represent on Durham County Council. I decided it was too much of a risk to eat randomly and much later on than usual so had my normal evening meal. I couldn’t miss the night as it was £30 for a ticket that I paid for some time ago whilst still a sinner.

I initially took 9 units and had bought myself some brown rolls. They were awesome. I had to have another. Bad move. The potato I ate was also larger than normal so I think I miscounted. I took another 6 units for 15 in total. At the Pavilion I passed on 3 of the 4 courses before enjoying a few duck pancakes. I thought I’d be fine as the pancakes were the thinnest things ever and were virtually transparent. I ate a few and left before the last course. I hoped not to get punished too hard and hoped for an approximate reading of 8 but these series of smaller errors bit me and I was punished with a 10.6 reading at 10.40pm. Damn.

So I took 38 glargine units and headed upstairs feeling upset and like I have ruined a good day. Tomorrow will be better and will include 20 minutes of bike work, perhaps more and I will eat perfectly, not letting poor decisions and a multitude of errors spoil things.

Angela Rayner MP, the Shadow Secretary of State for Education was the guest speaker and here is a photo of her speaking to everyone.

A tougher day today in terms of hunger and I’m not sure why but maybe I’m due a treat soon, it’s been 4 days of really healthy eating. Gonna wait until Sunday though! I did well in the morning with readings in the 5.0 – 6.0 zone which is what I’m aiming for. I had a banana for a snack in mid-afternoon but didn’t test. My evening reading was fine at 5.1.

Getting to 7.0 before bed is tricky. I am more used to coming in at 5.0 – 6.5. So I took 13 units as I had an extra wholemeal roll. This was not a sin as I’m still under my recommended carbs for the day and didn’t have peas to compensate as they are quite carb-loaded.

I put my head down at 9.30pm and woke up at 3.05am which meant I didn’t get a reading and took my glargine very late. A reminder to set an alarm before taking a nap in future.

No errors today, which felt good after yesterday’s blip. I really felt bad about the 10.7 which proves the power of me testing, I do not tolerate bad readings.

I have incorporated a brown wholemeal roll into my lunch as well as my tea as this is still well within my macros and with exercise I will still lose weight. My adjustments worked well although I need to drop to 11 for lunch tomorrow to test the reaction to my current lunch. Ideally I would like to be able to last until tea without a snack, which currently I cannot do as my sugar is too low at 4pm. I think this contributes to my “red zone” of temptation at 2.30pm – 3.30pm. My calories are currently around 1600 per day which is sustainable.

I was upset to be only 5.6 before I went to bed and I need to get that part right as the nurse directed me to not be under 7.0 (at the minimum 6.5) before bed. It is a rare thing for me to feel the conflict of liking the food but not want to eat it! I need to get this right as my aim is to be at my target weight of 15st (210 lbs from my 289 lbs start) within a year.

Here is a vlog I did today. You can subscribe to my videos by visiting http://www.youtube.com/user/northeastvlogger Help me get to 1000 subs!

I worked 9am to 2pm today and managed to avoid the carb temptation of my colleagues who enjoy “Chip Tuesday”! I stayed in the office and had my healthy lunch. I still feel my lunchtime insulin intake is too high and does not get me to 5.0, which would be the target by 6pm. I will continue to adjust.

I’ve noticed that whilst the glucose reader keeps track of my insulin intake I need to record how many units I’m taking as my memory gets confused! Getting to 7.0 before bed is also taking some getting used to.

According to my reader I have a 7-day average of 6.1, which is 43 on the new metrics. That is a lot better than 100+. I knew I had to change and I’m loving what I’m doing. Between 11am and 12pm it gets tough, but it’s only 1 hour. Between 2.30pm and 3.30pm is tough, but that has generally been because I’ve been getting below 5.0.

Messed up my levels by having a snack I shouldn’t have had plus I think I had a bit too much potato and took too little insulin. Those three combined to give a 10.7 reading which is too high but I took 38 units of glargine to compensate. I will take it as a reminder not to take liabilities and to not get complacent.

Adjust. Adjust. Adjust. Must get the exercise going too.

My readings were ideal today and when you consider that I took my Vitamin tablet and blood pressure tablet this morning and did 2 hours of exercise this evening (volleyball), even hitting the 7.1 before heading upstairs for bed without food, it’s possibly the best day I’ve had.

The protein bar I eat is shown to the left and is the “Protein Choc Chunky” bar. It contains only 12g of Carbs in with only 4.6g of that sugar. There are 19g of fat, however, I am very low on fat and way below my recommended macros for fat intake, so I don’t mind. They cost about £23 for 10, so I only plan on having one every couple of days and ordered no more than once per month. That said, I’m saving a lot of money by not buying takeaways, chocolate and breakfasts etc so I should be ok.

You may notice that the food I’m eating is a bit repetitive. I don’t mind that and I can sustain it, but I will introduce some variety in due course as well as the odd indulgence here and there. But only rarely.

Feeling good today although I did cheat a little bit with the bread rolls for tea.

Despite looking forward to my treat I feel guilty and would have preferred to have done things right. That gives me real optimism that I am on the right track and I know the cravings are just my body testing my willpower.

Another bit of good news was that my Glucose tester did, in fact, survive it’s tumble down the stairs. The batteries I tried did not work or were not in properly because I tried some new ones today and it is working fine. I’ve ordered another machine as a backup just in case, it was only £7 on eBay.

So I’m back at it tomorrow and there will be exercise included too.

Unfortunately you will notice there are no sugar readings today so it’s just a Food diary. Fortunately I know roughly where I am even without testing. I had 32 gl before bed. Here’s what happened.

I was heading downstairs just as I was about to eat my lunch before leaving for a charity Football day where I was to manage one of the teams involved when the Glucose Nexus RX reader fell from the small bag it lives in and clattered right down the stairs. It is as dead as a doornail.

I contacted Lanchester Pharmacy and they don’t have any in stock but will order them if I need it. I plan on contacting the Doctors on Monday to hopefully pick one up or the chemist will order one for me. I’ve ordered one online to keep as a backup. It’s irritating but it won’t deflect me from what I’m doing.

Exercise: None, but downloaded recommended app Active10 and will begin using and reporting.

Meeting with diabetic nurse indicated I must look to go to bed no lower than 7.0, so I am adjusting my insulin at tea to ensure I am at this level before bed. No lower than 6.5. May take time to adjust. No weight loss, so incorporating more exercise from tomorrow and maintaining focus. Next appointment in 2 weeks.

Exercise: None. Will introduce more next week.

Pleased with morning reading, set me up well for the day. I took too much insulin at lunch, which I can work on. 6.4 7-day average is good but still room for improvement. I also need to drink more water as I don’t hydrate enough.

Sorry. I messed up the table editing the wrong one. Initially I deleted this one, then renamed another then deleted that too. Comedy of errors!

Absolutely determined to get things right today. Was frustrated that I woke up at 8.3 but know that by lunch I would be around 5.

Calculated that only carbs in beans meant very little insulin was required. Raised level must have come from snack at 3pm which was just me being hungry and got me up to 7.5. 7.0 before bed so incrementally increased Glargine to 36. Aiming for 5.5 – 6.0 in morning.