One Week Check-In

It's been about one week since starting (and actually sticking to) a strict LCHF diet, and it's more or less gone really well. I've managed to stay below 30g of carbs each day, but I've been having trouble hitting my daily fat goal. I don't feel tired or hungry though, so I'm not too worried.

I never experienced this "keto flu" thing, and I actually feel like I have MORE energy for longer periods of time. I haven't done a ketone test but I imagine I'm in ketosis because of some changes in my body. (Breath and urine smell different, gross)

I haven't checked my weight yet because I try not to unless I'm at the doctor's office because it just makes me feel bad.

My blood sugar levels have been more or less constant, running between the high 70's to the low 100's for most of the day. I had one instance where it shot up to 220, but that's definitely because I had two "sugar-free" pieces of gum, which actually contain sugar alcohols that can cause blood sugar levels to spike. So, no more "sugar-free" gum or candies, I guess.

I'm still trying to figure out my long-acting insulin dosage, because I've had a couple of low levels in the morning. At the start, I cut it from 32 units at night to 25 units, then back up to 26 because I had a couple of "high" levels (they were just 140). I may cut it back to 25 and just have to very slightly increase my short-acting insulin.

For short-acting insulin, I have cut back from more than 30-40 units throughout the day to just 2-6 units for the entire day. Basically, if I'm eating anything with more than 1 or 2g of carbs and my blood sugar is over 130, I take 1-2 units of Humalog.

Also, if you're using the Spark People app to track your macros, it will not let you change many of your goals if you tell it you're diabetic. But if you don't tell it you're diabetic, you can't enter your blood sugar and insulin information. To get around this, I downloaded a second app called MySugr. I'm pretty sure this is aimed towards children, but that just means it's much easier to use. This allows me to enter my blood sugar levels, insulin dosages, and carb amounts, and also lets me add little note icons for pre and post-meal levels, which meal it is, if I'm sick, etc. The SP app is also a bit annoying in that it does not subtract fiber amounts from carb amounts, so the MySugr app also lets me track my carbs minus the fiber.

Overall, I'm really happy with the results I've seen in my blood sugar and energy levels. I still miss all those awful foods that I don't eat anymore, but being able to eat bacon every single day kinda helps. I think I could definitely do this long-term, but I may occasionally cheat on holidays or vacation, but still keep my daily carbs below 50 or so.