Living with Diabetes

Author: kathleen

  • Jenny Craig is working!

    I’ve been on Jenny Craig now for 4 weeks.  I’ve lost over 8 pounds, which puts me right where they want me – 1 to 2 pounds a week.

    Here’s why it is working for me:

    Portion control

    most of the foods are prepared, the ones that aren’t I can’t really over eat on or it doesn’t matter – also the food is edible.

    A list of foods to eat

    Accountability but in a nice week

    Now I lost the first sixty pounds with the lap band,but it didn’t give me any of the above, except for portion control.  I needed the list.  And the list has to be edible.

    I tried an outfit here in town which was a total waste.  The accountability was very punitive – if you went off plan, they restricted you even more, and the plan made no sense?  What no Brussel sprouts?

    I’ve tried things like MyFitnessPal, which I still use, but didn’t work for me either.  I’ve tried just pre-portioned food, again doesn’t work for me. 

    If you are diabetic, be aware that you have to have your doctor sign a very detailed permission slip.  That’s important, because they really do change up the carbs.  I’m taking much less insulin then before.

  • Jenny Craig–I’ve lost 8 pounds!

    Here’s what is working for me.  I have a list each day from Jenny Craig.  I check off the food.  And it’s a lot of food, especially for a lap band gal. 

    Breakfast is usually a Jenny shake – great for me as I can’t get anything solid down then.  About an hour later, I eat the Jenny breakfast entrée of the day.  Then yogurt or cottage cheese and fruit.  I have to split up all my meals and sometimes I don’t get them all in.  That’s okay.  I make sure I get enough protein and I’m good.

    And just in case you want to give it a try – I have an email with a $25 off promotion.

    If you are diabetic, you won’t be able to start right away.  You go in and they fax your doctor a permission letter.  You want that.

    I didn’t lose weight the first week because my insulin needs changes drastically and I had to tweak my pump.  Now that it’s closer to right I’m losing weight.   I’ll have to rinse and repeat, as my insulin needs change.

  • One week of Jenny Craig– LOST WEIGHT!

    Their scales weigh differently than mine, which is nice. They show 5 pounds lighter.  I have lost some weight but not much.  I had to treat several lows.

    I have been adjusting my insulin dosage and hopefully that will get better.  I also dropped my calorie plan from 1700 to 1600 and plan to go to 1500 next week.

    That should give me a bit more cushion for treating lows.

    My blood sugar has been too high with 60-80 units a day until I went on Jenny Craig.  Now my blood sugar is too low, and ranging 40-50 units a day.  So the biggest thing now is to get the insulin tweaked correctly.

  • Jenny Craig–good progress

    I started on Jenny Craig Monday lunch.  We’d faxed a permission form to my Endo on Saturday, they indicated to Jenny Craig that they would return it on Monday morning, so they called and I was able to start.  My scales say I’ve lost around 3 pounds in the two days.

    I like that I have a planner that I just check off what I’ve ate.  That’s one way DietToGo could fix things.  I didn’t really see that kind of tool.  I also like have those extra meals around.  Last night, when I just had to have something else, instead of pulling out random junk food, I pulled out a DietToGo meal and ate some of it.  Tossed the rest.  I do have another week coming today.  My husband is eating some of those meals too.

    I’m on the 20/20 plan and my consultant has been quite available to ask questions – so it’s all good.  No – just check the website when I have a question.  She actually answers it.

    Food is good but expensive.

  • Disappointed in Diet To Go

    First, the people on the Facebook Group are down right snarky.  I called one out for cyberbullying Friday.  Seems more people complain than encourage or uplift.  You try to make things better and you get bullied.  While I got some positive reinforcement from the employees of Diet to Go, it didn’t off set the snarky.

    Second, support doesn’t support.  When I made a legitimate complainant – the nutritional information isn’t on the meals, I get this:  go out to the website.  Okay, so it’s Sunday at noon, and I need the carb counts on a meal.

    I go to DietToGo.com 

    Login to MyDietToGo

    I see Week 3 (oh, it’s Week 2)

    No back button so I have to click “Next Week”

    Now I’m on Week 4

    Click “Next week”

    Now Week 5

    Click “Next Week”

    Now Week 1

    Click “Next Week”

    Now Week 2

    Oh, I made a meal substitution so it isn’t showing, so I have to find the missing meal, and redo the substitution. 

    I can FINALLY click on nutrition and finally get the carb count.

    Not counting the time to find a device that will let me do this (it’s even this way on the mobile device) – now my meal is cold and unappetizing.  Especially if it’s ground turkey.

    I’m supposed to be getting a spreadsheet. Hey, print out all the information needed on the labels, not just the minimum requirement. 

    The second best answer is not to roll off the meals until two weeks after they expired.

    All easy fixes.

    There is still the shipping issue.

    There is one last local solution – Jenny Craig, which I visited on Saturday.  Bad news, if you are a diabetic, you need to go by there, have them fax your doctor to get permission, and wait until he gives it.  I remember why I’m not on it now, the doctor I had wanted me to get a lap band, probably for some type of kickback and wouldn’t sign.  I am pretty sure this doctor will sign. 

  • Diet To Go Food One Week Out

    I agreed to try Diet To Go food for one week after being contacted by them.   They sent me 15 free meals. 

    Other than that I’ve been treated just as a regular customer.

    I’m very pleased with their food and their service – there are a few glitches which I am sure they can iron out.

    I haven’t lost weight, BUT I have been feeling better.   Their meals produce a very smooth blood sugar.  The meals work well with my lap band – I am a little too full after some of them, but I can work that out.  My gastric system is working much better.  I have issues where I alternate between constipation and diarrhea and I go to the bathroom more normally.

    I like the 5 day schedule.  Sometimes working with premade meals just don’t work out well, this week I plan to put a few meals in the freezer and alternate them out.  Especially since I might try a large agility fun match in another city.

    The biggest drawback seems to be the cooler – it can’t be recycled, but so far, I’ve been able to find them homes with NextDoor.

    I’ve looked into local options and can’t seem to find one.

    I’ve been on their new Balance-Diabetes plan.  I am going with their 2 meals a day/5 days a week plan starting today.  With my lapband that should be the best option.  Breakfast rarely works well with the lapband, and that was true with theirs. 

  • Diet To Go Day 3

    Cons:

    The whole shipping thing.  However, neighbors are wanting the coolers.

    Nutrition information isn’t on all the packages. This is a BIG deal for diabetics.

    Some of the food is difficult to microwave and the directions aren’t clear.  Those are the foods with out nutrition information.

    Pros:

    Food is good.  Even the breakfast is working.  Food is medium easy to eat which is a good thing.  And it tastes good, but sometimes too spiced.

    Blood sugar is smoother.

  • Day 2 Breakfast

    I had Egg Cheese Pesto pizza.  I’m usually not good with solid food in the morning, but this worked well.  Baked apple as a side which the Facebook group complains about.  It liked.

    My blood sugar has been fairly smooth according to the CGMS.  No big excursions.  I still have trouble with evening eating, but will be working on getting better food in the house for that.

  • Dinner day 1 and a decision

    Dinner tonight was Portabella Lasagna.  It was good.  It was only 20 carbs and was lasagna accompanied by vegetables.  It was very filling and quite good.  Easy to eat with the lap band.

    I've decided to get a second weeks food.  Husband is going to buy his own food as they don't have a dinner only plan.  The cooler situation is a bit unwieldy.  I'm looking for some place to take it for recycling.  A neighbor is picking up this weeks cooler.

    My blood sugar has been very smooth.

    I am disappointed that the nutrional information isn't in MyFitnessPal or Fitbit log.  I called the 1-800 number about it, and they suggested I use the website.   I'm not sure where I was supposed to go –it's been a few hours and really not finding it.  I'm going to keep pushing on this. 

       

  • More on my experiments in portion controlled food

    Still waiting on DietToGo, but I did get an email that it is coming tomorrow.  And I’m over scheduled tomorrow but it will work out.

    I tried the Nutrosystem food at Walmart.  A really nice idea, but I ended up taking the box back.  It was marked as good until November 2016, and the bagel in it looked moldy to both me and the sales clerk that handled the return.  That warrants a technology post.  The box was around $42.00 with tax, and contained 4 meals for each day – 5 meals total, but suggested lots of extra food.

    I like the MyFit food but it’s hard to eat.  I’ve had two chicken meals with white meat chicken that took me about 30 minutes to chew.  Also a bit heavily spiced to make up for the lack of salt.  Frankly I do fine with a lighter level of spice.  Each meal contains protein and vegetables but I still feel like I need fresh produce.

    I have been getting good emails from DietToGo.  I just went out and read the latest.  I also played around with the order website.  It’s a well designed website –even though they are using  mostly bootstrap.  I can’t be too critical, I broke down and using it myself.

    Their facebook group has been good too – though so far, mostly got information on shipping.