Some Positive Effects

I took great delight in my extra fast yesterday. I feel like I have more energy - or, perhaps a more accurate description - I am less tired, and much less worn out by the children than usual. I feel a lot more alert, and I also slept better last night than I have done in ages. I'm hoping these aren't coincidences, because I could really use the extra energy!

I'm not convinced that my now 8:30pm to 8:30pm fast is working terribly well. My struggle yesterday was being fed some fish and broccoli at my Mum's house around 6pm (fitting in with my calorie count) and having insulin with this small meal. By 8:15pm I was only 6.7 but feeling extremely wobbly and like my body was desperate for sugar. I decided to be sensible and break the fast early to prevent the incoming hypo. However, because I came out of 'fast mode,' I ate a proper meal, quite large really for a breaking fast meal (fruit cake for the hypo, then some left-over stir fry, then scrambled eggs with toast), and ended up needing more insulin with this. I finished feeling extremely full and bloated, despite having felt exceptionally hungry - this was probably due to the hypo), and it was about 9:30pm that I had the insulin, which never really works for me (night times are still much of a mystery when it comes to my insulin requirements, and having novorapid shortly before bed never helps this!). I think this would have been a lot better had I had less or no insulin with the small tea, and then later treated the hypo only (i.e. take some dextrose tablets and have a cereal bar). So I will try this. Doing this may also mean I can switch to an AM to PM fast, which is easier to work out in my head, and will help me to eat less erratically, because I will be able to skip the late-evening meals and instead break my fast in the truly appropriate way - with breakfast.

What I have found interesting today is my lack of desire to eat loads of 'bad' things, a greater awareness of when I'm feeling full, and if I do have something 'unhealthy' I only want a little bit. I think that, overall, I have had lower sugar levels too. Just tallying up from my monitoring diary, over the past week I have had 22 tests where my levels were below 8 mmol/l, compared to the week before where there were 17, only 13 the week before that, and only 6 the week before that! That has to be a good thing. There have still been some very high readings, but overall much better control.

Another fast day tomorrow. I hope that I will start to see some weight change after a few weeks - so far I have stayed almost exactly the same!