Frugal, thrifty, make do, mend! Let this debt come to an end!

Elisheba

Slowdown said:

Hello again Elisheba,

I’ve been on HRT for the last few years. I use the oestrogen gel and progesterone tablets which are the most biologically compatible to our own hormones and combine it with Sertraline. I had terrible anxiety for a while as well as hot flushes, night sweats and aching joints. Not to mention the loss of marbles. 

I’m a lot better now though still have some night sweats. I’m 60 next year and don't intend giving it up anytime soon. 

Nice to hear all things are jogging along nicely. So delightful to feel a promise of spring and warmer weather. Love to feel the sun on my face. 

Enjoy all your socials this week. ☺️

That's exactly the type of HRT I've opted for 😁. I've used sertaline on the past but I had a lot of side effects I couldn't cope with, same with citilopram. I'm on a non SSRI mood stabiliser now - not quite so good with the anxiety, but much better in terms of side effects for me.

Elisheba

Good morning, frugal friends,

Thank you for all your lovely thoughts and support regarding the prediabetes. I finally got my blood results back and I'm on the lower end of the prediabetes scale, so hopefully will reverse quite easily with lifestyle changes.

I did a fair bit of reading and research, and have opted to go for a low carb (under 100g a day), low calorie diet (under 1500cals a day) for now. It's too much for me to go full on keto (which is an ultra low carb diet) right now, and the Michael Mosely ultra low calorie diet for 8 weeks seems a bit much for me right now as well. I've lost 3kg already, so I'll keep on doing what I'm doing and if my weight loss gets stuck, or my blood sugar isn't behaving then I have those options in reserve.

It's hasn't been a particularly frugal couple of weeks unfortunately. I wanted to monitor my own blood sugar, and the NHS doesn't provide testing kits for prediabetes, so that was a good £60-70 for all the bits. I've bought enough strips and lancets to last for a good long while though.

Then, because I'm kind of still making up what I'm eating as I go along, and pretty much everything I had in the house was carb heavy, I've spent a lot more than budgeted on food this month. Lots of tofu, eggs, avocados, veg and plain yogurts, that sort of stuff. The food bank is going to do very well out of me though when I finally get around to dropping off what I can't eat any more 😁.

Other than that I was supposed to go up to Scotland this last weekend, but there was some family drama so it didn't happen. So that saved me a bit money, which will cover the extra costs else where.

I was feeling a bit wobbly last week - no energy and a bit shaky, which apparently is a normal reaction to switching to a low carb diet while your body adjusts. Anyway it meant I couldn't increase my step count as even normal dog walks felt horrible. However, I was much better by yesterday and went on a really lovely walk over some National Trust hill land near me. Silly dog absolutely loves it there and had an excellent time. Then we got home and made dinner then I read by the fire for the evening. Perfect day 😁

I'm off work today so will go and visit a town nearby I haven't been to in years. Will take silly dog for a walk around a lake there, then have a mooch around the charity shops. I'm after a soup ladle, and don't want to pay the £10-15 cost for one online. I don't want to buy any clothes though, as there is a good chance my clothes size will be going down in the future, so it would be a bit of a waste.

I have lots of ideas for how I can increase my exercise going forward, some frugal some not so much 😂. Exercise doesn't do much for losing weight, and doesn't do anything for diabetes, but it is good for general health, so is something I should do. More dog walks for a start, and speak to someone I know who does wild river swimming nearby, and maybe start doing that. I was also thinking I could get my bicycle serviced, and maybe converted to an electric bike (which with the hills around me means I'd use it more). I could even get a dog carriage for silly dog, so he could come with me. That would all cost a fair bit of money though, so I'm going to see how I get on with the rest of it, and then revisit it.

Other than that, I got the 3 months free D!sney through T3sco that I saw on the MSE main page. A few films and programmes on there that I want to see, so I'll have to try and watch them before it runs out.

Once I'm a bit more organised about what I'm eating, I'll start posting weekly meal plans. I'm eating breakfast again for now - with how wobbly I was feeling last week, the 16:8 fasting was too much for me. It's another tool in my arsenal for later on though.

Right, I'm off to get ready for my day out. Hope everyone has a good day, and is starting the week on am optimistic note 😁.

fionaandphil

Enjoy your day off. I'm off today too so having a cuppa and blog catch-up after getting the washing out. Have a great day!

in_need_of_direction

there's a fair bit of research out there stating the benefits of exercise on tackling pre diabetes and diabetes.

"Exercise can augment glucose disposal and improve insulin action, and thus can be a tool to aid in glucose regulation"

it might be worth reading around

Elisheba

in_need_of_direction said:

there's a fair bit of research out there stating the benefits of exercise on tackling pre diabetes and diabetes.

"Exercise can augment glucose disposal and improve insulin action, and thus can be a tool to aid in glucose regulation"

it might be worth reading around

Yes, you are quite right. I went back to the book I had read and what it actually said was...
'For many years, exercise has been recommended for people with diabetes because it has been shown that it helps reduce blood glucose levels. However, the evidence suggests that it does not have a big impact. Regular aerobic exercise, such as running or ‘cardiovascular’ workouts, has been shown to reduce HbA1c by around 8 mmol/mol (0.7 per cent), and anaerobic or resistance exercise (such as weight training) by around 6 mmol/mol (0.5 per cent). Combining the two does slightly better, resulting in a 9 mmol/mol (0.8 per cent) improvement. However, to achieve these improvements it is estimated that it is necessary to exercise for at least 150 minutes per week; anything less than this will make little difference. In many studies, where the amount of exercise achieved was measured, the average was only around 60 minutes a week. Good for many aspects of health, but not enough to have a meaningful impact on blood glucose levels.'

A 6 - 9 mmol drop is nothing to be sneezed at, if you do manage to do that amount of intensive exercise.

I'm sure there might be research that disagrees with this authors conclusions, but I think we could end up debating complex medical issues and this forum probably isn't the place to do that. And goodness knows, I'm not qualified.

in_need_of_direction

me neither especially as i'm much better at the theoretical than practical approach!

foxgloves

I think 16:8 would be too much for me too, @Elisheba, but I'm fine with 14:10, something I intend to resume properly very soon.
F

Elisheba

Sunshine_girl2 said:

I thought you were taking mounjaro ? Or have you finished with that . 

Me? No. I only heard about it this week when a friend told me she was starting it. Or do you mean @in_need_of_direction?

KajiKita

I'm glad the pre-diabetes result wasn't as scary as you thought it might be and well done on the 3Kg loss already 

I love the idea of you pedalling around with silly-dog in a carriage behind you - he will feel like a king! 

KK  

Sunshine_girl2

Elisheba said:

Sunshine_girl2 said:

I thought you were taking mounjaro ? Or have you finished with that . 

Me? No. I only heard about it this week when a friend told me she was starting it. Or do you mean @in_need_of_direction?

Sorry got you mixed up with another person.