Two days ago, I posted about my blood pressure vacillating. I’d seen some odd ups and downs – nothing to panic about necessarily, but still not great.
Yesterday my BP was up again – my average reading was 144/93 with a 63bpm heart rate. Still concerning, but again not “panic stations”.
Today, it’s back down again – 128/82 with 60bpm heart rate. My standing blood pressure was 119/82 85bpm – representing only a small dip in my systolic pressure. For someone with my history of crisis-level hypertension prior to medication, this is a super healthy reading, given I’ve recently halved my medication. Earlier in the week I saw a drop of 30 points from seated to standing so today is looking much better!
There are so many factors that can impact your blood pressure, stress, activity/exercise, sleep (or lack thereof), diet and so on, and this is precisely why my GP tells me not to take my BP every day. I am only doing this currently because of the unexpected high readings this week, so seeing things return to a normal, healthy level is always encouraging.
I’ll keep a track of things over the next few days until I see more stability – but these are useful data points to share with my GP when I have my quarterly diabetic check-up next Friday. The fact that it’s vacillating isn’t too surprising as my body adapts to its new weight and new medication dose, and I’m hopeful that my GP will agree that my current dosage is perfectly adequate.
Since I’m continuing to stay on track with my diet, exercise, and fasting, my body should continue to adjust and get better at maintaining a healthy blood pressure.
So that’s today’s good news – but as you’ve seen from today’s blog post title, there are ups and downs.
The “bad” news isn’t that bad. I weighed in this morning and – no change. Of course, it’s not really bad news – I haven’t put any weight on – but it’s disappointing given that I’ve stuck to my usual routine: 3 x 36 hour fasts, my three swims (2 x 1.25km, 1 x 1km recovery swim), and two runs (2 min run / 1 min walk), while eating within my keto/DASH diet on my re-feeding days.
Obviously, it’s always disheartening when you don’t see the scale move, but it’s not all about body weight. As we’ve discussed previously, body weight fluctuates for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with body fat. I saw a 6.1lb weight gain over a few days during a business trip to Paris last week, which then disappeared just as quickly when I got back on track this week.
An aggressive plan like mine will put all kinds of stresses on my body and sometimes you just need to give it time to see the results. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and consistency is key. Especially now as I approach that diabetic checkup next week.
That will be the real test – in many ways, that is far more important than losing a few pounds. I’ve already lost almost 34lbs (15kgs) since my diagnosis, which is approaching 13% of my starting body weight, the point at which “type 2 diabetes remission” is often seen, and crucially, I’ve stuck to my keto / DASH diet.
Keeping my blood sugar low – through diet, exercise and fasting is my triple-whammy, gold-standard approach for getting to my type 2 diabetes remission, and I’m expecting to see a huge drop in my HbA1c, which was at 79 in December. Getting this down to under 59 mmol/mol will be a huge turnaround, although I’m secretly hoping to see a reading under 55 mmol/mol. By all measures, getting to under 55 mmol/mol in 3 months would be a massive clinical success.
It’s definitely at the edge of what is achievable / has been seen in clinical studies, but it’s feasible that I could even see a drop to 48 mmol/mol, which is considered “pre-diabetes”, but is also the target given to type 2 diabetics looking to reduce their blood sugar before sesrious harm is done.
Seeing readings 6 months apart of 48 mmol/mol without the support of diabetes medication is classed as “diabetic remission” for type 2 diabetics. To be fair, achieving a reading of 48 after just 3 months would be at the “staggeringly successful” end of the scale, but given how strict I’ve been with myself, I don’t want to rule it out.
Anyway, no point getting too excited – I’ve got a big week ahead of me, I’m away this weekend seeing my partner up in Newcastle, and then I have a second business trip, this time to Barcelona. I really need to bring my “A” game for this final boss challenge, as my diabetic checkup is the day after I return from Spain. Fortunately, Spain is more famous for it’s savoury tapas than sugar-laden treats like those tempting French pastries, so hopefully it shouldn’t be too difficult to stay on track.
Either way, I’m quietly confident that the results of my upcoming HbA1c blood test will be a huge vindication of everything I’ve done so far.
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