Success for me is the ability to know that every night when I go to bed that I can say to myself "you didn't give in today, you didn't make an excuse, you beat the Beast once again at least today"

And tomorrow I will try just as hard - watch what I eat - won't make excuses "just for today". If you do that every day you achieve success - one day at a time.

After you have been dealing with it for a while you know the rules. You know what is required of you, so you either do it or you don't. Everyone is capable of doing it right for just "one day" - you don't need to look further than tomorrow.

If you have a bad day you shake it off but you don't use that as an excuse to have two bad days in a row, or a week or a month.

And you watch for the day when you need some help because despite you very best, honest efforts, it may not be enough.

You don't see that as defeat or some failing on your part - you simply tell your Doc you need the help even before they suggest it.

For me the only thing that is important is "control" no matter how you achieve it.

That will keep me alive, that will keep me functional. I don't have to know how to "do it all" because I have a health team backing me up but I do have to show them that I am "serious".

I don't care if my Doctor is happy with my numbers, I need to be happy with my numbers so I won't make promises I won't keep. I won't pretend that I will do something if I know I won't - I have to live with the consequence not the Doc after all so I would only be lying to myself, putting myself in peril.

So I will do my part. I will trust my meter - it tells you instantly if you did something detrimental or if your plan is working. And if it is screaming at me success means that I "know why" it is - I can say "ya, I did that and I knew better".

Today was a great day, I beat the Beast today.

It will try again tomorrow but tomorrow is a new day. So I will rest up because the Monster is relentless - but I only need to slay it "one day at a time"...

Hi Graham love how you worded it the beast and you are right with what you say only ourselves can control it with help of doctors etc because we are the ones who have to control it well said.

I totally understand. I often wonder if I’m doing enough. I’ve cut out all refined sugar and try not to eat foods with added sugar. I stick to about 90 carbs or less per day and I drink 6 to 8 bottles of water a day. I go to the gym 5 days a week and I try to exercises at home on weekends. I’ve lost 25 pounds and have about 5 more to go. Slowly I’m finding foods that work on a low carb diet. I found smart buns that I really like, had a hamburger last night and it was so good. Sometimes balancing calories and carbs can be tricky. Some keto works others are just to high in calories. Like our warrior Henry and knowledgeable Mr Graham say baby steps one day at a time.

Diabetes did not just jump us suddenly, it slowly crept its way up to causing issues for us. It will take time to adjust and regulate better our numbers. Also diabetes is a metabolic disease, no one can predict what outcomes will come down the line, all we can do is work on the here and now. It can take a good year to get a handle of things, A1C takes 3 months to change also hence why they repeat it every 3 months, so it is a slow progressive disease which we have time to handle it. Write any questions you have for your doctor, this way you will not forget them, but be aware that most doctors only know the basics of diabetes, they learned to diagnosed and treat according to charts and so on, they follow guidelines, most have no clue what the diet even involves. They studied to diagnose and treat and refer people to dietician or diabetes education people, or a diabetic nurse. So some questions you may have might be redirected to a dietician. You can ask for a consult if need be. Diabetes is a day to day disease, sometimes just having pain, or a fever will hike our numbers up, or while wounds are healing or surgeries etc.. any kind of stress affects our numbers due to hormones which are released during stressful times. Take it 1 day at a time. Sometimes it is age that causes wear and tear to our bodies and organs, sometimes the aging process cannot be reversed or addressed, so diabetes may evolve at times, or remain stable for a while then act up again. But diet has a greater part in the big picture for sure.

All I try not to have any pain during the day and night. It is a guessing game. Good luck