But yet, it appears that much of this is through no fault of your own. There is strong hereditary history, genes etc.. but as you ve pointed out on the past its not ALl lifestyle. Yes perhaps lifestyle can mitigate the disease process and make a difference? But isn t that number like 57% of people can reduce likelihood of full on T2D? And even if you did nothing to improve your lifestyle habits that only a certain percentage progress?.
But I m in a similar boat as you , I'm just hovering around A1c of like 5.3-5
8 now with constant hours of like all day long maintenance , cooking , when im not eating, then cleaning up, and then excercise in between. It's amazing amount of work. But so far it's still worth the effort, and I guess the important part of this effort is to do the best with whatever life throws at us.. and then we really can't blame ourselves.
Peace man
Ps - and to also do other things that help to define us and give us meaning. For me it's being a working musician and being a good friend and member of my family, and my neighborhood; which I love.

Comfort eating, bad dietary habits due to depression, dislike of cooking, dislike of any form of excercise and just plain laziness, all this lead to weight gain. I wanted to lose the weight but did not have the motivation or self discipline to do it. Now I am forced to do all this since my diagnosis which is a double edged sword.
I now have to change my life around completely and force myself to do all these things I have got out of the habit of doing. I have managed to stick to my diet regime, even when I fell off the wagon so to speak, I managed to stay within the confines of my diet. I have lost 10kg's since August and have managed to stick to my diet properly for a week now and I am feeling pretty good about myself. This is the longest i have managed to stick anything out for a very long time. I am very proud of myself. Just need to get the excercise thing going...lol

All of the above ..I HAD a very sweet tooth. Actually overate. Little or no exercise😖 So yes. Lifestyle lifestyle lifestyle.. when young you think you are Invincible.
Getting older is not for sissi's. Even old broken bones come back to haunt you..I always thought that the old folk where so wise having the ability to forecast the weather. Wiser & older I now know it was all those Old injuries.🤣 Why was I diagnosed with T2D. Because I thought I was invincible in my youth being told I was pre diabetic then T1 D. Didn't take it seriously even as T2D. UNTIL I landed in hospital with complications just before Christmas. Now i take it Very Seriously..knowledge is power. Understanding is wisdom. 🥴

@A DiabetesTeam Member what I'm suggesting is that I did nothing to help myself

Yes, my family history left me at "astronomical risk" and perhaps I would have still been diagnosed "at some point" regardless of how well I tried to protect against it.

However I really did play Chicken with diabetes.

Yes, that was my own doing. I remember clearly making that decision.

Once I came to believe I would get it "one day" I decided I was going to "live it up" until I had to make the change because I knew what the restrictions would be once the Doc gave me the news.

Would I have been able to delay my diagnosis for 5 years? Maybe

Could I have really got control of things and kept it away for 10 years or forever? Don't know.

I decided I wasn't going to Live like a Diabetic until I actually was - it wasn't worth it "for me"

But I know not only did I not try, despite being at risk due to history I also put myself at even greater risk by gaining weight, eating total crap and allowing myself to get lazy.

I "double dog dared" Diabetes and lost 😁

Mentioned Users

A Diabete...

I believe you have always mentioned your long family members who developed diabetes, Graham. But are you now stating that maybe it was your past lifestyle that caused you to develop diabetes? My older brother developed diabetes and my mother’s brother had the disease. But, so far my other three siblings have not developed the disease. I am the only family member who had their gull bladder removed. My mother had her’s removed also. I was active my entire life, but @205 to 208 pounds on a 6’3” frame; I was eating things that certainly would propel you into prediabetes. But my dad ate a high fat diet including donuts, cakes, candy, ice cream etc. and he weighed close to 245 pounds at 6’1”. He lived to be 91 and never developed diabetes. For me, I believe it was lifestyle and perhaps the luck of the draw. I did have pancreatitis from passing a gall stone that blocked my digestive juices and they backed up and started to eat my pancreas. I was in the hospital for two weeks on water and ice before they took my gall bladder out. I was receiving food intravenously also. I was receiving insulin in the hospital. I developed a softball sized pancreatic pseudycyst that had to be tied to my stomach and drained. I was in The hospital for five days with a tube in my nose to my stomach to drain the large pseudycyst. After my release, I wasn’t monitored for my blood sugar. I stayed in the prediabtes stage for @9 years until it advanced to diabetes. I am on metformin and 2.5 mg of glipizide. My last two A1C’s have been 5.7 and 5.9. I am on a modified Mediterranean diet, low carbs and exercise daily. Thank you for all your education and knowledge about this disease.