28 weeks pregnant | Gestational Diabetes Managed with Keto Diet Update
Tomorrow I will be 28 weeks pregnant, with gestational diabetes. I have been using the Keto diet over the last 4 weeks to manage my gestational diabetes and I wanted to do a quick update.
The last two weeks I also purchased a continuous glucose monitor through an independent AP called Veri (they actually just supplied the libre 2 system, but you can use the Veri AP when you buy through them) to help see a clearer picture of what was happening during the night. The Veri AP does say on their site that their system is not intended to make medical decisions so, of course, I’ve been using my blood glucose monitor daily to track my fasting numbers which is approved by my provider. My provider also was able to order me another set of 2 continuous glucose monitors which are approved to track for health reasons and I’ll be purchasing those from her when they arrive. I don’t think my insurance covers them but I will call and check.
The continuous glucose monitor was able to give me some more insight on what was happening during the night and those wee morning hours when I sometimes see a high glucose reading, but it also left me a bit irritated and confused. For one, during the process of wearing it I learned that all glucose monitor devices can be off by up to 10 points. So sometimes, I’d have a reading through my finger blood test that said 95 and my continuous glucose monitor said 105 (and vice versa). I talked to my provider about this today and really she was saying it’s the overall trends we’re looking for and that based on both pieces of information it is looking like the keto diet is working again, so far.
What I have been able to recognize the last 4 weeks is that I do have to really stick with 50 total carbs or less and about 25 net carbs or less. But I also have realized there are some days where that is just not possible, I’m hungrier than usual and I end up eating 60-65 total carbs, OR, I go out to eat or have friends over and I don’t measure my food and therefore may be over my carb/protein/calorie recommendations.
I have noticed that there was one week where I was over 100 more than recommended, but the continuous glucose monitor was able to show me that during the night I wasn’t “basking” in those numbers all night- sometimes just experiencing a spike in the morning and that’s when I happened to check my blood glucose.
Other things are that my mind finally has sort of “chilled” out about being on this diet. The first 4 weeks were hard and my brain and thoughts were really not in a great place. I was also craving lots of food and trying to negotiate cheat meals with heavy carbs, which I did cave into the first two weeks and reached almost 150 carbs which gave me a very high fasting number. Now, I feel like I’m in a steadier place with my thoughts were once to twice a week I find myself negotiating eating extra celery or extra macadamia nuts that might put me to 55-60 total carbs. My hope is that in another 2 weeks my mind stops trying to negotiate as much as my body feels more full from maintaining the keto diet more long term.
Lastly, the last week I’ve weighed between 177-180 lbs (it fluctuates daily based on how much salt I eat the day before and if I go to the bathroom or not- ( we can thank the keto diet for that side effect as you don’t go to the bathroom as often). I have been drinking a lot more water to help with that and just in general because of being pregnant too.