Week By Week Fasting Numbers With Gestational Diabetes: Managing with Diet: Second Trimester
I thought it would be helpful to have a full picture of my week-by-week fasting numbers since I started tracking with a glucose monitor. I’ll update this blog post as I go throughout the second trimester so it has as much information as possible. I’ll create a new post for my third trimester once I get there and link here!
WEEK 21: This was the first week I had my glucose monitored and started tracking my blood sugar.
I did track my after-meal numbers too, but those were always under the safe range, even if I ate ice cream, so I stopped tracking them. Like my first pregnancy, it was the fasting numbers that were always out of the safe range (being under 95).
Weight: 172 LBS (+27 lbs since my pre-pregnancy weight of 145)
Monday: 100
Tuesday: 105
Wednesday: 111
Thursday: 102
Friday: 104 (went out to dinner with family this night, ate pizza and dessert so I knew I’d be in a high zone the next day. The family outings continued all weekend as we gathered for birthdays and Buffalo Bills playoff games. I knew from the previous fasting numbers I’d need to start the keto diet soon, so I wanted to enjoy a weekend without measuring food and tracking my glucose before I did. I guess I will admit I was avoiding knowing those numbers: In hindsight, I wish I had tracked my numbers so I could know what the result was.
Saturday: didn’t track
Sunday: didn’t track
Week 22: This is the week I kicked off going back to the Keto Diet, which worked to stabilize my fasting sugars with my second pregnancy when I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes.
Weight: 174 Lbs (+2 lbs since last week, 29 lbs total)
Monday: Didn’t track (the first day of starting the keto diet and I knew this number would be high. Avoidance at its finest.)
Tuesday: 88
Wednesday: 96
Thursday: 87
Friday: 98 (kept with keto diet all day and then went for dinner with friends and didn’t stick with keto options. We had pizza, dessert, etc
Saturday: 125 (kept with keto again all day but was extremely hungry and ate way more calories than my daily allowance. In the evening I caved to cravings and ended up eating a few pieces of bread!)
Sunday: didn’t track (Again, I didn’t track this morning’s number because Saturday I had dinner with my family and ate a few things that should be avoided on the Keto diet. I didn’t want to face reality, which in hindsight would have been very useful information).
Week 23: this week I started to feel the emotions of knowing I’d need to change my diet.
I was feeling angry inside. I was desiring to eat normal (what I want) without needing to feel like something was wrong with me. I also felt Like I wanted to rebel or negotiate the terms of this diet. I had thoughts of building in lots of cheat days and thoughts of unfairness that I have to do this. I was also mad at myself for crossing the 30 lbs of weight gain total in 23 weeks. 1.4 lbs on average per week. I was realizing that if i kept at this rate i’ll gain 55-60 lbs again and that thought was scaring me. I gained 60 lbs during my other two pregnancies and was very UNCOMFORTABLE At the end.
Weight: 177 (+3lbs since last week, 32 lbs total )
Monday: 79
Tuesday: 91
Wednesday: 96
Thursday: 92
Friday: 86
Saturday: 101 (went out to dinner this night and was planning on eating a steak for dinner and saw chicken parm on the menu and immediately wanted a cheat night. I ate the chicken parmesan and side of pizza and when I came home I also ate some leftover ice cream we had from the birthday parties in weeks past)
Sunday: 115 (my number reflected the cheat evening I had last night. But more than that, I feel AWFUL. I felt cloudy-headed, tired, mad at myself, and depressed. It was very clear to see this as a result of my eating choices!)
WEEK 24:THIS WEEK I STARTED TO COME TO TERMS THAT I DON’T THINK CHEAT DAYS ARE GOING TO WORK FOR ME.
I felt a lot of anxiety this week around realizing that cheat days actually wouldn’t work for me because they spiraled not only my fasting glucose out of control, they spiraled my hunger and cravings in the days that followed. I felt angry and mad: feeling like I was restricted and that these rules I had to follow were unfair. But I also notice my weight was stabilizing from the previous week AND that as the week went on, I started to feel better and clear-headed again.
This week I stuck to the “keto diet” but ate a lot of stevia and monk fruit-filled keto snacks to help subside my cravings. I ended up sticking to under a net carb requirement most of the week, but by Thursday morning I realized that I had to start focusing on total carbs almost more diligently than net carbs and that these “keto-friendly sweetness” weren’t working for me. By Thursday the cravings had subsided a bit so I cut down to under 50 total carbs and under 22 net carbs per day and my fasting numbers stabilized right away! That felt like really great insight to know!
Even though my numbers at the beginning of the week were high, my confidence built this week as I decided to LINE UP energetically with the full keto diet and just follow it more strictly. Sunday was the Super Bowl and I didn’t count calories or macros as closely as I should have. This will be reflected in Monday’s number next week.
This week I also started tracking total carbs and net carbs in my bullet journal with my fasting number for the next day so I can see the correlation right there in front of me.
I also ordered a Veri Continuous Glucose Monitor which is set to arrive on Monday!
Weight: 177 (the first week I gained no weight since a previous week)
Monday: 105
Tuesday: 97
Wednesday: 100
Thursday: 106
Friday: 93
Saturday: 89
Sunday: 93
WEEK 25:this week I received my continuous glucose Monitor and thought it would help bring clarity to my numbers but have actually felt more confusion.
Once I calibrated my continuous glucose monitor, I immediately realized the numbers were way lower than my finger reader. That left me feeling more confused and irritated. The fast numbers below are representative of my finger test, but the ones from the cgm were all about 10 lower. I’ll be discussing with my midwife what to do/what to trust.
This week I also feel SO TIRED. A bit at war with myself, my body, and the food I’m eating. I know my body is adjusting and I keep reminding myself that my cells, body, huger cues, and energy will all sync up soon, but I won’t lie- this week felt a bit harder than the rest.
weight: 177
Monday: 106
Tuesday: 100
Wednesday 100
Thursday: 86
Friday: 100
Saturday: 95
Sunday: 95
WEEK 26:this week i started to feel settled into the keto diet for the first time
This was the first week my brains stopped freaking out about being on a crazy diet. I noticed it as such a difference from the last weeks and was able to make better decisions re: what I was eating that felt less like a struggle. The scale again stayed at 177 which was interesting! My continuous glucose monitor also is showing different numbers than my finger blood test which is to be expected after doing a bit of research- but none less it is very frustrating to not know which one to trust. When I see my midwife at week 28 I plan to ask to measure my AC1 levels to see what those read from the last 3 months and also to get her assessment of what was happening with the monitor in comparison to my morning fasting numbers. Another thing I’ve realized is that in the morning it showed on my CGM that I would have a quick spike in blood sugar the moment I woke up followed by it normalizing. American Diabetes Association links this to either the dawn phenomenon or the Somogyi effect. Either way, I am sort of questioning how accurate any of my numbers are depending on when I test them! Let’s say I’m testing when they rise up, then I could be at 100 or 101, but if I test when it is on the downslope it could be 91.
weight: 177
Monday: 105
Tuesday: 91
Wednesday 95
Thursday: 92
Friday: 86
Saturday: 90
Sunday: 101
WEEK 27:this week I took off the continuous glucose monitor and felt some relief in that decision but still want to discuss with my midwife what she thinks is the best path forward.
weight: 177-179
I have had some days where I feel overly tired and hungry and some days where I feel alive and well. I think, to be honest, my body is still getting used to this keto diet and managing exactly how many carbs I can handle. I have been. I discussed m numbers with my provider today and showed her the CGM readings and she felt that as long as I wasn’t consistently over 100 for fastings (3 days or more a week over 100, for a few weeks in a row, I would be able to maintain treating my gestational diabetes with the keto diet.
Monday: 92
Tuesday: 96
Wednesday: 103
Thursday: 96
Friday:
Saturday:
Sunday: