So I had the valuable opportunity to learn a lesson the hard way. A few weeks ago my doctor finally diagnosed me with Type 2 Diabetes. Been pre-diabetic for a long time but finally crossed the threshold when my weight was 359 pounds at 6'3". I've always held my weight fairly well on my body, just a big guy in general. It took the diagnosis to finally kick my butt into gear and do something. Now, a little back story, a couple years back I lost 75 pounds in a "20 pounds per week" challenge gym. This ended up just like it should, really, I lost weight fast but developed a fear of overeating calories and trying to "beat the numbers" on MFP. My goal was to see how few calories I could eat and lose weight as fast as possible, maintenance would be tomorrow's problem. I also gained all the weight back plus another 40 pounds topping out at 379 pounds.
So back to present (a little past) I have Type 2 Diabetes and my competitive look at the calories and macros comes back in force. I cut out just about all carbs immediately and was only eating about 40-50 carbs and under eating calories again. Add the non-existent carbs and new medications for diabetes and I put myself into diabetic keto acidosis (DKA) in about 4 days. I spent two days at home puking my guts out, no energy, an unquenchable thirst, and just down right miserable feeling. I went to the ER on a Wednesday and stayed the night while the doctor tried to get my electrolyte levels back to normal. Thursday morning rolled around and I wasn't feeling 100% but my blood levels were coming back up with meds so I was sent home. Big mistake.
The following 3 days were spent sleeping/in bed laying down/not eating as my electrolyte levels fell back down. That Monday I went back to the ER and was quickly sent via ambulance to a hospital room. My potassium level was at a 0.8 (should be over 3.5) as well as sodium levels being low. I can't explain just how bad my muscles hurt as well as other symptoms. I was in the hospital from Monday until Friday afternoon when I was finally released with everything as it should be.
I have since looked more into diabetic diet education as well as looking deeper into how to count macros, eating enough to meet the necessary levels. My attitude that I had to lose weight quickly or compete against myself sent me to the hospital. It led me to fear carbs/calories. It led me to a way of eating that was far from maintainable or even safe. I'm 3 days out of the hospital and have continued to eat enough food to meet my macro levels and making better choices in general. This has made it to where I am not hungry throughout the day and I'm not struggling to eat what is needed.
I guess if you get anything from this, please don't treat your weight loss as a competition if it leads to extreme changes. I'm figuring that my current diet style is going to be much easier to stick to and I never intend to EVER cut out anything that my body needs to operate. Hope someone gets this.
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