By Sunny | notesbysunny.com | Health & Wellness
I’ll be honest with you — turning 52 didn’t scare me. But what my doctor told me at my last check-up did.
My HbA1c was sitting at 7.9. Meanwhile, my post-lunch blood sugar was touching 260 mg/dL. And my diabetologist looked me in the eye and said: lose 6 kg (about 13 pounds) in six months, or we start injection therapy.
That hit differently. Not because I’m afraid of injections — but because I knew, deep down, that I had let things slide. The late nights, the chai (spiced milk tea) with three spoons of sugar, the skipped morning walks. All of it adds up when you’re 52 and diabetic.
So I decided to do something about it. And I want to share that journey with you — honestly, without the Instagram filter. Whether you’re in Mumbai or Manchester, Chennai or Chicago — if you’re managing Type 2 diabetes and trying to lose weight after 50, this is for you. If you’re also curious about AI tools that helped me track my health journey, check out my post on 5 Powerful AI Tools That Changed My Life at 52
Quick note: I’m a salaried professional based in India. I’m not a doctor or nutritionist. Everything I share here is from my own personal experience and the guidance of my diabetologist. Please consult your own doctor before making any changes to your diet, exercise, or medication.
The Doctor’s Appointment That Woke Me Up
I’ve been seeing my diabetologist for a while now. However, this particular visit felt different. When he showed me my post-lunch glucose at 260 mg/dL and explained that my HbA1c hadn’t improved, I felt that familiar mix of guilt and quiet fear.
He gave me a six-month challenge — either lose the weight and bring my numbers down, or escalate to injection therapy. That’s the deal.
Interestingly, I’d heard similar stories from others. A friend found out about his elevated blood sugar at a routine health camp — not even a proper clinic visit. That shock pushed him to change. My wake-up call came in a doctor’s office. Ultimately, the feeling was the same: this is real. This is now. Time to act.
After that appointment, I started tracking how different foods affected my blood sugar. What I found genuinely surprised me.
| Food | What I Noticed (Blood Sugar Effect) |
| White rice / refined flour bread | Big spike — drowsiness hit me within 20 minutes |
| Phulkas (thin whole wheat flatbreads) | Much better response than thick white rotis or white bread |
| Dal (Indian lentil curry) | Steady — high protein, good fibre, no crash |
| Sabzi (stir-fried vegetables with spices) | Minimal impact — filling and nutritious |
| Boiled eggs | Rock steady — my go-to breakfast protein |
| Monkfruit sweetened tea | No spike at all — complete game changer for me |
Why Everything I Tried Before Didn’t Work
Let me be real. I’ve tried things before. For instance, cutting carbs for two weeks — then sliding back to normal. Skipping dinner and then overeating the next morning. Walking consistently for a month, then stopping when work got busy.
That’s the classic yo-yo cycle. And with type 2 diabetes, it’s especially dangerous — because every time you revert to old habits, your blood sugar swings right along with you.
How Type 2 Diabetes Makes Weight Loss Different
It’s not just calories in versus calories out when you’re diabetic. In fact, insulin resistance affects how your body stores fat, how hunger signals work, and why your energy crashes after certain meals. For years, I thought I was just lazy after lunch. Turns out, it was a blood sugar spike followed by a rapid drop — a crash that left me feeling foggy and tired.
Understanding that changed everything for me.
The Myths I Had to Unlearn at 52
“It’s too late to lose weight at my age” — Not true. It simply needs a different, more patient approach.
“I need to eat very little to lose weight” — Wrong. Surprisingly, eating too little spiked my stress hormones and actually made things worse.
“Exercise alone will fix it” — Physical activity helps significantly. However, food choices have a bigger direct impact on blood sugar control.
What I Actually Changed — The Honest Version
No dramatic overhaul. No expensive gym membership. Just small, consistent changes I could actually stick to over weeks and months.
Building a Support Structure
No dramatic overhaul. No expensive gym membership. Instead, just small, consistent changes that I could actually stick to over weeks and months.
Building a Support Structure
Working with a Fittr nutrition coach gave me a structured meal plan — around 1,800 kcal daily with a proper balance of protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. As a result, having a written plan made a huge difference. Guesswork at every meal became a thing of the past.
My doctor monitors my medications alongside my weight changes. As you lose weight with diabetes, medication dosages sometimes need adjusting — never do this on your own. Always keep your doctor in the loop.
The Three Things I Stopped Eating First
Sugary chai (spiced milk tea) — switched to tea sweetened with monkfruit extract, a natural zero-calorie sweetener. Honestly, the difference is barely noticeable anymore.
White rice at lunch — replaced with 2 small phulkas (thin whole wheat flatbreads, similar to a tortilla but lighter). Consequently, smaller portions gave me a much better glucose response.
Evening biscuits and packaged snacks — replaced with a small handful of mixed nuts. Simple swap, big difference.
What My Plate Looks Like Now
| Meal | What I Eat | Global Equivalent |
| Breakfast | 1 boiled egg + upma (semolina porridge) | Egg + cream of wheat / grits |
| Lunch | 2 phulkas (thin wheat flatbreads) + dal (lentil curry) + sabzi (stir-fried veg) | Whole wheat wrap + lentil soup + sautéed vegetables |
| Dinner | Light khichdi (rice-lentil porridge) or small home-cooked meal | Rice and lentil porridge / light grain bowl |
| Snacks | Mixed nuts / boiled egg / monkfruit tea | Same — widely available everywhere |
A Simple Rule I Learned the Hard Way
The key thing I learned: don’t stack similar carbohydrates in one sitting. For example, having upma (semolina porridge) at breakfast AND idlis (steamed rice cakes, similar to rice dumplings) as a mid-morning snack is too much starchy carbohydrate too close together. That post-meal drowsiness was my body’s way of telling me my blood sugar had spiked and crashed — and I found that out the hard way.
The Morning Walk That Changed My Numbers
This one is simple — almost embarrassingly so. Just 20 minutes of walking every morning was all it took to begin with.
After about two weeks, something shifted. Fasting blood sugar readings started trending lower. Additionally, energy levels in the first half of the day improved noticeably. The mental fog after breakfast reduced significantly.
Diabetes researchers have long noted that even a short walk after meals can meaningfully lower blood glucose levels. Personally, I experienced this firsthand. As a result, a 10-minute walk after lunch became my quiet weapon against the afternoon slump.
What Happened to My Blood Sugar After Two Weeks
Weeks 1–2: 15–20 minutes at a slow, comfortable pace. The only goal was to make it a daily habit.
Week 3 onwards: targeting 6,000+ steps daily — morning walk plus short post-meal walks when possible.
On busy or rainy days: at least 10 minutes of movement indoors. Something is always better than nothing.
Controlling Blood Sugar Naturally — What Actually Worked
Beyond diet and exercise, a few daily habits made a real difference to my numbers and my energy:
Stress management — attending morning Mass (Catholic church service) every day before work sets my mental baseline for the day. Whether it’s faith, meditation, or a quiet cup of tea in the garden — find your version of this. It genuinely helps blood sugar regulation.
Sleep — aiming to be in bed by 10:30 PM made a noticeable difference. Furthermore, poor sleep raises cortisol, which in turn raises blood sugar. That’s not just personal experience; it’s well-documented biology.
Hydration — keeping a water bottle on my desk sounds trivial. Yet it’s incredibly easy to forget when you’re deep in work.
Food logging — tracking what I eat daily keeps me accountable without becoming obsessive. Overall, even a rough written note helps more than you’d think.
The Hard Parts Nobody Warns You About
This journey isn’t always smooth. In reality, some days are genuinely difficult.
The Weight Loss Plateau
There was a stretch of about a week where the scale didn’t move at all, despite doing everything right. That’s frustrating — especially when working toward a medical deadline. However, zooming out and looking at other indicators helped — blood sugar trends, energy levels, how my clothes fit. The number on the scale is just one data point.
Social Pressure Around Food
At gatherings and celebrations — whether it’s a family function in India or a work party anywhere in the world — there’s always someone who says “just eat a little, it won’t matter.” It does matter. Consequently, being polite but firm became my approach. Eating something light before events helps. Carrying a small bag of nuts helps even more.
The Mental Battle With Old Habits
Old habits pull hard. For instance, there are evenings when the biscuits and fried snacks feel impossible to resist. Weekends are when tracking goes out the window. Giving myself grace on those days — and simply returning to the plan the next morning — is what keeps this sustainable. Ultimately, consistency over weeks matters far more than perfection on any single day.
Where I Am Now — And Where I’m Going
My near-term target is to lose at least 1 kg (about 2 pounds) by my next doctor’s appointment at the end of March 2026. That’s the immediate goalpost.
The bigger goal is to lose 6 kg (about 13 pounds) in six months and avoid injection therapy altogether. Achieving this won’t require any dramatic transformation — just small, consistent daily choices made every single day.
If you’re in a similar situation — over 50, managing type 2 diabetes, feeling overwhelmed by the numbers — know that it’s not hopeless. It simply needs the right approach, some patience, and a genuine willingness to start small.
Start with one thing. For me, it was the morning walk. What’s yours? And if you’re wondering how I got started with this blog and why I’m sharing all this publicly, read my story here
💬 I’d love to hear from you. Are you managing weight loss with type 2 diabetes? What has worked for you? Drop a comment below or find me on Instagram at @notesfromsunny — I read every message.
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