Total cholesterol levels near the time of diagnosis as a type 2 diabetic through the first 2 years of a program of dietary control of diabetes without medications:
Diabetic cholesterol levels overall should be under 200 mg/dL or lower (even lower for a diabetic cholesterol level is better). Because you want your diabetic HDL cholesterol levels to be higher (diabetic HDL cholesterol levels are better if higher) and you want your 'bad cholesterol' diabetic LDL cholesterol levels to be lower, you might wonder how these conflicting goals relate to the goal of having diabetic cholesterol levels in total lower... The fact is that because your LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) levels will always be higher than your HDL cholesterol (good cholesterol) by at least about a factor of 2, you can expect to see your total cholesterol levels to be lower as your drop in LDL out-weighs any increase in your HDL cholesterol levels. The 'total cholesterol' data is more an artifact of the days when HDL and LDL cholesterol were not distinguishable in tests, and it is more important to look at your HDL cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels independently than fixate on your total cholesterol levels.
These results are from practicing the lifestyle intervention changes described here at the Diabetes Life Guide and practicing dietary control of diabetes as described at the sister site to the Diabetes Life Guide, Diabetic Life Diet: Dietary Control of Diabetes. There you can find out what is a diabetic diet really, read discussions about what diabetic diet tips are the best and even learn about the 'nearly' vegetarian diabetic diet plan for dietary control of diabetes and how you can be your own diabetic diet guide for controlling your own type 2 diabetes.