Type 1 Diabetes Want to lose weight, don't know how!

[Swazzle]

Hello everyone!

I am new to this forum so please be patient with me. I am 24 years old (soon to be 25 in a couple weeks....getting older...yay). I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in 2011 November and have made a lot of adjustments with dealing with it (several times being hospitalized, hypos, diet/exercise fads etc).

I have been studying law since last year September on a GDL course - for those who might know, this is a very intense course, some say a lot more so than an undergraduate or Masters because of its intensity in a short period of time. After this I plan on also doing the LPC to qualify as a lawyer. Now, I am including these details because I must stress that ever since I started the course, although my intentions before the course were to join a gym and continue with my somewhat healthy-ish diet and exercise plan, I have sadly literally not had the time to really have any sort of diet or exercise routine - none in fact, if I am honest. I have also been smoking more than before the course, probably due to the stress and intense nature of it. I seem to also be eating at odd hours of the day to fit around my busy schedule and sadly most of it is not the healthiest of choices (quick microwave/ oven baked stuff from the freezer). Before, I used to snack on fruits and would chop and boil some veggies, and whilst at home with family I would also cook healthy meals and would occasionally eat the "tempting" foods eg a burger, meal out etc.

Because of the changes I feel so hideously fat, as I have put on quite a bit of weight and it is telling because a couple of my jeans no longer fit and the toned stomach I used to have is now somewhat blurred into a "voluptuous" waist line. My tummy now seems close to resembling my dad's (also a type 1 diabetic, runs in the family) - turning into a sort of half moon/ muffin-top shape. I feel quite disgusting and very disappointed with myself, because I have obviously not been making good choices with my food and/or (lack of) exercise, due to time restrictions - I am constantly studying or revising and occasionally go out to meet friends.

With exams around the corner and summer close by, I really want to put together a sound plan to kick my ass into gear and lose some weight and make better lifestyle choices. But I really don't know where to start? There are so MANY forums and "use this weight loss tip" etc out there, that I do not know what is the right one to choose, especially for a type 1 diabetic.

I've heard a lot about high fat low carb diets, but I am always afraid of low carb diets ever since I was diagnosed because I always think that I will end up with hypos all the time (ironic really as I was obsessed with diet and weight loss before....and now resemble mr blobby). I was also wondering about diet supplements like for example, Hoodia or other weight loss pills/ Ginseng tea, and those related substances?

Note my time restrictions for cooking long meals and also limited finances (why is it healthier food is more expensive...should we lobby for a "diabetes tax" limitation to argue we deserve healthy food at a discounted rate?!).

Please could people from this community come forward and help me. Thank you

 

[noblehead]

Hi and welcome to the forum Swazzle.

My advice would be to try and make time for eating healthy, it sounds like the way you ate and cooked before whilst still at home worked so you need to go back to this, ready-meals/convenience food and lack of exercise is the cause of your weight gain as you've already highlighted yourself, if you consume more calories than you burn it will undoubtedly lead to weight gain................. I've been there myself

 

[hose1975]

Many vegetables can be cooked in the microwave and it requires only a pyrex / heatproof bowl, plate and a small amount of water. In my house we routinely cook broccoli, cauliflower, kale and carrot batons this way. The first three take a couple of minutes (your mileage may vary according to the power rating of you appliance, yada yada), carrots take a bit longer I think.

You can buy a bag of kale and pre-prep it by just removing the larger, woody stalks (although if really pushed for time they are edible), doing the same with cauliflower, broccoli and carrots.

If you keep the bits in, a very quick meal is a mackerel filet (buy fresh, freeze, take out and defrost in fridge the day before eating), gooseberry sauce (you can buy them frozen, and add a little sweetener, and a drop or two of water) and kale. Maybe a baby new potato if you're feeling saucy. You'll need about 60g frozen gooseberries, 10ml water and 2g sweetener if using truvia: put in microwavable bowl and cook on high for about 2 mins. Fry mackerel filet, remembering to score the skin in a couple of places, might need a drop of oil to lubricate the pan. Cook kale in microwave as described (kale in bowl, little bit of water at bottom, lid on top). Voila. Lovely fishy gooseberry goodness. Whipped up in about ten minutes.

 

[jack412]

I would reduce the carbs and follow a T2 diet, there are a few T1s here on LCHF
From the Southport gp who posts here
http://www.practicaldiabetes.com/Sp.../March 2014/PP Unwin final proofs revised.pdf

it’s a long page and a few good video’s
http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf
For me, the more carbs we eat the more carbs we want. they don’t give up easy
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/lowcarb101/a/firstweek.htm

 

[Heathenlass]

Welcome !
To address your point about LCHF, my personal experience of this is that I rarely hypo because my BG is quite steady with low post prandial spikes. I do hypo occasionally, but no lower than 3.4 and when that happens I know it's because I have over estimated the carb count , and don't stress about it because I know I can get it back in to the normal range very quickly.

I too work odd hours, in a very active job so am pretty much knackered when I'm not working It takes a little planning particularly in the early stages, but once you get into a routine it becomes something you do without thinking . Mostly ! And perhaps its easier to think of it as being Higher Fat, rather than High Fat , For example, I don't limit fat at all, just eat to my personal preference, but choose nothing that is low fat as by and large, the carb count will be higher.

When first diagnosed back in Ye Darke Ages, carb limitation was the norm. I had a disasterous flirtation with the current NHS recommended diet and gained weight, but since returning to MY normal way of eating, I have returned to my normal size 8-10, with the important thing being that I have a great HbA1c and a smooth BG level consistently.

It's horses for courses of course, but I wanted to give a personal perspective on the fear of hypos that is often associated with a low carb diet as a Type 1.

Signy

 

[bellabella]

You're not alone rest assured!! I am 24 too, and just diagnosed last year. Kinda similar to your situation in that , a busy working day, and very little time to myself meant poor food choices and no time/ motivation to go to gym, leading to serious weight gain and extreme lack of self esteem. I stopped wanting to go out because I hated how I looked in dresses. Couple this with almost daily hypos, mainly due to miscalculating carb content of foods etc....
I started eating very low carb meals a few months ago and honestly haven't looked back.
1 hypo in the last three weeks and that was very mild.
Eat lots of eggs, salmon, cheese mayonnaise, veg, coleslaw, dark chocolate and cream.
I'm never hungry and three meals a day is the most I'd need to eat, and often skip breakfast with no consequences.
Haven't lost all the weight yet but am toning up at the gym and am slowly getting there.
I would really recommend you give it a go, I'm so glad I heard about it on this forum!
Let me know if I can help in any way

 

[19roddas70]

the more you try to lose weight the harder it becomes i lost just under 3stone since march the 9th but i dont see the difference of feel any different as been sleeping a lot more these days with a sugar crash and yet i stopped eating sugary stuff and takeaways and been on sugar free juice and only have the odd cup of tea or coffee as with having type 2 mellitus i drink more than eat as i go for fruit and keep of the coleslaw no matter which one its is a was told as long as your eating pasta potatoes or rice and fish and chicken and other things like that it was ok by an nhs dietitian and the best thing i found to have when thirsty is sf lemonade by schweppes and sugar free juice added to it to mix it as i mix them both to taste like tango is orange and mango juice from tesco and its even better when chilled and loads of pasta salad if any of this helps hope so and all you can do is try it
always go for sugar free it helps every day in one way or another