LCHF isn't working.

[frankbegbie]

I promised I'd give it 2 months.
I have just over 16 days to go.
My BG is averaging around 7.5
I've also been fasting for 2 days per week, (24 hours if I can manage it or at least 18 hours.)
I don't weigh myself but I feel and appear not to have shed an ounce.
My energy is low no matter what I eat.
I have a drink on Saturday, ( low carb beer and spirits.)

I have 3 options left as far as I can see.
Carry on as I am.
Stopping the drink.
Try a longer fast,; maybe 3/4 days.

Getting sick to death of it to be honest.
Apart from the Blood Glucose coming down a bit, I see no point.

 

[kokhongw]

Perhaps you can share what you typically eat and the post meal glucose response.

 

[frankbegbie]

Ok typical day.
Breakfast, 3 boiled eggs chopped up with Butter and Mayo plus 5 thin rashers of streaky bacon.
Lunch, 2 pieces of belly pork, 2 chicken thighs and a few spoonfulls of cabbage.
Tea, a few spoonfulls of minced beef and cabbage.
Supper a few spoonfullsof Greek Yoghurt.

As far as Post Meal BG is conserened very rarely do it.
I just do a reading in the mornings every few days before eating.

edit: one post meal reading I took was 8.2

I get a decent amount of exercise; swim 40 minutes 4 times a week.
Dog walking 3 times per day.
Bike riding back and to to the shops 3/4 times a week aprox 5 miles each time.

 

[slip]

How much weight are you aiming to loose? or whats your current BMI?

 

[bulkbiker]

Theres a bit of a contradiction here..
"My BG is averaging around 7.5"
"As far as Post Meal BG is concerned very rarely do it."
so you have no idea what your blood glucose is doing after eating?
Which BG is averaging 7.5? your fasting in the morning?
That will be the last one to come down if you are anything like most of us..
I think you could do with being a bit more regimented in your testing regime for a month or so, then you can really see what is happening.

 

[sally and james]

@frankbegbie I would agree that you are eating Low Carb, but my immediate reaction was, "HOW MANY!!' . Sounds to me as if your portion sizes are rather on the large side. I know you get a reasonable amount of exercise, but three eggs and bacon and mayo and butter, all seems like rather a lot to me.
Try cutting down a bit on quantity and also do before and after meal blood sugar tests. Morning/fasting tests are not very helpful, your liver will be pumping out glucose to get you up and on the go.
Sally

 

[AM1874]

Hi @frankbegbie ..
What are you eating as low-carb? .. if you could let us have a typical day's food intake, I'm sure lots of folk will be able to help and advise. In the meantime, I would suggest you try dropping the alcohol for a while and testing to see if that makes a difference.
Also, not sure about a "forced fast" of 3-4 days. For me, LCHF is a lifestyle which includes:
16-8 intermittent fasting (I only eat between 11.00am and 7.00pm), usually 2 meals (sometimes 3 or 2 + a snack)
Exercise every day (golf 3 times a week, jogging every afternoon and 12-16 Km on exercise bike every day)
I walk everywhere (rather than drive or bus)
This has worked for me since I was diagnosed in Feb .. you can see this from the numbers in my sig block below
Hope this helps

 

[Bluetit1802]

I agree with @bulkbiker Random testing teaches you nothing at all. You have to be organised. The morning fasting levels are not a good indicator of how you are doing. There are too many variables. If you only want to test once a day the best indicator is immediately before your evening meal. However, you really need to do some before and after testing. The difference in levels between the 2 readings is an indication of how responsive your insulin is, and also tells you if there were too many carbs in the meal. You need to record these levels systematically, preferably alongside a food diary including portion sizes and watch for trends.

I would also, if it were me, skip the supper completely and eat the yogurt as a dessert after a meal.

 

[Brunneria]

Are you making sure you get enough salt, magnesium and potassium? Those could easily be making you feel energy-less.
Also, are you drinking enough? We need to drink more on LC than on other ways of eating.

And, if you aren't weighing yourself, or testing on a regime that allows comparison day to day, then you have no way of assessing whether it is working or not...

Perhaps do some reading on ketosis and keto adaptation, and being 'fat adapted', because all of those are relevant to your situation.

Not knowing your weight, health history, previous diet, exercise regime, weight loss goals, drinking quantities, or any other details, I can't possibly say 'you are eating too much' or 'your drinks on Saturdays are sabotaging the rest of the week', or 'you may be constipated, which could be bloating you', but depending on your individual circumstances, all of those may be possibilities.

I really urge you to do some systematic testing as Bluetit suggests above. You will probably find it very useful!

 

[kokhongw]

Ok typical day.
Breakfast, 3 boiled eggs chopped up with Butter and Mayo plus 5 thin rashers of streaky bacon.
Lunch, 2 pieces of belly pork, 2 chicken thighs and a few spoonfulls of cabbage.
Tea, a few spoonfulls of minced beef and cabbage.
Supper a few spoonfullsof Greek Yoghurt.

As far as Post Meal BG is conserened very rarely do it.
I just do a reading in the mornings every few days before eating.

edit: one post meal reading I took was 8.2

I get a decent amount of exercise; swim 40 minutes 4 times a week.
Dog walking 3 times per day.
Bike riding back and to to the shops 3/4 times a week aprox 5 miles each time.

No bread, no pasta, no cakes... looks pretty good to me. Especially since you have walks and exercise.

Hmm...wonder what's keeping your glucose up. Have you been losing any weight or inches?

I would suggest skipping supper and checking your glucose before turning in to bed. If you can see some 5s or 6s, that would be ideal.

 

[kokhongw]

And the other thing I found helpful for myself and that is to drink a cup of bulletproof coffee midday. An hour or so after lunch.

That's just coffee, creamer, butter and coconut oil. That keeps me stable all afternoon...no dosing off, no hunger...you might want to give that a shot.

 

[badcat]

The body has a sneaky trick when it thinks its low in sugar of using the ammino acids from the breakdown of excess protein to make glucose, which will raise your BLood sugars however many carbs you are consuming - have a google of gluconeogenesis

 

[Rachox]

I know it's generally accepted that the low carb diet is twinned with high fat for blood sugar control, however if you over do the fat surely you'll be taking in too many calories which will hinder weight loss. I was diagnosed Type 2 four months ago. I have been eating low carb and I guess moderate fat. I do use butter and cream in moderation and I do eat Greek yoghurt but have the low fat version. I have lost around 3 and a half stone in four months. Also I think I'm right in saying that if you over eat protein that may turn to sugar in your system so cutting back the size of your protein foods might improve your blood sugars further. I'm sure the more experienced members here will correct me if I'm wrong

 

[Rachox]

The body has a sneaky trick when it thinks its low in sugar of using the ammino acids from the breakdown of excess protein to make glucose, which will raise your BLood sugars however many carbs you are consuming - have a google of gluconeogenesis

Snap! Crossed posts!

 

[Kristin251]

58% of protein converts to bg via gluconeogenis, especially in the absense of carbs. I need to watch my protein as carefully as my carbs.

So I wait you ask what's left to eat? Fat. Not gobs. If you want to burn body fat you don't need loads of dietary fat. Just enough to be satisfied.

Set your carb goal, Set your protein allowance. The recommendation is .8-1g per kg LEAN body mass. Divide that through the day. Then eat enough fat to satisfy. Avocado, macadamia or pecans, some mayo or olive oil. Olives.

Protein can have a profound effect on bg. Spikes me just as much as carbs. It was the missing piece to my puzzle and getting control. I only eat about 4-5 oz a day. I'm sure I'm smaller than you so most people only need 60g or less. That's less than 8 oz.

Portion sizes and MEAL sizes matter.

 

[Geordie_P]

Your general idea looks OK, but I can see some things that would put weight on me: your breakfast looks like more than enough to cover the whole day: the food itself isn't bad, and I know losing weight isn't necessarily a matter of total calories, but I wouldn't be surprised if those big breakfasts were keeping your weight up. The beer probably doesn't help. Apart from that, if that's a typical day, what happens on the atypical days, and how many of them are there in a month?
Like the others have said, get some weight measurements and regular blood test readings down, and it might make things clearer- there'll be something you can do to make things work, so don't get discouraged.

 

[dipsydo]

We are all different but if I was eating at you are eating it would be too much protein. I did find when I started on low carb weight did not move as I hope until I aimed for for protein to be 0.8 per kilo of the weight I wanted to be . So looking at your meal plan - a couple of eggs and a couple pieces of bacon for breakfast and say either belly pork or chicken thighs for lunch but not both - and a bit more fat ..say olives and vegetables with berries and cream and nothing after 6pm. This type of meal plan allowed me to drop over 4 Stone ( I was very overweight) and bsg mostly 5's and low 6's.
I also needed to be careful with cheese and nuts as I love both I had to weigh cheese to get an idea of what 25gms looks like and with nuts one handful is my limit.
Hope this helps

 

[NoCrbs4Me]

It might be a good idea to weigh yourself and measure your blood glucose levels in a more systematic way during your LCHF experiment.

 

[frankbegbie]

@frankbegbie I would agree that you are eating Low Carb, but my immediate reaction was, "HOW MANY!!' . Sounds to me as if your portion sizes are rather on the large side. I know you get a reasonable amount of exercise, but three eggs and bacon and mayo and butter, all seems like rather a lot to me.
Try cutting down a bit on quantity and also do before and after meal blood sugar tests. Morning/fasting tests are not very helpful, your liver will be pumping out glucose to get you up and on the go.
Sally

I've seen plenty of video's of people saying they eat 4 eggs every morning.
So called 'doctors'.
If my body hasn't ajusted to burning fat, I need a few calories in the tank befor I go swimming.

 

[frankbegbie]

No bread, no pasta, no cakes... looks pretty good to me. Especially since you have walks and exercise.

Hmm...wonder what's keeping your glucose up. Have you been losing any weight or inches?

I would suggest skipping supper and checking your glucose before turning in to bed. If you can see some 5s or 6s, that would be ideal.

Ok so I'll start doing more testing late at night.
But I don't see what more I can do as far as my diet is concerened.
If I eat any less I may as well be on a low fat low calorie diet from the 70s.


Done that many times and it doesn't work long term.
After watching Fong's video's and reading his book, I thought it was the answer to all my dreams.
Eat enough to be satified and not hungry a couple of hours later.
Bring your blood glucose level down and lose loads of weight.
I know from this forum that plenty of people say it works.
But for me, right at this moment it seems like a load of ********.
So depressed with it. Trying my best and getting nowhere.

I'll stop the drink on Saturday and test more.
But if nothing changes in 2 weeks time I'll be going back to the foods I enjoyed eating before I discovered I was type2.

I see no sense in feeling miserable and having no energy all the time.