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Maximum Carbs & Calorie intake

@JohnEGreen hats off to you. A great weight loss, you must feel good. 700 calories a day is pretty tough I think - are you planning to stick to it, or gently increase now your bloods are normal? (Without obvs going back to previous ways )
 
I have had to count both carbs and calories after the first 3st - I am still trying to get another stone off and it's tough going - after over 11st weight loss I need to be strict 99% of the time - I have no more than 80g carbs with 1200 cals every day except one day usually a Saturday where I have same amount of carbs but about 15-1800 cals. If I have anything over 1400 cals for a few days I gain weight
 
@PenfoldAPD Thanks it has been tough at times but you just get used to it.I have no intention of going back to old ways when you do something like this it's got to be a long term commitment a change in the way you live. Now my bloods are normal I want to keep them that way carbs in any great quantity are out for good, I do still have more weight to lose so will carry on with calorific control at least for now though when I am at a weight I am happy with will try to adjust to balance out and maintain that weight if you see what I mean.
 
On average I use under 100 carbs a day and average 1000 cals, but they do vary considerably from day to day. Being 82 I do not do a lot of exercise. About 2 to 4 miles brisk walk on most days (If my ancient knees will allow.) I do manage to keep my bg within range. (Mostly). Over the past 8 months I have lost 2 stone and am now at 11.2 stone.
You can get great advice on this site,so keep watching. You do appear to be doing well. Don't rush things. You have plenty of time. Cheers and Happy Days
 
scotland10 said:
Can anyone advise me what the maximum carbs & calorie intake is per person. I appreciate a persons age,height & weight would be the relating factor however is there a rule of thumb formula ?
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Hi - sounds like a good question but expect a thousand different answers!

Rule of Thumb: Start somewhere. Measure everything, blood sugar, moods, weight. See what works for you. Be honest.

I'm not a doctor but I am a biologist and we are all very different. You will need to work out what is best for you - but a good starting point will be the tips/advice etc on this site. Yes - age, sex, height, weight etc have a bearing but so many other factors will have a bearing too.
Carbs: the enemy!, but watch your blood sugar levels. When I was newly diagnosed, I went too low on the carbs, went to pick my kids up from school and after being late by about 30 seconds I had already decided that they had been kidnapped. I went into the school reception. Luckily, one of the staff was diabetic, recognised the symptoms and did a blood test - immediately followed by 3 jelly babies. She then called my wife and it was only then that I realised that I was Not due to collect the kids. They were already home. Going too low can cause paranoia. I'm a big lad. If I start to get frightened, I need to eat a few jelly babies! Moral: Control your carbs, don't let them control you.
Fats: for energy and flavour. Take the fat out of processed food and you have to add sugars to put the 'flavour' back. There is a high correlation between the popularity in low fat processed foods over the last 20-30 years and an increase in the incidence of T2 diabetes.
Proteins: for muscle repair and growth. Enzymes and hormones are also made from proteins. Start passing out protein in your urine and you are probably overdoing the protein in your diet. Loss of muscle tone or actual muscle mass and you probably need to eat a bit more protein.
Calories: Controversial. I have a desk job - long hours, lots of thinking and revising with the kids in the evenings. I learned that it is possible for the brain to use up to 800 calories a day - just in managing the rest of the body. Walking at a fair pace (not breathless) up a gentle hill, at my old body weight, burned around 700-800 calories an hour. Sports like squash can burn more!. I'm a weight lifter, more focussed on strength rather than showing off my six pack. It's very easy to burn 500-1000 calories in a work out. I do 4-5 a week.

Metabolism: this is where it gets really tricky: Having a high metabolism can help. If you burn calories easily, it will help you control your weight (if that is what you need to do) Metabolism can be increased through exercise and diet. certain foods such as chillies and green tea (?) can increase metabolism. I need that because I still need to loose a lot of unnecessary fat.

So it's not just about how many calories. It's also about where you get them from. The time of day can have an impact. Don't eat last thing at night? Eating a proper breakfast helps get the metabolism going. Some foods (celery) take more calories to digest than are actually contained in the celery. Some foods I wouldn't touch with a barge pole_ oranges, potatoes, carrots, parsnips etc. (Read up on the Glycemic Index)

You are about to go on a journey to find out what works best for your body and more importantly what doesn't work

Some might consider that I am letting my diabetes control me, but in fact the opposite is true. I am controlling my diabetes to the extent that I will not let it beat me.

T2 Oct 15, diet, metformin and exercise. Weight loss: 6 stone, waist loss 10 inches. Feel 15 years younger - and 35 was a good age to feel!
 
MikePea said:
On average I use under 100 carbs a day and average 1000 cals, but they do vary considerably from day to day. Being 82 I do not do a lot of exercise. About 2 to 4 miles brisk walk on most days (If my ancient knees will allow.) I do manage to keep my bg within range. (Mostly). Over the past 8 months I have lost 2 stone and am now at 11.2 stone.
You can get great advice on this site,so keep watching. You do appear to be doing well. Don't rush things. You have plenty of time. Cheers and Happy Days
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You "do not do a lot of exercise" but walk 2 to 4 miles a day? Well that's a great start
 
PenfoldAPD said:
You "do not do a lot of exercise" but walk 2 to 4 miles a day? Well that's a great start
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That's pretty accurate, actually. On an average day, I walk about 4-5 miles just from moving around throughout the day. It's not consecutive, but added up over the entire day. In comparison, my walk/run total yesterday was 11.34 miles.

Note: I have an office/desk job and drive to work so that's certainly not how I add up the distance.
 
You are fairly active Torq, I know many people in London who lead a sedentary lifestyle (even though young) and walk very little each day. So disagree that 4 miles isn't much - especially as the original poster is 82, believe me movement gets harder as you get older
 
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