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Calories or carbs?

@KimG - at the outset, I don't think it matters tooooo much what you actually do, provided you do something. Over time, all plans need to be amended and adapted to match our personal circumstances anyway. Doing something give the data starting points we all need, in order to make further adjustments.

This is a marathon rather than a sprint.

Initially, my approach was ditch the sugar, and avoid wheat, then I moved on from there to a wider lower carb diet.
 
I agree with the people who've advised starting with controlling carbs first as that is the best way to control your blood glucose. Barring some miracle, you are stuck with diabetes for life, so if you take care of the carbs, hopefully the weight will eventually take care of itself.

Unfortunately some people can get stuck in what I've heard called "analysis paralysis" - searching high and low for the perfect answer to the perfect diet to be the perfect diabetic. Sometimes KISS is the best approach - IMO carbs are the logical place to start for a Type 2.
 
Knock the carbs off, and the calories will reduce anyway.
 
KimG said:
Please don't bite my head off, I had someone do that yesterday! I've only been diabetic for 11 days.

Is slightly going over on calories and fat better than going over on carbs please? Thank you.
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Blood sugar controll is paramount in this game. So watching the carbs is the the answer from me....

:p I've never weighed the carbohydrate content in my skull to be honest. But my advice to any "head biters" is check your meter first.... ;)
 
I agree with other posters that carbs are more important, and that calories are more or less of a priority depending on your attitude to weight loss.

I do count calories, but I count carbs first.
You might eat good yummy fats & protein, but if you eat 10,000 calories you won't lose weight! I use MyFitnessPal to keep track of my carb intake and THEN total calories consumed.

My BGs are mostly in the normal range and I've dropped 1.5 stone since the end of May. So it's working for me.
 
GeoffersTaylor said:
I agree with other posters that carbs are more important, and that calories are more or less of a priority depending on your attitude to weight loss.

I do count calories, but I count carbs first.
You might eat good yummy fats & protein, but if you eat 10,000 calories you won't lose weight! I use MyFitnessPal to keep track of my carb intake and THEN total calories consumed.

My BGs are mostly in the normal range and I've dropped 1.5 stone since the end of May. So it's working for me.
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I'm using MFP but get confused as to how much fat and protein I should have. I've set my cals to 1300 to lose 1.5 a week, carbs at 53, but the others I'm not sure of. I need to get 100%. can you help with that please. Also, I don't know how to delete foods in "my Foods". I've made a few mistakes and want to get rid of them. Edit doesn't seem to work to amend them either.
 
I posted the following in the LCHF forum a couple of days ago ...

"I read this somewhere and it made sense, so I followed it and have lost more than a pound a week on it (although that's stalled a bit)

Carbs and protein are 4 calories per gramme. Fat is 9 calories per gramme.

Set your carb limit. 30g per day would give 120 calories.
Set your protein limit. They say 1g per 1KG of bodyweight. I have more like 1.5! Say 100g, which is 400 calories.
So you now have 520 calories accounted for. Use one of the online calculators to calculate your total calorie requirement (let's say 2000 as an example).
To lose weight you should consume less than that so that the body makes up the rest from its fat stores, so let's say my target intake will be 1520 calories.
I've already identified 520 calories of carbs &protein, so that leaves 1000 calories of fat. At 9 calories per gramme that works out at just over 100g.

Short version, limit the carbs, eat equal weight of protein and fats and the calorie balance should be about right. For weight loss just keep an eye on the total calories eaten.

That's what I work to, and it seems to be getting results for me."

Edit. I've just noticed you've set a carb target of 53. For me that would be too high. To get the benefits of LCHF your body needs to be in fat-burning mode ("ketosis"). I don't think you'll get into ketosis with carbs that high. Personally I aim for less than 35.g
 
Thank you Geoffers I'll work my way down, I have to do it gradually as I'm not feeling great with the Metformin. Coming up to two weeks on Tuesday and I'm still rough, drinking plenty as I have to replace my water from bad tums.
 
I did it slowly @KimG I started higher than you have and reduced gradually. Some prefer to go cold turkey. It is personal choice. You should do what you think best for yourself. If you find your levels aren't improving after a few weeks you can adjust and drop the carbs gradually until you find the level you can cope with and that you can sustain.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
I did it slowly @KimG I started higher than you have and reduced gradually. Some prefer to go cold turkey. It is personal choice. You should do what you think best for yourself. If you find your levels aren't improving after a few weeks you can adjust and drop the carbs gradually until you find the level you can cope with and that you can sustain.
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Thank you :) nearly two weeks in, this bad tum needs to go. It's so sudden, I can't wait ! Lol
 
I completely agree with @Bluetit1802

Your diet needs to suit you. And reducing gradually is often kinder on the body than cold turkey.

My only hesitation is your ongoing problems with metformin.
I have seen more than a few posts on this forum which have said that gut issues on met clear up if you drop the carbs low enough.

I have no idea if this works for everyone, or what that magic number of carbs is for you, and i have no personal experience of this, but it is a piece of information you may want to consider...
 
Brunneria said:
I completely agree with @Bluetit1802

Your diet needs to suit you. And reducing gradually is often kinder on the body than cold turkey.

My only hesitation is your ongoing problems with metformin.
I have seen more than a few posts on this forum which have said that gut issues on met clear up if you drop the carbs low enough.

I have no idea if this works for everyone, or what that magic number of carbs is for you, and i have no personal experience of this, but it is a piece of information you may want to consider...
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Thank you brunneria I'll bear that in mind :)
 
Brunneria said:
Really?
Good gracious.

I always love it when people provide useful links, whether they are web links, videos, book suggestions or threads. I find forum posts very helpful as a starting point, but i would never take advice from a random stranger on the internet without cross checking their info.

The amount i have learned by following threads, links and articles has been delightful, and transformed my experience of diabetes.
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Yes really!

Think you missed the point and took my words totally out of context. When someone asks you a question I'm sure they know they can search and find the answer for themselves. I didn't mention anywhere in my post that I thought posting links to useful information wasnt a good idea. Good gracious really? That's exactly the type of comment that scares people off the forum. Answer the question asked and provide a link by all means rather than simply saying search the forum it's on another thread if you look!
 
Also, don't get too disappointed after dropping a large amount of weight in one go only to find it slows down to a snails pace or comes to a complete stop.
I don't know about anyone else here, would love to hear your experience on the weight loss thingy... I'm currently finding that I'm having to throw in a day every couple of weeks where the calorie counting gets thrown out of the window in favour of one helluva low carb binge day to keep the weight loss going.. if that makes sense?
 
I have had 3 or 4 weeks over the 4 months since diagnosis where I seem to have hit the "sweetpoint" as per the amount of Carbs and as a result lose 4 or 5 llbs that week. Other weeks my BG has been well controlled, but I've had no weight change. I'm still trying to work out exactly what the sweetspot is, but it is certainly a low carb amount.
 
KimG said:
Thank you Geoffers I'll work my way down, I have to do it gradually as I'm not feeling great with the Metformin. Coming up to two weeks on Tuesday and I'm still rough, drinking plenty as I have to replace my water from bad tums.
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Are you on Metformin SR (Slow Release)? If not do ask the GP to change your prescription. My simple view on carbs and calories is to completely forget calories. Think carbs and keep them down to a target you set and have enough proteins, veg and fats to keep you feeling full. I totally ignore calories as there's no need to track them.
 
@photognut and @Daibell

I had a low carb binge a few days ago when I ate 350 g cheese in one go (0.35g carbs according to the package) and a good amount of brazil nuts (maybe 5g carbs), in addition to a small 'normal' dinner. Oh, and it was delicious! I have been feeling good that night as well as the next day. I am neither more nor less hungry than before, crave cheese as usual etc. Do you ever eat that much, or feel the need, or ability, to eat such amounts? Would you gain or loose weight?

I am not sure about 'what happened', but maybe my body needed the food then.
 
Daibell said:
Are you on Metformin SR (Slow Release)? If not do ask the GP to change your prescription. My simple view on carbs and calories is to completely forget calories. Think carbs and keep them down to a target you set and have enough proteins, veg and fats to keep you feeling full. I totally ignore calories as there's no need to track them.
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No on standard Metformin, I haven't built up to four yet, I'm on two. My poor tum.
 
Hi Kim

I am still having trouble with Metformin after being on it for nearly three weeks. I have my second appointment with my Nurse next week so am going to ask about changing them to the SR ones :-)
 
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