LCHF plus exercise has been incredible

[cusally]

I was diagnosed T2 in August, luckily my GP recommended this site, and I started the lchf diet within days because it just felt right to treat all carbs as sugar-in-waiting !
Its been 15 weeks, and I just got my 2nd test results which made me incredulous, I put the table at the bottom.

I have been overweight for over 35 years and never managed to lose weight, yet this new approach to food has changed all that. It was hard to start with but not because I was hungry, more to change the snacking, the eating on the move, and the "finish the plate" upbringing. I stopped eating any bread, pasta, rice or potatoes. I stopped eating fruit, juices, anything with sugar/fructose basically. Cheese and olives became my treats, as well as the foam on the top of a cappucino which if done well is almost meringue like texture - I recommend buying a Lavazza milk frother and using Cravendale Skimmed Milk, its a divine treat, we all need treats occasionally, just had to learn new treats !

Hardly anyone here has talked about exercise.... my GP said it's important because circulation problems cause many of the feet problems, so I took that to heart and got a fitbit, and started walking .................increased to 5 miles per day most days, mainly doing it in 15 - 20 minute stints, and if at the end of the day I hadn't managed it, walked up and down my drive until I had. My circulation has improved amazingly, and I think that has been part of the change in my life. I hardly have time to watch TV though !

Good support has been vital - surprising how many negative or actively sabotaging comments from friends and relatives can really bring us down, I know from other comments in the threads that others have this too, I've needed some close positive support to get through and not feel useless on the weeks when no weight loss happened.

I don't view myself as cured, I still need to lose more weight, and I am in control by reducing intake of carbs, not cured, not in remission, just in control, because the information from this forum has given me the knowledge I needed to take control. THANK YOU all so much.

Ha1c HbA1c Plasma Glucose Cholesterol Weight
17/08/2016 12.8% 116 mmol 15.7 mmol 7.36 93kg
29/11/2016 5.9% 41 mmol 5.8 mmol 5.38 82kg

 

[Resurgam]

I bought a trampoline for exercise before diagnosis - my joints have suddenly got better but I could do one thousand bounces twice a day even back them.
When I found the Atkins diet I suddenly found that I could lose weight but only by eating low carb. Back then I could eat up to 80gm of carb a day and still lose weight, but after less than two years on a cholesterol reducing diet I have put on weight around my middle, so much that I could not breathe when I bent over.

 

[Stuart7152]

I was diagnosed T2 in August, luckily my GP recommended this site, and I started the lchf diet within days because it just felt right to treat all carbs as sugar-in-waiting !
Its been 15 weeks, and I just got my 2nd test results which made me incredulous, I put the table at the bottom.

I have been overweight for over 35 years and never managed to lose weight, yet this new approach to food has changed all that. It was hard to start with but not because I was hungry, more to change the snacking, the eating on the move, and the "finish the plate" upbringing. I stopped eating any bread, pasta, rice or potatoes. I stopped eating fruit, juices, anything with sugar/fructose basically. Cheese and olives became my treats, as well as the foam on the top of a cappucino which if done well is almost meringue like texture - I recommend buying a Lavazza milk frother and using Cravendale Skimmed Milk, its a divine treat, we all need treats occasionally, just had to learn new treats !

Hardly anyone here has talked about exercise.... my GP said it's important because circulation problems cause many of the feet problems, so I took that to heart and got a fitbit, and started walking .................increased to 5 miles per day most days, mainly doing it in 15 - 20 minute stints, and if at the end of the day I hadn't managed it, walked up and down my drive until I had. My circulation has improved amazingly, and I think that has been part of the change in my life. I hardly have time to watch TV though !

Good support has been vital - surprising how many negative or actively sabotaging comments from friends and relatives can really bring us down, I know from other comments in the threads that others have this too, I've needed some close positive support to get through and not feel useless on the weeks when no weight loss happened.

I don't view myself as cured, I still need to lose more weight, and I am in control by reducing intake of carbs, not cured, not in remission, just in control, because the information from this forum has given me the knowledge I needed to take control. THANK YOU all so much.

Ha1c HbA1c Plasma Glucose Cholesterol Weight
17/08/2016 12.8% 116 mmol 15.7 mmol 7.36 93kg
29/11/2016 5.9% 41 mmol 5.8 mmol 5.38 82kg

@cusally Well done and keep up the good work its well deserved. I'm thinking of starting the LCHF diet, but was waiting to see Doctor next week as worried about making cholesterol worse by increasing fats generally as this is the area with the least improvement in my case. I was hoping my 38Kg weight loss would have improved things a lot more than it has. With my exercise plan I would struggle to eat sufficient calories if I cut back my carbs too much as don't want to loss any more muscle mass. I think burning only fat is very difficult from a biochemical point of view with insulin resistance in Type 2, but need more help on this subject from this forum.

 

[Resurgam]

You can eat as much as you like on the low carb diet - and it tends to safeguard lean body mass, the weight lost is mostly body fat once the body is in ketosis,, before then some weight is water and also glycogen. I think that there is a growing realisation that dietary cholesterol is not responsible for high levels in the blood and the culprit is more likely to be carbohydrate intake. There are athletes who run marathons whilst eating low carb, and they find that their stamina is increased, they no longer run out of energy as they don't run out of fat in the way that a carb loading athlete runs out of stored glucose. I am sure they must have a group on Facebook.

 

[cusally]

Stuart, your weight loss has been impressive, so you are doing something right. Your chart summary confused me as it seems to say 161.25g carbs is that per day ?
I am full of energy but have been on 50g of carbs per day for over 3 months. Some days the protein intake is higher than fats, other days its the other way round. I tend to go with 800 - 1000 calories a day but as a bloke, you can take more
Considering most days i do 8 - 14 km walking, its unusual for me to be tired, its lack of time that is the issue ! My leg muscles are the shapeliest they have ever been (says hubby) , so I'm not losing muscle mass at all, the reverse actually

on exercise, my average daily steps were 15,766 (10.98km)
Calories expended on average 2,500 per day

 

[bulkbiker]

@cusally Well done and keep up the good work its well deserved. I'm thinking of starting the LCHF diet, but was waiting to see Doctor next week as worried about making cholesterol worse by increasing fats generally as this is the area with the least improvement in my case. I was hoping my 38Kg weight loss would have improved things a lot more than it has. With my exercise plan I would struggle to eat sufficient calories if I cut back my carbs too much as don't want to loss any more muscle mass. I think burning only fat is very difficult from a biochemical point of view with insulin resistance in Type 2, but need more help on this subject from this forum.

Unless your doc is of the new thinking he'll probably tell you that eating fat will raise your cholesterol... which is I think ****. Our bodies produce the **** stuff so I think they may have a way to regulate its production. There are a number of very interesting movies to watch out there debunking the cholesterol/CVD hypothesis.. The best one I have seen was Fat Head

if you have a spare couple of hours it's worth a watch.

 

[zand]

Outstanding results! Very well done

 

[Tabbyjoolz]

Brilliant, Cusally! Well done!

Stuart - my cholesterol has actually fallen slightly since doing LCHF.

 

[mo53]

@cusally . Brilliant! Well done! Fantastic! I really enjoyed reading your LCHF and exercise journey and of what great results you have achieved. I found your post inspirational.

 

[cusally]

thanks for your kind comments, I wanted to give back some of the help I have received here. I truly don't think I could have got there without all the common sense on the forum and all of you

 

[Stuart7152]

Stuart, your weight loss has been impressive, so you are doing something right. Your chart summary confused me as it seems to say 161.25g carbs is that per day ?
I am full of energy but have been on 50g of carbs per day for over 3 months. Some days the protein intake is higher than fats, other days its the other way round. I tend to go with 800 - 1000 calories a day but as a bloke, you can take more
Considering most days i do 8 - 14 km walking, its unusual for me to be tired, its lack of time that is the issue ! My leg muscles are the shapeliest they have ever been (says hubby) , so I'm not losing muscle mass at all, the reverse actually

on exercise, my average daily steps were 15,766 (10.98km)
Calories expended on average 2,500 per day

The 161.25g was per day for carbs, but have been trying to reduce it down and today it was only 100g. My BG levels can tolerate moderate level of carbs and this is giving me the reluctance to go too low too quickly, but will sample lower values and see what happens with my weight as don't want it any lower or the doctor doesn't. From this point going forward trying to really only increase muscle size by replacing fat to retain weight. You are very lucky to not lose any muscle mass as its taken me months to work out the correct deficit to only lose fat or minimum muscle and at the beginning I got it completely wrong!!!

 

[cusally]

how is it going Stuart7152 ?

 

[Stuart7152]

how is it going Stuart7152 ?

just been trying the Int. Fast for the last week with only 6hr window to try and focus on reducing insulin levels as don't really want to lose anymore weight and found it quite manageable. Over Christmas Day and Boxing Day tried the 24hr fast as gym closed for two days, but eat too much in the food window. I can do the fast bit, but once start eating too many treats find it more difficult to stop. Need to watch out for this next time.