LCHF & Slow Weight Lost

ainiabdul

Well-Known Member
Messages
143
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Not having chocolate, it's a darn disaster!
I am 6 months post partum and trying to shed my weight closer to my before pregnancy weight, which is like 10 kg to go

I am on LCHF and is able to cut my insulin intake by almost 50% with this diet I moderately exercise everyday for 1-2 hrs.

My weight slowly going down, but now kind of stalling.

What should I do?
What are your experiences?
 

first14808

Well-Known Member
Messages
405
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I think it's pretty normal to hit a wall. Often the first kilos are easy, then it's harder work to shift the rest. Can't comment on post-partum specifics though. One thing I've noticed from friends though is the hidden exercise that comes with child raising, ie weight lifting kids. Which is good resistance training on account of them getting heavier. And there's more exercise from pushing prams or buggies, managing the extra shop etc. Curious whether sleep disruption also disrupts diet though.
 

DavidGrahamJones

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,263
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Newspapers
What should I do?
What are your experiences?

The weight loss plateau is very common among most dieters. It can be the point at which a lot of people will pack it in. I used to follow Tesco diets many years ago, and this plateau was a constant discussion point. It would seem that it could last for several weeks but there were lots of different experiences.

There were several approaches to kick start weight loss again including "riding it out", 24 hrs fasts (care needed if nursing obviously). Also as most diets are to take one's BMR and subtract 500 calories. increasing calorie input by up to 500 calories for a few days and then returning to the diet was also tried. These all seemed successful to a certain extent, but I seemed to remember that "riding it out" and not giving up was what was recommended by the Tesco Diet advisors (trained dieticians).

I'm struggling with a plateau at the moment, having started a VLCD Jan 1st, losing 7kgs and then nothing since mid February. I've tried a week of eating more "normally" and start the VLCD again tomorrow. The one benefit for me is that my BG is much better and I've been able to tolerate just a bit of carb in the form of a few slices of Hovis low carb bread (Sunday treat).
 

rab5

Well-Known Member
Messages
842
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
My Diabetic nurse
Are you snacking between meals at all?
 

ainiabdul

Well-Known Member
Messages
143
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Not having chocolate, it's a darn disaster!
Are you snacking between meals at all?

Not much. I feel quite full with LCHF actually.
Only once in a blue moon I would.
 

ainiabdul

Well-Known Member
Messages
143
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Not having chocolate, it's a darn disaster!
I think it's pretty normal to hit a wall. Often the first kilos are easy, then it's harder work to shift the rest. Can't comment on post-partum specifics though. One thing I've noticed from friends though is the hidden exercise that comes with child raising, ie weight lifting kids. Which is good resistance training on account of them getting heavier. And there's more exercise from pushing prams or buggies, managing the extra shop etc. Curious whether sleep disruption also disrupts diet though.

Sleep disruption might be one of the culprits. I have 3-4 hours tops at night without disruption and the rest are just keep waking up for feeding. My baby doesn’t sleep all night just yet, even at 6 months old!

Thanks for this
 

ainiabdul

Well-Known Member
Messages
143
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Not having chocolate, it's a darn disaster!
The weight loss plateau is very common among most dieters. It can be the point at which a lot of people will pack it in. I used to follow Tesco diets many years ago, and this plateau was a constant discussion point. It would seem that it could last for several weeks but there were lots of different experiences.

There were several approaches to kick start weight loss again including "riding it out", 24 hrs fasts (care needed if nursing obviously). Also as most diets are to take one's BMR and subtract 500 calories. increasing calorie input by up to 500 calories for a few days and then returning to the diet was also tried. These all seemed successful to a certain extent, but I seemed to remember that "riding it out" and not giving up was what was recommended by the Tesco Diet advisors (trained dieticians).

I'm struggling with a plateau at the moment, having started a VLCD Jan 1st, losing 7kgs and then nothing since mid February. I've tried a week of eating more "normally" and start the VLCD again tomorrow. The one benefit for me is that my BG is much better and I've been able to tolerate just a bit of carb in the form of a few slices of Hovis low carb bread (Sunday treat).

Thank you for sharing your experience with this. I might try your trick these days and see if it would help my case.
 

Shahnaz2357

Well-Known Member
Messages
286
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I have been able to shed only 3 kg in 5 months on low carb. Not a good result in comparison to all of you here.
 

DavidGrahamJones

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,263
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Newspapers
Thank you for sharing

I wish dieting was a more exact science.

The theory I've heard is that when restricting calories the metabolism "slows" down to cope with fewer calories. This would imply that the metabolism is variable and if so, how can one use something like the Harris Benedict formula with any certainty?

Perhaps I should stop thinking about it? LOL
 

rab5

Well-Known Member
Messages
842
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
My Diabetic nurse
I have been able to shed only 3 kg in 5 months on low carb. Not a good result in comparison to all of you here.
It also depends what weight you start off at.

:)
 

MikeTurin

Well-Known Member
Messages
564
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Remember that the weight loss means that you have less mass, so to climb a stairway because work=mass*gravity*height you'll spend less energy.
And of course the human body is more complex, so it's possible that a weight loss will make you more efficient
 

DavidGrahamJones

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,263
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Newspapers
What should I do?

Just been reminded of something. I put on a pair of trousers that I haven't worn for a couple of weeks and I had to make another hole in the belt because they were loose. So measuring waist, chest, upper arms and thighs is a good idea. You might consider no weight change as lack of achievement of goals but your size is decreasing (or increasing, hopefully not).

Another useful idea is to either get a set of bathroom scales that does a breakdown of muscle/fat/water or see if you can get access to those sorts of scales. I see a nutritional therapist who has a fairly sophisticated looking set of scales, prints everything out, it has shown some interesting decreases in fat and increases in muscle while I thought I was staying the same. Technically I was, but the aim is to shed the superfluous adipose tissue (fat).
 

lindijanice

Well-Known Member
Messages
433
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hey @ainiabdul, congratulations are in order for your recent baby! May I ask if you are breastfeeding? That may need to be considered in the big picture...you may be consuming just enough to produce milk for nursing and keep things stable, as in your body doesn't want more stress with losing weight as well, if that makes sense. Some woman seem to lose weight very easily with nursing and others, like me, never lost any weight with breastfeeding!
I would encourage you to look at the other non-scale things like suggested above - do your clothes feel better? Do you feel less bloated (if that is an issue), do you feel you are gaining in energy, do you "feel better inside" your body?
Hang in there! Enjoy your baby and don't worry too much about the "slow" weight loss - you are a busy Mom and you are doing the right things for the weight to come off and in time it will.....Blessings/L
 

Rachox

Oracle
Retired Moderator
Messages
15,811
Type of diabetes
I reversed my Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I sympathise ainiabdul. I have been on low carb diet since Type 2 diagnosis ten months ago and have lost just over 30kgs. I’m really happy with that, however over the last month I have only lost a tiny amount maybe 0.1kg a week but last week nothing :(
I have gone through next week’s meal plan and have done some swaps to try to reduce calories, reducing use of cream and nuts initially to see if that will help