Another case of 'what am I doing wrong?'

[vanillapie]

Hi all,

Sorry for another one of these threads but I could use some advice!

I've been doing LCHF for three weeks in combination with IF (usually at least 16:8), and I am not seeing any results. I currently eat between 1000-1200 calories a day, with under 20g carbs, between 50g-80g fat and 60g protein (these values were recommended by an online ketogenic diet calculator). I don't get a lot of exercise as I work from home at my computer, but I usually average a small half hour walk each day.

Basically, I don't know what I'm doing wrong here. Are my macros off? Am I expecting too much so soon? Am I just doing too many things?

I desperately need to lose weight to improve my HbA1c and sugars, so it's getting me down that I've not seen any results whatsoever after nearly a month.

Thanks for your input

Edit for clarity: It is my weight loss that I am not seeing results with. I am managing to keep my sugars at an okay level through low carb.

 

[Bluetit1802]

Your post doesn't make it clear which results are not improving - weight or blood sugars, or both..

 

[Brunneria]

Hi,

Your HbA1c and daily blood sugar fluctuations can both be controlled without you losing an ounce - by eating to your meter.

I think there is so much focus on the forum about how weight loss is important, and how success is tied up with lowering weight and getting to normal BMIs. But in many ways this is a distraction.

My body has very high insulin resistance (due to obesity and other metabolic conditions) and it makes weight loss both slow and difficult. In fact, I have just spent about 2.5 years in a weight loss stall, despite a number of different efforts to break the stall.

Yet during that time I have kept both my daily and HbA1c blood glucose at below pre-diabetic levels.

Weight loss is a nice thing, and undoubtedly a good thing if we are carrying excess weight, but it is NOT necessary for blood glucose control.

The best way (in my opinion) for a T2 to achieve good blood glucose control is to test regularly and eat to their meter.

 

[Terrytiddy]

Hi @vanillapie .

I started LCHF on 30th April and are getting great results so far. I don't count calories at all. I have stopped eating potatoes, bread, rice and pasta etc and stopped drinking beer. I try to eat less than 20g carb a day and fast from 20.00 to 14.00 -18/6. I find this easy as I don't have much of an appetite in a mornings. Only thing I have on fast is a couple of black tea's, one at night and one in morning and water as needed. Only exercise I get is walking the dog a couple of times a day for about half an hour at a time.

What is your weight? (don't have to answer if you don't want to)
Do you test your bg?
What sort of things are you eating?
What is IF?

I'm sure between us we can help and get you on track

 

[vanillapie]

Hi @vanillapie .

I started LCHF on 30th April and are getting great results so far. I don't count calories at all. I have stopped eating potatoes, bread, rice and pasta etc and stopped drinking beer. I try to eat less than 20g carb a day and fast from 20.00 to 14.00 -18/6. I find this easy as I don't have much of an appetite in a mornings. Only thing I have on fast is a couple of black tea's, one at night and one in morning and water as needed. Only exercise I get is walking the dog a couple of times a day for about half an hour at a time.

What is your weight? (don't have to answer if you don't want to)
Do you test your bg?
What sort of things are you eating?
What is IF?

I'm sure between us we can help and get you on track

Hi Terrytiddy Congrats on your great results. It sounds like we're doing very similar things.

I weigh 100kg at the moment. I test my BG regularly as per the recommended guidelines (in the morning, before and after eating etc). IF is intermittent fasting, so I usually do either 16:8 or 23:1 depending on how hungry I am that day. As for what I'm eating, it's a lot of meat, cheese, cream and some veggies (broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, green beans). I drink water, coffee and tea with either almond milk or cream.

 

[vanillapie]

Your post doesn't make it clear which results are not improving - weight or blood sugars, or both..

Apologies! My weight is what's not improving at the moment. I am managing to keep my sugars at an okay level.

 

[vanillapie]

Hi,

Your HbA1c and daily blood sugar fluctuations can both be controlled without you losing an ounce - by eating to your meter.

I think there is so much focus on the forum about how weight loss is important, and how success is tied up with lowering weight and getting to normal BMIs. But in many ways this is a distraction.

My body has very high insulin resistance (due to obesity and other metabolic conditions) and it makes weight loss both slow and difficult. In fact, I have just spent about 2.5 years in a weight loss stall, despite a number of different efforts to break the stall.

Yet during that time I have kept both my daily and HbA1c blood glucose at below pre-diabetic levels.

Weight loss is a nice thing, and undoubtedly a good thing if we are carrying excess weight, but it is NOT necessary for blood glucose control.

The best way (in my opinion) for a T2 to achieve good blood glucose control is to test regularly and eat to their meter.

Thank you for your response. I do need to lose weight as I am very overweight, but maybe I should be prioritising BG for now instead! I am currently eating to my meter, so I will continue with this.

 

[Terrytiddy]

Hi Terrytiddy Congrats on your great results. It sounds like we're doing very similar things.

I weigh 100kg at the moment. I test my BG regularly as per the recommended guidelines (in the morning, before and after eating etc). IF is intermittent fasting, so I usually do either 16:8 or 23:1 depending on how hungry I am that day. As for what I'm eating, it's a lot of meat, cheese, cream and some veggies (broccoli, lettuce, cucumber, green beans). I drink water, coffee and tea with either almond milk or cream.

Nice one @vanillapie, as you say looks like we are doing same thing. I personally find the 18/6 fasting better for me as I'm on tablets for my type2. Sure things will sort themselves out as you seem to be eating the right foods. Good luck with the future, will keep an eye out for your posts and your results.

 

[lindijanice]

Hey @vanillapie, I feel your frustration!! But I also see @Brunneria's point too and I think she has the right take on things....I too am frustrated with the scale not seeming to want to budge....so I have decided to enjoy having good control over my blood glucose levels and not get hung up on the number on the scale. I lose weight very very slowly, but I have been noticing that my body seems to be changing in that my jeans feel a bit looser and my sleeves don't feel as snug.....those are good things! So. maybe looking for non-number changes will give you a bit of a lift.....Blessings/L

One other thought.....I found I was eating too much - I sometimes didn't stop when I felt sated, but would keep on eating to feeling full - really full!! So I have backed off and now quit eating when I feel like a "few more bites would be nice" and feel the better for it!

 

[frankbegbie]

I've been at this LCHF diet for the last two years and haven't lost a pound.
Only eat two meals per day 1pm and 6pm.
Tried fasting every other day, No difference after a month.
Fasted 4 days in a row; had to stop as I was so weak.
Currently trying The Atkins Diet, hardly any veg atall, (two weeks)....nothing!
Next week 1000 cals per day of Walnuts and Cream Cheese.

If that doesn't work I'll give up and go back to the food I was eating before I found out I was Type2.
That doesn't mean eating chocolate and bisuits and cake.
But will start having chips rice and pasta every few days, also go back to having toast and porridge in the mornings and sandwiches for my lunch.

There's only so long I can keep banging my head against a brick wall.

From what I've been reading I suspect I may have a damaged Metabolism that can't be fixed.

 

[Terrytiddy]

I've been at this LCHF diet for the last two years and haven't lost a pound.
Only eat two meals per day 1pm and 6pm.
Tried fasting every other day, No difference after a month.
Fasted 4 days in a row; had to stop as I was so weak.
Currently trying The Atkins Diet, hardly any veg atall, (two weeks)....nothing!
Next week 1000 cals per day of Walnuts and Cream Cheese.

If that doesn't work I'll give up and go back to the food I was eating before I found out I was Type2.
That doesn't mean eating chocolate and bisuits and cake.
But will start having chips rice and pasta every few days, also go back to having toast and porridge in the mornings and sandwiches for my lunch.

There's only so long I can keep banging my head against a brick wall.

From what I've been reading I suspect I may have a damaged Metabolism that can't be fixed.

Hi @frankbegbie how much carbs were you on with LCHF? How much weight do you need to loose?

 

[dawnmc]

I've been at this LCHF diet for the last two years and haven't lost a pound.
Only eat two meals per day 1pm and 6pm.
Tried fasting every other day, No difference after a month.
Fasted 4 days in a row; had to stop as I was so weak.
Currently trying The Atkins Diet, hardly any veg atall, (two weeks)....nothing!
Next week 1000 cals per day of Walnuts and Cream Cheese.

If that doesn't work I'll give up and go back to the food I was eating before I found out I was Type2.
That doesn't mean eating chocolate and bisuits and cake.
But will start having chips rice and pasta every few days, also go back to having toast and porridge in the mornings and sandwiches for my lunch.

There's only so long I can keep banging my head against a brick wall.

From what I've been reading I suspect I may have a damaged Metabolism that can't be fixed.

I know what you mean, I'm the same. Can't lose whatever I do. Now on jardiance to bring my sugars down. Been on the 8 week blood sugar diet, lost nothing.

 

[frankbegbie]

Hi @frankbegbie how much carbs were you on with LCHF? How much weight do you need to loose?

I need to lose at least 40lbs.
I've been eating chicken, pork belly, minced beef, breast of lamb, bacon and eggs cream cheese, hard cheese.
No bread exept for Sunday when I would have 2 rounds of Bergen bread with my Full english.
Veg was sprouts broccoli cabbage a few carrots cauliflower and salads.
No pasta, potatoes, rice, no fruit.

I'm not going to say my carb intake was extremely low but I was pretty strict with myself.
Now trying Atkins for 2 weeks with no veg atall but still no weight loss.

Decided not to go with the extreme diet of walnuts and cream cheese for a week, mainly because I had a lot of food to eat before it went off, (no room in my freezer for it).

I have been on anti depressiontablets for a few years.
I changed the ones I've been on as I thought they may be stopping me losing weight.
But the new ones made no difference, so back on the old ones.

I have taken the drastic choice of stopping all tablets to see if that will change things.
Sunday (today) is my first drugs free day for years.

I'll give it as long as I can. But if I see no change after 2 weeks that should be long enough to know if it's going to make a difference.

I'll be sticking to my Akins diet while being drug free. So almost just meat cheese and eggs, perhaps a bit of pickled veg.

I literally have no more options to try if this fails.

 

[frankbegbie]

I know what you mean, I'm the same. Can't lose whatever I do. Now on jardiance to bring my sugars down. Been on the 8 week blood sugar diet, lost nothing.

I know how you feel mate.
Sick to death of it.

Not been on here for a while; To be honest, I was sick of people saying they'd lost loads of weight on LCHF.

 

[BB8.HG]

Edit: Just realised how old this post it! Oops. Oh well, i'll keep my reply here and hope it helps someone who may stumble upon it in the future.

Hope you saw some difference in the past 16w, OP!


At 3 weeks doing what seems like a similar regime to you (very similar macros and calorie goals). I hadn't seen any results either. The scale certainly wasn't budging. I'd say it took around 6 weeks for me to realise my clothes were a bit loose and I was feeling better. It took ages for the scale to start showing any changes, even when my clothes were baggy and my friends and family were all commenting on my weight loss. According to the scales I’d lost almost nothing. So keep looking out for those Non-Scale Victories.

Be patient and keep at it, you're doing really well. It can be so hard when you're not seeing the results you want.

If in a couple of months you've still not seen any change, maybe it would be prudent to re-examine what you're doing. But based on my personal experience (others may be different) hang in there for a bit before you panic.

 

[Resurgam]

I suspect that the metabolism of a type two diabetic is so off balance that all four wheels are in the air.
Being now almost two years from diagnosis, I went low carb from that moment and although headed in the right direction all sorts of things happened to my BG readings, but one day I found the record I had made of my weight gain on the diet to reduce cholesterol, and the last number was 264 - I stepped on the scales and realized that I'd lost three stone.
I can only recommend keeping on with a low carb diet, as I have been trying to stick to it for decades, and never felt right on anything else. It gives me energy I have never had when eating low calorie, low fat - my joints and muscles function better, my brain works well, and I can cope with far more 'stuff'.
Possibly a low carb can help maintain and increase muscle - and that is denser than fat, so maintaining weight but losing volume is very beneficial.
By concentrating on a low carb diet which I can maintain for life, nothing extreme or limited, everything seems to be going very well, keeping the rubber side down, as the bikers say.

 

[Phoenix55]

For a t2 diabetic the imperative is to keep control of the bg. Eating LCHF does that. After that comes weight loss. ND has shown that for some people it means cutting calories to starvation levels, 800 calories per day. The problem then is the tendency to put on weight at the end when people return to 'normal' eating. I prefer looking at the size of portion I should be eating and eating 'sufficient' most of the time and if I do overindulge then I make myself work really hard at my chosen exercise for several days. I lost a little at a time, sometimes it was only by measuring myself that I noticed something was continuing to change. Always the main objective stays the same - to keep my bg under control, anything else is a bonus; more energy, feeling good, feeling healthy, good skin, nails and hair, tasty meals

 

[briped]

Weight loss is a nice thing, and undoubtedly a good thing if we are carrying excess weight, but it is NOT necessary for blood glucose control.

My experience exactly. I 'lost BGs' long before losing any weight to speak of. I've still got 30 odd kgs to go, but focus on keeping my BGs within a reasonable range (4s to 6s).
@vanillapie 12 years ago I lost 35 kg on a low fat low'ish carb diet. I'd lose 1 - 1.5 kg per week, so I was a little disappointed to see that LCHF wasn't having the same effect on me, but never mind. My Blood sugars are within range, and maybe the slower weight loss will even prevent my skin from getting too loose. That remains to be seen, though.
I've lost 14.5 kgs since the end of March, but I do have to keep an eye on calorie intake as well.

 

[ickihun]

I only lose weight when I have excellent control and keep in 5s.
So no matter how much insulin I use to get those excellent bgs.

On insulin I often have to increase my insulins to get good control first. Risking weight gain to benefit from lose in great control periods.
The hard part for me is I have to ensure the gain is worth the weight loss effort. Or I get more insulin resistant and then have to gain again.... to benefit. (as in lose weight).

I was in an excellent cycle of the opposite. Great bgs so I could reduce my insulin units and both excellerated my weight loss.

 

[lcarter]

Sorry to jump in but I'm struggling with even getting my bgs down- let alone my weight just wanted to moan lol