Nothing happening - not fair!

tinyroman

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64
Hi
I started low-carb three weeks ago. At five foot nothing and 11stone 2lbs I looked horrible and my sugars were all over the place. I'm on an insulin pump and admit I went mad on carbs, especially Crunchie bars which I love.
Since starting low carb, I've stuck rigidly to about 30g or less carbs per day, apart from a couple of times had a hypo. My sugars now are much better,but I still weigh 11st 2lbs. What's happening? What am I doing wrong?
 

Pilgrim22

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592
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
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animal cruelty
Just give it time, people on insulin, especially on higher doses can take a little longer to lose weight.
Keep the faith.



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lrw60

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Hi,
It might help to know what your daily diet consists of. It's not just carbs that can keep weight up!
 

tinyroman

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64
My breakfast is usually Greek yogurt with linseeds. Lunch varies - scrambled eggs cooked with a bit of butter, salad with ham or cheese, or a couple of oatcakes with blue or cottage cheese. Dinner again varies, but it's mostly here that I eat any carbs; things I like are mackerel or most white fish, chops, oven-roasted veg, (I have an allotment and grow the veggies),in olive oil and garlic, etc. I love navel oranges and that's where the carbs come from. I don't eat any processed foods, apart from occasionally sausages.
Could I do better, do you think? Or is it a case of hanging in there and having faith? ( I found that encouraging, as I was about to give up and have a Crunchie-fest!) thanks


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mrman

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,419
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Playing devils advocate, although u are low carbing you have to insure you are eating at least 1500 cals a day, 500 less than if you are not dieting. Otherwise your body will go into starvation mode and will store absolutely everything.

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Yorksman

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Messages
2,445
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
tinyroman said:
Could I do better, do you think? Or is it a case of hanging in there and having faith?

It's not a bad diet, depends on how many oranges, how many sausages, but a massive improvement on crunchie bars, also a favourite of mine. I cut some of the fat off things like bacon and chops to try and keep that limited. Some small but regular amount of exercise should help. It releases hormones which trigger the production of enzymes which help remove the recently digested fats out the blood. In a centrifuged blood sample, its easily visible. It's at the top in clear liquid and might be say about 1 cm deep. If you have a brisk walk for 10 or 15 mins, it is only half that. This isn't fitness training or building up your metabolic rate or anything like that, it's simply walking off a meal. It's a short term effect so you need to do it every day. Enzyme production peaks at 12 hours and falls away after 24 hours. I do 2 x 15 mins per day now but I had good results with 3 x 10 mins per day.

Obviously, more exercise will help build up cardio vascular and general fitness which in turn will also help, but that's different.
 

tinyroman

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64
All sounds like good advice - thank you! I thought that calories weren't something to be considered on a low carb regime and that the important thing was to eat plenty of protein and fats? I've ordered Dr Bernstein's book which is recommended elsewhere on the site, and see if that helps.


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Pilgrim22

Well-Known Member
Messages
592
Type of diabetes
LADA
Treatment type
Insulin
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animal cruelty
brett said:
Playing devils advocate, although u are low carbing you have to insure you are eating at least 1500 cals a day, 500 less than if you are not dieting. Otherwise your body will go into starvation mode and will store absolutely everything.

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Sorry, but you can't put that to everyone.
If I eat more than 1200 cal a day I put on weight, and that's also with a max of 130g of carbs.
Different people on different lifestyles needs are as different as chalk and cheese.



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Finzi

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366
Although to be fair, 130g carbs per day is not low carbing. I think to be able to not worry about calories, you have to be at 30g or under. Although you are absolutely right that people vary. You are unlucky to be not able to eat 1200 calories a day without gaining weight. I lose weight on anything under 2,000, but then I am probably bigger than you


Type 2 on Metformin, diagnosed Jan 2013, ultra low carber, Hba1C at diagnosis 8% (11mmol), now between 4.5 and 5.5 mmol. 20kg lost so far :)
 

Sunshine_Kisses

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Messages
261
brett said:
Playing devils advocate, although u are low carbing you have to insure you are eating at least 1500 cals a day, 500 less than if you are not dieting. Otherwise your body will go into starvation mode and will store absolutely everything.

Hmmm... That's really interesting, thanks Brett - I recently have been feeling *famished* on low carb (about 30-40g a day) and have just today realised I've probably been having too few cal's...

I posted about it in the food & nutrition forum and someone replied with a really nifty link on how to work out your fats and cals on low carb - plus you can tweak it for weight loss... Would copy it into this post but on my phone and not sure how to ;-)
But really recommends taking a look - its really interesting...
 

viviennem

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,140
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Dislikes
Football. Bad manners.
One thing for an insulin user on low carb to consider is the amount of insulin you are taking. Excess insulin promotes weight gain. Also, as you decrease your carb intake your need for insulin should become less. If you're having hypos you may be getting too much insulin.

I know no more about it than what I've typed above. You need a low-carbing Type 1, or another Type 2 on insulin, to advise you better.

Re your diet - it looks pretty good to me, except for the oranges (I can't cope with them). Check your sausages - it is easy to get very low carb ones, 1 or 2 grams carb per sausage, from all the main supermarkets these days. IRead the labels. In this case local butchers' may not be the best - you don't know how much cereal they put in the mix.

Have a look at Viv's Modified Atkins Diet, which is a Sticky Thread on the Low Carb section. It has a basic list of low carb vegetables which you can safely eat. Things such as carrots, peas and all kinds of beans need checking for carb amounts - some are higher than others. Most things that grow underground should be avoided. And sweet corn, of course.

On the basic Atkins Induction diet I eat anywhere between 1200 and 2000 calories a day, most of which come from fat. It is true that you don't have to worry about calories on low carb, but as you add in carbs, so you need to think about the calories and lower the fat intake a bit. It's the carb plus fat mix that gets me every time :shock: . Over about 70g carb daily and both my BG readings and my weight start to increase. We are all different - I can't cope with carbs.

For Atkins and diabetes, have a look at Atkins Diabetes Revolution by Dr M C Vernon and J A Eberstein RN. This is aimed mainly at Type 2s, but is all-round useful. I found Bernstein too focused on Type 1, and too American, to be really useful, though it's very interesting. Jenny Ruhl's Bloodsugar 101 (book and website) is also helpful. It's American with conversion charts.

Hope this helps. I'm sure you'll get there!

Viv 8)
 

tinyroman

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Messages
64
I've been making sure I'm getting calories by having stuff like ham and cheese for breakfast. Quite often I'd skip breakfast because just didnt feel hungry, so that's changed. AND I lost 2lbs last week .... Yaayyy! Not a lot, I know, but its in the right direction.
 

lrw60

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Two pounds is a very good amount to lose. Don't worry if you don't lose the same amount next week though, the body is adjusting and will sort itself out. I found this when I started to lose weight. The way I see it every pound gone is a step closer, even half a pound, and if I didn't lose at least I hadn't put anything on. And if I did put something on then it meant I had probably enjoyed a special meal or two and I quickly got back on track. Well done you! :thumbup: (I bet this smilie face gets used a lot!)
 

tinyroman

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Messages
64
Thank you, Irw, for that. I'm weighing myself just once a week, and this morning the scales said I'd put ON a pound, but your comment helped me put things in perspective! Yesterday I managed to get only two out of eight blood sugar tests above my target, which for me is really good, and I know for sure that they were 'dumps' from my liver. I also realised certain things make my sugars soar; the worst is stress. I'm my Mum's carer - she's a rather difficult 90 year old. One time I measured my sugars before going to her and they were 6.3. On my return the sugars were over 14, and I'd not eaten.
Anyway, that's beside the point. I'll keep at it, and thanks, all.


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lrw60

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369
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salads, meat, being bored
tinyroman said:
Thank you, Irw, for that. I'm weighing myself just once a week, and this morning the scales said I'd put ON a pound, but your comment helped me put things in perspective!

I weigh myself each morning but only record my weight each week. Yesterday I was 12 st 5lb 2oz this morning 12st 6lb 4oz.
I call that normal. Gaining or losing a pound a day is mainly down to water retention or loss (plus the ice cream I had yesterday :mrgreen: ) I bet the pound (yours and mine!) dissapears fairly soon. Keep at it my friend.