Need to lose 80kg, starting tomorrow!

mrsgreensmith

Active Member
Messages
29
snifflyjimmy said:
Why "starting tomorrow"?
Wouldn't today be better?


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If you'd actually read my first post I was waiting for shopping to arrive which contained appropriate food for my diet and when I wrote the post it was night time so I'd already eaten all my meals for that day! And that was nearly 2 weeks ago so it's kind of irrelevant now anyway!

Cass x


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Jude

Well-Known Member
Messages
430
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
Hello Cassandra

I was where you are now 30 years ago :) . I am 60, had tonsils out when I was 26, gallbladder when I was 30 and have been living with chronic irritable bowel for 40 years. Then as I came through the menopause Diabetes was diagnosed :( .
You appear to have done really good research before starting your new eating plan, I just wanted to say that I would not go on reduced carbs until last year because I was always concerned about my IBS. Over a year ago now hubby and I tried reduced carbs but no good for me then in November I discovered The Harcombe Diet and I would really recommend this to anyone - it is basically eating real food and no processed foods but we do not need to count anything. I did reasonable to start but unfortunately this year I have had my life derailed by the government and am well off the rails now but still use that diet as my basic diet.

There is a good web site supporting this diet with very good forums and lots of support so that would be another support for you alongside this one. Again I was really concerned about going high fat - no problem at all - in fact my IBS has been improved and my cholesterol 4.1.

I just wanted to encourage you and give you another line of support. So many dieters are hung up on low fat, sugar free etc but I noticed from one of your posts that you already understand that :D

Be careful with your insulin (I am on Hunalog 25) - I found it a little tricky to start with because of my bg going down too low then I had to eat more to bring it back up !!

All the best, no doubt will speak again, Judith
 

Jude

Well-Known Member
Messages
430
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Insulin
P.S. We have mashed cauliflower instead of potatoes - mashed with butter - mmm. There is a recipe for grated cauliflower - you will find it on the Harcombe site x
 

chhabra

Member
Messages
9
my advice is one golden secret GET OFF LEVIMER LANTUS all **** go back to good old ishophane inslutard my does halfed i was on 125 units twice of lantus 10 years up and up now 75 units isophane twice a day along 3 46 humolog take quarter teaspoon honey with cinnamon when you wake up 36 years diabetic add turkey rubarb tablets 1 daily watch thoese bloods sugars go down that is a colon cleanser brilliant good luck
 

debzy

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi all I have not gone on any particular diet just cut down on the picking that I used to do. A biscuit here with a cup of tea or a few strawberries when I went in the fridge etc. I am just sticking to 3 meals a day and a couple of rich tea biscuits at night if my sugars are low. What I think has helped is having diabetes over 40 years I can alter my insulin to meet my eating patterns. Hope everyone is doing well and still losing some weight.
Debzy
 

Badam52

Newbie
Messages
3
Good luck Cassandra, you need to take baby steps at first. Try to get yourself and the family into a routine, it might seem weird to start with and you might not lose that much but don't give up. Try and have a walk everyday, take your child out with you and enjoy being outside in the fresh air. Drink plenty of water, it is one of the best medicines there is and very cheap. Do warm up exercises every morning like rotating your arms and stretch the spine , just to get the blood flowing. If you have the room in your house put on a music video and teach the little one to dance. Trying to lose weight by yourself takes a lot of self discipline so try and make it a family event when you can.
Most of all don't give up you are not alone.

Good luck.

Billy.
 

jlb27

Newbie
Messages
1
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Conventional medicine and nutrition advices
This is a Great decision! However, I would recommend you to consult with your doctor before starting any type of diet, since you are diabetic.
Trust me, I have been diabetic type 1 for nearly 30years and have been lucky to have had a fantastic medical team behind which has allowed me to practice sports and compete to a nearly national level...Am now a fitness intructor and PT, and hope to help and motivate diabetic people..and general public.
Whatever you do, and for your health and safety, I'd recommend you to speak to your med team for guidance..
Best of luck and be consistent..you'll reach your goal..
 

mrsgreensmith

Active Member
Messages
29
jlb27 said:
This is a Great decision! However, I would recommend you to consult with your doctor before starting any type of diet, since you are diabetic.
Trust me, I have been diabetic type 1 for nearly 30years and have been lucky to have had a fantastic medical team behind which has allowed me to practice sports and compete to a nearly national level...Am now a fitness intructor and PT, and hope to help and motivate diabetic people..and general public.
Whatever you do, and for your health and safety, I'd recommend you to speak to your med team for guidance..
Best of luck and be consistent..you'll reach your goal..

I do have the consent and support of my consultant, although I was doing this with or without his consent because at the end of the day it's my body and my life and me that will die a premature death if I don't sort myself out, not the medical professionals. I am lucky to have a good consultant who is willing to support me on this.

Cass x


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JontyW

Well-Known Member
Messages
89
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Ignorance & Arrogance.
mrsgreensmith said:
pumppimp said:
Hi Cass,
I have always been taught to do trial and rotor with insulin, so we started with 10 units way back in 2010 and just upped it 2 or lowered it 2 depending on blood glucose levels last time I ate it till it came right, wouldn't really know where to start with carb counting to be honest!

What is .." taught to do trial and rotor with insulin"?

I haven't read all of this long and interesting seven page thread, but I would just like to offer some advise about carb counting, and calculating your Insulin-Carb ratio for each of your meals, since otherwise you may run into hypo type problems.

I have to say that I'm very impressed with the challenge you have set yourself, and I would judge that you WILL succeed since you appear to be well motivated and organised (just like me!). I have been Type 1 for 43 yrs and have had good HbA1c values all my life and as a consequence I'm very well controlled and have NO complications after this long time .... so I do know what I'm talking about. I'm on Lantus/Humalog regime.

Since you are on a basal/bolus regime with Levemir/Novarapid insulin, you must be very careful as you reduce your carbs and not 'just guess' about how much Novorpid by 'taking half the dose', unless you already know exactly what your Insulin-Carb ratio is for each meal.

These are the steps you should go through, but you may already have done some of these .....

1) You must 'carb count' exactly, which I suspect you are already doing. Download and read this booklet...
An introduction to carbohydrate counting and insulin dose adjustment

An excellent introductory document from Diabetes UK that covers all aspects of diabetes, and the method of carb counting, insulin adjustment and insulin-carb ratios is covered in Chapter 2 (Carbohydrates) and Chapter 3 (Insulin). Even if you are not doing carb counting, you should definitely read this!
https://shop.diabetes.org.uk/store/lite ... -book.aspx

2) Basal Testing … how to check your Lantus or Levemir dose is correct This is how to do that ...
In the absence of food, exercise and mealtime/bolus insulin, basal insulin should hold the blood sugar steady. Any significant rise or fall in blood sugar during a fasting basal test probably means that the basal rates need to be adjusted - even if the blood sugar winds up near normal by the end of the test. This is how to check it ….
http://www.diabetes-support.org.uk/info/?page_id=120

3) Adjusting your Insulin when results are too high or too low:
A detailed guide, with plenty of examples, to assist you in making required insulin adjustments. Download it and print it out so it is readily at hand after blood sugars have been made & recorded.
http://www.diabetes-scotland.org/ggc/do ... Change.pdf

4) Calculate accurately the Insulin-Carb ratio (Nova units to cover 10g carbs)
This must be done for EACH meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner), since this can vary during the day. The Ratio I use is defined as "(Nova units/Carbs)/10" needed to get good BG readings about 4 hours after the meal. e.g. Ratio = 5u / 15g / 10 = 3.3
Once you know this ratio for each meal, then it is quite easy to know how much Nova is needed to match the carbs for that meal. The ratio will not change much day to day but since you are planning on losing so much weight, then you will need to recalculate this since it should change (get lower I think) as you lose weight and hence less insulin needed.

5) Calculate the following ratios:
- Correction Factor: How much BG is REDUCED by 1u of Nova to reduce to target of BG = 6. This needs to be added to carbs Nova if BG is too high before meal.
- Hypo recovery: How many quick acting carbs needed to raise low BG up by 3mmol/L. I recommend Bassetts Jelly Babies - each one is 6g carb and for me raises BG by 1.1 within 10-15mins.
- So if BG is 3.5, 3 jelly babies takes me up to 6.8 (3.5 + 3 x 1.1)... with no overshoot. I used to use Tracker Bars or biscuits (easy to carry), since can't stand glucose tablets, but Jelly Babies in a small plastic bag can be taken easily when out etc, and work faster than biscuits and get no overshoot by taking too many when BG doesn't seem to be rising.

You may know much of this already, and of course it means testing, and recording, quite a lot in the early days, so hopefully you get testing sticks on prescription.

Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress and any other queries you have .....

Jonty
 

gabbybutton

Newbie
Messages
3
well done for making the decision the first steps always the hardest the best advice i can give it plan ahead, dont let yourself get hungry because thats when bad habits /temptations shout the loudest. i'm luck i live alone so i just dont buy the junk to tempt me. over the last two years i've lost 160lbs just with preplanning and portion control. my weakness is bread so i;ve restricted myself to 2 slices a day normally for lunchtimes. good luck and remember your not alone.
 

lexilox

Active Member
Messages
32
Absolutely brilliant, well done to you and keep it up. I've only recently worked out that more carbs=more insulin=more stored fat=more insulin resistance so I reduced my carbs too, goal was jjust to loose 'some weight' not a set amount, after 7 months I've dropped 17lbs :)
 

mrsgreensmith

Active Member
Messages
29
JontyW said:
mrsgreensmith said:
pumppimp said:
Hi Cass,
I have always been taught to do trial and rotor with insulin, so we started with 10 units way back in 2010 and just upped it 2 or lowered it 2 depending on blood glucose levels last time I ate it till it came right, wouldn't really know where to start with carb counting to be honest!

What is .." taught to do trial and rotor with insulin"?

I haven't read all of this long and interesting seven page thread, but I would just like to offer some advise about carb counting, and calculating your Insulin-Carb ratio for each of your meals, since otherwise you may run into hypo type problems.

I have to say that I'm very impressed with the challenge you have set yourself, and I would judge that you WILL succeed since you appear to be well motivated and organised (just like me!). I have been Type 1 for 43 yrs and have had good HbA1c values all my life and as a consequence I'm very well controlled and have NO complications after this long time .... so I do know what I'm talking about. I'm on Lantus/Humalog regime.

Since you are on a basal/bolus regime with Levemir/Novarapid insulin, you must be very careful as you reduce your carbs and not 'just guess' about how much Novorpid by 'taking half the dose', unless you already know exactly what your Insulin-Carb ratio is for each meal.

These are the steps you should go through, but you may already have done some of these .....

1) You must 'carb count' exactly, which I suspect you are already doing. Download and read this booklet...
An introduction to carbohydrate counting and insulin dose adjustment

An excellent introductory document from Diabetes UK that covers all aspects of diabetes, and the method of carb counting, insulin adjustment and insulin-carb ratios is covered in Chapter 2 (Carbohydrates) and Chapter 3 (Insulin). Even if you are not doing carb counting, you should definitely read this!
https://shop.diabetes.org.uk/store/lite ... -book.aspx

2) Basal Testing … how to check your Lantus or Levemir dose is correct This is how to do that ...
In the absence of food, exercise and mealtime/bolus insulin, basal insulin should hold the blood sugar steady. Any significant rise or fall in blood sugar during a fasting basal test probably means that the basal rates need to be adjusted - even if the blood sugar winds up near normal by the end of the test. This is how to check it ….
http://www.diabetes-support.org.uk/info/?page_id=120

3) Adjusting your Insulin when results are too high or too low:
A detailed guide, with plenty of examples, to assist you in making required insulin adjustments. Download it and print it out so it is readily at hand after blood sugars have been made & recorded.
http://www.diabetes-scotland.org/ggc/do ... Change.pdf

4) Calculate accurately the Insulin-Carb ratio (Nova units to cover 10g carbs)
This must be done for EACH meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner), since this can vary during the day. The Ratio I use is defined as "(Nova units/Carbs)/10" needed to get good BG readings about 4 hours after the meal. e.g. Ratio = 5u / 15g / 10 = 3.3
Once you know this ratio for each meal, then it is quite easy to know how much Nova is needed to match the carbs for that meal. The ratio will not change much day to day but since you are planning on losing so much weight, then you will need to recalculate this since it should change (get lower I think) as you lose weight and hence less insulin needed.

5) Calculate the following ratios:
- Correction Factor: How much BG is REDUCED by 1u of Nova to reduce to target of BG = 6. This needs to be added to carbs Nova if BG is too high before meal.
- Hypo recovery: How many quick acting carbs needed to raise low BG up by 3mmol/L. I recommend Bassetts Jelly Babies - each one is 6g carb and for me raises BG by 1.1 within 10-15mins.
- So if BG is 3.5, 3 jelly babies takes me up to 6.8 (3.5 + 3 x 1.1)... with no overshoot. I used to use Tracker Bars or biscuits (easy to carry), since can't stand glucose tablets, but Jelly Babies in a small plastic bag can be taken easily when out etc, and work faster than biscuits and get no overshoot by taking too many when BG doesn't seem to be rising You may know much of this already, and of course it means testing, and recording, quite a lot in the early days, so hopefully you get testing sticks on prescription.

Best of luck and keep us posted on your progress and any other queries you have .....

Jonty

It's meant to be trial and error not rotor! So basically we started off with say 10 units for a certain meal and if blood glucose is too high after 2 hours then put it up 2 units next time you eat that meal, if its too low put it down 2 units. Same with levemir, start with a certain amounts, if it is high before a meal but was ok 2 hours after the last meal then put it up 2 units in the morning (my levemir is split) if its high in the morning but was ok before bed put the night time dosage up 2 units until its right.

You have put this simply to me and it makes a lot of sense, thanks a lot. Luckily I do get strips on prescription, particularly because being a student, I am skint and could never afford to buy my own!

Thanks everyone for your support, it is going well up to now, very very happy with my blood glucose levels. I have now cut my novo rapid down to 24 units with breakfast, 22 units for lunch and 28 units at dinner and all readings are below 7 other than when I wake up which is always in the 9's and can't seem to make that change no matter what I do. Hopefully the scales are good to me on Friday :)

I am really missing sweet stuff at the moment as well, any suggestions? I am a chocoholic and strawberries and cream is just not doing it for me at all anymore :(

Cass x



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zolabud

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,285
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Whelks,winkles... All crustaceous seafood except prawns. Can't do crab.lobster or scallops.
Don't like the way they are killed and cooked. Save our Scallops. SOS !!!
Also HATE evaporated milk.
13 stone... Well done you !!!

After around 12 days of no tea ( really) and drinking 8 glasses of water a day.... Halving my alcohol intake to 4 units a day (still too much apparently) and really watching what I eat and monitoring I have lost precisely...

2 lbs.

YIPPEE !!!!!!!!!!!
 

zolabud

Well-Known Member
Messages
4,285
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Dislikes
Whelks,winkles... All crustaceous seafood except prawns. Can't do crab.lobster or scallops.
Don't like the way they are killed and cooked. Save our Scallops. SOS !!!
Also HATE evaporated milk.
I know.

Slow weight loss is much better than fast.

My daughter in law went on a diet and lost 8 lbs in the first week !!

All gone back on again though as she does like takeaway food and she has just moved to a small town where there is an abundance of Kentucky fried chicken, Pizza places,kebab shops, Indian,Chinese,Thai. And she has 2 young kids and they like then too.

I don't do takeaways... Can't afford to.
 

JontyW

Well-Known Member
Messages
89
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
Dislikes
Ignorance & Arrogance.
mrsgreensmith said:
Thanks everyone for your support, it is going well up to now, very very happy with my blood glucose levels. I have now cut my novo rapid down to 24 units with breakfast, 22 units for lunch and 28 units at dinner and all readings are below 7 other than when I wake up which is always in the 9's and can't seem to make that change no matter what I do.

Hi Cass,

Regarding the BG being high when you wake up, did you do a fasting test over night to see what happens during the night?

If the Levemir is set correctly then the change from pre-bedtime to waking should be no more than + or - 1.7mmol/L. So what is your usual pre-bedtime BG which then ends with 9's on waking? I can only see one reading mentioned below.

mrsgreensmith said:
So I am a bit disgruntled because my blood glucose level was 6.5 before bed but this morning they are 9.7, I took my usual 36 units of levemir and really did expect better, although still slightly lower than normal because they are normally 10-11 but I've always thought this was because of my levels before bed.

So the BG INCREASED by +3.2 which is well outside the target of +1.7mmol/l. If you were at the right level it would have been no higher than 6.5 +1.7 = 8.2 max. When doing changes in Levemir, you must NOT make a change until you have done three fasting tests that are reproducable, since changing after just one reading can mean you are chasing your tail. It is well know that insulin absorption can change on a daily basis so that is why 3 readings are the minimum before making an adjustment, and Levemir takes a few days to stabilise anyway.

So what are your current Levemir dose am and pm, also your typical Novo for each meal? have you made any recent changes?

Just trying to help you in your challenge ...

Jonty
 

debzy

Member
Messages
5
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Hi everyone not been on for a while but still cutting down on the food and insulin. My next weigh in isnt for another week and a half but start my excercise class on Monday so hope that will help a bit.
Good luck to everyone trying to lose weight.
Debzy.
 

Dusty2000

Active Member
Messages
26
Dislikes
Rudeness. Arrogance. Tuna. Fish with a face. Eggs.
Hi Jonty
I am wondering about my levimir dose too. Please ignore spelling my phone has very annoying text settings. Should I fast for 12 hours and test and not do night time injection? And also do you split your background and do morning and night. I .and always just done night but have been considering splitting? Am reducing carb and have hugely increased exercise hence wondering. Am also trying to0lose weight.
appreciate any advice
Jenny xx

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