Are you calculating something right now?

[lizdeluz]

How accurate are you when keying in the carb content of what you eat? 10%? 40%? 90%?
I've kind of worked out that 2 buttered seedsters and an egg for breakfast is about 4 carbs (?). If I have Greek yoghurt, a few berries, some cinnamon, vanilla and almonds, I'm consuming about 8 carbs. Lunch and supper I round up to 15, 20, or 25. A square of 85% is roughly 2.
This isn't very impressive, I know, and I was wondering how good others are at working out their insulin requirements.
Life's too short to count carbs, but then, if I don't, life will probably be even shorter.

 

[azure]

I count the carbs as accurately as possible. Many foods I have in my memory now from years and years of carb counting. If I'm eating out and there's no nutritional info, I take an educated guess, but, again, try to keep this guess as accurate and careful as possible. I have different ratios for different meals, and I calculate my insulin dose myself and do t use any bolus calculators.

I have a pump, so that makes bolusing small amounts easier

 

[TorqPenderloin]

I do the opposite in a sense. I count my food rather than carbs. I know that sounds confusing but I'll explain.

I try to eat meals in 15g carb increments (0g,15g,30g,45g,60g). For me, this works well for several reasons.

First, I'm still in the honeymoon phase and following a 30:1 carb ratio. Consequently, it makes my injections easy (.5units,1unit,1.5u, etc). Of note: I have a Humalog pen that injects in .5unit increments.

Second, it helps with portion control. It helps me limit the amount of energy (calories) I eat during each meal. I'm the kind of person that will eat until my plate is empty. To combat this, I'll tell myself that I only need 30g of carbs. This approach helps me eat only what I need.

I have a food scale at home for measuring portions, a set of basic measuring cups, and if I really need to get complicated I use my Accu-Chek Aviva Expert.

 

[tim2000s]

@TorqPenderloin, I not sure how that differs from what others have stated? You are counting carbs in 15g intervals rather than using 10g intervals that amount to CPs. I personally count in 1g intervals and then adjust insulin accordingly, and include protein in the sum. Plenty to count, but it's second nature as I've been doing it all of my adult life!

 

[noblehead]

Wouldn't like to put a % figure on accuracy, do tend to use kitchen scales at home and just guesstimate when dining out, overall I do alright and my pump works out the bolus dose.

 

[michaeldavid]

I've been type1 since May 1983.

I don't count carbs.

Instead, I simply 'feed' the insulin. But I'm happy to test a lot, maybe even 20 times per day. (Mostly I use visually read strips, cut with scissors - Betachek Visual or Glucoflex-R; that's 2 or 3 pence per test.)

My last HbA1c was 26mmol/mol.

What I eat is crucial to the safe maintainance of near-normal blood glucose: rye bread, eaten steadily throughout most of the daylight hours.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

@TorqPenderloin, I not sure how that differs from what others have stated? You are counting carbs in 15g intervals rather than using 10g intervals that amount to CPs. I personally count in 1g intervals and then adjust insulin accordingly, and include protein in the sum. Plenty to count, but it's second nature as I've been doing it all of my adult life!

Oh believe me, I wasn't suggesting that I was doing anything innovative. It's really just a matter of tricking my brain and keeping my discipline. The math is still the same, but it helps me quantify what I need to eat rather than giving in to my hunger and eating more than I should.

Examples
What works for me- I decide I need 60g carbs, 45g protein, and 20g fat. I then build a meal and calculate the portions of food I need to eat. If I'm at a restaurant I may have a plate of food in front of me that contains 1200 calories (120g carbs 90g protein 40g fat) , but with this approach I limit myself to only eating half.

What doesn't work for me- I decide I want to eat food. I prepare a meal, and then calculate how many carbs are in it. If I'm at a restaurant and have that same plate of food I may be more inclined to eat the whole thing.

It's kind of like running for 5 miles or telling your brain you're doing five consecutive 1mile runs. Either way, you're doing the same activity, but one sounds less grueling.

I realize it may sound silly to some, but it's just how my brain works. For me, it helps to remove the enjoyment out of eating (which I consider a good thing) and look at everything in numbers (250g food 1, 150g of food 2, .5l protein shake, etc)

 

[lizdeluz]

Thank you for your replies, as I'm really interested in how others manage these constant calculations.
Tbh, though we have no choice but to just get on with it, I think we're all unsung heroes.

i forgot to say that, not being on a pump but on MDI, I rely on my meter to advise insulin dose, but obviously the meter accuracy is dependent on me correctly calculating the carbs. Only occasionally do I factor in protein, (as I never eat vast amounts), though I realise that doing so is a necessary aspect of low-carbing.

 

[Nicola M]

I'd say I'm pretty accurate, when out and about I guess and I know what most meals contain now when eating out. If I'm at home I always read packages and weigh my food out. Some foods can differ slightly from what the packaging says so I always take that into account.

 

[Robinredbreast]

How accurate are you when keying in the carb content of what you eat? 10%? 40%? 90%?
I've kind of worked out that 2 buttered seedsters and an egg for breakfast is about 4 carbs (?). If I have Greek yoghurt, a few berries, some cinnamon, vanilla and almonds, I'm consuming about 8 carbs. Lunch and supper I round up to 15, 20, or 25. A square of 85% is roughly 2.
This isn't very impressive, I know, and I was wondering how good others are at working out their insulin requirements.
Life's too short to count carbs, but then, if I don't, life will probably be even shorter.

Hi just wondering what 2 buttered seedsters are and A square of 85% is roughly 2 ? Confused. com, maybe because it's that Monday feeling,lol

 

[azure]

@Robinredbreast I didn't know what the seedsters were either, but the 85% I guessed was chocolate : D

 

[lizdeluz]

@Robinredbreast I didn't know what the seedsters were either, but the 85% I guessed was chocolate : D

Yes. I get bored with writing the long 'chocolate' word in my app, so just leave it out whenever possible. Not that I'm hiding anything and not that I have to do it that often, you understand!

A seedster is my name for a recipe for crispbread that I found on dietdoctor.com and use all the time in place of bread. I got fed up with trying to override correction of crispbread but seedster's not much better.