Type 1. Weight loss?

[jodysd6]

So I am a type 1 and have had to finally admit that i can't really handle carbs even with careful counting and bolusing so for the last month or so I have gone low carb, most days less than 40-50g per day (bar the odd relapse!) and have also been using Fitbit to track food. My blood sugars have been massively improved, so if nothing else I will keep going for that reason but my weight is starting to get me down a bit.

I have gained a lot of weight in the last year or two, and am now around 90kg. When I started low carb I heard a lot about how people lost weight with this way of eating but I'm not loosing anything at all, although I am eating low carb I know I have been eating more cheese etc but tracking the calories I'm still only consuming around 1300 a day.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong!? I know better blood sugars is the main thing and they have been fantastic but I have to admit I am disappointed that I haven't lost anything. Is this common? Am I misssing something!? Or do I just need to be happy my BS are good and ignore the weight?

 

[smag3]

I am the same Jodysd6, i am on about 30g of carbs a day. My bs levels are brilliant but I also have lost very little weight, about half a stone. Not too sure what my body is doing! Because of good bs levels I continue and figure eventually the weight has to come off? I want to lose about 1.5 stone ideally but at the moment it is just not happening! We should set up a support group!

 

[Totto]

If you suddenly gain weight for no apparent reason, or find it hard or impossible to lose weight then you might have thyroid problems.

 

[TorqPenderloin]

What does a typical day look like for you in terms of meals?
How are you measuring your portions to calculate total carbs?
What kind of exercise do you do?
When you say you've gains "a lot of weight in the past year or two" how much weight?

The more specific you can be the better. It would help us help you pinpoint exactly where there might be areas you can improve/tweak.

 

[jodysd6]

2 years ago I weighed 64kg, I now weigh 90kg.

I measure/weigh most food, and what I don't I hope I'm pretty close at guesstimating by now. I log everything on fitbit.

Typically I have a couple of hard boiled eggs for breakfast, on a weekend I may add some bacon, or make a cheese omlette, and sometimes I have cheese and meat (ham or salami) if I need some variety. Lunch is normally half of the previous day's dinner or maybe soup, and dinners tend to be a meat (pork, steak, chicken breast) with veg like asparagus, peas, green beans, brocolli, or something like tacoless tacos. I don't tend to snack much but if I do it's sugar free jelly, nuts, cheese or cooked meat.

Exercise wise I don't do as much as I'd like but I don't drive so have to walk everywhere and walk to and from work so min of 5k per day plus swimming 2-3 times a week.

I did have my thyroid checked and it was borderline a couple of tests in a row about a year ago, they then tested thyroid antibodies and they were very positive so they keep an eye on it and last test was in normal range but that could change I suppose.

 

[Totto]

Recent test results?

 

[Kim99]

Hi jodysd6 and smag3, thank you for your details- I feel your pain, it's the same here, too. For the last 3 months I've been taking up to 30g carbs a day, about 70g prot and what's left for 1300kcal - 1500kcal in fat tracked on MFP. All good, also moderately active daily - but I've been slowly gaining weight for crying out loud! BGs are fine, which is great. Thyroid is like yours, borderline, antibodies high, but this apparently merits no treatment, just 'watching'. I'd really like to figure out how to move into weight loss. I've fasted 24hrs a few times, but just to check my basal rates fit the low carb. Fasting, esp 5:2 or so, seems to help some people's metabolism to get the hint, but it's made no difference to me so far. Any advice is welcome.

 

[jodysd6]

For me for thyroid last TSH was 2.7, before that was around 6-7, and a few months ago when tested my TPO was >2000. For my blood sugars they have been better than they have ever been but always trying to improve but generally staying within range, rarely above 10 and average is about 6.9.

I have had a letter this week for annual review at GP, I normally don't rush to attend as I am seen in pump clinic but I may try and call for an appointment just to get some newer results as I had to cancel pump clinic in August due to being on holiday.

 

[T luv]

Hi everyone I'm in a similar position-to cut a very long story short about 5 years ago I was extremely fit, active but having hypos daily, the hospital couldn't stabilise it with me despite strict carb counting. I was a size 10.
They put me on a pump and at the same time antidepressants for depression and slowly weight began to build, fatigue set in, and instead of hypos i became insulin resistant, despite eating a low carb diet and still exercising regularly I gained 2 stone in a year.
At some point my cortisol levels were checked as no one could explain why the weight gain, why the fatigue, insulin resistance and other symptoms.
Cortisol level was high which can effect blood sugars and weight gain, but no explanation why.
Last year I was lucky to have been told of a nutritionist who helps people with fatigue amongst lots of other health complaints and finally was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue (the hospital don't recognise this condition) so they have diagnosed me with ME.
I'm making steady progress with marek who's knowledge of the intricacies of the workings of the human body are outstanding and gives reasons why I'm insulin resistant and why I'm exhausted and thankfully that he can and does help people
Like us.
I'm now about a size 18 until last November I was still trying to excerice to keep the weight down but totally crashed. I'm slowly starting to excerice more now and this week trying to do the gaps diet so the only carbs are from veg.
The NHS has a very limited amount of Knowledge unfortunately and I've been through hell trying to get them to understand and help me but they can't so my hope is with marek.

 

[ewelina]

Im with you ladies. About 2 stones more than 5 years ago , before diagnosis. no way to loose it ( believe me Ive tried). Diagnosed with hashimoto, on thyroxine, but cant see much improvement in terms of weight loss. I think many type1 women have this problem ( definitely more than men). Probably its all hormonal related

 

[Totto]

Im with you ladies. About 2 stones more than 5 years ago , before diagnosis. no way to loose it ( believe me Ive tried). Diagnosed with hashimoto, on thyroxine, but cant see much improvement in terms of weight loss. I think many type1 women have this problem ( definitely more than men). Probably its all hormonal related

Levo never did much for me. NDT does.

 

[ewelina]

What is ndt?

 

[Totto]

What is ndt?

Natural dessicated Thyroid extract. It's from pig thyroids. There are different brands,

 

[ewelina]

Ah yes. Thanks. I read about it. What brand would you recommend @Totto ? At what about dosing? How do you know how much to take?

 

[Totto]

Ah yes. Thanks. I read about it. What brand would you recommend @Totto ? At what about dosing? How do you know how much to take?

I don't recommend self medication other than as the very last resort.

I measured and recorded morning temperature, heart rate and BP and had a simple symptoms diary where I rated symptoms from 1 to 10 every week for a while. I still check those things at times and I make sure I get both FT3 and FT4 tested regularly along with TSH.

I took some advice from http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ and other internet sources including forums.

I have no particular favourite brand but it's usually Erfa or Naturethroid. Depends on what I can lay my hands on.

 

[David01]

Hi Jodysd6

I understad your frustration and concern over trying to lose weight. That reflects the problem I've had with my weight for 12 years!! There's a few things that occur to me:

• You don't say how many calories you were eating before on a normal day. If you reduced your intake very quickly, has your body gone temporarily into "starvation mode"? If it has, it should sort itself out after a bit longer
• A month is a very short time on a weight loss regime in comparative terms. To try and encourage you, I've had whole months where I've not lost any weight at all - then suddenly I've lost half a stone in a few weeks (sorry, I'm old so I have to work in "old money")
• You don't say how long you've had T1. If it's been several years and/or you're on large doses of insulin are you including a dose of Metformin in your Diabetes regime? If not, might be worth having a review with your DSN and seeing what he/she thinks about that. Metformin can help with weight loss by improving insulin sensitivity and you can reduce your insulin doses (and whatever the "experts" say we all know,analog insulins don't stop you gaining weight). I should add that if you're on small doses of insulin Metformin probably won't be much use
• What helped me was starting to use a Diet Plate which I bought off Amazon (other internet shopping sites are availalble if anyone is part of the PC brigade). It's about portion control rather than low carb diets - although I do eat a low/no carb meal when I don't have my plate available. Result is I've lost about a stone anc a half since New Year, and I don't feel like I'm really going without anything. There's different plates for males and females (boys will be boys and girls will be girls)

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[ewelina]

I don't recommend self medicationIother than as the very last resort.

I measured and recorded morning temperature, heart rate and BP and had a simple symptoms diary where I rated symptoms from 1 to 10 every week for a while. I still check those things at times and I make sure I get both FT3 and FT4 tested regularly along with TSH.

I took some advice from http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/ and other internet sources including forums.

I have no particular favourite brand but it's usually Erfa or Naturethroid. Depends on what I can lay my hands on.

Thank you I will have a look at the website. Ive a lot of positives about It but you wont get any advice from gp on this

 

[Glynis1]

Im with you ladies. About 2 stones more than 5 years ago , before diagnosis. no way to loose it ( believe me Ive tried). Diagnosed with hashimoto, on thyroxine, but cant see much improvement in terms of weight loss. I think many type1 women have this problem ( definitely more than men). Probably its all hormonal related

I have had type 1 for past 49 years. I am also hypothyroid, on statins and blood pressure tablets. Currently 4 stone overweight. Take Novo rapid when I eat carbs (sometimes need it to correct high blood sugars) and 2 background Levemir daily. I have been low carbing/high fat for last six months. I only have bullet proof coffee from evening 7pm till next day 1pm. Have 2 meals a day with low carbs. Snack on nuts. To date no weight loss. I have lost the faith with medical staff who always tell me I am lying about what I eat. However on the plus side my eyes, feet and kidneys are fine!

 

[Totto]

Thank you I will have a look at the website. Ive a lot of positives about It but you wont get any advice from gp on this

It's hard to find even an endo who knows anything about NDT. But is actually possible to get it on prescription in the UK on a named patient basis.

 

[krc224224]

So I am a type 1 and have had to finally admit that i can't really handle carbs even with careful counting and bolusing so for the last month or so I have gone low carb, most days less than 40-50g per day (bar the odd relapse!) and have also been using Fitbit to track food. My blood sugars have been massively improved, so if nothing else I will keep going for that reason but my weight is starting to get me down a bit.

I have gained a lot of weight in the last year or two, and am now around 90kg. When I started low carb I heard a lot about how people lost weight with this way of eating but I'm not loosing anything at all, although I am eating low carb I know I have been eating more cheese etc but tracking the calories I'm still only consuming around 1300 a day.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong!? I know better blood sugars is the main thing and they have been fantastic but I have to admit I am disappointed that I haven't lost anything. Is this common? Am I misssing something!? Or do I just need to be happy my BS are good and ignore the weight?

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