Advice Please - Weight Loss and Diet Type 2

@ShelleyMcD I’ll kick off by suggesting that you take a look at dietdoctor.com for a whole series of recipes and meal plans.

I’m sure others will be along soon, but I’ll tag @Rachox @shelley262 @Debandez all of whom have lost a lot of weight whilst improving their diabetes control.

All the best.

Hi Shelley, as you can see from my avatar I have lost a shed load of weight by taking on a low carb diet, however I just made sure I didn’t increase my fat intake by too much, I eat only enough to stop me getting hungry. I am also on Metformin which helps with weight loss too. I started the low carb diet to control my blood sugars, so weight loss was really a happy side effect. Here’s useful link on Diet Dr about Low Carb for beginners:
https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb

Welcome to the forum @ShelleyMcD youve come to the right place.
I lost my weight by following the low carb programme on this site. I did initially follow official nhs livewell advice high carb low fat on diagnosis four years ago but found I don’t lose weight if I eat carbs! I’ve now maintained my lowweight for more than a year by continuing to eat less than 30g of carb but started out by slowly reducing carbs on low carb 12 week programme and weight loss was steady plus although I now exercise I didn’t whilst on low carb programme. My last hbaca1 was 29 but was 97 on diagnosis it did work for me and helped me to reduce both bgs and weight
Good luck do lots of reading including this forum and the diet dr website you’ll get there

Hi

Some more links for perusal

Can I suggest you take a good look at low carb high fat methods of eating (keto is just a version of this). It helps many of us lose significant amounts of weight, if desired, keep our numbers down and for some even eliminate medications and achieve remission and reduce or improve complications. Try clicking these links for more detailed explanations that are well worth readings

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog/jokalsbeek.401801/ for info including low carb made simple

And https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/category/success-stories-and-testimonials.43/ to show it really works and for motivation

and https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/what-have-you-eaten-today.75781/ for food ideas

also https://www.dietdoctor.com/ for more food ideas and general info of carb content of foods. Lots of other websites for recipes out there too. Just use the term low carb or keto with whatever you fancy.


Also it’s very important to be able to check for yourself what’s happening so you can make the necessary adjustments day to day and meal by meal rather than wait 3, 6 or even 12 months and then have no idea what had what effect. Getting a blood glucose meter is the only way to do this (no matter what contradictory advice you may have heard - it’s usually budget based rather than anything more scientific). Please ask if you want any guidance on this.



IMPORTANT FOR ANYONE ON MEDS CONSIDERING LOWERING CARBS: if you lower your carbs then any glucose lowering meds may need to be adjusted accordingly to make sure you aren’t taking more than your new diet requires. It can cause a hypo if you have more gliclazide or insulin etc (this is not relevant for metformin on its own) than your new carb intake requires. Keep a close eye on your numbers and do this with your dr’s knowledge. Please don’t be put off by an ill informed out dated rubbishing of low carb diets or being told you should eat carbs to match meds, it should be the other way around.

Hi @ShelleyMcD and welcome.

Thanks for the tag @Goonergal

Yes I lost 4 stone in total. 2 stone in first 2 months. An unexpected and most welcome side effect of going low carb at my diagnosis December '17. I was astounded at how the weight came off actually just by changing to this way of eating! Basically cutting right back on bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and cereals and increasing my healthy fats which keep me fuller for longer. I drank lots of water over the first 6 months. LOTS. It worked for me and still does as I'm maintaining same weight loss for over a year now. I also went from a hba1c of 62 to officially in remission which also astounded me given I was told by my DN that my diabetes would be progressive.

Lots of success stories to read on here. Also check out this link.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/success-stories

Hi,

I would also recommend diet doctor.com. There are some great articles, ideas and recipes on there. I particularly found the articles by Dr. Jason Fung very useful.

If you would like a reference book with recipes to go to i would suggest The Diabetes Weight Loss Book by Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi. It has a foreword by Dr. David Unwin who has done some great work in this area.

For me it was important to understand that you don't have to follow one method rigidly. Low carb can work without having to go into ketosis. Also fasting can be good but it takes some experimentation to find what will work for you. Personally I found that missing a meal on some days and going 16 hours without eating works for me. I was too hungry after fasting for 24 hours and would then overeat, where I don't with 16 hours. I was also a bit too liberal with fats early on and had to tweak that.

I did fall off the wagon for 2-3 weeks as well but managed to get back on and now it is working much better for me by learning the lessons from when I first started.

I started this some time around the middle to the end of April and I have lost almost two stone despite putting some weight back on when I stopped eating low carb. I was 20 stone so it is a bit easier for me to lose the weight. Another thing that I had to learn is that whilst it is important to lose weight the most important thing is to lower my blood glucose levels. Monitoring those every day really helps me. If I don't lose much weight o e week as long as my blood glucose levels are good I am happy.

I do exercise which is good for my health and stress levels etc. It doesn't seem to be that important in terms of weight loss however. There is an interesting article on diet doctor, sorry, having trouble pasting the link, and weight loss is listed at number 15. So please don't worry about not being able to exercise much.

It really is about trial and error and finding what will work for you in the long term so that you can maintain that. Try not to be too hard on yourself, accept that you will make mistakes sometimes and keep calm and carry on.

Good luck!

Firstly........do not panic! I've lost 2 1/2 stone since January (now July)........I massively panicked in January as my bs was at 97 and my doctor was going to increase my meds but I begged him not to and that I could control this (had been in denial and was eating what I wanted whilst on metformin etc) . He agreed that low carb was the way to go but not with high fat content. Check out Michael Moseley's blood sugar diet...basically I don't eat carbs now, now bread, sugar, rice, pasta, potatoes etc etc - sounds really hard but easier than it sounds.............when you get into it and everyone around you knows what you're doing and supports you, it is ok and the results speak for themselves. I did tell my doc I wanted my HbA1cs done every 3 months and he agreed. After the first 3 months they were down to 48 so I was really happy as was he! My carbs are derived from vegetables and limited fruit. I enjoy steak, cheese, butter, cream etc etc...........I look the best I have for years and feel great - looking forward to next lot of bs test resuts! Good luck..............................

Hi I am fortunate in that I have a clued up doctor and dietitian. I was diagnosed with d2 2 years ago. My dietitian gave me this diet (attached). After trying almost every diet know to man unsuccessfully over the years, I have lost weight (16kg) by sticking to this diet AND dropped my blood sugar levels from 90 (10.4) to 30 (5.7) in 8 months and am now pre diabetic. My weight is now normal. The diet takes a bit of getting used to and having cravings but after 2 years I am not struggling so much anymore. I searched the internet for recipes I could adapt. I even found finally a good bread recipe. Good luck. It is worth it

Great news Nettie I’m so glad it’s worked for you. It is lower carb than the average person so that’s probably why it’s worked but at 110g carbs a day and 5 feeding times I’d still be full blown diabetic and having massive cravings caused by those carbs. Just goes to show we all have different levels of carb tolerance/insulin resistance. Btw 5.7% is 38mmol/l and not at all a diabetic level, not even a prediabetic level.

Hi
I was diagnosed 13 months ago, but was lucky that I already knew that low carb could help with weight loss and with the possibility of getting into remission. My GP agreed I could try low carb instead of metformin, and my test figures and weight loss were so good by 3 months that even my DN was converted.
I joined the lowcarbprogram for information and support on starting low carb - since then it has become available from the NHS (although a lot of GPs don't seem to be aware of this) so mif you qualify you don't need to pay yourself.
I started on 100g of carbs a day, then down to 85g - other find they need to go lower.
I have fibromylgia along with other conditions and use a mobility scooter to go out, so very little exercise just a little walking - very little!
I found switching to low carb meant I had to do more cooking but found some short cuts, eg buying ready prepared or frozen packs of green veg and prepared salads. I usually just wrap chicken pieces or fish in foil, with lemon juice or spices/herbs and bake it on a plate - less washing up and no heavy pans. I was buying packs of cauliflower rice too (the frozen packs usually taste better), but now my cleaner grates the fresh cauliflower for me and gets it ready to cook in the oven.