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Am I Best To Go In Really Reduced To Begin With?

C

confusedwife

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi all,
Hubby is type 2. Has been for a few years, managed with diet alone so far. Weight had been creeping up, as has his sugar levels. I want to try the low carb diet with him and he has agreed. Am I best to go straight in for a couple of weeks really low, 20 net carbs a day and then relax a bit, or start higher and work our way down. I am going to do it with him as although I am not diabetic I need to lose quite a bit of weight. I have also got two girls aged 13 and 10. One of them could do with losing some weight too but not the other one. I wouldn't restrict them right down but want them to eat similar to us with maybe a bit of extra carb on the side. Sorry if I am rambling but so many thoughts and ideas going through my mind. Any help happily accepted.
 
confusedwife said:
Hi all,
Hubby is type 2. Has been for a few years, managed with diet alone so far. Weight had been creeping up, as has his sugar levels. I want to try the low carb diet with him and he has agreed. Am I best to go straight in for a couple of weeks really low, 20 net carbs a day and then relax a bit, or start higher and work our way down. I am going to do it with him as although I am not diabetic I need to lose quite a bit of weight. I have also got two girls aged 13 and 10. One of them could do with losing some weight too but not the other one. I wouldn't restrict them right down but want them to eat similar to us with maybe a bit of extra carb on the side. Sorry if I am rambling but so many thoughts and ideas going through my mind. Any help happily accepted.
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Hi @confusedwife great that you’re tackling this as a family would imagine it will really help if you’re all doing similar meals but with extra carbs. That’s the way we eat as a family a low carb main meal with add on carbs for carb eaters who themselves have benefited as they have tended to reduce carbs too and seen the benefits.
Does your husband test his bloods as if not would be a good idea for him to start testing before eating and two hours afteras that way he would be able to see how low in his carb consumption he needs to go to improve his bgs. I’d suggest starting below 100g a day and then work downwards from there. I started with 60g a day and then slowly lowered to below 20gper day but I had to to produce the weight loss and low numbers I wanted - -your oH May not need to go so low..... www.dietdoctor.com is a great place to start as carbs counted for you and lots of recipes and ideas too. You can agree a number per day with him and see how it goes. Good luck with improving your OH and family’s health.
 
Hi confusedwife, I agree with @shelley262 , I started at 100g carb/day then after six weeks my blood sugars had plateaued at a level higher than I wanted so I dropped to between 50-70g That sorted out my readings to a non diabetic level. I have naturally dropped to between 40-60g now. This way I have maintained my weight loss, a modest loss each week now after rapid loss last year. Doing it by going down gradually I avoided carb ‘flu’ which is a risk if you drop very low straight away.
 
I started low carbing a long time ago and found no problem in making low carb meals for myself and adding in foods which made their meals more normal. It really makes little difference how you start the way of eating, the results are usually the same, though it can sometimes be more difficult if approached slowly - the body sometimes needs a bit of a shock to get into ketosis.
 
I too agree that 100g carbs per day is a good place to start. I am a panic merchant and after diagnosis went hell for leather to reduce carbs to as close to zero as I thought I could. It was such a shock to my body that I got what is known as carb flu (also known as Keto flu). While not dangerous for those who are diet or diet and Metformin managed it is extremely unpleasant. All down to going too low too fast. The moral of my tale is slow and steady (reduction) wins the race.
 
Ok I'll be the dissenter.. I found it easier to cut back to very few carbs at the start..
I wasn't measuring at the time but reckon I was fewer than 20g per day. That way you get the benefits of being in ketosis faster than slowly cutting back and will probably get better weight loss and blood sugar results. You then get far better motivation to carry on.
I think it depends if you can be controlled when cutting back or need to make a definitive start with eating very differently from day one. I'm a bit all or nothing so went for the big one.
Whichever you decide good luck with it and you should start to see benefits pretty quickly.
 
I went for it in one go (mainly due to a 48hr migraine from hell that had me bedridden just at the same time). Kind of glad as I’m an all or nothing and I think I’d have cheated a gradual approach. I’m about 40-50g and in ketosis at that level luckily.

Are you a jump in the pool or inch your way in person? Either can work.
 
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