can I gain weight

You've done really well to get that improvement in bg levels. Congrats!

At least two others of us here are struggling to stop losing weight (I too was diagnosed after losing a lot "accidentally"). Search for weight in the threads and you will find people have been giving me ideas. It's scary to feel out of control but now you are getting better figures (and they will improve even further with low carbing) you can start to think of foods that have low carbs yet many more calories. I'm afraid as a first line of defence I'm consuming nuts for England! You'll find other examples if you look in the Collins Gem book of carbs which also lists other ingredients.

The metformin might be a factor you need to consider - so others will know about that. I don't take it so this is only my personal response.

Keep at it - you're doing really well!
DG

As posted elsewhere, I am losing the weight battle (now 8st 7lbs ie 8.5st), and with it the will to live. I feel fine but if it's true that you don't need carbs to be healthy (and I still consume some anyway) and I eat till I am full three meals and 3 snacks a day, eating what everyone says are the right things to eat when controlling bg levels, what the heck is going on?

I know that diagnosis is outside the remit of this forum, but I daren't go back to the doc just yet as the solution will be sulphs or insulin for sure (metformin would take more weight off?) - I just wonder if anyone reads this and thinks there could be another cause. I'm not easily scared, have had a breast scan weeks ago, and would rather have ideas than feel I am fading away without reason. I had intended seeing my grandchildren grow up!

I am going out to supervise some teaching assistants right now (better use what time I have positively!) but would welcome comments for when I get back. (Not sure why this thread is "hoisted" or whatever the grid icon means.)
DG

You could try increasing your protein. Ie eggs, meat and fish.
you could give us detailed info on what your mals and snacks consist of.That would help with making suggestions.
I wish I could lose more weight.
Have you checked BMI tables for what you should weigh?
Hana

Well, taking a random day (with alternatives in brackets), I had:

2 thick slices of chicken (could as easily have been 3 x bacon)
1 egg
10 pecans
benecol

2 cornish wafers
hunk cheese

1 egg (could as easily have been 1/2 tin mackeral)
3 slices tongue
mixed lettuce leaves (1/3 bag)
spoon cheese/chive dip to help them down!
5 slices cucumber
1/4 green pepper
square chocolate

prawns (could have been spoonful guacamole)
20 brazils (or lg handful of pine nuts)

100g corned beef (could have been fish eg 2 basa or 2 haddock)
4 sprigs broccoli (could have been spring cabbage)
3 medium mushrooms (could have been cauliflower or cooked celery)
1/2 a medium courgette (could have been aubergine)
1/2 glass red wine

hunk cheese (=45g)
handful almonds/brazils

My BMI is 18.6 ie 0.1 on the right side of underweight ("just" into normal). But if you saw me naked you would not think this was okay at all - not by any stretch of the imagination.

I hate doing this in public but am truly getting desperate, and others manage to disclose their eating affairs without dying of it! Thanks for any advice coming!
DG

Hi
Your not alone with the weight problem, it is estimated that there are 15 to 20% of T2s diagnosed with a BMI in the normal range, that's a lot of us we actually outnumber T1s and yet there is very little information on how to maintain our weight without compromising blood glucose levels. I once rang DUK and explained my problem of weight loss, the line went quiet for several seconds, then a very pleasant lady explained they did not have much literature that applied my problems, eventually she said she would put some stuff in the post for me. It duly arrived and comprised 1 A4 sheet, that told me absolutely nothing. Now if I had been overweight I would have had a choice of glossy brochures, it seems to me we don't exist at least not in the eyes of DUK.

As our dietary requirements require a larger intake of calories, the problem is that we are supposed to base our diet round starchy carbs, that would have a detrimental effect on BG due to the amount we need to consume. Faced with this I managed to get a referral to a dietitian who put me on a high fat diet, based on my food diary and BG readings, she also told me to watch the carbs and use my meter as a guide. Now you would think that replacing carbs with fat at over double the cals per gram would lead to weight gain after all fat makes you fat doesn't it, well it did not work out like that, through the extra cals I was eating I managed to stop the weight loss but have been unable to gain the the few pounds I need.

It's a dilemma, you eat the carbs that would address the problem but give unacceptable BG levels or you settle for a compromise, which in my case was to keep the carbs to minimum enjoy the fats especially dairy and good BG numbers. The alternative is increase the carbs to guarantee weight gain, but give unacceptable BG numbers .

A high fat diet may be a route you don't want to go down, but I find its the only way for me and with the added bonus of an improved lipid panel and total cholesterol, despite the fact that fat is supposed to be bad for you.

Regards and welcome to the skinny T2 club
Graham

Hi
I have the same problem. When I was dx I had come down from being about 10 and 1/4 stone to 8 and 1/2 stone. After several months I lost more weight and came down to 7 stone where I have stayed for the past 3 years. The normal range for my height is between 7 stone and 9 stone so I don't want to go to lose less weight. I eat quite a bit of nuts. I have food intolerance to eggs, beans and quite a few vegetables so this doesn't help either. I take 2 x 500 mg Metformin at the moment. The nurse weighed me at first but now she doesn't bother. The dietician could only suggest eating peanut butter (the non sugar one) and eating extra spread. I eat the olive oil one that doesn't contain trans fat. If I exercise regularly I start getting bg levels go below 4.00 mmol/l and drop below 7 stone so it is rather awkward.

@ Hana - I have tried to give an idea of what I eat (see above) - any comment? Thanks for responding.

@ Graham - thanks for your encouragement and information. So, more fat and see if I can stem the weight loss that way. I have tried to get more into me - I really don't care if I die of heart disease so long as I stave off the wasting away. Any suggestion for fat? I didn't find I could do the coconut oil thing - and not sure if that counts as fat anyway. Short of eating blubber for supper, it seems a hard things to do - already on whole milk and non-low fat cheese etc. Me and avocados haven't fared well either.

@ Jenrose - sorry you too are struggling. Eating peanut butter sounds an odd way to be told to do it! The stuff we have here has 15g of carbs per 100g so it's out of bounds. Haven't yet seen the other variety. But without bread to put it on, not sure what I'd do with it... I agree about the negative effect of exercising. I've had to give it up. It simply defeats the object of the idea. I keep feeling as if it's my fault I can't sort this out - I don't feel it's my fault I have DB, just that I should be able to get on with life without this hassle of losing weight!

jenrose said:

Hi
I have the same problem. When I was dx I had come down from being about 10 and 1/4 stone to 8 and 1/2 stone. After several months I lost more weight and came down to 7 stone where I have stayed for the past 3 years. The normal range for my height is between 7 stone and 9 stone so I don't want to go to lose less weight. I eat quite a bit of nuts. I have food intolerance to eggs, beans and quite a few vegetables so this doesn't help either. I take 2 x 500 mg Metformin at the moment. The nurse weighed me at first but now she doesn't bother. The dietician could only suggest eating peanut butter (the non sugar one) and eating extra spread. I eat the olive oil one that doesn't contain trans fat. If I exercise regularly I start getting bg levels go below 4.00 mmol/l and drop below 7 stone so it is rather awkward.

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Hi Jenrose,
With those food intolerances it must be even harder for you, eggs are a main part of my diet I'm very intolerant of carbs in a morning, so eggs are often on the menu for breakfast.
I think you need to try to get another referral to a different dietitian, the advice you received was useless, there are some good ones about hopefully you may be lucky and get one next time.
As far as DUK goes I don't think we exist, probably because we don't fit the stereotype overweight/lifestyle tag for T2s. Their advice is the same Low Fat/High Carb for all regardless of BMI they do make a concession though for the diet maintenance menu and thats more carbs. :roll:

Cheers
Graham

dragongirl said:

@ Graham - thanks for your encouragement and information. So, more fat and see if I can stem the weight loss that way. I have tried to get more into me - I really don't care if I die of heart disease so long as I stave off the wasting away. Any suggestion for fat? I didn't find I could do the coconut oil thing - and not sure if that counts as fat anyway. Short of eating blubber for supper, it seems a hard things to do - already on whole milk and non-low fat cheese etc. Me and avocados haven't fared well either.

Click to expand...

Hi DG,
If you keep the carbs low you may find that your Cholesterol levels with a HF improve mine did.
You dont mention cream I get through loads of double cream and butter, forget the blubber : If you like eggs try omelettes I often have them for snacks or a boiled egg. Try increasing the amounts of cheese you eat. I noticed your comment on peanut butter your right it's not a good option a better alternative is almond butter.

I'm not gaining much weight but as I have said previously I've stabilised it.

Best of luck
Graham

I have been concerned about my ongoing weight loss, I used to be 13 and a half stone and now I am under 12. I am sure some of this is my new T2 diet but I suspect it's the metformin. I am supposed to take 2x500mg morning and evening.
My nursey friend told me that weight loss is a side effect of metformin. They even sometimes give it to non-diabetics who can't lose weight as a 'slimming aid'. My immediate thought was that's a bit like giving warfarin to humans - exploits the side-effect. Neat.
Knowing someone on the 'inside' can be illuminating but also very depressing. My sister's an SRN too but looks after the old folks now so not much gen there. I also learned about how some patients carry on regardless in their bad diet habits just relying on their meds while others won't do owt about their D. Crazy but illuminating. Still others make up illnesses just to go to hospital! Some form of attention seeking... sad but all too true.

Hello cowboyjim

So the list of weight-loosers on here is growing!

I wonder if you would be able to give up the metformin at some point (with the agreement of your GP of course) in order to stop losing weight when you deem it's reached an acceptable lower limit? What sort of diet are you doing? Low carb or one of the many variations? I wondered, because you say "supposed to take" which implies you maybe "forget" occasionally and are doing it by diet methods!

Aren't we all the rebels on here! Good luck anyway. I'm off for my next snack...
DG

Kindred spirits and rebels - I like that.
Indeed I was taking four a day but lately it's been one with the three main meals, maybe four on 'heavy' days. My innards thank me for it as do those in close proximity as the met seemed to make my digestive processes rather wayward and noisy if you get what I mean.
I was instructed to take one morn and night then build up to two. This I did for a while but now on my own I decdied to cut down a bit. I now eat differently too. Less carbs etc.
After my two breakfasts this morning I measured my BG about an hour or so later and it was 6. At 8 am I took my met and then ate berries and yoghurt with a couple of oaty bix cereals in it. Went for my half hour walk then returned for a 'fry up' egg, meat, veg, cheese, no bread etc. Tea and coffee along the way.
For lunch I had salad with an indulgence of one slice of homemade bread toasted a spelt 'tile' and meat. Pud was a yog again and an apple plus 1 met.

Thirdly, met ruined my appetite quite often so I only took them after eating. So if you want weight loss met is the way to go!

Another final point on met last week my DN told me as part of her spiel that I should remind her in five years time (!) to get a blood check for pernicious anemia (?) which is a long-term side-effect of metformin.... whaaaat? So I am really encouraged to get off it some time... but slowly. For now I rely on my belt, braces and string approach - met, diet and exercise.

CowboyJim
Four Metformin seems a lot to take particularly when you are not overweight. From what I have read on the boards Metformin is normally combined with a different type of blood glucose tablet if more than 3 x 500mg Metformin is required perhaps you could ask your doctor about this? I have also read on posts that people taking insulin find that it makes them put on weight so if go on insulin will probably find that the weight you want is reached but then later on end up with a different problem lol.

I have to discuss my meds with nursey - I thought so many met was too much for me and that's partly why I have cut it down myself to three a day (aside from the way they used to make me lose my appetite etc). But I got my Hb results Friday and I'm down to 6.1 (that pesky 0.1, argh!) and my cholesterol was 3 so I was feeling pretty good - thought about celebrating with a takeaway but saw sense... don't want to rest on my laurels but I can't wait to hear what the NHS line will be.
So I must be doing something right... will keep working on it to get closer to 5 but since I was only diagnosed in July I am chuffed.
My weight seems to have stabilised now probably thanks to more nuts, meat etc. I also suspect I wasn't eating enough (I presently don't weigh my food or count carbs) which was probably psychological (you fear all food and its effects when you get the news) and partly the met.
Placebo is a weird thing, maybe if I had been taking the same dose with fewer tablets it would have had the same effect, I dunno.
I was good today and instead of my usual two pints of lager when watching the Sunday band I had a pint of diet coke. Mind you I don't fall asleep with two pints any more. Instead I can sit here watching Gladiator in Blu ray while typing this.
TTFN

Well I swear I am indeed eating enough in terms of never being hungry as I eat so often. But I have managed to mislay another 2lbs after keeping at 8st 7lbs for two or three weeks. This is bad news and I will go get the packet of nuts...

I don't go on just one day's weight; I just weigh myself every week and only checked when something was not okay – this loss is being reported three days running. I'm due back at the GP at the end of January so am a tad bothered at this downturn. Maybe it's the cold weather.

Incidentally, it's now 6 months since dx and no one has summoned me for any reason, though I presented for hbaic voluntarily and will again. But I thought I was promised (threatened with??) podiatrist and eye photos...
DG