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Counting carbs vs. eyeballing

A

ariez

Newbie
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Hi everyone, I'm completely new to this place so I'll quickly introduce myself - I'm 25, male, from Austria, and I've been diagnosed with Type 1 last October (it's almost been a year - time flies..) Nice to meet you all.

For me, one of the biggest struggles has been figuring out the correct amount of insulin to inject before a meal. I used to just eyeball it for a while but of course if you make a bad guess you can end up in a really uncomfortable spot. So I switched to weighing and counting everything before every meal which then again is pretty cumbersome. So as a noob, I was wondering how everyone is dealing with this in practice? Any tricks, apps, methods, special diets, whatever? Or do you just skip weighing and get better at eyeballing?
 
Hi @ariez I used to weigh for quite a while before eventually eyeballing. It works well until your brain decides to underestimate what a potato the size of a hen's egg really looks like. I used to do random spot checks with such foods. Medium sliced bread is easier, and fixed cereal portions in individual portions or like Weetabix stays the same. Good luck!
 
Sorry, I meant to say "Welcome to the Forum!"
 

Hi,

Welcome to the forum.

Some eateries have the nutritional value including carb content.. "Of which are sugars" may with experience also help you, personally how it will be digested & metabolised in ralation to insulin working profile & timing of the dose? Some can be found on the chain's website?)
If you cook? Modern recipie books give the same information for everything used for the dish. Which will help you find yourself in the right "ball park?"

Nutritional value (carb box.) on the rear of packaged foods. If you do bread? It can be there "per slice" which can help.?

Carbs & calls app helps some.

Appreciated, you don't always want to do a maths test. Whe all you wanna do is eat..

Hopefully, others may have other methods. Thankfully, it's not just the carb counters that wanna know this stuff..
 
ariez said:
... one of the biggest struggles has been figuring out the correct amount of insulin to inject before a meal. I used to just eyeball it for a while but of course if you make a bad guess you can end up in a really uncomfortable spot. ...
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The amount of carbs is only one consideration when making bolus dosing decisions. Landing in a 'really uncomfortable spot' is usually caused other factors too. Like state of health, amount of sleep, hormonal activity, level of control and level of physical activity, to name a few of the unmeasurable factors. The dosage suggested by applying insulin:carb ratios is just a starting point.

Being recently diagnosed and having adult onset, you should have more leeway in dosage decisions. You are still making a lot of your own insulin, and long may it last. But while accurate carb counting helps, don't expect it on its own to result in good control. Having a good idea of how much carbs are being consumed helps but weiging food is not IMHO worth the effort.
 

I actually agree. Time of day seems to be a factor too with insulin sensitivity which can affect results.. Latter half of the day, I can get away with "blue murder." (If I was so inclined?)
Liver dump after waking & tearing about despite "nill by mouth" in the morning scrambling for work can sometimes warrant a correction dose..
 
If you weigh, look it up and do the maths it gets easier to eyeball if eating out, something I’ve not done for awhile, but hope to do again before my clogs are popped. It’s still possible to get it wrong though so I ask things like has the cook used sugar in this. In the early days after the Dafne course I used to take scales with me too, and it helped. Now, at home, I use scales, packet info, recall of carb content etc. I find it makes a difference, but do curse that it takes more faff time. I recently said no to a delicious looking muffin a friend offered when we were out walking because I knew that if I guessed it was higher or lower carb than reality I’d be embarrassingly hypo or puffingly hyper; either way it’d probably have meant going behind a tree or into the brambles for a pee, and there’s nothing better to spoil other nature lovers‘ days than the sight of an old woman in the undergrowth.
 
Hi everyone, and thanks for sharing your advice and experiences. I really appreciate it. Going to give that carbs & cals app a try, and I also like the idea of occasionally checking whether you are still making accurate guesses.

MarkMunday said:
Being recently diagnosed and having adult onset, you should have more leeway in dosage decisions. You are still making a lot of your own insulin, and long may it last.
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@MarkMunday I did not realize I am in a grace period of sorts. I was educated about the honeymoon phase, but only to the extent that my pancreas is still producing some insulin. I suppose it makes intuitive sense that once that's gone, I'll have to dose more accurately. So as an experienced T1, how do you decide on a dosage? As in, what factors do you consider and how do you quantify them?
 

Please bear in mind that any honeymoon period is individual to each of us. There is no set period that the pancreas keeps on giving. Mine stopped the day I went to A&E and hasn't worked since. Even when it does still work it does not give a regular dose on a regular basis and cannot be relied upon to help out as it once used to.

Making mistakes is OK as long as you check your BG on a regular basis and compensate accordingly.

Once any honeymoon is over you will be able to dose more accurately but do not worry too much if you do not. I have done a carb counting course but now (3 years in) tend to rely on eyeballing as most of us tend to eat the same stuff week in week out.

Good Luck.
 
As a relatively new to insulin (April 2017) I usually guesstimate. In the really early days I read labels, and weighed cereal. Now I have an idea what 10 grams looks like in most regularly eaten foods. My usual bread is 9 grams per slice, but if I eat bread while out I count it as 15 grams approx. I usually check my glucose levels 1hr after eating, but I have the libre sensor now which helps enormously. I can see at a glance if I'm going up or down. So I would suggest weigh/ count when at home and get used to what 10 grams looks like. Be prepared to do a correction dose if needed . And be forgiving with yourself, it takes time to learn.
 

Hi,

I am new to this T1D deal aswell, diagnosed April 2020.

I manage my diabetes by doing a combination of carb counting and eyeballing. Everyone has their own methods I suppose.

When I am home I generally count the carbs. I rarely use a calculator or anything. Literally just adding stuff up in my head. I generally cook two portions and eat one portion the next day for lunch so when carb-counting I just half it.

A lot of the things I previously carb counted I seem to memorise off the top of my head. Eating stuff like bananas, apples, pears, slice of toast or even a bowl of pasta I can just eyeball because I know what a certain portion looks like and how much carbs it has. Although with eyeballing there always a risk of being +/-2 off your target
 
Welcome to the forum. I don't eat carbs, except for green leafy vegetable, which makes managing doses easier.
 
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