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Four successful years on Low Carb!

pdmjoker

Well-Known Member
Messages
426
Type of diabetes
Prediabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
Early July 2022 was the 4th anniversary of me going Low Carb!

Before, I was prediabetic, almost obese and unable to lose weight with typical calorie-restriction "Eat Less, Move More".

However, with Low Carb I lost 4 stone in all and normalised my blood glucose.

I have received much helpful and informed support on this forum - thank you!

For more info please see

My Low Carb Journey Back to Health: Keto was the Key
​
and

Practical Tips for following a Low Carb or Ketogenic Diet
​
in my bio.

I've also created a mobile-friendly website "Easier Dieting – Help for the Struggling": https://easierdieting.github.io/

My weight has crept up by about a stone over the last year or so - I just wasn't keeping an eye on it - but my HbA1c is still normal. My weight is still regarded as "healthy", but I have amended my eating habits somewhat and we'll see what happens!

Thank you again!
 
That's such a good result, and should be helpful for a lot of people. Thank you!
 
The NHS advice (which is always evidence based) says that low carb and keto diets are non sustainable and no more effective than the recommended diet (Eatwell). I am approaching 8 years, so who are WE to contradict this long term viewpoint? What qualifications do we claim? WE are ex-diabetics who chose to leave the High Road and travel a different path, WE are (still) living proof they are incorrect. (But both of us appear to be claiming pre-diabetic so we are still diabetics are we not?)

One day we hope they will accept this 'woke' attitude as being valid and helpful. Till then I will check the food labels and keep on keeping on.

Well done on your well deserved new status.
 

Many thanks! Quoting from My Low Carb Journey Back to Health: Keto was the Key pdf linked in my bio:

One 1959 study by Albert Stunkard, M.D. and Mavis Mclaren-Hume, M.S. said “This study grew
out of an attempt to resolve a paradox - the contrast between my difficulties in treating obesity and
the widespread assumption that such treatment was easy and effective.” Sound familiar? It
detailed that their success rate for an obese person on a calorie-restricted diet losing 20 pounds
and keeping it off for two years, even if they were supervised and supported, was just 2%. (Much
more recent studies with similar long-term parameters fare no better – we've spent at least 60
years barking up the wrong tree.) I'm not at all surprised by the 98% long-term failure rate. What is
surprising is that instead of entertaining the possibility that "Eat Less, Move More" is somehow
inadequate (or simply does not suit everyone), dieticians blame the patient for the failure of a
treatment plan that was shown a hundred years ago would be ineffective long-term. It is also
surprising that (seemingly) most dieticians and healthcare professionals view Low Carb/Keto as a
"fad diet" and having no scientific basis. Ironically, it is “Low Fat” and “Eat Less, Move More” that
are not supported by good science.​
 
The Calorie In - Calorie Out (CICO) model of nutrition was evidence based, but most of the studies were financed by and supported by the sports and athletic fraternity who were aiming at improving stamina and performance. That market, and the Body Building business drove the fitness and Health and Efficiency movement. That is where the link to do more exercise came from.

The fallacy of Cico was laid bare when the Sugar Tax was being discussed, and adverts came out that showed how much energy and effort was actually needed to cover various dietary items, and many of us saw how many miles we were expected to walk to cover a choc bar or diet soda or cappuccino coffee. Suddenly we saw climbing Everest as being easier than eating dinner.

I think the Low Carb Keto movement is producing new evidence that is more intwined with endocrinology and so has plausible and measurable effects and explanations, but now we need university degrees to understand them. When you see that half the members of SAGE (the UK gov think tank scientists) are on the payroll of big ag and big pharma then it is clearly time for a new broom.
 

All good points. I gather the evidence for "Eat Less, Move More" is only valid short-term (perhaps a few weeks). Quoting again from My Low Carb Journey Back to Health: Keto was the Key pdf linked in my bio:

Through Jason Fung's website I found that a 1919 book A Biometric Study of Basal Metabolism in
Man shows that calorie-restriction ("Eat Less, Move More") inevitably leads to a comparable
metabolic slowdown, so is bound to fail long-term for physiological reasons. (Your body is trying to
keep you alive in what appears to be a food shortage.) Even if initially successful, it will become
less and less effective until weight loss grinds to a halt. Then calorie-restriction is essential merely
to avoid weight gain, and various hormones (including ones triggered by eating carbohydrate) are
constantly screaming at you to eat something. (Studies have shown that after twenty-two months
of calorie restriction, the hormones are screaming just as loudly.) When you finally succumb to the
overwhelming odds, you will probably end up heavier than you were to begin with. Also, you are
probably accused of (or feel guilty about) being weak and lacking will-power, which is actually quite
untrue: hormones are not subject to will-power. (Also, metabolic slowdown is not at all pleasant,
and far worse than mere hunger pangs. Some totalitarian regimes have used calorie-restriction
and the resulting metabolic slowdown to torture their political opponents.) Happily, a Low Carb diet
is able to get around these two physiological problems associated with calorie-restriction.​
 
Apologies for repeating what I have said some time ago - but it is relevant - if "eat less move more" was the answer, jockeys and ballet dancers wouldn't have to starve themselves. Few athletes work as hard and as long every day as they do.

I did the low-cal move-more for many years. It was agony. Then I had the menopause from hell and couldn't take any more. Thanks to this Board I learned about keto. That or low carb is so easy and doesn't give constant ravening hunger. As age and injuries mean I can only do light exercise, and I am by no means the only one here who has had to adapt to that, I say that, while exercise has its place, it's demoralising constantly to hear that we all must do lots of it. Chaps, there comes a time of life when we no longer can.
 

A good point about e.g. ballet dancers. I gather exercise actually increases appetite! Your experience of "Eat Less, Move More" agony is sadly not unique. I'm not able to exercise much either, so can relate to that aspect.

I seem to remember from The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living by Stephen D. Phinney and Jeff S. Volek that Hyperinsulinemia - excess insulin - usually from insulin resistance, leads to weight gain. Happily, Keto/LC often treats insulin resistance successfully thus enabling weight loss...
 
I have to admit that I am one that is doing Keto Light and zero exercise. I did full keto briefly to prove I could but I lost too much weight, so I stepped back from it by choice. I now use a minumun dose medication, and medium carb that includes keto-unfriendly carbs, but I have only two meals a day and thus include some fasting (regular so not intermittent) It works for me and is easier to maintain compared to full keto. I have deffo reduced my hyperinsulinemia and IR but its not perfect.

I have had too many heart stopping moments to do much in the way of exercise or stress, so I am pretty sedentary nowadays. My weight and BMI are steady and in a good place now, I read labels and rinse/repeat some meals because I know they work, but I also don't beat myself about the head if I trip up on the occasional treat. I have been doing this for 7 years now and my spreadsheet tracks me every day. Its quite a story, and the only time it shows non compliance is those occasions when I had to go into hospital and munch "real, healthy" food again.
 
Reading posts in the Forum, I note that exercise is not the panacea it is made out to be in regards to diabetes. It depends on how you exercise. For instance HIIT and high exertion exercise seems to push blood sugar levels up not down, and this is probably the cortisone (adrenalin) inhibiting glucose storage. Resistance training seems to be better, and walking and swimming seem the best for seeing off a carbfest. Body builders and wrestlers convert glucose into muscle tissue quite effectively, but sadly it does not seem to provide longevity benefits since body builders tend to die off early from heart issues.

The exercise more mantra is linked heavily to weight loss strategy, This is not sensible since exercise builds muscle instead of flab, but it weighs much the same but is higher density thats all. :Looks good though.

Weight loss is the key not exercise. Our bodies distribute insulin equally in all tissue so the sheer volume of tissue determines how much insulin we need to generate to service all the mitochondria. More flab needs more insulin which thrashes the pancreas. Cut the flab, and suddenly our insulin requirements drop, and life gets easier. It is a linear relationship. This does not help all T2D, as insulin resistance muddies the waters. There are two main types of IR, muscle IR and adipose IR. The second one is the one that leads to NAFLD and fatty pancreas so that it reduces the amount of insulin we can produce. The first limits the effectiveness of insulin to use or store glucose. It is important to remove both the lipid fat and the muscle fat (glycogen) which is why keto diets are effective.
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