Help me to loose weight & on slimming world

Hi Adrian and welcome to the site

Firstly she needs good control to lose weight, running high bg levels and not taking insulin is not going to help sadly.. can you encourage her to take more care of her type 1 and to test and take her insulin, surely regardless of job she can find somewhere to clean up and test or carry hand sanitiser with her so she can check on the go ?

Personally I don't believe in diets, I read an article recently which stated the fact we have become obsessed with dieting and yes initially it can encourage weight loss but then the body adapts and weight becomes harder to lose then the momentum goes and it's back to square one again. Being a type 1 you need to start with having really good control, so avoiding lows as well as hypers, then in regards to food simply eating a healthy diet but it should be about making reasonable adjustments you can stick to for life, as well as incorporating exercise, and of course doing careful carb counting calculations if you follow a bolus/basal regime.

Perhaps get her on here and she can gain support from others it would help to know more about her daily routine and diet ?

Could she maybe take some portable snacks type food with her that she wouldn’t need to inject for? Nuts, little chunks of cheese, salami sticks, that kind of thing?

I’ve found Slimming World isn’t ideal for diabetes as they encourage massive amounts of carbohydrates, and the use of convenience “low fat” products that are full of sugar - Muller Light yogurt being a prime example. For example, a strawberry one has over 12g sugar in! But if she can stay away from that kind of thing, the group support can be super useful.

Mel dCP said:

I’ve found Slimming World isn’t ideal for diabetes as they encourage massive amounts of carbohydrates, and the use of convenience “low fat” products that are full of sugar - Muller Light yogurt being a prime example.

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I found the same at WW - which I got through my GP. They kept going on about how low fat everything they sell at the "shop" is - I asked in the group about the sugar content and was basically ignored. They also tell you to buy their magazine at class as it has more pages in - which is true, but those extra pages are generally ads for WW products. I liked the group I was in, but felt that if I needed to be told that "coffee shops sell cakes, and those cakes have calories in" then I shouldn't be out on my own........ however, they work very well for some people - my friend lost 6 stone and set up her own group for a while. So I think they have a place, just not the best for us diabetics IMO. That said they are all evolving and slowly getting better (for diabetics).

seanj67 said:

I found the same at WW - which I got through my GP. They kept going on about how low fat everything they sell at the "shop" is - I asked in the group about the sugar content and was basically ignored. They also tell you to buy their magazine at class as it has more pages in - which is true, but those extra pages are generally ads for WW products. I liked the group I was in, but felt that if I needed to be told that "coffee shops sell cakes, and those cakes have calories in" then I shouldn't be out on my own........ however, they work very well for some people - my friend lost 6 stone and set up her own group for a while. So I think they have a place, just not the best for us diabetics IMO. That said they are all evolving and slowly getting better (for diabetics).

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I lost six stone over a couple of years at SW, but wasn’t really taking very good care of my diabetes. I loved it. Since then I’ve developed some ridiculous food allergies (to meat and dairy), and couldn’t follow the plan without eating tons of carbs - most of the veggie/vegan substitutes had millions of their syn points so I just stood no chance. It is all very hard sell though, and as soon as I hit my target weight there was all sorts of pressure to train to be a consultant. Peer support while losing weight is a real help though.

Slimming World is pretty poor, as are most Diet clubs, for us diabetics. They don't get the fact that we need to limit carbs to be able to stay healthy and have good blood sugars. Type 1s can still benefit from a lower carb diet and the added benefit of low carb is often weight loss. I'd suggest low carb, but with support of her diabetic team, as she will probably need to adjust doses of meds.

You said she usually takes tablets before you meet up with her, do you mean medicines or glucotabs or.... ?

Although it might not help in your situation when starting work at silly o'clock, I treated it as if it was the normal time to start work. I got up and had breakfast, went to work and had lunch when most other's were having breakfast, I went home, ate and went to bed according to my internal clock.
Others kept to timetables which gave them very little time to sleep or look after themselves and were always tired out, but they did not seem to think it sensible to 'give up' the time they needed.

I;d agree with what's been said here about WW and SW and it does sound as if your wife isn't getting much out of SW. If she's failing to stick to it then that should be a red flag to re think what would work best for her lifestyle. Or she could work out her own diet and just go for the sake of the public weigh-in and the social aspect, which I think are a good part of these clubs.
It's a shame she feels she cannot do her jab at work because this will have all sorts of implications for her health e.g. going high because she isn't taking insulin or overdoing it with food when she does finally get home after a long day walking the streets in her job presumably?
There's a growing belief that how much fat you gain is more driven by how much insulin you make or take! Insulin is a fat storage hormone which also blocks the burning of fat supplies so if she can eat less bread,pasta, rice and potatoes and avoid sweet things but eat enough nuts, butter, cream, cheese, fish and meat to feel full up she is likely to lose weight and feel better into the bargain. But as has been mentioned she needs to cut her insulin if this is the approach she chooses and get her diabetic nurse to help with this even if said nurse does not approach, and its likely that he or she may not! Hope she can get on here and talk it through with some of us. Its good that she has a supportive partner!