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Type 2 Help, my weight loss had gone too far

Aurelien_1009

Member
Messages
22
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Hi,
I searched many days on our forum and wondered how to maintain LCHF for many years without losing weight or being able to gain weight again.
I'm from Southeast Asia, and I realize there's a little difference here, because I'm quite thin and not overweight when diagnosed (1,77cm and 66kg when diagnosed). I have been LCHF for 6 months till now and I too got to the point when my weight loss had gone too far. Now, my BMI is <18. And even my BG test results are good, the latest test index indicates that my white blood cell count is decreasing (decreasing gradually since I start LCFH).
I'm confused because I don't know if I can maintain this LCHF for many years? Have any of you maintained this LCHF for many years without hematological indicators being affected? I searched the forum for many days but haven't found the answer yet.
- I lost more than 10 kg in 6 months
- I'm losing hair a lot.
- Urine ketones index is 0.5mmol / L.
- Body odor and urine

I want to ask how to stop weight loss? I feel if I still keep weight loss for several months, it'll affect my health.
Should I take some vitamin supplements? If yes, which one should it be?
Is urine ketones testing a dangerous result?

For daily food, I mostly use:
- Quaker Oats Old Fashioned: 30gr x 2 meals a day
- Broccoli
- Avocado
- Egg-white scrambled (no yolk)
- Shrimp
- Alots of Olive oil
- Cashew nuts and flax seeds
- Chicken breast meat
- Seldom use Salmon
- Seldom use beef
- Butter and cheese
- Tomato
- Cucumber
- ...
I think I use about <120gr carbs/ day.
 
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My advice would be to eat more protein and more healthy fats. The protein along with some resistance exercise will help you build muscle, and more healthy fats will allow your body to to stop accessing your own body fat stores.

May I ask why no egg yolks?

Edited typo.
 
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You read my mind @Guzzler ... and maybe not eating enough into the bargain
 
More healthy fats? I used tetra packs of UHT Alpro soya cream at 450 calories a pack to add my calories to my day, in coffees and cooking. I have 2 -3 of them a day and maintained my weight. Now I'm on insulin I've cut this back.
 
ert said:
More healthy fats? I used tetra packs of UHT Alpro soya cream at 450 calories a pack to add my calories to my day, in coffees and cooking. I have 2 -3 of them a day and maintained my weight. Now I'm on insulin I've cut this back.
Click to expand...

Hey how long did you not need insulin?
And how did you start insulin?
I’m five years in and only on metformin but I’m ready for insulin! Feed up not eating much as I’m on a very low carb diet.
Many thanks!
 
Yep, sounds like not enough food being eaten and certainly not enough protein. I have no idea why you @Aurelien_1009 are not eating the egg yolk which houses all the good stuff.
 
Greglaar1 said:
Hey how long did you not need insulin?
And how did you start insulin?
I’m five years in and only on metformin but I’m ready for insulin! Feed up not eating much as I’m on a very low carb diet.
Many thanks!
Click to expand...
Well done you. My advice, which I wish I had known, is to start long-acting. It's amazing. It stops your blood sugars rising overnight, or rising during exercise, or rising when fasting or blood ketones building up if any of these are an issue for you.

It was just over 2 years for me. I would have stayed off it forever if I could have (not understanding long-acting), but deteriorated rapidly over three weeks. Short-acting insulin isn't easy. I'm not a fan, but I need it to eat. It's the constant worry of staying above 3.9 mmol/l as I've lost my homeostasis. I set my alarm for 2-3 times a night. What it looks like for me: As I was living with a very low c-peptide for two years (0.126 nmol/l) I've had to stay on a very low carb diet, eating less than I was, as my insulin sensitivity is 500% on the HOMA formula. It means if I inject myself with 4 units of insulin, I cascade into a severe hypo, where I can't reason to even self medicate. I've learnt to split the dose to eat even low carb meals. Will this improve? Surely. Hopefully.

That said, the reality check is that there are really experienced type 1's who can eat anything they want to and their traces look amazing. Even spaghetti bolognese, which was my favourite in what feels like a former life.
 
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Mike D said:
You read my mind @Guzzler ... and maybe not eating enough into the bargain
Click to expand...

Tophat1900 said:
Yep, sounds like not enough food being eaten and certainly not enough protein. I have no idea why you @Aurelien_1009 are not eating the egg yolk which houses all the good stuff.
Click to expand...
Since being diagnosed, I feel that I have eaten more than before, but of course, I don't eat rice anymore.
What kind of healthy fats should I eat more?
The reason I don't eating the eggs yolk, that I was dyslipidemias for 3 years and my doctor told that I shouldn't eats eggs. I follow her advice for 3 years, but when I come here, I found that's wrong. That's not good advice. So I started eating the eggs yolk for a month.
And what I can do with my white blood cell count is decreasing? Should I take some vitamin supplements?
 
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I didn’t see you mention exercise. Strength training will help build muscle which can improve insulin resistance and help you gain weight. High intensity interval training will help with glucose regulation too, but you will need to eat enough so you have a caloric surplus to gain weight.

Even if you were already thin, if you lost visceral fat around the waist, it may also help with the insulin resistance.

As others have suggested eat more protein and healthy fats. (Not everyone agrees which fats at healthy though.)

You can probably eat as many non-starchy vegetables as you want without any big effect on blood sugar. Lots of green leafy raw veggies will provide micronutrients that you may be missing. That won’t help with weight gain but with general health.

Regarding vitamins, have you had vitamin D and B12 levels tested? Many people find they are low or deficient. Lack of sufficient zinc can lead to hair loss. Biotin (Vitamin B7) is important for hair growth. Egg yolks (which you mentioned you don’t eat) are a good source. Here are some others:

https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/320222.php

Also with low carb some of the weight loss seems to be water weight. You might be lower in electrolytes (magnesium, potassium, sodium).
 


For a time, I also struggle to halt weight loss, but I got there in the end by increrasing my protein and fats.

May I ask a couple of questions though? Do you eat pork? If so, dishes like slow roasted belly pork are excellent for helping keep weight up. Additionally, can I ask why you specify chicken breast? I find thigh much tastier, and it is a fattier part of the bird too, so again, helps top up on nutrition.

Do you drink milk, or eat yoghurt?

For the first 4 or so years of eating reduced carb (lower than you are currently doing), I didn't take any vitamins, because my blood results didn't highlight any issues. In the last year or so, I have beent aking vitamin D, with K2 (although I seriously doubt you would need Vit D in SE Asia - I stopped mine when I was travelling in that region for a couple of months), and B-complex.

The Vit D with K2, I take because we don't get enough sunshone, and I was going low, and the B complex is to support my thyroid, which isn't too great at the moment.

Personally, I have never striven for ketosis. For me in or out was fine by me.

If you are using around 120gr I would consider it unlikely you would be in nutritional ketosis, but you could be dicing with starvation ketosis, which isn't so healthy.

It might guess you just aren't eating enough, but that is a guess, and I could be very, very wrong.
 
Your intake of carbs is quite high - about three times what I regard as my maximum - but I do not include any high carb foods such as oats - which are 2/3rds by weight starch.
Most of my carbs are from salad stuff and vegetables. I have fruit a couple of times a week, with yoghurt and sugar free jelly.
Other than that I eat meat with the fat it has naturally, plus eggs and dairy.
Your veges of broccoli tomato and cucumber is rather limited - sprouted seeds are usually good low carb and nutritious - you might well be able to produce those yourself, and grow green beans or peas and such things as radish, spring onion etc. to widen your choices.
 
I agree about eating porridge - it spikes my blood sugar - but I eat a mix of milled flaxseed and chia seeds with a small spoon of oats (oatbran) made with water and coconut milk.
If you swap the carbs from porridge to milk or cheese and extra salad and veg that should improve your health. Try any above ground true vegetables plus small amounts of tomato and squashes/courgette.
Then add olive oil to salads with pickled vegs (unsugared).
And if you like chocolate try some good quality 85% dark. A couple of squares?
 

Thank you for your advice. Do you mean, that doesn't good if we use too much fats?
 

Thank you. Since being diagnosed, I also bought a new bicycle and started practice, every day I traveled 15-20km. (In the last 10 years, I hadn't played sports). It's help me take ~500 kcal/ day.
I'm not sure i had make vitamin D and B12 levels tested. But on the last test my electrolytes (magnesium, potassium, sodium) on normal range.
I'll try to ad some more non-starchy vegetables on my diet and search and read more about vitamin.
 
@Aurelien_1009
I am prediabetic (but blood sugar in normal range for 2 years) and have never been overweight. (My height and weight were very similar to yours at diagnosis)
When I switched to LCHF I also lost a lot of weight.
I started a food diary and for a period weighed what I ate. I did this initially to work out carbs, but when I was losing weight I also looked at the calories. I was surprised at the low the number of calories I was eating (about 1500 per day). I never felt hungry so my hunger was not a guide to my eating.

When I found this, I looked at foods that would increase my calories without increasing the carbs. These included tree nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, brazils, hazelnuts are all relatively low carb and high calorie), salmon, other oily fish, cheese, double cream, eggs, olive oil, avocado etc.(I don't eat meat so that was not open to me).

I found that for me, with the type of food that I eat, I need to eat about 2500 Kcalories to keep a stable weight. If I eat about 3000 Kcalories I put on weight. If I eat about 2000 Kcalories I lose weight.

The only excercise I have done so far is a lot of walking. I managed to regain some weight and have now had a stable weight (+ or - 0.5kg for about 2 years). I weigh myself once a week.

Most people on this site do not find tracking calories to be helpful when trying to lose weight. However I found it helpful when trying to stop losing weight and to put some on.

Since you were diagnosed you appear to have started excercising much more (you say it is using 500Kcal) and eating less. You are probably not eating enough and will need to increase fats and protein. I would suggest taking a typical day, weigh your food and work out how many calories you are eating. You can then see how you can increase this

best of luck
(I don't know anything about vitamin supplements)
 
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Thank you, you also lived SE Asia, so you know how to live in here
Yes, I drink milk (rarely because I see my BG will increase), and eat yoghurt (on the morning). I also eat pork but we're have African hog cholera in here. So I stopped eating pork for few month.
And you right about the thigh, I a little worry about my dyslipidemia. I was diagnosed dyslipidemia and used Crestor 10mg for 3 years till I was diagnosed diabetes. I stop used meds for dyslipidemia, just LCHF and my chelestorol very good. So I think if I use chicken breast, it'll help lower my chelestorol. Do you think if I wrong?
Regarding my ketosis, can you explain more for me? Sould I need worry about that? My doctor said if my ketosis still increasing, I need hospitalized for treatment.
I don't know much about The Vit D with K2, I'll try to search more.
And you think aren't eating enough? I need increasing the portion size?
 
Cholesterol if not eaten will be produced by the body to cover its needs and research has shown that eating or not eating cholesterol makes limited difference to blood tests. Reducing carbs seems to work better to lower it especially in diabetics. So eating breast or thigh will likely not make much difference if any to cholesterol figures in isolation, in my opinion.

Your doctor is confusing nutritional ketosis with ketoacidosis. Two different conditions and outcomes that just happen to both produce ketones (at very different levels).

I agree, eat more and eat more fats.
 
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Greglaar1 said:
Hey how long did you not need insulin?
And how did you start insulin?
I’m five years in and only on metformin but I’m ready for insulin! Feed up not eating much as I’m on a very low carb diet.
Many thanks!
Click to expand...


5 years is a long time to not take insulin as a type 1. I would push to get it. As a type 1/LADA you are going to have to learn at some point anyway. And when you are on insulin, you dose for what you eat! It does take a little work at the beginning but once you learn it, it becomes second nature.
 

Aurelien - I have doubts whether your Vitamin D was tested, as a routine. Living in SE Asia, you will be exposed to plenty sunlight on an almost daily basis. In fact, in my experience of that part of the world, the Westerners are baring their skin to catch as much sun as possible, where the locals tend to be covering up to limit the rays they take.

When in the region in the winter, I had some bloods done (curiosity how I was doing on a different diet, with lost of eating out), and when selecting my bloods, I was tempted to have my Vit D tested, as I had paused a supplement for my travels (as I was one of those westerners with arms and legs out to the sun, but it was comparatively expensive (£62.50). I'm guessing because it is relatively rarely done?

I don't believe I was in the same country as you (this time around!), but could be similar rationale.
 
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