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how do i lose weight? only no slimming world...help!!

*bel*74

Member
Messages
15
Location
portsmouth
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Had my meeting today with the diabetic nurse and as expected told to lose weight but I'm unsure how!!! Have been doing slimming world on and of for years and you use carbs to fill up and keep hunger at bay. The nurse told me I can only have carbs to the size of my fist,to eat lots of fruit and veg and that I should lose half a stone by the time I see her again in a month. I just don't know what to do,should I calorie count? Go back to slimming world? just have little carbs and eat lots of fruit,veg? Any advise would be very appreciated....Sorry I sound silly
 
Hi,

Slimming World is not the best way for diabetics because the diet plans are full of carbs and low fat. There are 2 ways to lose weight successfully. Either very low fat with normal carbs, or normal/increased fat with low carbs. Either way will lose you weight. However, for diabetics carbs are not a good idea, so low carb with increased fats is the way to go. Have a look at this thread, which will help you control your blood sugars and lose weight. http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/a-new-low-carb-guide-for-beginners.68695/

We need to seriously reduce all carbs, especially bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, cereals and flour. We also need to be careful with fruit and milk as both these contain a lot of sugar.

How you do this is up to you. You can count calories (I did) but it is very essential to count the carbs. I count both. Some don't bother with calories, but personally I had to. I speak past tense because I lost all my weight on low carb/increased fats, but I now have to keep counting calories in order to stop losing weight! I found it far easier to lose than to maintain on this diet.
 
Do you have a lot of weight to lose?

www.myfitnesspal.com can help you count carbs, as well as calories, fat and protein.

There's also a Carbs and Cals book which is excellent.
 
I meant to say.... I went to Slimming World for 6 months. I just used it as a place to weigh and to help give me a little bit of discipline to keep on with the diet of my choice which was LCHF.

One problem with SW is that it advocates using low fat products which aren't as healthy as natural full fat ones and which leave us hungry. That's why you needed to fill up with carbs. If you do low carb and increase your fat intake until you are no longer hungry you don't get this problem.

Another problem I found with SW is that they are keen to sell you their own snacks. I didn't find this helpful as I wanted to get out of the habit of snacking altogether. I'm quite happy with 3 low carb meals a day now.
 
Thanks for your help. I have about 3st to lose. It just feels all a bit daunting at the moment and it goes against everything I know from being on slimming world. I'm going to check out the web site....also do you think I need to self check my bloods? The nurse said they don't advise it as people become obsessed with it and that it coats a lot of money...Sorry for all the questions
 
Hi. Many established organisations are still living in the 'low-fat/have carbs' culture based on mis-information from the 60s & 70s. This is bad news for everyone as it will cause obesity very easily. So, to lose both weight and blood sugar you need to keep the carbs down and move protein and fat up. For this reason, SW provides good discipline but the wrong diet choices. Follow the advice on this forum and you should suceed. It was good to hear that your DN was suggesting you control the carbs; quite unusual.
 
It is daunting at first, but I have lots more than that to lose.

Yes you do need to check your blood glucose readings. It's really helpful because it's so encouraging when you see the fasting figure fall and also a meter can help you discover which foods are OK for you. It's hard enough to change your diet without unnecessarily giving up something which may be OK for you personally.

Keep asking the questions and you'll get there!
 
It is very advisable to check your own glucose levels, in fact I would say it is essential. Many of us buy the Codefree meter and strips from here http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/blood_glucose_monitor_testing.htm because it has the cheapest strips available, and at the beginning you will need a lot of them. With a meter you can discover very quickly which foods your body can cope with, and those foods it can't cope with. There is no other way of doing this.
 
I'm going to look into getting a meter,should I tell the nurse I have one? Also I'm thinking of giving the lchf diet ago,should I tell the nurse this as it seems it's not what she would recommend? Again thanks for all your help
 
It depends on how brave you are! I said nothing until I was getting results. I then told my GP that I had a meter and was following LCHF
 
Hello *bel*74, welcome to the jungle, erm ..... I mean forum

At the risk of sounding like a broken record to my fellow forumites (is that a word ??) if you need to lose weight in a month, have a look at doing the Newcastle Diet & regular exercise (I mean every day, even if its only a 30 min walk) for 4 weeks.

If you're used to Slimming World, the ND wont be onerous at all

Just remember ...... hunger is good -- you'll see what I mean if you try it. I've been doing it 3 weeks from tomorrow and weight is falling off me
 
I disagree, hunger is not good! Hunger causes your metabolism to slow down making it harder to lose weight in the long run. LCHF is a new way of eating for life, not just a quick way to lose weight. With only 3 stones to lose there is no need to take on such an extreme diet as the ND if you don't want to. After the ND you still need to find a way of eating that suits you, so you may as well start and stick with LCHF.

It's best to start off as you mean to go on. Change habits for life.
 
I had a quick look at the Newcastle diet and there's no way I could manage on 600 cals a day......I'm still reading up about LCHF,am I aloud any carbs each day? if so roughly how many. Also have you had good weight loss while doing it,I've ready a few people saying they haven't lost any weight even after 2 months
 
Yes you are allowed carbs. Do you know what your blood glucose (HbA1c) tests were? I started on about 100g carbs and then reduced to 50-80g a day. Now I've reduced further to 30g. You may not need to go that low though, I'm only doing it because I still have several stones to lose.
 

Hi bel

Welcome! In terms of weight loss on low carb eating, though it gets referred to as low carb high fat, if we eat stacks and stacks of fat, that could affect weight loss. I think, if I have understood this rightly, eating low carb moderates appetite so people tend to eat less anyway, which is why some advise don't count cals, but at least initially, while adjusting, counting carbs and cals can help to keep an eye on things and you can then adjust quantities if you don't loose weight (or loose too much).

All the best.

D
 
No I don't know,don't think I've had one done yet? Have to have one done in a month to see how the metformin,weight loss and eating less carbs is doing (diabetic nurse told me to eat fist size carbs with each meal) but I'm definitely going to follow
 
I lost three stone in just over three months on the LCHF diet but .... it's not something just for now but a lifestyle change forever .... cos I have diabetes.
When I first read about low carb high fat on here I thought these people must be crazy.
Want to lose weight have fry ups for breakfast put butter in your coffee .... yeah right.
So I ditched this place and carried on with the official nurse doctor advice and gor fatter and sicker.
Came back here and decided I had nothing to lose .... heres a good starting point ..... http://www.dietdoctor.com/lchf

Read it to the end.

My blood sugars are under fantastic control weight down blood pressure down cholesterol levels balancing out nicely.
The weight loss yo yo's at first while your body tries to figure out what on earth is going on.
I think the yo yoing is a good sign it's about to come off.
My surgery are amazed at my results.
I went cold turkey the first couple of months with as near zero carbs as possible.
One thing you'll learn is that carbs make you hungry for more carbs.
Sugar makes you fat.
Fat doesn't make you fat.
Carbs turn to sugar inside us and get stored as fat.
 
As said above, this is not a diet, it is an eating plan that, as a diabetic, you have to follow for the rest of your life, not just a few weeks. The Newcastle Diet is a temporary diet for those with masses of weight to lose.

On low carb/higher fat I lost 4 stones 4lbs to reach my target weight and then struggled to stop losing. I had to increase my fats even more to find the right balance of calories without increasing my carbs. You need a good book such as Carbs and Cals (available from Amazon) which will tell you exactly how many carbs, calories, fat, protein and fibre there is in virtually every food we eat, with photos of the portion sizes and details of weight of the portion size. It was and still is my Bible. You can keep a food diary of everything you eat and drink, along with portion sizes and amounts of carbs, and record your BS levels alongside. That way you can learn how to portion control your carbs.
 
That's really good results,thank for sharing. Feeling a bit better now thanks to you guys and girls. Have actually been in tears today as didn't know what to do or how to even begin losing weight with out slimming world while trying to get my blood sugar under control.
 
You can still go to SW for the weigh-in and moral support, just ignore the dietary advice and do your own thing.
 
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