How long did low carb take you to lose 15% weight

[Tannith]

How long did people take on low carb to lose the 15% or so of their weight necessary to bring BG back to normal? And how low did your carbs have to go?

 

[Goonergal]

Hi @Tannith

It took me about 6 months to lose 15% of my body weight. That’s at ~20g or less a day. The introduction of intermittent fasting has helped me to lose another 15% in the subsequent 4 months.

Edited to say that I suspect it’s not as simple as the fewer carbs the more weight lost. The amount of weight to be lost, how long you’ve been diabetic, insulin resistance etc. will all come into it.

 

[kokhongw]

Haven't lost any weight over 2 years of low carb...but BG reached normal glucose levels within a couple of weeks and maintained it at that level since...

 

[Rachox]

Hi Tannith I was diagnosed Type 2 early May and started on a low carb diet of < 100g of carbs per day, my blood sugars and weight initially dropped rapidly. After about six weeks, so mid June, my average blood sugars had plateaued mid 6s, I wanted them lower! I then reduced my carbs to between 50-70g per day. Eleven weeks from diagnosis I had lost 15% of my weight and my blood sugar averages were consistently in the 5s. I remain on 50-70g, my blood sugars are consistent and I have lost 20% of my original weight now

 

[masonap]

How long did people take on low carb to lose the 15% or so of their weight necessary to bring BG back to normal? And how low did your carbs have to go?

I don't know the % but I've lost a stone in the last 8-9 months and would like to lose another 7lbs before I start to think about a new target. Slow weight loss is good.

Weight loss and BG levels are not necessarily closely connected (in my view) it's more about eating the right foods in order to get your BG levels right, you must cut out carbs and sugar in all their forms. Cut out all the stuff made with flour, including breakfast cereals. No 'fresh fruit juice', cut out fizzy drinks, reduce your alcohol intake too if necessary. I've switched my breakfast over to eggs, cheese, ham, cuc, tomatoes, etc. Some days I treat myself to bacon and eggs (when I've got the time).

Beware of fresh fruit, some are high in sugar, but you need to try and then test 2 hours later to see how it affects you.

You don't mention exercise but this is important too, I walk or cycle for 30-60 minutes every day. It is an old recommendation but park away from the supermarket door, get off the bus 2 stops early, etc.

I wish you well.

 

[bulkbiker]

4 months.. from 30 October 2015 until 26 February 2016 I lost 3 1/2 stone which was 15% pf my heaviest weight of 23 stone.
My BG"s were far from "normal' though at that stage.. so the 15% is, in my view, incorrect. I had to loose even more weight to get closed to non-Type 2 blood glucose levels. I think you are placing way too much faith in an arbitrary number that Prof Taylor has posited from his limited participant study.

 

[Resurgam]

For me it was the other way round - I used my meter to work out how to stay under 8mmol/l after meals, and it was only recently that I realised that I had lost 15 percent of my highest weight in the last few years. I had been recording my weight gain to show my doctor that the diet wasn't working, but I forgot about it when taking the tablets prescribed for diabetes.
I was not trying to lose weight, though - I think it is far more important to have normal BG levels as - without medication I hoped that normal BG would allow my metabolism to sort itself out. Although my weight did not drop all that rapidly, once my BG levels began to fall below 8, my waist shrank rapidly - so much that I needed to buy a lot of new clothes.

 

[Tannith]

Thank you guys

 

[ziggy_w]

Hi @Tannith,

I can't say for certain as I don't have a scale and don't know how much I weighed at diagnosis -- but would guess about three to four months. At my six-month appointment, I was in the normal BMI category.

As others have said, weight loss is not necessarily related to blood sugar levels when low-carbing. My blood sugars dropped much faster than my weight and my Hba1c after three months was back in the normal range.

Even with the weight lost, I doubt that my blood sugars would stay normal if I went to back to the way I ate before. To be honest, I would be scared to try. Fortunately, I really enjoy eating low carb.

 

[Guzzler]

Four months, roughly. The number of carbs decreased quickly at first (perhaps too quickly) but then at a slower pace to reach roughly 30g with the aim of keeping under 50g per day. I am not an exacting person, I leave leeway because for me too strict an approach or goal tends to make me feel a little trapped and more likely to rebel.

 

[Kentoldlady1]

I started at 101kgs on 29 june. Now at 78 kgs. So thats more than 15% in about 13 weeks. However a very messy incident involving a scone proved that I am in no way in remission.
I went cold turkey with the carbs (once I understood what I was doing) and aim for 30 a day, but will be happy below 50.

I suspect, if I am lucky enough to be able to have a remission I am going to have to lose alot more than 15%'

 

[bluecurlylegend]

I've lost 14kg in three and a half months but my BG is, if anything slightly higher. I was getting morning readings of low 6's at first now they're averaging out at mid 6's....?
Sure, the weight loss is a welcome bonus, but I really was hoping to see my BG readings dropping, not rising.

 

[Robbity]

I actually lost a fair bit of weight very quickly, which really surprised me! But it didn't happen when I first started reducing carbs, it was a couple of months later when I started the Atkins diet induction stage (on GPs advice), and I went down to 20-25g carbs a day for several weeks and the weight just fell off me. I certainly wasn't expecting this and wasn't weighing myself so it was only when i got some comments about losing weight that I cottoned on! I'm not sure of actual figures now but I was around 18 stone , (115 kilos) and lost just over 20 kilos in those few weeks, ending up at 95 kilos where I more or less stayed for over three years then finally lost another couple of kilos at the beginning of this year. So I believe I actually lost over 15%. My glucose levels had already come down to just on pre-diabetic when I started dieting, but I didn't have a further HbA1c check for several month at which point I was down to 40, and I've remained fairly close to that since then. Although I was using a meter at that point I hadn't a clue about predicting/guesstimating HBA1c results from meter averages (which I do now using the Diabetes.co.uk converter), but I'm always higher than that suggests... I gradually went back up to eating a maximum of 50g carbs a day, and the only exercise I do as a clapped out old lady is some rather erratic housework and occasional short walks. As I've said elsewhere, I spent most of my younger years being underweight, so I don't consider myself to be a fat person, and as long as my glucose levels remain reasonably low and nice and stable, I'm content.

But I don't believe it should matter how long it takes, it's not a competition or race and not everyone has the same issues to deal with - a pre-diabetic will probably get there faster that someone who have been well and truly diabetic for some time. It's never going to be an equal field and so for some people it will always be harder (or easier) than for others: there's a support thread for those who really struggle to lose any weight at all.

Robbity

 

[Indy51]

Personally, I don't think it's as straightforward as "just lose 15%". I lost more than that before going low carb, lost even more after going low carb yet still didn't regain normal function and my fasting BG was always high despite weight loss. It took quite a while of 16:8 intermittent fasting before my fasting BG normalised. Weird thing is I'm actually heavier now than I was a couple of years ago, yet my BG levels continue to improve on a 2 meal per day regime. I find I can eat more carbs at a meal now without enormous spikes and my pre meal levels are the best they've been since diagnosis. So for me the intermittent fasting seems to be the key to better glucose control, even if not to weight loss. I still don't think I'd pass an OGTT test though, not that I'm bothered about that as I think low carb is a much better way of eating for general health and plan on sticking with it regardless.

I think the 15% of initial weight is an estimate and the loss of pancreatic fat is the primary factor.

 

[DCUKMod]

@Tannith - I certainly agree that the quoted 15% weight loss goal is something of an arbitrary figure, apparently an average, based upon a small sample of study participants' ND results.

As @bulkbiker suggests, for some suggest a greater amount of weight loss is required to reach, or get significantly closer to their personal blood glucose targets. Infuriatingly, as is the case with almost all things diabetes related, there are also others, like Richard Doughty, whose objectives are achieved with a very modest weight shift.

Richard's initial story can be found here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2013/may/12/type-2-diabetes-diet-cure , with an update, update about 3 years later, here: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/apr/23/diabetes-can-you-really-eat-to-beat-it

Personally, I never focused on weight loss at any stage along the way. I wanted my blood numbers to come down, so concentrated on eating to my meter's guidance but got skinny quickly anyway.

How much did I lose? I have no idea. I didn't weigh myself prior to embarking on dietary changes. Being someone who once upon a time, (what feels like) a lifetime ago, suffered from an eating disorder and who genuinely feared I could get unhealthily hooked on weight loss again, it just didn't seem worth it to me. Additionally, at that time (late 2013), there was much less, almost universal, suggestion that T2s could be quite so materially impacted by trimming up.

Almost 4 months after diagnosis, on returning to the UK, my HbA1c was 37 (from 73), and I had few clothes that still fitted even close to well. My finger prick tests had been reading as with in "normal, non-diabetc" range very shortly after I started testing. To be clear, this was before anyone had the benefit of the Libre to catch any unexpected spikes, troughs or timing issues, relative to the usual testing regimes.

I can't be any more accurate that that, as having updated my phone to iOS11 today, but iBGStar app needs to be updated by the developer to be iOS11 compatible. Yes. That's what I call irritating!

 

[Tannith]

I actually lost a fair bit of weight very quickly, which really surprised me! But it didn't happen when I first started reducing carbs, it was a couple of months later when I started the Atkins diet induction stage (on GPs advice), and I went down to 20-25g carbs a day for several weeks and the weight just fell off me. I certainly wasn't expecting this and wasn't weighing myself so it was only when i got some comments about losing weight that I cottoned on! I'm not sure of actual figures now but I was around 18 stone , (115 kilos) and lost just over 20 kilos in those few weeks, ending up at 95 kilos where I more or less stayed for over three years then finally lost another couple of kilos at the beginning of this year. So I believe I actually lost over 15%. My glucose levels had already come down to just on pre-diabetic when I started dieting, but I didn't have a further HbA1c check for several month at which point I was down to 40, and I've remained fairly close to that since then. Although I was using a meter at that point I hadn't a clue about predicting/guesstimating HBA1c results from meter averages (which I do now using the Diabetes.co.uk converter), but I'm always higher than that suggests... I gradually went back up to eating a maximum of 50g carbs a day, and the only exercise I do as a clapped out old lady is some rather erratic housework and occasional short walks. As I've said elsewhere, I spent most of my younger years being underweight, so I don't consider myself to be a fat person, and as long as my glucose levels remain reasonably low and nice and stable, I'm content.

But I don't believe it should matter how long it takes, it's not a competition or race and not everyone has the same issues to deal with - a pre-diabetic will probably get there faster that someone who have been well and truly diabetic for some time. It's never going to be an equal field and so for some people it will always be harder (or easier) than for others: there's a support thread for those who really struggle to lose any weight at all.

Robbity

How do you calculate HbA1c from meter averages? Do you average the am FBG's?

 

[wolfie53]

How long did people take on low carb to lose the 15% or so of their weight necessary to bring BG back to normal? And how low did your carbs have to go?

It took me 17 weeks I just stopped eating bread pasta potatoes and stopped beer and moved to drinking Rioja My Hb1Ac came into pre diabetes in 3 weeks and since Jan down to 36-38. I'm off meds and happy with diet. I don't crave any food but still want to lose another 10 lbs so trying the 16:8 intermitting fasting. 1 was 17st 2 lbs 5 Dec 2016 now 14st 2lbs...but still BMI of 25.4 hence wanting to lose 10lbs to get under 25BMI Finally I didn't really measure carbs but tried to make sure I never had anything that said above 9g carbs per 100g

 

[Rachox]

How do you calculate HbA1c from meter averages? Do you average the am FBG's?

I find the easiest way to get an estimated HbA1c is to record my readings onto the MySugr app, it works it out for me. MySugr said my estimated HbA1c was 34.4 on the day my last test was taken, which had a result of 36, so not far off. If you were to calculate it yourself you'd need an average of all your readings not just your am ones, after all the HbA1c is an average over the whole 8-12 weeks.

 

[Tannith]

T

I find the easiest way to get an estimated HbA1c is to record my readings onto the MySugr app, it works it out for me. MySugr said my estimated HbA1c was 34.4 on the day my last test was taken, which had a result of 36, so not far off. If you were to calculate it yourself you'd need an average of all your readings not just your am ones, after all the HbA1c is an average over the whole 8-12 weeks.

hank you.

 

[Bluetit1802]

I reduced my BMI from 31 to 21 in 9 months (over 30% weight loss), but only 6 months of that was on low carbs. The first 3 months were about 150g of carbs and low fat. (I didn't have a meter then but did keep a food diary). I was eating up to 70g of carbs in the last 6 months. My blood glucose levels dropped, of course, but not to normal levels, so I halved the number of carbs, maintained my new weight and have done so for the last 3 years. I still do not consider myself reversed. One slice of ordinary toast tells me that. I consider myself well controlled.

How do you calculate HbA1c from meter averages? Do you average the am FBG's?

It is all very hit and miss. You need as many readings as you can possibly achieve over a 3 month period. These must include your base line levels (fasting, before meals, bed times etc) and as many post meals as you can manage, at an hour, 90 minutes, 2 hours, 2hrs 30m, 3 hours etc. It is still hit and miss even then as unless you have a Libre you have NO idea what is happening between tests, during sleep, during exercise etc. The HbA1c averages all readings at all times over 2 to 3 months - but then there are the discrepancies depending on how long your red blood cells live!