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How low do you go................with carbohydrates.

P

Pasha

Expert
Messages
8,558
Location
Middle East
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Other
Interesting to see the different carbohydrate levels per day people here consume to keep BG low and weight stable.

I have recently dropped from 25 to 20 grams net /day , how about you ?
 
I started at 126g a day, reduced to 96g then down to 75g then settled on 60g which I followed for the last 4 or 5 months. I am currently 50g to 60g daily. That seems to be my upper limit, but difficult to go lower because I still portion control bread and potatoes. My HbA1c has reduced each 3 months but slowly. If I went hard core I wouldn't sustain it forever, so personally for me, it's slow but sure.
 
I don't know what I started off at as when I was diagnosed I just cut out all sugary food, then later cut down on starchy stuff when I realised that that was likely to be trouble too. I hadn't at that point come across the concept of actually monitoring my carbohydrate consumption. When I first started seriously on a low carb, weight loss diet, I went down to around 20g carbs a day. I later increased this to around 25-30 as I wanted to include some fruit in my diet again. Now it's probably around 30-50g a day but I'll go back a bit lower as I want (need!) to lose more weight; being practical though I'll wait till after Christmas!

I've kept my weight stable for around six months, but my glucose levels are a bit higher than I'd like although for the most part they're fairly stable too.

I definitely wouldn't want to remain too low as I think I'd need to start taking supplements to make sure I was getting all the nutrients I need, and I'd prefer to get them from "real" food!

Robbity
 
if you are doing the atkins induction phase..it's fine
if you can only tolerate 20g a day without spiking high, I would see the Dr about meds or more meds, you need a bit of room before you spike high
 
I am having <30g carbs a day, this is because I have lots of weight to lose. My BG's stay good at a higher level than this but I fail to lose weight then.
 
I have under 30 a day; 0 for breakfast, 5-15 for lunch and 5-15 for supper.

A few extra from cups of coffee at work where I don't use cream.

Best

Dillinger
 
I spent a long time (guessing at several years?) at about 80-100 g (that's another guess, because I didn't know how to carb count or have a meter, in those days)
But that just stopped me gaining.
Most of the time.

Then this last year I dropped to 40-60g which led to very very slow weight loss.
BG was 6-8 mmol/l most of the time.
Felt ok, but not great.

Then I did nearly 3 months at 20-30g
Weight loss speeded up.
BG usually 5-6.5 mmol/l most of the time and never above 7.0mmol/l
Felt great - better than for years!

I'm now around 30-40 g and hoping that's a workable compromise.

I have, however, recently realised that grains in any form spike me excessively. Wheat is the worst.
So in future, so long as I stay grain free, I may be able to nudge the carbs up a bit. Hopefully. :happy:
 
AnnieC said:
Is that because 20g is all you can tolerate ?
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Yes AnnieC, 25 is OK except for some spikes in the FBG. Thats the reason I am trying out 20. I have already tried out 15 ,the results were excellent but far to restrictive to maintain over time, at least for me.
 
Pasha to be honest hats off to you, I could not survive on that less carbs a day and I have also seen this that last night I had veggies baked like cheese cauli and I put a spoon of flour in it but made enough that I was full in half of it so I probably had negligible carbs and my bg was almost constant and when I do have about 20 to 30g in a meal, after two hours I am about half a point up so I do take that much if I am craving for carbs, I also take carbs for lunch and dinner but after both I normally walk for about 30 mins, after dinner its more like stroll in the house or do house work as its just too damp and cold now to go outside for a walk, Cant wait for summers to come back again.
 
@ brettsza

Perhaps a number of factors help me, I am more than twice your age which makes things far easier. Its not so cold in the middle east, its winter here but the temp was 26 d of c today and we eat far more fresh vegetables in our diet I think. Also I have heart disease and need to keep in the correct weight range for blood pressure etc etc. I must admit that I envy your long summer evenings.
 
Oh yes our summers are wonderful but they dont last too long and even in summers some days can get cold and windy and rainy but still much better than winters where its dark at 4PM :(
 
Typically I eat around 30-40g of carbs a day, but on exceptions I get up to 100g. Typically my exercise is in the gym using weights and this seems to work okay.
 
When I started LCHF I was doing between 20 -30g per day...BG 's in the 5's, it's crept up and occasionally goes up to 70 + g . Those days my BG is up around the 10 , highest ever spike was 12.8 .

I keep promising myself to get back on the wagon....weekends are worse :-(
 
I'm a low carb person the lower the better. I don't carb count, as when I did I got frustrated at working out the amount that would get me on track and not spike me.
I eat to my metre and I don't eat carbs, I just don't eat spuds, rice, pasta, etc. the only carbs I get is from the veg I eat in my salads!
I don't now get my symptoms and I am in control, I don't spike or hypo!
 
I think I'm the extreme now with less than 10 gram per day including coffee. Started first with low GI then about 2,5 y ago LCHF with less then 20-25 gram per day, got liberal last winter and spring and started this very low carb about 6-7 months ago. Easier than you think and loosing weight still app 15/20 lbs to my goal.
 
modesty007 said:
I think I'm the extreme now with less than 10 gram per day including coffee. Started first with low GI then about 2,5 y ago LCHF with less then 20-25 gram per day, got liberal last winter and spring and started this very low carb about 6-7 months ago. Easier than you think and loosing weight still app 15/20 lbs to my goal.
Click to expand...
Wow - how do u do that? That's fab!
 
Medusa41 said:
Wow - how do u do that? That's fab!
Click to expand...
Only have one meal per day, start my morning with bullet/fat coffee (coffee, butter and coconut oil well mixed) a coffee in the afternoon with jersey cream and coconut oil , then in the evening my dinner a meat or fish with butter or bearnaise/hollandaise sauce and a small portion of vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, salad or fermented cabbage or mouli) , some cheese for dessert (usually no carbs in the cheese), today I'm going to have some tuna (tin) and mix it with mayonnaise and 2 tbsp chopped red onion, a couple of boiled eggs and an avocado, probably some cheese.
 
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