How many carbs per day?

There are zero essential dietary carbs.
So you could start from there.
Many people look at low carb as being below 130g per day so maybe 25% in calorie terms.
Personally I got the best results when following a ketogenic diet which is less/fewer than 20g per day.
What are your blood sugars doing do you monitor at home? That's usualy a very good thing to do to show what the food you eat does to you.

Hi there @Belles

Firstly, well done on losing that weight - not easy.

The short answer to your question is there’s no standard ‘number’ of carbs. My own personal view is the fewer the better, but whatever changes you introduce need to be sustainable for you.

The most usual method to understand how many, or which carbs have what impact on your blood sugars is to test before and after eating, so if you don’t already have one, a blood glucose meter is a must.

I’d recommend having a look at the dietdoctor website for useful information on low carb eating, and perhaps post a typical menu or two here for people to assist with suggestions.

Belles said:

Thank you! My nurse actually told me not to bother testing my own sugars at home!

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Did she also recommend driving without checking your speed on the speedo?

Some nurses I'm afraid are a danger to their patients..

I would agree, with the others. Type 2 is a carbohydrate intolerance condition, so it makes sense to have the least amount possible.

If you need ideas on the least damaging carbs let us know.

Belles said:

Honestly, I have had my doubts. She never praises what I’ve lost, just tells me that I need to do better. Also doesn’t offer much advice as to how to lose weight you know?

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Oh yes I know only too well...

Mine told me "T2 is a chronic progressive condition and in the end you'll be using insulin whatever you do"
That was the message I was given. Luckily had found this place already so knew what she said was bunkum (being polite) so proceeded to prove her wrong.

bulkbiker said:

Oh yes I know only too well...

Mine told me "T2 is a chronic progressive condition and in the end you'll be using insulin whatever you do"
That was the message I was given. Luckily had found this place already so knew what she said was bunkum (being polite) so proceeded to prove her wrong.

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As I have said before, same message pretty much that I got

personally, I’m around 150g or less carbs, try for less and it works for me but I seem reasonably carb tolerant compared to some, but that’s still a massive drop from previously

Whether I can keep my new control on those levels is a different matter and need to see over time with hba1c

morning @Belles, I would keep trawling the forums as some really good information comes out too help from the people on here. Likewise I was told by my GP you don't need a meter if you are type II, since realised they are talking gobblededuke!!!

Belles said:

I really do not know much at all in relation to carbs/protein/fat intake etc. I’ve set my carbs at 144g for now, with protein at around 112 which seems a lot and fat at 61g. I Legit have no clue where to look for help on this!

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That's am amount of carbs that perhaps the very best reversed Type 2 might be able to get away with. Assuming you would like to put your Type 2 into possible remission you may need to drop by up to 100%. An easy way to balance out your meals is not to measure initially and focus on the main constituents.

Assuming you are not a Vegetarian or Vegan, put animal proteins first.

• Bacon and Eggs with Greens (optional)
• Sausage and Eggs with tomatoes
• Rotate beef / mince, lamb, venison, chicken, pork (all meats), offal with salad or vegetables (courgettes, greens, brocolli, cauliflower, green beans, radish, celery, any above ground vegetable, mushrooms
• Rotate any fish
• Include dairy if you tolerate around 2 match box sizes or less of cheese, couple to three scoops of full fat Greek / Plain Yogurt (I often do Yogurt, Nuts (not peanuts or cashews) and berries
• For fruit anything ending in berry (maybe 3 or 4 of each e.g. Strawberries, Raspberries), Coconut
• Drinks: Black coffee, teas of any sort, sparkling water, water

Doing the above will drop your blood sugars significantly and possibly put you either into remission or close - some do this in under three months, others take a while longer.

Other tips:

• Research:
  • Food choices are endless, from pancakes to chaffles, flat breads, various cuisines such as Indian, cajun, Chinese (Diet Doctor)
  • Insulin Resistance (Ben Bikman)
  • Cholesterol (Dave Feldman)
  • General (Dr David Unwin, Zoe Harcombe, Eric Westman, Sarah Hallberg
• Eventually eat twice or once a day. If this seems mad, eating like the above forces you to in the end
• Reduce and remove snacking, same as above reason (at the time of writing this response it is midday and I have not eaten yet for around 18 hours, without hunger). I will only eat twice today to get the breadth of food I need to fuel my workouts and muscle mass
• Sleep - this is as important as everything else
• Walk after every meal

There's alot to take in.

Having felt really rather dismal for a while now, my breakfast was a bit of cheese and a tomato as I really miss going out to play music for dancing.
It seems to be perfectly adequate for a day around the house.
In better times I might have several eggs scrambled with butter along with some cheese and a bit of salad, or a stir fry of sweet pepper, mushrooms and courgette or aubergine.
Having found that a very few carbs first thing are the best option for me I can then venture out all day and not worry about food.
In the evening I have a larger meal, but I have no more than 40 gm of carb a day as that gives me normal results. I find that simple things such as cooking slices of swede under the joint or a chicken are a good thing, or boiling it then mashing it with cream make the meal seem more normal somehow.
When I do the swede under a roast I take out the tray and tip the juice out about half way through the cooking, then turn over the slices so the swede gets the benefit of the heat rather than being submerged in warm juices, which are not hot enough to do the trick.

Going above 10 grams a meal takes me to post prandial spike of above 8 mmol, even though i got my a1c from 78 to 30 in three months, perfectly reversed my insulin resistance (did a fasting HOMA-IR <0.7). Even doing all that, if i just eat a bit of extra carbs, BG rises. Probably the genes or the slow first response of insulin, because my fasting still is close to 5 mmol.