How much weight to loose

Hi Geoff

Sound like you've done really well. Your levels are looking fine.

At a BMI of 25 you are JUST "normal" so right on the borderline of being overweight.

When you measured your waist did you just base it on what waist size you buy for clothes? If so it's a bit worse as you are supposed to measure around the biggest part of your stomach and get that under 38". If you did that and your are under 38" excellent as that is a better predictor of problems than BMI.

On the GTT test. If as part of your getting better plan you restricted your carbohydrates (cut out sugar and lots of starch carbs like rice, pasta, bread, potatoes, cereals) then your GTT may not be accurate until you have eaten at least 150g of carbs per day for more than 3 days.

Whatever the case I would keep testing now and then just to make sure things are still all ok.

For comparison that 6.5 after 2 hours reading means you are getting a score that 19 out of 20 non diabetics manage. If you reduce it further to 5.5 after two hours then you will be where only 15 out of 20 non diabetics manage but so long as you never regularly exceed 7.8 after two hours you should be pretty safe so going and aiming lower is just a personal choice.

I also want to lose weight, who can tell me a good way to lose weight?

Hi Cathy Jane

Have a look at Viv's Modified Atkins Diet in the Sticky Thread section. If you follow that you will lose weight, improve your blood glucose readings and also your blood pressure and cholesterol. The diet may be a bit extreme for you; if you want to add in a few more carbs, do so using a Carb Counter book until you reach a level you are comfortable with. Go for low carb and low GI fruit and veg for your add-ons. Personally I wouldn't go over about 75g a day if you want a reasonable weight loss.

If you blood sugar levels are very high, you might need to cut the carbs less drastically (say to 100g to 150g daily). Your weight loss will be much slower, and your blood glucose readings will come down more slowly too, but dropping your BGs from pretty high to a good level too quickly can cause damage to diabetics sometimes. You can always speed up a bit later, as things start to improve.

If you could post your blood glucose readings on here (say, before and 2 hours after your main meal) we could maybe help a little more. Also a list of what you eat during the day so we could advise how to tweak your meals a bit. Also if there's anything that affects what you can and can't eat.

If you have not been given a blood glucose meter, you could ask your doctor for one. Say you want to take control of both your weight and your diabetes, and that you need to find out how different foods affect your blood glucose so that you can work out a balanced diet. Many practices don't give out meters to Type 2s, but they really are essential. If you can't get a meter and strips on prescription, you could buy one. There's lots of discussion on here about the best types, so read around.

Finally - anything most of us on here post comes from our own experience; very few of us are medically qualified, but many of us are well-informed and have years of experience behind us. It's always a good idea to talk to your doctor before making any great changes.

You can do it!

Viv 8)

Hi Geoff

Luckily now I've trained them into accepting my weird low carb ways my GP and DSN are very supportive. If you get control of your levels, lose some weight etc. and do really well I suspect most HCP's will take the attitude that if its working supporting the patient seems the most sensible thing! Saying that I did visit a specialist DSN "Nurse Nightshade" who I'm still convinced did try to kill me. Anyway I now have an HbA1c better than hers. After seeing her beating her hBA1c turned into one of my primary goals.

A lot of that weight does end of around the stomach if you are diabetic. I have lost 10" off my jeans size in 6 months not because my hips are necessarily a lot thinner but simply from losing it off my stomach. So currently I can get into 32" jeans but have a stomach measurement of 38". I would really love to get back to the 28" waist I had in my youth but will settle for 30"

The waist measurement stuff comes from DUK

a) White people aged over 40 years and people from black (including people of African-Caribbean origin), Asian and minority ethnic groups aged over 25 with one or more of the risk factors below:

a first degree family history of diabetes and/or
overweight/obese/morbidly obese with a BMI of 25 kg/m2 and above, with a sedentary lifestyle and/or
waist measurement > 94cm (> 37 inches) for white and black men, and > 90cm (> 35 inches) for Asian men, and > 80cm (> 31.5 inches) for white, black and Asian women.

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I would guess the DUK recommendations stem from this 2005 study

http://www.ajcn.org/content/81/3/555.full.pdf+html

It's conclusions at the time can be summarised as follows

http://EzineArticles.com/73149

Many opinions say that men should have a waist size of less than 40 inches to help prevent developing of health problems such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. But recent medical observations say the cutoff for a man's waist size may need to be lowered to 34 inches. As waist size climbed above this level, type 2 diabetes risk rose progressively, as follows:

waist size of 34 to 36 doubled diabetes risk.
waist size of 36 to 38 inches nearly tripled the risk.
waist size of 38 to 40 inches was associated with five times the risk.
waist size of 40 to 62 inches was associated with 12 times the risk.

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It also says how you should do the measuring

Measuring your waist circumference is a simple way to help you identify the risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. If you want to do it, note first that it is something different to belt size and follow this procedure:

take off your shirt and loosen your belt,
then place a tape measure around the waist at a point 1cm below your tummy button,
take care to measure the waist circumference with the abdomen relaxed, while breathing out.

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. . . then place a tape measure around the waist at a point 1cm below your tummy button,

Click to expand...

1cm below my tummy button is the top of my hips :shock: . My waist is about 1.5cm above my tummy button.

I realise we're talking about men in the article quoted. Is this a gender thing? A new sex-test for the Olympics? Waist above navel - female. Waist below navel - male. :lol: :wink:

Viv 8)

The Calorie calculator most allows you to calculate how many calories you should eat daily in order to lose a certain amount of weight by a certain date and time. Calorie calculator can fix your body balance.

Geoff
they say that losing 10% of your body weight makes a huge difference
I've lost nearer 20% and I'm keeping going until my BMI gets down to 25, I've decided.
I've come down out of the 30s and in to the 20s, but at 25, I'd be content.
Hana

Hi I'm new to the forums and so apologies if this is the wrong place to post a new topic!
Don't know where else to begin a new thread.
My weight is all around my waist and tummy, it doesn't seem to move away no matter whether my weight's decreasing.I'm 60 and a lady so praps it's normal, but my Doc is keen to see it gone!
Help please!