How to start maintaining after weight loss

[Countryside_Yoyo_]

I was diagnosed with pre diabetes in January, and started the LCHF earring shortly after. I've lost (38lbs) of excess weight steadily since then, and now weigh 9 stone 10 (136lbs) from my previous 12 stone 6 (174lbs). I'm female, 5 foot 7 and my BMI is now around 21.5
My FBG's are currently in the 5's although I do still get the occasional reading in the 6's. My carbs are usually around 35g but never more than 50g. My last Hba1c was 39 down from 45. So all good on the stats front.
I feel like I've lost enough weight now, and don't want to lose any more as at my age (55) it isn't particularly flattering when you get too thin. I do feel great eating LCHF, with lots more energy, and want to carry on doing it, but can anyone give me some guidance on how to maintain my weight? My hubby is worried that I've lost too much, so I daren't tell him that I'm still losing a pound a week, despite coffee with cream, eating cheese and nuts as snacks and glugging olive oil over everything. I don't want to increase my carbs much if at all as I've got pretty good control but it still spikes if I have a few more carbs than usual.
I would also like to start intermittent fasting, to see if my FBG can get lower but again, I'm anxious I'll lose even more weight if I do this. Any help gratefully appreciated, thank you

 

[Oldvatr]

I was diagnosed with pre diabetes in January, and started the LCHF earring shortly after. I've lost (38lbs) of excess weight steadily since then, and now weigh 9 stone 10 (136lbs) from my previous 12 stone 6 (174lbs). I'm female, 5 foot 7 and my BMI is now around 21.5
My FBG's are currently in the 5's although I do still get the occasional reading in the 6's. My carbs are usually around 35g but never more than 50g. My last Hba1c was 39 down from 45. So all good on the stats front.
I feel like I've lost enough weight now, and don't want to lose any more as at my age (55) it isn't particularly flattering when you get too thin. I do feel great eating LCHF, with lots more energy, and want to carry on doing it, but can anyone give me some guidance on how to maintain my weight? My hubby is worried that I've lost too much, so I daren't tell him that I'm still losing a pound a week, despite coffee with cream, eating cheese and nuts as snacks and glugging olive oil over everything. I don't want to increase my carbs much if at all as I've got pretty good control but it still spikes if I have a few more carbs than usual.
I would also like to start intermittent fasting, to see if my FBG can get lower but again, I'm anxious I'll lose even more weight if I do this. Any help gratefully appreciated, thank you

There are 3 macronutrient classes - carbs, fat, and protein. On LCHF you decide to limit carbs to a low figure, and that means you can only play arounf with fat and protein. You are already using fat and its not halted the weight loss, so the only one left to try is protein. Body builders use protein, so it is not unheard of, but recent studies show that whey protein is not suitable for diabetics since it seems to stimulate insulin resistance adversely. But if you are an omnivore then you can up both the fat and protein by using fatty lumps of flesh. Vegetarians have less choice for the protein, so tend to up the dairy if they can. Vegans have even less choices.

Be aware that you should not increase the protein intake too much. There is some magic ratio that is recommended, and I think it is about 1g per kg of body weight per day. I am sure someone will correct me here if I am way out on that figure.Too much protein apparently stresses out the kidneys.

One other possibility is to slightly increase the carbs so that you just avoid going keto, and this will stop the fat burning. For me it is one slice of toast in the morning that takes me up to 50g/day, which is how I control my diet. This has a minor effect on my fbgl, but my target HbA1c is only 36, Note that by stopping fat burning in keto, then the fat intake is not being used up, so is more likely to be stored instead.

Of course, these methods I describe are trying to increase fat storage for body weight. Muscles weigh more than fat, so using exercise to convert fat to muscle is also an option. Note that a severe keto diet can lead to muscle burning if taken to extreme (starvation?)

I don't fast myself, so I don't know how it affects weight.

 

[Countryside_Yoyo_]

Thanks for your reply, that's really helpful. It's early days in maintaining my weight, and I'm still finding my feet. I'll just try and up the protein slightly I think, as well as keeping the fat up too, whilst increasing my calories to 1500-1600 per day. My main focus is my BG, it's why I started doing this in the first place. The weight loss is an unexpected bonus.
I'll take on board your suggestions about the exercise, I already walk a lot, but will introduce some weights into my routine to try and tone things up a bit and maybe gain a bit of muscle.
I think I'll let things stabilise a bit before attempting the IF.