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How to structure exercise and food?

L

Lucretia9

Member
Hi,

T2. I need this weight gone now. I've been fasting for a while, don't eat until 1200 and ake medication then, i'm down a bit but I need more off.

Decided to try going low carb, but found out lentils are carbs and I've been using black lentils for the vitamins along with spinach and broccoli.

I've seen sites saying exercise when fasting, have carbs before exercise or after, only have carbs when exercising and not when not.

I'm not working, so I cannot afford expensive stuff either.

Any ideas?
 
Lucretia9 said:
Hi,

T2. I need this weight gone now. I've been fasting for a while, don't eat until 1200 and ake medication then, i'm down a bit but I need more off.

Decided to try going low carb, but found out lentils are carbs and I've been using black lentils for the vitamins along with spinach and broccoli.

I've seen sites saying exercise when fasting, have carbs before exercise or after, only have carbs when exercising and not when not.

I'm not working, so I cannot afford expensive stuff either.

Any ideas?
Click to expand...
Hello @Lucretia9 , and welcome,

Spinach and broccoli are fine, as are other above ground, non-starchy veg, like cauliflower. Lentils are indeed carby, which would drive up your blood glucose and potentially keep you from shedding weight. Do you have a meter?

Usually, changing your diet has a bigger impact than exercise does, so going low carb should have a decent effect sometime soon, hopefully. If you have a meter you can keep on top of your diabetes, as well as see whether the diet's having the desired effect on your blood glucose levels. Weight should follow suit.

Just avoid the carbs as much as you can manage, provided you're not on insulin or gliclazide and the like. (Metformin and low carbing is fine). Carb-loading before, during or after a work-out works if you don't have a metabolic condition like diabetes... So that's pretty much useless advice. That's part of why I ask whether you have a meter: there is so much advice online, and a lot of it is contradictory. If you see what certain things do to your blood glucose, you can see what advice is sound, and suits you and your metabolism. https://josekalsbeek.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-nutritional-thingy.html deals with the dietary part of it, I'm not very at-home with the whole working-up-a-sweat thing. I am a walker, trying to get to long distance walking, but that's just something I do, not something I know enough about to preach. Others here would be able to help though, I'm sure.

Good luck!
Jo
 
I have a meter but no strips, I've been skint for 2 years and still am a bit.

I'm not on metformin any more, just jardiance. I'm also on Thiamine because I consistently get deficiencies so I need B vitamins. I do take a multivitamin and cod liver oil.

As for the lentils, I've using a "cup" 120ml in my case (I think) to bulk out things like pasta sauce and chilli and curry. i.e. last week made a veg curry with lentils, cutting out the brown pasta/rice.

I would also add, that over the last week, I've not been that hungry and apart from a takeaway, I've probabl;y eaten way below whatever calories I should be.
 
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Lucretia9 said:
I have a meter but no strips, I've been skint for 2 years and still am a bit.

I'm not on metformin any more, just jardiance. I'm also on Thiamine because I consistently get deficiencies so I need B vitamins. I do take a multivitamin and cod liver oil.

As for the lentils, I've using a "cup" 120ml in my case (I think) to bulk out things like pasta sauce and chilli and curry. i.e. last week made a veg curry with lentils, cutting out the brown pasta/rice.

I would also add, that over the last week, I've not been that hungry and apart from a takeaway, I've probabl;y eaten way below whatever calories I should be.
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You might want to replace the lentils with cauliflower then... I use ready made cauliflower rice because I will wreck my kitchen if I rice it myself, but a head is cheap and if you can mince it yourself, should be able to fill the void lentils leave in your diet.

As for the Jardiance, it can make you go too low on a low carb diet from what I understand from the leaflet, so do be careful as long as you're not testing. Not sure though, but just making sure you're aware you might get a tad low. And keep in mind that you don't have to cut calories, just carbs.... Don't starve yourself. Unless you're perfectly fine fasting; some here just have one meal a day, but then it is a very nutrition-dense meal with lots of protein, fats, vitamins and minerals.
 
Here is a quote from Dr Jason Fung's book 'The Obesity Code':
"Diet and exercise are not fifty-fifty partners like macaroni and cheese. Diet is like Batman abd exercise is Robin. Diet does 95 percent of the work and deserves all the attention; so logically it would be sensible to focus on diet. Exercise is still healthy and impoetant. It has many benefits, but weight loss is not among them. Exercise is like vrushing your teeth. It is good for you and should be done every day. Just don't expect to lose weight."

He is one of probably the majority of doctors who say this.

Personally, I still stick to the rgime I used to get into T2 Diabetes remission, which is low carb and intermittent fasting without cutting calories (so eating more fat to make up for calories in the carbs I have cut. Plus I aim to have a 30min brisk walk (can talk but not sing) on average 5 days per week.
 

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I don’t and never have done much exercise- it just doesn’t appeal to me, I am active in my day and do walk a little bit but I’ve never done any actual recognised exercise such as gym, running, ball games etc. I lost over 11st coming up 14 years ago after my diagnosis all done without exercise, just cutting carbs out. I do have to keep an eye on calories now especially those from dairy - there’s a saying you can’t outrun a bad diet which certainly applied to me
 
All my weight loss happened without any exercise whatsoever. I restarted exercising only after I'd lost enough weight not to injure myself (and others). I focused on reducing carbs to around 20g/day, and didn't (and don't) concern myself with calorie intake at all.

These days I play football 2-3 times each week and stay active on days when I don't play - nothing formal, just walking about, housework, gardening etc. Plus a weekly pilates session which is mainly stretching and conditioning. That's mainly because I enjoy doing all that, there's a social aspect to the football etc, not for other reasons. Bodyfat is still reducing much more slowly than before but I'm regaining muscle.
 
Lucretia9 said:
Can I buy strips without paying vat? I have a nhs prescription card. I asked the doctor and they didn't know.
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You can, you will need to fill in a form declaring you are eligible for VAT relief, either at the pharmacy or from the online shop where you are buying your strips from
 
Lucretia9 said:
But what about doing exercise? When? What?
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Whenever it suits, and whatever works for you. Something slow over a longer period of time usually brings down blood glucose, like taking a long walk. Something strenuous might cause a liver dump, so working up a sweat could mean a spike. The main thing is what you eat. Anything you do physically, is an added bonus. So, say, you have a meal and go for a walk afterwards, you'd bring down whatever raise the food might've caused faster than without the walk. No idea whether that really answers the question though... But for me, the walks are all I can do, so I stick with those.
 
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