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I'm doing very well on low carb. I'm just wondering will my weight just level out.

yorkshirelad27

Member
Messages
23
Hi all, it is a while since I've posted. Thanks to the lovely and helpful advice from this forum, I've been doing low carb/ketogenic since I was diagnosed in January with type 2 diabetes. This has helped in two respects, the most important that my blood sugars are more stable and secondly that I have lost three stone in weight now. People ask me how my diet is going but I have to reinforce it is not a diet but a way of eating now I'm diabetic. I will continue to eat like this as I feel so much better.

As a bonus, other health problems seem to be improving. I don't suffer with IBS any more, my skin is in better condition and I feel active and awake. I was wondering, will my weight just reach a certain level and that will be my optimum weight. I would presume this will happen. Thanks once again for all your help and on a funny note, my practice nurse and pharmacist both told me to eat starchy carbs and it just shows how far behind the medical and health practitioners are in this county.
 

Very well done on your progress! I often say my type 2 diagnosis was a blessing in disguise as choosing to low carb for that has had so many other benefits. I have lost a shed load of weight but still have one more stone to go. Others have found once they reach their desired weight they have to up the fats a bit to stop losing too much. I’ll tag in @Goonergal and @shelley262 as they are in the maintenance phase.
 
I went from 14st 7lbs to 11st 7lbs in about 6 months of adopting a moderately low carb diet. I haven't changed the diet but I am still the same weight nearly 3 years later.
 
Glad to hear that you continue to thrive. There is a hypothesis called Personal Fat Threshhold (PFT) put forward to explain why our bodys find a weight that is personally optimal, it makes sense to me as I was losing more weight than I wanted (or thought I needed) to lose but the weight loss slowed and stopped seemingly without much conscious effort.
 
Yes. Your body should find its optimal biological weight and will maintain it by appetite. It won’t let you just continue losing weight until you’re a skeleton unless you have some other serious underlying condition. Trust nature. A good example is that I actually gained weight in ketosis but have been stable for over a year without ever counting a calorie or macro pie charts

And well done!
 
It is a fantastic feeling when you have weight stabilised, you can then play if you like with different scenarios. So in my case I have tried additional cardio, multi-day fasting, less fat, more protein, heavier weights, more sleep and now I am actually going to optimise my food choices, as I don't really need 4 pancakes.

So I like 15,000 steps a day, heavy weights, family size meal plus around a third more meat / fish protein, more sleep, family time, as many saunas as I can fit in.
 
I lost nearly 3 stone and it just stayed stable after that.. I’d like a little more but I rarely vary by more than a lb or two either way now. I’m guess some extra effort is required to change the status quo now. But I do like it’s self maintaining.
 
For me personally I lost 5 stone over 6 months - the first 4 stone in 4 months, with the last one taking 2 months so I was slowing down and thought I would plateau out and for a few weeks did seem to stick within a pound or two either side of my goal - I’m at my ideal weight and don’t want to lose more. However I have been exercising more recently and now my weight is dropping again so I am having to up my fats in an attempt to gain a little back and maintain. I’m guessing the extra physical activity is what’s unbalanced me so hope to get the balance right again. I think the key is to keep monitoring. If you don’t plateau naturally and are where you want to be you can make tweaks to your eating to help stabilise your weight loss yourself
 
My weight seems stable, no matter how I try - but I am seeing my shape continuing to change, my waist continuing to reduce, and I think I am becoming more muscular. I can certainly handle the knitting machines I get in for servicing or repair a lot more easily now a days.
 
Well done on what you’ve achieved to date.
Re maintenance it can be a bit hit and miss but I generally tend to lose more than I want - rather than gain - if I change things for example exercise more or fast more. However I have stayed within a few pounds of my low ideal now since last September and I believe my body seems to self regulate with appetite for example when swim a lot I’m hungrier! I also had a go at a longer fast recently for autophagy and found I was hungry for days after losing 2 kgs and did put it back as quickly as I lost the weight I’d lost on the fast. I lost a lot of weight at the beginning that I needed to lose with keto eating mixed with IF but 18 months on from starting I mainly maintain within a few pounds. Hope this helps.
 
@yorkshirelad27 you are doing amazing and good for you. Dont worry too much about weight. When you get to a healthy weight you can tweak things if you have issues.
 
you are doing really well, especially if you are getting conflicting advice. Improved HbA1c and the weight loss are both great news.
 
You are the best judge to decide when your diet has done it's job.
Myself I'd playaround if not the right weight. Diet can make all the difference, for me.

I'm having my stomach reduced to get my bmi 44 body in line.
Low carb only gets the dynamics right for me. I need more from my diet to keep weight off.
Those less overweight find not calorie watching... of no detriment.

We are all different.
 


Yorkshirelad27, well done on the steps you have taken and the progress made.

My input would be that for most folks weight stabilises, but for some, including me, I needed to work on it, or my weight continued to drop.

In making the next statementds, I am assuming you are plotting your weight loss in an App, spreadsheet or notebook? If not, please start doing that now. That allows you to see trends and review results, without the frialty of memory in the mix.

Once you get close to what you have decided is your ideal/target/acceptable weight, have a review of how things are going and what your trend is. If your weigh loss is slowing over the weeks, then you may just plateau. If the loss isn't slowing you are more likely to have to do something about it.

In terms of what you would do? My suggestion would be to up your portion size a bit - focusing on protein and fat, for a couple of weeks, and keep monitoring. If that doesn't do the trick, add in more fats, and again review.

It took me several weeks to stall my losses meaning I ended up slimmer than I set out to be, but I'm now just used to being a scrawny old girl.

Good luck with it all.
 
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