Insulin and weight gain?

Could you try something like this for a week or two?

Have eggs and bacon for breakkie or greek yoghurt (full fat) with a few berries or dry-roasted almond splits?

Have salad at lunch - include a good source of protein like tuna, meat. Stick to lettuce, green pepper, cucumber, half a tomato, perhaps a bit of onion. Add a bit of cheese or an oil/vinegar dressing.

Have Veg and meat/fish/egg for dinner.

For snacks, try a small amount of almonds (10 or so), bite sized cheeses, salami sticks, raw veg like cucumber, peppers, carrots if you tolerate them.

If you feel hungry, eat a bit more protein than you perhaps do (unless you have kidney problems or something else preventing it). If you do strength exercise, try a bit of protein afterwards instead of (perhaps) carb snacks - it will help your muscles more as the body can convert a certain bit of it to glucose, but a lot slower. Of course do this only when you are not super low after exercise.

Don't be too scared of fat. In the insulin/sugar equation, fat doesn't really have an effect, it is not often fat that makes you fat, but rather the excess insulin used to cope with sugars, which then stores the sugar if it isn't used.

Be a bit careful with your insulin for a bit while you adjust further - keep an eye on blood sugar until you know if you go low/adjust dose down.

Use common sense while adjusting so you stay safe, but I think the fruit, cereal and cereal bars are the main problems for you - my lowest cereal bar I have found has been 15g carb on it's own, cereal is high in carb and fruit has fructose (carb).

I have gone down to about 30-40g carb per day on insulin - it takes a little bit of tampering and perhaps a slower start (which it sounds like you have also done for a while).

Besides, you may want to also consult a measuring tape - muscles are more dense than fat, so you might find a toning effect taking place which would explain at least some of the standstill. Waist, thighs, upper arms etc measurements once a week might keep you more motivated if this is the case.

Good Luck.

The trick for me at the moment is to allow myself some treats sometimes, and cover them properly with insulin of course. But in general, I stick to the plan.

You do know your carb/insulin ratio, right?

Have you had a thyroid check recently - if you avoid most carbs and put on weight still, there may be a clue that way around, come to think of it...

Hi Rebecca,

I have exactly the same problem! I've been diabetic since I was a child. When I reached the age of 14 or so it really started to bother me that I would put weight on so easily. The better controlled my sugars the harder it became to lose weight.

Anyway, I'm near 30 now and, although I still put wright on easily if I let myself, things are a lot easier. I try and stick to low GI foods ad they jeep me feeling fuller for longer sonic less likely to pick. In terms of calories, I usually have 1,200 or less a day. That's just the level I find I need to maintain to avoid putting on weight. I do a lot of exercise also. It's not always easy, but I manage to stay at a size 8 or so.

Unfortunately insulin can make you prone to putting on weight. It's normally the more you use the more you gain. If you can get your insulin requirements down, perhaps by trying low carb diets, you should see an improvement.

Em

How much insulin do you inject Rebecca?

Hi rebecca.. are you sure about your 60g carbs per day.. it's just that a bowl of special k and milk is 21+9 in my little book, so half your intake..

Although you don't mention your basal dose your humalog daily dose at 6 units is extremely low and would be very surprised if this would cause you weight gain, perhaps you should see your gp and discuss this with them as it may not be diabetes related.

Rebecca.. said:

Sorry, my basal is 16 units of Lantus which i take at 6pm. If i reduce this any more i end up with high levels in the morning, i am going to my diabetes clinic this afternoon so i am hoping to get some answers from there, if not i will go to my gp.

Thank you

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Still relatively a low dose and less than what I take (TDD 34 units) so do mention it this afternoon.

Rebecca.. said:

Can different types of Insulin have different affects on people?

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I good question to ask the consultant Rebecca

Did you manage to get any good advice/answer from the health professionals? I was just looking forward to reading how you had got on and there were no more posts!! Although I am type 2 I am on insulin (humalog 25) and also suffering with a large weight increase (and I already have more than enough!). :cry:

Jude

I'm not an insulin user, but husband is and he's put on loads of weight over the years. I'd suggest you look at Bernstein's book and try the "doctrine of small numbers" I don't make promises, but Logically, it should work
Hana

I hate the weight gain that comes with insulin, but even more the fact that you're then told off if you've put on weight by the docs!
It would be interesting to know if there are any slim insulin users on here who aren't on low carb diets

It could be that you're not suited to the insulin you're on. Certain ones do make it more difficult to lose/more likely to gain than others. My only really successful diet was due to depression and consisted of 5 satsumas and 7 cups of tea in a day. Not a recommended long term one but it did shift the weight. I find that low carb usually helps because I'm more focused on the great effect it has on my blood sugar and less on the lbs so I don't feel deprived which is the killer to all weight loss programmes. Also you can have instant gratification from a good blood sugar rather than waiting to the end of the week to find out you've lost or gained lbs.