Is weight loss harder for insulin users?

[Sanober]

I recall the days when a couple of weeks of intense excerise helped me to get results quickly, I used to be a size 8 once, but am sure as many women my weight can fluctuate throughout the years.

Last year my exercise levels decreased as I was feeling tired and unmotivated, eventually I became iller and iller and doing less exercise but people were commenting that I was losing weight. After 2 months of no exercise what so ever (I had an op to remove an ovarian cyst) I came into an exercise class and a few regulars commented that I had lost weight, I just thought it was the diminished bloating after the endometriois had been removed etc.

Two months later, I was throwing my size 12 trousers/tops into the back of the cupboard because they had gotten so baggy and happily putting on size 10 clothes so I was feeling pretty chuffed as they were loose on me too! I was low carbing too because eating carb made me feel terrible anyway and I was still awaiting formal diagnosis.

I was put on insulin and admit I was eating more normally and even then it wasn't vast quantity of food to be honest. However soon my size 10 was getting tight and back up to size 12 and my tummy felt a bit more "pillowy" I thought (I now inject the Novo into my arms).

So I've been rigourously exercising for the past 3 weeks now and it's taken a heck a lot of effort to start to feel a bit more toned again. This week's been very intense (I go on holiday on Tuesday) Last night I did Zumba then Boot camp (sweating and testing every 10-20mins and drinking juice it was great to maintain glucose froem 5 - 7 throughout)

Today I was at Zumba. Wed was rest, Tues I ran 3miles and Mon I walked around 5/6miles and Sunday I did 20 odd miles on the exercise bike....I LOVE that I have so much energy back :thumbup: and get a real buzz from exercising (like I used to three years ago),

What I'm getting at is, I feel it's taking a lot more effort this time to shift the pounds and tone up my stomach...

is this typical for insulin users? I'm also keeping carbs between 50 -100g a day for 3 weeks and my calories overall are around 800-1300 per day.

Only 10g -30g carb max breakfast
Lunch is lettuce, beans, chicken/hummous/tuna
Maybe the odd snack here and there at 10g
Dinner can be about 20-50g carb

And wine here and there

Is this typical for insulin users??

 

[Mileana]

I have no real problem losing weight on insulin. I will normally reduce my insulin before exercise to try to keep away the hypo's, instead of eat to get the level up - it is a bit of a balance for me still, but I generally manage.

If you reduce your carbs a bit more, it will be easier to lose weight as you would then need a bit less insulin and insulin really is a master at storing fat. Personally, I'm not a fanatic, but I am carb-conscious, I suppose.

For me, beans and hummous count as carbs - they may or may not for you.

I would turn up the protein intake a bit, tweak down the carbs a bit too, remember that you are also just getting started so you may be building muscle a bit instead of exactly losing over-all weight. And then try to reduce your insulin (if you know how and are comfortable and exercise is around 1 hour after eating time or so) by perhaps 25 percent for a start, see if you can avoid or delay the carb-replacement around exercise.

You have to feel confident that you'll manage and not do it only on my advise - and do keep some carbs (juice etc) close by until you know how you react.

I do find over all that the less insulin I can get away with injecting, the better off I am on the weight front.

Hope that advice is worth a bit although I really cannot tell you how your body works

 

[Sanober]

I'm also keeping carbs between 50 -100g a day for 3 weeks and my calories overall are around 800-1300 per day.

Hi there, thanks for responding. I'm already on a restricted calorie intake per day and 50g-100g is pretty low carb I thought, considering I'm size 12 aiming to get to size 10 at least (size 8 would be a bonus but am not going to be crazy about this).

For me hummous/beans have very little affect oddly enough. I'm not full blown T1 yet, I'm LADA so perhaps this is why I don't need to cover. I agree that I need to up the protein far more and I do really need to get my muscles stronger, so thanks for pointing that out.

My upper body strength is rubbish although getting better as starting to do press ups now each day as well.

I also have a peculiar thing where I can't reduce my insulin to carb intake as I spike drastically...it's as if I need every bit of insulin to cover the carbs I take.

So I just check my glucose before exercise and work out how much insulin I have from my previous meal and take a snack which isn't really more than 100 calls usually, considering the intensity of exercise I can be burning between 300- 1000 calls :clap: s

So I still don't understand why it's taking me longer to shift the podge. I do have an immense amount of energy so that's a key difference this time. I've not had that much energy in years, interestingly.

Perhaps my memory is poor and/or I'm just being very impatient. My brother actually commented today that I looked slimmer

Do you mind me asking what weight you are, how much you've lost over what time on insulin and what carb intake you have per day on average?

 

[Mileana]

I am overweight at just about 16 stone. Down from 23 stone at the start, I think.

Currently losing around 10 lbs a month. Putting on quite a bit of muscle too, really.

My scales is kilo's based - I was 112 when I started on insulin towards the end of April, today it says 102.

That's minus 10kg or 22lbs in around 2 months with is slightly above recommended.

My goal weight because I am quite muscular and have excess skin to deal with is currently around 80 kg, then I will see how that looks and feels and what docs say about surgery for my 'flap', lol.

My blood sugar is normally around 4.5-6.5, so I shouldn't be losing it to rapid ketone problems.

I try to stay around 40-50g carbs, sometimes I will go to around 100 if I really want something or if I'm out and it would be hassle. I will test for ketones now and then, it is a bit on-off whether there are any or not, which perfectly fits with what I expected on this diet.

My calories are low too - less than 1500 certainly on most days.

When I can, I walk for an hour a day if not more. I do weight lifting and cardio things about 3 times a week with a bit of swimming, running and cycling when that fits in. Probably active around 2 hours a day, I suppose on average.

I find that intense exercise where I will feel very out of breath or spent afterwards will make blood glucose rise slightly, then drop rather a lot a few hours later. If I do something moderate where I will not feel strained, but keep it up for a good while, it will make my blood sugar go down more gently and hardly ever too low. I find that if I can 'wake up' a muscle group with a few hard sets of weights, they will work better at glucose lowering - I always tend to try that with my hand weights in the morning when my insulin resistance is highest - those 10 minutes are well spent for me.

I think you may be doing it fine and just need a tad more patience. Get out the good old measuring tape and measure waist, thighs, upper arms etc and see in a couple weeks. Muscle is heavier than fat anyway, so it may be a better way of measuring for the moment.

Hope this info is useful.

 

[Sanober]

Thanks so much, very insightful.

and CONGRATS!!!! On your weight loss, incredible results.

I agree with you, for me I'm now 9st 11lbs before my weight dropped to 9st 7lbs from a previous 10st 5lb (so dropped about a stone within I think around 3 months but more notably dropping without exercise for 2 months of that)

Since insulin I'm up 4lbs from December so all things considered, I can bring that back down and you're right it's patience I need here.

I'm still in healthy weight range but I recall the uber fit days a few years back when I was less than 8 and a half stones and managed to shed 2 stones within 7mths - so I just need to be patient and keep up the exercise and lower carb/cals. I've packed my skipping rope and trainers (will be walking a lot I hope).

 

[noblehead]

Both exercise and cutting back on the calories in my food was enough to shift my excess weight. I think looking back getting to grips with my insulin to carb ratio's was a stepping stone also by reducing the amount of hypo's I was experiencing.....less hypo's......less food.... less calories, it certainly is harder losing weight when using insulin but it is not impossible!

 

[Sanober]

Thanks Nigel

Hypos is something I wondered about, I was told quick acting sugar then 10g snack, so there were days I was going under glucose level of 4 around 1 - 4 times a day, and guaranteed this would happen during exercise.

Since I read the Using Insulin book, I am really getting much less hypos which is great news (I only had 1 only hol at 3.6) and for me personally, I'm strictly programming my brain to be patient and use the 1 -2 Jelly babies rather than reach out for a biscuit (it's the hypo hunger pangs that are very hard!). I am so sensitive to blood glucose fluctuations that it's easier for me to stick to the minimal correction required.

I have a better understanding about my total daily insulin amount and it's spot on for me. With increased regular exercise the book suggests with more efficient use of the insulin I will be able to drop down (but am rather low amount already I suppose as I'm T1.5)

So now I'm back from my holiday, I have a beer belly to shift!