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Losing too much weight

Kiggy said:
I have had 1/3 of pancreas removed by Whipple operation, what makes you think I could be type 1. Sorry all new to me.
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Didn't realise that. I was misdiagnosed as T2, lost loads of weight and it turned out I was T1. No point in a low carb diet when I wasn't making any insulin. Misdiagnosis as T2 happens too often for adults.
 
Kiggy said:
Don't always have the time to start cooking. I thought cream would be a definite no no? I have tested the bran flakes 3 times now along with muesli and realise they're not for me.
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Have the cream Make sure it's double cream. I'm a big fan of double cream on top of strawberries (just a few). Whip the cream if you're feeing decadent and then grate (I finally have a use for that small side of the grater!) dark (it's got to be dark - far less carbs) chocolate on top of it. You'd be amazed at how much chocolate you think you're getting when you grate it. I guess that's not really for breakfast though.

Cereal provoked the absolute worse response in me. Which is really upsetting. I love cereal, and it's so easy for breakfast. I've admittedly never done this, but if you're organised, boil some eggs in advance so there is something you can just grab and go. And there are some low carb breads out there - LivLife (I get mine from Ocado) and HiLo bread. It tastes a bit odd though. But it works as a coduit for butter/cream cheese spread if you're in a rush.
 
Circuspony said:
Didn't realise that. I was misdiagnosed as T2, lost loads of weight and it turned out I was T1. No point in a low carb diet when I wasn't making any insulin. Misdiagnosis as T2 happens too often for adults.
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Yes, I've also been mis-diagnosed as some GPs don't understand that T1 can occur at any stage of life. If you are losing weight and tablets don't work then be suspicious of this possibility as the body may be burning fat instead of carbs when there isn't enough insulin.
 
This weight thing - it is a bit of a puzzle to me.

You are (roughly) made up of bone, muscle and fat. If you want to gain weight it is likely to be either muscle or fat.

You can gain muscle by regular exercise and eating enough protein to allow your body to build extra muscle.

You can gain fat quickly by eating carbohydrates which (after your small reserve is filled up) go straight to fat. Eating excess calories of any kind will add to your fat but eating fats and protein is unlikely to spike your blood glucose.

So if you think you are losing too much weight, the first thing is to check you are getting enough exercise and eating enough protein. If your muscles are toned and healthy and you aren't breaking them down because you are not eating enough protein then your muscles are fine.

This leaves fat. If your muscles are fine and you want to gain weight, you are basically saying that you want to gain more fat. Unless you have very minimal body fat - elite athletes go as low as 5% - then why do you want to gain fat? Fat around the organs is one of the big causes of T2 and insulin resistance. Do you want to gain fat because you have checked your body fat percentage and it is too low? Or do you want to gain weight because you feel that you look too skinny? This is where I get confused. If you are naturally a lean build (perhaps you have achieved this after diagnosis) then perhaps the best body composition for you is where your body is settling, not what your friends and the mirror are telling you.

As I rather harshly said in another post, do you want to wrap a couple of kilos of fat around your liver and pancreas to make other people happy?

One big caveat is that a fat reserve can be a life saver if you have an accident or need an operation, so it seems valid to set a level of emergency fat that you would like to carry. Apart from that. skinny is good (says someone who can't manage to get his weight down any further and wishes he could).
 
I thought that those who have had part of the pancreas removed were type 3c diabetics, as they are low in insulin producing cells and so require insulin injections - type twos typically over produce insulin.
All the low carbing is of little use if it is not a typical type two problem.
 

What about brown fat? This is something I havn't looked into in any depth but I miss the brown fat on my buttocks as it was a handy cushion, I am not joking here, it has become uncomfortable.
 
Guzzler said:
What about brown fat? This is something I havn't looked into in any depth but I miss the brown fat on my buttocks as it was a handy cushion, I am not joking here, it has become uncomfortable.
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Yes, I agree. I have no idea what colour my fat is, but sitting for any length of time can be really painful. However my BMI is currently 16 (5'9" 7st10lbs). I have decided not to fret too much abut this, just try hard to maintain, as gaining on a low carb diet seems difficult. I'd really like to put on some more muscle rather than fat.
 
Guzzler said:
What about brown fat? This is something I havn't looked into in any depth but I miss the brown fat on my buttocks as it was a handy cushion, I am not joking here, it has become uncomfortable.
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You and me both kid. I suffer from bony **** syndrome and have to carry a foam mat around with me in my rucksack in case I have to sit on anything hard for a long period.

In my case, the first place the fat goes on is around the waist.

If you deposit fat preferentially on the buttocks and thighs then I think you can carry a lot more padding without putting your internal organs at risk. This may be one reason that a lot of people can be over weight but have no problems; storing fat on buttocks and thighs but keeping a trim waist must be a really good trick. If only.
 
Personally my experience although my blood glucose levels improved greatly when I went low carb my weight didn't drop drastically but my weight did drop drastically when I later developed hyperthyroidism my weight loss was rapid as was the increase in my appetite. You seem to have a healthy appetite if you have other symptoms such as feeling too hot or always feel hungry or hand tremors it might be worth bringing the subject up at your next appointment
 

I think T2s typically over produce insulin prior to and in the early stages of diagnosis.

Diagnosis is often because the pancreas has maxed out and can no longer over produce enough.

This is one reason that rapid weight loss and reversal of Insulin Resistance can effectively reverse T2 if done in time. The pancreas is still fully functional (or nearly so) and once the demand for insulin falls all is fine.

However if you don't catch it in time and your pancreas has reduced insulin production then you are too far down the one way street. If you don't treat your Insulin Resistance then the pancreas fails further, and you are on the long traditional path to insulin injections, via drugs which wring that extra little bit out of a failing pancreas over a short(ish) period.

I had my IR tested and I had low insulin production and mild IR. Difficult to decide what these figures mean because on a keto diet the insulin demand is low so you would expect low insulin production. However I'm pretty sure that I'm not over producing insulin.
 
I think I am in this situation. When admitted to hospital I had a HB1aC of 125 and was put straight on insulin (Novarapid and Lantus). I had high ketones and ultra high blood sugars and apparently was hours away from a fatal coma. Funnily enough I didn't feel ill - just a bit tired. Whereas I am recovering from.a 24 hour virus at the moment and yesterday I felt as though I was truly dying.

The low carb got me off the insulin but I can't really go above 20g carbs if I want to maintain good blood sugar control without injecting insulin. My hope over time is that my pancreas will repair a little and start producing more insulin - I am not expecting a full repair after damaging it so much.

I had been wondering whether to pay to get my insulin and IR tested but suspect that I will be in the same position as you are - as it will be difficult to decide what the results mean because of my keto diet.
 

When you state you "can't really go above 20g carbs if I want to maintain good blood sugar control without injecting insulin", do you mean without insulin or any other diabetes medication, or do you mean something else, because I don't see it as a binary thing. I don't care for medication if I can avoid it, but when it comes to managing T2 diabetes, there are allegedly over 400 medication options available, before insulin is required, if a standard medication escalation ladder is used.

I don't have a link to studies stating those number of variations. It was a statement made by a senior Consultant Endo during a presentation.

For the avoidance of doubt, as examples, Metforming is one option, and further could be Metformin plus one of the Flozin class or whatever, so variations, rather than 400 individual, stand alone drugs.
 
The 20g of carbs and good blood sugar control is without injecting insulin or any other meds.

I was put on insulin immediately because the consultants were not absolutely sure if I had type 1 or 2 as I had also lost loads of weight and BS were so high and there were ketones also. Was on insulin for 4 years - in which time I put on 3 stones in weight. I lowered my carbs and lost the weight and came off the insulin - almost.

l was not fully off because I still had a stock of insulin in my fridge and I was able to experiment with carbs and inject when BS went too high. So basically I was off and on the insulin like a yo yo. By trial and error I found 14g to 20g carbs meant I didn't need to inject. I also started intermittent fasting in March 2018 which I think is helping. I have kept to this for 6 months and haven't had to inject anything in this time. So from April 2016 to Match 2018 I was low carb before absolutely fully coming off the insulin.

I think I am very lucky - actually extremely lucky. I do wonder if the 4 years on insulin gave my pancreas a chance to rest. If I had been prescribed one of the meds that force the pancreas to produce more and more insulin it might have been fully 'clapped out' by now instead of only being partially 'clapped out'.

Also, I do wonder if Dr Fung is right that some people take years of low carb and intermittent fasting before they can come off the meds. So I am still hopeful that at some time in the future I will be able to eat more than 20g of good carbs without spiking BS.

I know that I am not out of the woods yet. Have got a a horrible virus and temperature and BS are hovering around 7. Hopefully this will resolve as soon as I am better and they will be back to the 5s. Have resisted the urge to inject insulin as i.am sure it makes the insulin resistance worse.
 

Thanks, your post left room for some ambiguity, which I just wanted to clear up, for my own understanding.

People are people, and just like some naturally fair haired people frazzle and burn in the sum, some, albeit a smaller number will tan beautifully and compound their gorgeousness.

In my view it is important that we understand at the outset of any regime that just because Janet or John round the corner achieved X or Y, it doesn't necessarily mean we will too - even family members adopting the same approach can vastly differ.

Interestingly, I attended a health even last week and for the first time, ever (I've done a few), there were several people rocking up to the stand I was on declaring they had reversed or put their T2 into remission. I was astonished, but to be honest, love him or loath them, people like Michael Mosely getting onto mainstream TV and radio talking about it is making a difference.

That said, when I enquired how those claiming remission/reversal (and I didn't ask them to define it for themselves), their approaches were very varied, and although loosely carbs were reduced, not, in their cases, as much as is often stated here.

These are interesting times in the world of diabetes, and in my opinion there's never been a better time to be diagnosed than now - if one had to be diagnosed at all
 
If anyone would prescribe me insulin I would take it like a shot in the hopes of "resting" my poor pancreas. Here is Jenny Ruhl on the subject: https://www.bloodsugar101.com/insulin-for-type-2-diabetes
 
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