Losing weight wz T1D?

[Aginoth]

Everyone is different but the advice I have been going on is that to lose weight women eat 1200 to 1400 calories a day and men eat 1800 to 2000 a day when they're trying to lose weight. For women, that means three 300-calorie meals and a total of 300 calories in snacks during the day, whereas for men meals can be 450 calories each, with snacks adding up to 450 in total.

Additionally I have restricted myself to a target of 80-100g carbs per day (Max 35g carbs in any one meal) to reduce my insulin needs (I have managed to reduce my Basal by 40% and my bolus by 60% by doing this).

I make sure I do a long walk everyday, at least 5km, and step count too with a 10000 step minimum target. Unfortunately I can't run or cycle due to arthritis, and I hate swimming.

I have lost 5kg (was 117kg now 112kg) in the last 5 weeks doing this, and have now got excellent BG readings (my 14 day average readings are Fasting: 4.8, Pre meal 5.6, post meal 6.9)

Expecting weight loss to slow as I go along, but so far so good, and of course as weight is lost my insulin needs will also further decrease.

Good luck

 

[Spiker]

Everyone is different

I'm not!

(sorry I can never resist that one)

 

[Markpick]

It's just doing normal basal-bolus properly. Get your basal right with a 24 hr fasting test. Then once your basal is right, check your carb ratios and correction ratios are right. Then as you reduce carbs you know exactly how much less meal time insulin to give.

Even just doing the basal testing on its own can sometimes be enough to stop weight gain. This is because basal is often too high and this leads to cravings and over eating, aka "eating to the insulin".

How do you test long lasting insulin? Can only find links for pumps?

 

[Spiker]

How do you test long lasting insulin? Can only find links for pumps?

@noblehead do you have the basal testing links please?

 

[Markpick]

@noblehead and what pattern would I be looking for

 

[Spiker]

Google "basal testing" or search on here.

 

[Heathero]

Interesting find losing weight difficult too. When you run you have no breakfast and small Basel at 1.5 . I have only lost weight in past by reducing carbs.Exercise running can't do prob with knees, but can cycle for a while.

 

[tim2000s]

Having lost two stone in 12 weeks last year, as a T1, it can be done, and in principle it's relatively easy. The key points are:

1. Reduce the carbs in your diet. I spent two months eating ~60g of carbs per day. This was around 240 calories from carbs. The remainder of my 2000 calories came from fats and protein. If you want I can dig out the Macro information.

2. Weight training - it increases your muscle mass, which in turn increases the rate at which you burn fat, combined with HIIT a couple of times a week to facilitate that fat burn.

3. As a result of the above, huge reduction in insulin required - I went from using around 40u of basal and 14u of bolus per meal to a total of 22u basal and 4u of bolus per meal. And have remained at this level since, still doing the exercise and keeping the carb content low.

My body fat dropped from 25% to 12%.

My partner was eating 1750 calories with a macro split that had zero carbs and all calories from Fat and Protein. She was doing a similar, slightly tweaked weights programme and lost over two stone, but is not Diabetic.

You can do it, but it requires discipline and you MUST stick to the diet. 90% of weight loss is what you eat.

If you don't do that, don't expect to burn fat!

 

[Heathero]

Thanks that's helpful discussed high protein diet with my DSN suggested not using fat for energy. Have just changed over to pump info re Macro diet would be good if you have time to find/ send. Thanks

 

[tim2000s]

Thanks that's helpful discussed high protein diet with my DSN suggested not using fat for energy. Have just changed over to pump info re Macro diet would be good if you have time to find/ send. Thanks

My Macro split was (as percentage of calories):

40% Protein; 40% Fat; 20% Carbs, although I ended up more like 44% Protein; 44% Fat: 12% Carbs.

For the first three weeks, you don't consume animal fat, except in butter, and no caffeine either, except in green tea. It is essentially the "Metabolic Diet" and you can get details of the foods you can eat here: http://www.metabolicdiet.com/mdiet_foods.htm

 

[Heathero]

Thanks again now about to look, have read info re Macro diet for females.

 

[Spiker]

Thanks that's helpful discussed high protein diet with my DSN suggested not using fat for energy.

Ask for some evidence or reasoning for that. Your DSN does not sound very well informed.

 

[Heathero]

Has always been low sugar / carb, low fat advised since I was diagnosed . In 1966 Believe this is still similar advice given nowadays but Diabetics are told they can eat what they want within limits and adjust insulin accordingly. I can only believe that Young people etc will do just that. Therefore increasing weight problems!

 

[Spiker]

Nowadays the advice has changed, and for the worse. They advise you to eat low fat and not too much protein. Which is basically, by the back door, advising us to eat high carb. :-/

 

[RuthW]

It's quite easy! Eat less, exercise more and reduce your insulin doses to suit. You do not have to reduce your carbs. If you exercise, your insulin sensitivity will rise and you will need smaller doses if insulin anyway. And you need carbs to help with the building of muscle, which helps to keep you slim long-term. It is most effective to cut fat for two reasons. First of all, it is very concentrated in terms of calories, so it is very easy to go over target with fat. Secondly, you need protein and carbs to build muscle, so fat is the one to go. Also high-fat meals increase your insulin resistance over several hours, but over exactly how many hours is unpredictable, so they are not good for management of Type 1.

I recommend reading Gary Scheiner's Think Like A Pancreas, and Sheri Colberg's Diabetic Athlete's Handbook. Both great resources at all times. And they will help you with this very much.

 

[Spiker]

Well I don't really agree with @RuthW on all of that, all though I do agree with much of it.

I have never heard any evidence that carbs are required for building muscle. Carbs are not an essential nutrient and humans can survive indefinitely without carbs without any problems.

It's true that fat increases insulin resistance, but that is not so much a problem if you are eating low carb. I agree that high fat combined with high carb is problematic. My approach would be to cut the carbs and not the fat. Fat and protein are both essential nutrients, and without them humans will grow ill and not develop or repair, and eventually die. We can synthesise some fats and some amino acids (components of protein) but not certain ones that are essential to life. I realise Ruth is not proposing zero fat and zero protein. I dare say her proposed diet does also work, I just disagree with some of the assumptions behind it. In particular, on a low carb diet the over eating of fat does not happen as frequently as with a carb based diet, and doesn't do the same harm to your weight. Carbs help us eat more fat and more calories because we have no mechanism to feel we've had enough carbs, apart from feeling sick. So in a meal containing carbs we take on too many calories and fat. And when we are eating a carb based diet the effect of those extra calories and fat is to store more body fat. If we eat mostly fat and protein we have built in appetite regulation for those things and we stay out of fat storing mode, in fat burning mode.

 

[tim2000s]

So in a meal containing carbs we take on too many calories and fat. And when we are eating a carb based diet the effect of those extra calories and fat is to store more body fat. If we eat mostly fat and protein we have built in appetite regulation for those things and we stay out of fat storing mode, in fat burning mode.

What happens is that the carbs eaten trigger an insulin response which causes the body to store the fat and use carbs as its primary energy source. To stop the fat storage, in a non-diabetic you want to reduce the insulin response, which is why you eat fewer carbs. It's also why reducing carb consumption in Type 2s helps. By not eating carbs, you reduce the insulin flood and start to reduce the massive fat storage that occurs as a by product.

 

[Heathero]

Have just done Pilates for an hour did not reduce insulin but Bg 11. May drop later but how can I lose weight if exercise causes rise inBG?

 

[RuthW]

Anaerobic exercise does produce a rise in blood sugar, though often this rise will be absorbed again a little later. I have never done Pilates but as I understand it, it is a type of calisthenics intended to build muscle. Weight training typically also produces a rise in blood sugar. But you should be building more muscle, which in turn increases your metabolism and long-term leads to you having more muscle and less fat. So it changes your body composition for the better. Long-term having more muscle also improves your blood sugar control. Also, you need insulin for building muscle, so even if you have yo give yourself half a unit or a unit after exercising (11 is a bit high), it shouldn't make you fatter.

 

[Heathero]

Thanks Ruth yes I did need 2 units. Thanks for the explanation .