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Low carb and high calorie

vanarchre

Well-Known Member
Messages
50
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I am a T1 who tries not to have too many carbs. I have recently tried to dial back the carbs a bit more but am finding it hard to not lose weight. A lot of low carb high calorie foods are pretty bad for you in other ways and there is only so much nuts and avocados I can eat (I already eat a lot!). I looked at the low carb recipes book that can be downloaded here but a lot of them are only 200-400 calories. Even at 400 calories to maintain a good weight I would have to eat seven meals a day. I could double the portions but then they wouldn't be low carb.

Any help is appreciated!
 

Hello there vanachre.

Firstly, let me say, right up front, I'm not T1, but I do eat a reduced carb diet. At one stage, I too had issues with unwanted weight loss, and I found it a challenge balancing things out.

I found my solution was a combination of increased protein and increased fat. I appreciate some T1s, particularly when keeping the carbs well down, need to bolus for protein, but for the increase it was important, because, like you, I couldn't get my head around consuming even more double cream (and the like).

When I tot up my calories, I am often astonished by just how many I can consume. I'm 160cm tall and weigh in at 48kg, but I need to pack in 2000-2500 calories a day to just stop losing. When I wanted to gain a small amount, lost recovering from an op, it took several months to get a couple of kilos on my bones. I never ever thought I would see the day I'd have to try quite so hard to gain weight.

There are quite a few T1 lower carbers around. @tim2000s is such a person, who also works out, although I don't know of that's very relevant for you.

Just to be clear, I'm not telling you what to do, I'm just chucking my experience into the discussion.

Good luck with it. It's all a puzzle.
 
Hi @vanarchre - I've been very low carb for about 3 years (around 20g/day) but haven't lost any weight, but I do keep my calories up. My macros are 5% carb, 15% Protein and 80% fat. It freaked me out to start with but I have got used to the high fat part now.
 
Hi @vanarchre, I tend to eat higher protein than typical Lichfield, but I need to consume between 2500 and 3000 calories a day to avoid weight loss.
 
Thanks for the
tim2000s said:
Hi @vanarchre, I tend to eat higher protein than typical Lichfield, but I need to consume between 2500 and 3000 calories a day to avoid weight loss.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies? Any particular foodstuffs that you've found useful? There seems to be such a limited range of high-calorie low-carb foods that aren't massively unhealthy. To add to this my partner is a vegetarian so when we eat together I can't even put meat in there to add to the calories.

Right now I can only really think of:

Avocados
Nuts
Olive oil
Eggs
 
vanarchre said:
There seems to be such a limited range of high-calorie low-carb foods that aren't massively unhealthy.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure where you get this idea from? For lunch today, for example, I've eaten 400g of CHilli made with stewing steak, tomatoes, mushrooms, courgettes, leeks, olive oil, a small tin of kidney beans, carrot, celery, peppers. It contains 14g of carbs per portion, very filling and tastes great. It's 600 calories for the serving. I'm not sure what's unhealthy about that!
 

Yes, a meal like that would be good (although I'm unsure about how much red meat I should eat). Sounds very tasty in fact. I suppose what I'm saying is that I can't seem to find many recipes like that. Do you have any good sources or have you come up with stuff on your own? Do you think that it's cutting back on the meat that is really hamstringing me?
 
I guess I don't understand what your definition of "Healthy" is. I eat red, white and pink meat. Nuts, veg, fish, cheese, etc. As far as I'm concerned, as long as they are sourced from suitable places, I have no issue with this. I believe it's possible to go vegetarian low carb, but it's not something I would choose to do.
 
tim2000s said:
I guess I don't understand what your definition of "Healthy" is. I eat red, white and pink meat. Nuts, veg, fish, cheese, etc.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure that I have a proper definition of healthy. I just try and pay attention to the medical advice. I think that suggests red meat once or twice a week and limited amounts of cheese.
 
Thinking about it I suppose that what is 'healthy' is somewhat dependant on the person. Although cheese and red meat are not recommended for the general population they are probably considered les of an issue for diabetics if they help with blood sugars. Is this how most people see it?
 
Hi, a good way to up your fat content as well as calories is simply butter on your veg. Mixed with some garlic or dill or whatever you like. Cooking with coconut oil is also good. Cheese sauce made with cream is another winner. These things are not unhealthy especially in reasonable amounts. They are also very tasty and keep you satisfied and not hungry all the time.
 
Hi with regard to red meat there was an interesting programme on BBC, either 1 or 2, titled "the truth about meat" it was interesting. Try and watch it on catch up.
Basically processed meat and charred meat very bad!
Normal red meat a couple of times a week fine. It was interesting to see recommended portion sizes.
 
Hi @vanarchre Nut butters are a good way of adding calories to a low carb diet. Peanut, cashew, almond and hazelnut butters are all veggie. You could make satay sauce for stir fry, stir nut butter into curries or just eat with a spoon or stalk of celery.
 
I am a skinny type 2 and to keep my weight up I eat plenty of cheese (every day on my high protein roll for breakfast ) Lots of full fat yoghurt ,Jersey double cream for my pud and butter on my veg My cholesterol levels are not high round about 5 and I am feeling healthy I am not on statins and only on metformin
CAROL
 
I'm another low carb higher fat eating type 2; my glucose levels are stable and cholesterol etc is all within normal range (like Carol, on metformin and without the need for statins). I do eat meat & fish but much of my fatty "allowance" comes from full fat dairy (butter, heavy cream, cheeses, yoghurt), olives, avocados, coconut, tree nuts, seeds, in various guises and combinations. Nut butters are one of my favourite go to foods.

Do you eat fish - salmon, mackerel, trout, tuna, sardines, are all nice oily ones and can easily be cooked/served separately to your veggies??

Make your own bread or muffins - another way of eating nuts and seeds as well as butter, oil, eggs. and if you use sesame flour it's quite high in protein too.

Include coconut in various forms: oil, butter, cream, yoghurt, desiccated, etc.

Ask Google for recipes for low carb fat balls and for cocoa/chocolate and avocado mousse. A little bit of dark high % cocoa chocolate is actually good for you. And there are all sorts of other sweets or cheesecakes that you can make too with cream, soft cheese, nuts, various flavourings, or a little low carb fruit (e.g.berries), including real ice creams.

Robbity
 
Apologies if this is an ignorant question, but I am new to LCHF and trying to get to grips with controlling my readings. I have lost a decent amount of weight on slimming world over the last 6 weeks but they advocate low calorie, high carb. I need to make the switch but I'm scared i'll gain weight instead of losing. Does anyone who had or has weight to lose been successful on LCHF? I need to lose a further 4/5 stone. I suppose I can't get my head around eating butter, cream etc for weight loss - I assume the low carb is the key?
 
Read the Success Stories and Testimonials section of the forums. There are many posts about weight loss on LCHF.
 
It's the carbs apparently that can make you fat, more so if they are combined with fatty foods. So cut down on the the carbs, eat a normal amount of protein, and enough fats to keep you feeling full, but reduce the fats a bit if you're not losing weight. It's a fine fatty balancing act and it does work if you get it right!

Robbity
 
Most people find that when they start the LCHF diet they loose weight which is great if you need to but even if you don't you probably will anyway so it is a case of getting the right balance of carbs and fats so that you do not go on to become underweight. and this is just trial and error really
 
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