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Low carb diets..still need to count calories ???

A

alanmilton18

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Hi everyone,
Does anybody know if its still necessary to count calories on a low carb diet for weight loss to occur in a type 2 diabetic person?
My problem is that my other half has been on a low carb diet for a few weeks now and he ought to have lost a fair few pounds but his weight is unchanged.
I believe it is because his glucose levels are still not low enough.. his levels are currently ranging between 7.0 to 8.0 two hrs after meals and between 7 to 9.5 on rising due to the dawn phenomenon... I thought perhaps this is still causing him to have too much circulating insulin for the weight loss benefits of a low carb diet to occur..Under these circumstances am I correct in thinking that he will also need to control his calories to successfully lose weight?
I would be extremely grateful for anybody's advice and thoughts on this matter ..?
Thanks loads to all and Best wishes. x

BTW..he is on 3 x 500mg metformin, 1 x januvia and 1x statin daily.
 
I was sticking at the same weight and wasn't loosing any until I cut the quantity of the cereal I have for breakfast.

How many carbs a day does he have? They may need to be reduced further. Some people find that eating too much cheese stops them from loosing weight.
 
Hi there,

Thanks for your reply.. he's eating very low carb...salad leaves really. Eggs, meat , fish etc.. prob having about 30 grams of carbs a day I think.. I'm gonna have to start counting the carbs really accurately..
 
I don't think you need to. As Kurt Warner MD says: "calories count, but why bother counting".

Instead concentrate on eating enough fat and protein in your meals that you feel satisfied, and try and avoid snacking. Now that your metabolism is no longer going to be influenced by wild sugar swings, you can begin to trust your body's satiety signals again.

If you do it properly, the lbs will come sliding off. I've lost 55lbs without ever counting calories.
 
Hi,
Just a thought but has he been doing any extra exercise as I find that I need to do a reasonable amount before I lose any weight even though I keep my carbs between 20 - 50g a day. I think that perhaps I eat too much cheese - like Denise says - but I feel it is my one food vice and we give up so much I would hate to cut down on that too!
:D
 
Is he having enough to drink?
I am finding that my weight loss stops if I do not drink enough,it's well worth trying.
carole
 
Alanm
in theory, you shouldn't have to count calories when low carbing. However, there's a little bit in one of the Atkins books that suggests people who are weight loss resistent may need to for a limited time, to get weigh falling.
I find I can keep bg down fairly easily, but losing weight is another matter. I have to cut my food consumption[and hence calories] down as well. Still over a number of years, I've kept my HbA1c in the 5s and lost about 3 stones. I could do with losing another 2 or so.
I find persistence and never giving up works.
Hana
 
I found it could take a while for weight loss to start on low carb but once it did I lost 3 stone in 4 months. I agree with borofergie. It shouldn't be necessary to count calories as well as carbs however I do count them along with carbs. I do it mostly to work out if I'm eating enough rather than too much.
 
Drugs can have an effect, For example I read that if you're on Metformin you probably won't lose a lot of weight at first but equally if you go off piste and have a few carbs you won't immediately put on weight either. With some drugs they'll be making the pancreas churn out insulin all the time so that could interfere with the low carb effect a bit. However I lost weight and lowered my Hb1Ac by low carbing while taking Glimeperide and it was only when I was getting frequent hypos that my GP allowed me to come off it.

So I agree with xyzzy that it takes awhile.

I wouldn't ever count calories myself and I only roughly count carbs. I allow myself 50g a day, I don't use any recipe that is more than 10g per serving or buy any product that has more than 10g per 100g carbs so I always have enough to play around with.
 
timps said:
Is he having enough to drink?
I am finding that my weight loss stops if I do not drink enough,it's well worth trying.
carole
Click to expand...

Yes, water is important. I am counting calories at the moment, but that's only because of the ND, I didn't beforehand, I would eat 'till I was full. I did loose weight, BUT! I find that drinking lots of water (minimum of 2L a day) really does help.
 
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