newly diagnosed T2 on 500mg of metformin with my evening meal so trying to work out the best for me to start on low carb ie carbs/fat/protein ratio .. i can work with numbers ok but should i increase proteins and fats to compensate as i do need to loose a lot of weight .. anyone got some numbers help !!!
-
Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »
my head is blown
- Thread starter Nixterjoe
- Start Date
D
Deleted member 475901
Guest
Welcome to the forum.
First things
The only way to know how many carbs your body can tolerate is to test, as we all vary.
For the first weeks I tested before then 2 hours after every meal, looking for a rise at that point of no more than 2mmol. Any higher and I'd had too many carbs.
Apart from that, I started eating more good quality fat and only roughly checked if I was getting enough protein.
some extra info in my signature;
First things
The only way to know how many carbs your body can tolerate is to test, as we all vary.
For the first weeks I tested before then 2 hours after every meal, looking for a rise at that point of no more than 2mmol. Any higher and I'd had too many carbs.
Apart from that, I started eating more good quality fat and only roughly checked if I was getting enough protein.
some extra info in my signature;
Oldvatr
Expert
- Messages
- 8,453
- Type of diabetes
- Type 2
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Hi. Welcome to the club, Many of us here do a plan that is referred to as LCHF, which in my parlance reads as Low carb healthy fat. so in this form of the diet, it is fat that gets increased to compensate the LC. But others do a Paleo Diet and others are carni diet, and these I believe ups the protein instead. But both ways seem to work. When I did it I dropped from 18 stone to 10 stone in a couple of months, and I have remained at 10 stone for the last 7 or so years (BMI -= 21). I lost weight and steadied at my target without altering my diet, so it seems to compensate itself. I do not carb count, calorie count, or give a toss about ratios, but then again I am not exercising so have no calorie target to maintain. I work on a basic assumption of carb intake being 5%, (i.e. 5g per 100g. Above 5% I portion limit or avoid altogether. I do not do Keto although I did in the early days of my LCHF journey.
- Messages
- 2,725
- Location
- Harpenden, Herts, England
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- exercise, phone calls
Hi @Nixterjoe If anybody has some numbers, then they are numbers for them rather than for you - since we are all different.
So far as carbohydrates is concerned, I adjusted them based upon what my BG meter told me (self funded). As it turned out my body liked carbs to be pretty low (20 to 40gms per day).
For Protein we need around 1gm per 1kg of target weight per day. But can go much higher than that based on situation/preference. That is 1gm of protein, not 1 gm of something which contains protein - no real food is pure protein though some can get close to pure carb or pure fat.
Personally I see 2 reasons for increasing Protein and Fat to compensate for a reduction in carbohydrates:
1. The vast majority lose weight on low carb without reducing calories - so why starve for no reason?
2. Adding fat helps your body to transition to fat burning mode and once in that mode you will be able to use as much (or a little) body fat as you wish.
3. It's not good to lose weight too quickly. The NHS advises a maximum of around 12lbs per week. People who lose it too fast tend to run out of will power and put it back fast. Those who don't, often have excess loose skin for a long time.
Without any calorie reduction I was losing between 1 and 1 1/2 lbs per week. This also made the transition to weight maintenance mode easier. Remember, this isn't a one time thing, a Low Carb way of eating is a lifestyle - not a 'diet' to be able to fit into some clothes or look good on a beach..
So far as carbohydrates is concerned, I adjusted them based upon what my BG meter told me (self funded). As it turned out my body liked carbs to be pretty low (20 to 40gms per day).
For Protein we need around 1gm per 1kg of target weight per day. But can go much higher than that based on situation/preference. That is 1gm of protein, not 1 gm of something which contains protein - no real food is pure protein though some can get close to pure carb or pure fat.
Personally I see 2 reasons for increasing Protein and Fat to compensate for a reduction in carbohydrates:
1. The vast majority lose weight on low carb without reducing calories - so why starve for no reason?
2. Adding fat helps your body to transition to fat burning mode and once in that mode you will be able to use as much (or a little) body fat as you wish.
3. It's not good to lose weight too quickly. The NHS advises a maximum of around 12lbs per week. People who lose it too fast tend to run out of will power and put it back fast. Those who don't, often have excess loose skin for a long time.
Without any calorie reduction I was losing between 1 and 1 1/2 lbs per week. This also made the transition to weight maintenance mode easier. Remember, this isn't a one time thing, a Low Carb way of eating is a lifestyle - not a 'diet' to be able to fit into some clothes or look good on a beach..
- Messages
- 2,725
- Location
- Harpenden, Herts, England
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Diet only
- Dislikes
- exercise, phone calls
I found the 'waking' or 'Fasting' BG level to be of little importance, though if all goes well this should slowly trend down (can take years).
The importance is in finding the right foods to eat. Both food you like, but it also needs to be food that your body likes i.e. which won't raise your BG by more than 2.0 mmol from just before eating it to 2hrs later (i.e. 2hrs after first bite).
It's all a matter of test and experiment, because some of us can eat small amounts of things like potato, oats or apple and others can't. Even the Glycaemic Index (GI) of a food is only a very rough guide and there can be huge variations from person to person and the 'standard' GI number for something may be considerably different in our individual cases - so BG testing is the only way to know for sure.
We are told there are many non-food things which can raise Blood Glucose (illness, injury, stress, lack of sleep, medications such as statins and steroid etc. etc. etc.)
A high(er) 'waking' level may be most commonly caused by one or both of 2 things either a delayed response to the evening meal, or 'Dawn Phenomenon' (DP) aka Foot on the Floor. This is extremely common and in it our liver is 'helpful' in providing energy so we can go hunt/gather our breakfast. To do this it makes glucose and dumps it into our bloodstream. Until we eat.
This is much more pronounced in people who have been running with high BG levels for some time, and will reduce as the body gets accustomed to more normal BG levels.
One unusual effect can be where eating a practically zero carb breakfast can have the effect of reducing a morning high(er) BG level, because the food has no carbs to raise the BG and yet the body detects that we have eaten and so the liver stops 'helping' give us energy to go find our breakfast!
The importance is in finding the right foods to eat. Both food you like, but it also needs to be food that your body likes i.e. which won't raise your BG by more than 2.0 mmol from just before eating it to 2hrs later (i.e. 2hrs after first bite).
It's all a matter of test and experiment, because some of us can eat small amounts of things like potato, oats or apple and others can't. Even the Glycaemic Index (GI) of a food is only a very rough guide and there can be huge variations from person to person and the 'standard' GI number for something may be considerably different in our individual cases - so BG testing is the only way to know for sure.
We are told there are many non-food things which can raise Blood Glucose (illness, injury, stress, lack of sleep, medications such as statins and steroid etc. etc. etc.)
A high(er) 'waking' level may be most commonly caused by one or both of 2 things either a delayed response to the evening meal, or 'Dawn Phenomenon' (DP) aka Foot on the Floor. This is extremely common and in it our liver is 'helpful' in providing energy so we can go hunt/gather our breakfast. To do this it makes glucose and dumps it into our bloodstream. Until we eat.
This is much more pronounced in people who have been running with high BG levels for some time, and will reduce as the body gets accustomed to more normal BG levels.
One unusual effect can be where eating a practically zero carb breakfast can have the effect of reducing a morning high(er) BG level, because the food has no carbs to raise the BG and yet the body detects that we have eaten and so the liver stops 'helping' give us energy to go find our breakfast!
thanks guys .. i know its a lot of questions but didnt have a great first meeting with diabetic nurse, basically told me what t2 was and what insulin does etc and gave me tablets and on my way i go, she didnt answer any of my questions just referred me to DESMOND which i haven’t heard from yet, so thank u all
JenniferM55
Well-Known Member
You've found a really great forum here, think possibly all of us members started from where you are starting now. I didn't even get to see a diabetic nurse for a couple of years thanks to the lockdowns, although I was supposed to go on the Desmond course, that never happened either. I was given tablets to take, but think I took just 3 of them, they made me feel so ill that I refused to take any more. Then I found this forum, I read as many posts as I could, a lot of them didn't make sense at first, but in the end they did. Ask away with your questions, many here are only too happy to help.
