Day 7 of the Low Insulin Diet (starting weight 91.6kg, current 85.7kg )
Yesterday I repeated the 1600 calories lasagne megameal with exactly the same results except that all the glucose numbers were 0.2 lower and the average was 4.6 mmol, my ketones increased slightly to 2.6 during the day and have now increased to 1.8 mmol in the morning as well.
My overnight average glucose was 4.1 mmol down from 5.3 mmol at the beginning and the liver dump now took me to 5.8 at the maximum point. the mega meal high including 40 carbs and 70 g protein barely registered giving me a high of 4.8 mmol
Before starting this diet I had hit on trying to keep combs and protein at around 100 a being " optimum " for me being 25g carbs and 75g protein preferably.
I have lost another 0.4 kg - that makes a loss of 5.9 kg since I began. Its becoming ever easier to accept I am just going to eat one nourishing fatty meal once per day and clearly at 1600 calories that's a great meal , so both nice food and no hunger pangs- though I'm assuming at some point it will stall at that level of calorific intake.
The one meal a day with carbs under about 45g, seems to be gradually driving down by blood glucose, increasing ketones and keeping fat burning strong despite quite high calories .I expect with that my levels of circulating insulin is going down too.
I'm guessing at some point both will bottom out , or I will start to feel ill. It will be interesting to see if once I reach bottom - whatever that is - and looking at non diabetic freinds I'm guessing that could be as low as maybe 3.6 , is that the point when my system finally stops producing the morning liver dumps? , or does diabetes mean the the disregulation simply causes the overnight average to go down into dangerous territory and the morning liver dump to continue. Fingers crossed it's the former
Today I am going to do the same thing again - seems a pity to stop a good thing deliberately ! especially when the lasagne is lovely !
@CherryAA this is such an interesting thread and your results are amazing.
@CherryAA - In terms of your scales and the visceral fat scoring; I don't know what your score is or where you are in the ranges (and I'm absolutely not asking), but as soon as I started weighing myself (about 4 months post-diagnosis), I tracked my visceral fat (VF). I don't have Tanita scales, but went for the Omron BF511s due to their inclusion of hand grasps. which are supposed to increase the numbers of impedance measuring points, but again that's just personal choice.
Anyway, in terms of the VF changes, they appear to have been slow moving, in my case. To be fair, I have absolutely no idea what my VF score (or weight) was at diagnosis, and by the time I bought the scales had already gone from an HbA1c of 73 to 37, and had trimmed up enough that my clothes didn't fit any more, so I'm never going to be an "early-doors" comparison for anyone, but I don't recall ever seeing a VF score of more than 4, and certainly it has now sat at 3 for at least a couple of years. For me it hasn't wavered on a day to day basis.
Once I started looking at my weight, my losses (not a particular objective for me) were fairly linear, with the odd, brief, plateau, but throughout my early journey my blood score ranges weren't linear, they notched down. I'd achieve an average of x-y, then run within that range of x-y for a few weeks, then suddenly just shift down a notch to run from y-z, and so on.
For what it's worth, my view is that our bodies like routines, and when we run to a routine, our bodies tend to support us pretty well. It's like it realises what it's up against, and tries to keep us safe.
If we think about some of the newly diagnosed people we have join us who are frustrated that they change their diets, sometimes quite materially, and yet nothing equally dramatic happens to their bloods or weight, for a while. In my mind that is just their body trying hard to retain them in a steady "comfort zone". The oft discussed carb flu is similar. Those experiencing it are likely to have taken their body out of their former comfort zone and it's frankly protesting. Obviously pressing on can often lead to the creation of a new comfort zone, and so on.
As I've said before there are so many ways to approach corralling diabetes into a good place. You are obviously making a heavy investment in yourself, but I'm sure it's extremes aren't for everyone.
Would you mind disclosing what your BMI is? I'm still obese 31, and my score on the Tanita scale is 11 - which is coming down but very, very slowly - the first time I measured it was 13.5 but a long time after I'd begun. My feeling is that I'm not likely to get close to 4 which is probably about ideal unless I can also lose the additional weight .
Currently my actual blood glucose levels are pretty much sorted, so unless I see an increasing trend of daily average glucose, which I can't explain, then I am going to stick with this for as long as I can until I hit the next stall. I have been worrying for months about how to get away from my stall of 89kg. The fact that I did it so decisively in one week flat by following the principles I figured should work, based on the theory about insulin overall is to my mind a bit miraculous and for that matter " far fetched" lol !
I'm a skinny old girl, with my BMI skirting in the 18.5-19 range, taking daily fluctuations into account. My only weight goal these days is not to dip down out of the BMI range. I appreciate that's a fairly blunt metric, but it's certainly a very easy one to self-apply.
I still step-on/step-off the scales every morning, but more to ensure I din't see any unwanted downward trends. I'm certainly not starving myself and my calorie intake varies between c2000-2500 a day. My carb intake is variable, but I am a low carber. I have never got overly excited about ketosis, although I dabbled for a very brief period with urine ketostix, which told me virtually nothing, as they showed pretty much nothing. I understand that isn't too uncommon for those living a longer term LC lifestyle.
In all the actions I have taken along the way, my primary objective has always been to moderate and manage my blood glucose number, and the rest happened along the way. I have absolutely no vision that my way or anyone else's way is the one true way.
Every one of us makes our own choices, and for me the loudest message for folks is to eat to their meter, and be open minded to changes along the way.
My diabetes is in a good place right now. I'll do my best to keep it there, whilst living the active lifestyle I want to. If in the future things change for me, I'll have to reconsider my approach and go from there.
Eating to my meter has been the absolute key for me, and I feel that, for me, that has been my greatest game-changer, rather than any specific advice to eat this, or give up that. The feedback from my meter guided me pretty well in terms of what I should or shouldn't be doing.
Of course, this forum was a massive support and mine of information, and I always felt confident there's be someone who had experienced similar things to me, or could point me in the direction of things I could substitute for my offending rocket fuel foods. That was invaluable in boosting my confidence and moving me forward.
I have a huge amount to thank this forum for.
@CherryAA - In terms of your scales and the visceral fat scoring; I don't know what your score is or where you are in the ranges (and I'm absolutely not asking), but as soon as I started weighing myself (about 4 months post-diagnosis), I tracked my visceral fat (VF). I don't have Tanita scales, but went for the Omron BF511s due to their inclusion of hand grasps. which are supposed to increase the numbers of impedance measuring points, but again that's just personal choice.
Anyway, in terms of the VF changes, they appear to have been slow moving, in my case. To be fair, I have absolutely no idea what my VF score (or weight) was at diagnosis, and by the time I bought the scales had already gone from an HbA1c of 73 to 37, and had trimmed up enough that my clothes didn't fit any more, so I'm never going to be an "early-doors" comparison for anyone, but I don't recall ever seeing a VF score of more than 4, and certainly it has now sat at 3 for at least a couple of years. For me it hasn't wavered on a day to day basis.
Once I started looking at my weight, my losses (not a particular objective for me) were fairly linear, with the odd, brief, plateau, but throughout my early journey my blood score ranges weren't linear, they notched down. I'd achieve an average of x-y, then run within that range of x-y for a few weeks, then suddenly just shift down a notch to run from y-z, and so on.
For what it's worth, my view is that our bodies like routines, and when we run to a routine, our bodies tend to support us pretty well. It's like it realises what it's up against, and tries to keep us safe.
If we think about some of the newly diagnosed people we have join us who are frustrated that they change their diets, sometimes quite materially, and yet nothing equally dramatic happens to their bloods or weight, for a while. In my mind that is just their body trying hard to retain them in a steady "comfort zone". The oft discussed carb flu is similar. Those experiencing it are likely to have taken their body out of their former comfort zone and it's frankly protesting. Obviously pressing on can often lead to the creation of a new comfort zone, and so on.
As I've said before there are so many ways to approach corralling diabetes into a good place. You are obviously making a heavy investment in yourself, but I'm sure it's extremes aren't for everyone.
May I ask if you have an " ideal" weight , bmi etc that you are aiming for?
As I get closer to the ideal weight for my height I find that I am becoming more hungry, when I have not been bothered by hunger at all since about 3 days into my new woe.
Curious to know how others have experienced the return of hunger?
Its not an abnormal hunger, I am just sometimes hungry!
Strange you should say that. I have been on very low carb for 3 years at my ideal weight and never once felt hungry .... until a few weeks ago. My diet hasn't changed and nor has my weight, but my blood sugars have notched downwards suddenly and quite noticeably. The hunger seems to be a sign (in me) that my body thinks my glucose levels are too low approaching a meal time. They aren't, but they are in the 4s instead of the normal 5s. I feel hungry right now. My evening meal is due in about an hour.
Season change??Me too! Blood sugars quite dramatically down - have seen a number of 3s pre meal and barely into the fives at all. Also feeling hungry - needed to eat breakfast for the first time in months today.
Day 7 of the Low Insulin Diet (starting weight 91.6kg, current 85.4kg )
Hmm . actually the previous post is incorrect. Measured at the same stage (post ablutions) I am actual 85.4 kg a loss of 0.7 kg compared to 0.6 for the same mega - meal yesterday. So 1.3kg in total using one meal 1600 calories per day.
I think I may also have answered my question about optimums. Yesterday my overnight average was 4,3, morning liver dump 5.8, post prandial high 4.8 and average 4.6 .
This morning I woke to overnight average of 4.1 with quite long stretches in the 3.6-3.9 range - My morning liver dump INCREASED substantially to 6.8 . in turn this will mean my full day is going to be a bit higher.
Presumably that is telling me that even with 40g carbs with this meal I don't have quite enough glucose in my system thus stimulating the liver dump. I was thinking that that would happen, but was expecting it to be sometime in the future not right now !
In future if the same cycle happens instead of being reasonably relaxed to see the post meal 3.6-3.9 if I get to that stage,, I will then deliberately eat some high fibre carbs - celery and carrot in the evening to try to get my bed time number into the 4.2 range instead of under 4.0 mmol.
I am not completely sure that this diet is actually reducing my visceral fat as opposed to my adipose fat , the visceral fat score on the tanita scales hasn't budged ( but then they seem totally erratic anyway - so may not be relevant) .
I am going to do one more day of this particular meal, then switch it up for another three days, perhaps focusing on fish instead of meat, and see what happens next. The one meal a day thing feels permanent .
Season change??
I think I may need to leave this another day before I try to come to the above conclusion about a late night snack. My freestyle packed up late last night, it will not connect to the charger , so the battery went flat. I need to send it back. In the meantime I installed another one. On reflection most of my new scanners have recorded crazily low numbers on day 1. So I think I probably need to wait it out for another couple of days, before deliberately trying to increase my blood sugars by adding a new snack in..
I'm currently back to 4.4 90 minutes and 2 hours after the 1600 calorie, 40g cabs 70% fat meal.
Do you apply then activate straight away? I leave my 24-48 hours before activating. The performance is much better if I do that. A few people have found that.
Were you to ask Abbott they would be OK with 24 hours, but they don't believe more helps. That was my experience anyway.
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