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Need to lose 80kg, starting tomorrow!

M

mrsgreensmith

Active Member
Hi all,

Firstly I would like to introduce myself, my name is Cassandra, I am a wife and a mum of 1 and I am currently studying to be a nurse. I am 27 years old. I have been a member and lurker here for a little while and I thought it was about time to take the plunge and sort myself out!

I am starting a low carb lifestyle change as of tomorrow, shopping is ordered to be delivered between 7am and 9am tomorrow for when I wake up. I want to declare it and document it here, hopefully to give myself some encouragement to continue with it. I currently weigh 145.1kg and want to weigh about 65kg to be classed as in a normal weight, as I am currently morbidly obese class III. I am type 2 but have some pancreas damage due to pancreatitis as a consequence of a bad gallstone attack; gallbladder has now been removed. I am on levemir and novorapid insulin, problem being the dosage is going up and up and up, my weight is going up and up and up and my blood sugars continue to rise. So, this is my attempt to gain some control and hopefully reduce insulin doses and consequently lose weight.

Wish me luck,

Cass x

P.S. - any advice is much appreciated!


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Hello

Just wanted to say hello and good luck with the weight loss. I am starting tomorrow too and have 3st to shift. I have never been on a proper diet plan before so really hope it helps.

What sort of diet are you doing? I just signed up to the Tesco diet plan.

Kat





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mrsgreensmith !
Well done, you have taken the first and probably most important step !
That weight loss you aim for is impressive.
I wish you all the very best in your endevours.
I have just started on insulin after 12 years of this little wotsit of a disease and it has sent me a bit bandy !

Good luck mrs green and perhaps post your progress,

There is tons of good advice on here, which, as a lurker you know.

TTFN Superchip
 
Good for you

My advice would be to start making small changes first and don't be afraid to allow yourself to have the odd bad day. Make it too hard on yourself and you'll be more likely to fall off the wagon.

Set yourself short term goals. You want to lose a lot of weight and this will probably take some time. Say to yourself that When you reach x weight you'll book yourself a spa day, or something like that.

Find an exercise that you enjoy and do plenty of it. For me, it's definitely cycling and kickboxing. I did 115 miles on the bike this weekend and boy do I feel it this morning!

Best of luck with it all and keep us updated on your progress.

Take care,
Em


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I wish you all the very best and congratulations for taking that first step. I have to loose a similar amount of weight so I can relate to your task ahead. I've only lost a relatively small amount of the weight I need to loose but that loss combined with a lower carb diet seems to have made a difference to my diabetic control already.


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Good luck!

I was moaning to my partner yesterday about wanting to lose half a stone and how I couldn't think how I'd possibly manage. You've put things back into perspective for me so thank you!

I look forward to hearing how you're getting on with it. This forum is a great place to get support when you want it and the motivation to keep going
 
Hello and good luck.
You say you have had your gallbladder removed. This will affect how you approach a 'low-carb' diet as you won't be able to rely on fats as many of us do, so I assume you are taking this dietary change with the full agreement of your GP?
 
Thanks for all your support and luck messages. Shopping was a bit late but I've just had breakfast of a 2 egg omelette with a sprinkle of cheese and cut up ham and it was delicious! Actually the best breakfast I think I've ever had. I'm on my first glass of water and feeling quite happy at the minute. Took my normal levemir dose but only 30 units of novo rapid compared to my usual 60 (shocking I know and the worst bit is blood glucose would still be 10 or maybe more two hours after) I am going to be testing often to be on the safe side. Before breakfast blood glucose level was 10.6 mmol/l and that was 9.50am, we shall see what they are at 11.50am. Just to compare, yesterday they were 10.8 before breakfast, had two slices of toast with thinly spread marg and two hours and 60 units of novo rapid later they were 14.9! We shall see....


Actually fats do not cause me a problem, apparently it's rare for fats to cause a problem after gallbladder removal but I have heard of a lot of people having a problem with this. I'm one of the lucky ones, I couldn't tolerate them for about 3 months after removal but then slowly introduced them without a hiccup. Apparently the gallbladder allowed for bile to be stored but once removed the bile will just be made on demand, or at least this is how I had it explained to me.

I don't see my GP but my consultant is more than happy for me to try this, he is very supportive and I think he is happy try anything that might help me to lose some weight and control my sugars. He says the way I'm currently going is that my insulin resistance is getting worse and my beta cells are burning out trying to compensate, he feels that a dietary change is the only thing that can turn this around and he admits that high carb and low fat just doesn't work for diabetics. However I have to say I was doing is with or without his consent because at the end of the day it's my body and my life, it will be me buried 6ft under shortly if I carry on like this and not him!

Cass x


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This is terrific, you sound soooo infused, it sounds like it is already working how cool is that! i would say low carb is definatly the way forward, ive lost 3 stone 5 pounds in 4 months yesterday, i dont cheat hardly ever, in fact i can remember 2 or 3 times, in fact i would consider a slice or burgen bread cheating now i try to stay positive (not always easy) oh and i would strongly suggest you use "myfitnesspal" ap if you have a clever phone or you can do it on the net this really helped me in the beginning, its simply awesome and worth checking out if you havent already i think there is another good one called carbs and cals or something like that, i havent tried it but ive heard people say good things about it. i think it was confusious that said a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, keep smiling and enjoy this new lifestyle until its time to grit your teeth then grit them hard and keep going, please keep posting your progress ill watch with interest
Good Luck!
 
Hi Cass,

27 is a good age to start at. So many years ahead to spend as a slim person! I lost 5 1/2 stones (about 35kg) and feel so much better for it. One friend who hadn't seen me for two years didn't recognise me! Follow the advice on this site and you should do well.
Lee
 
Best of luck to you, Cass.

Andy's advice about using MyFitnessPal on your smartphone or PC is great. It has a huuuuge list of foods and covers virtually everything you can find in the supermarket. All you need to do is put in what you've eaten in a day (or what you plan to eat) and it'll calculate all the nutritional values for you. You can also set your own targets for each day. When I was on a ketogenic diet, I was aiming for 15% carbs or less each day and couldn't have done it without MyFitnessPal!

Great news about your 7.0 reading though - what kind of levels were you getting before?
 
Well done on your great start Cass! I also have a lot of weight to lose - I started at 135kg and I now weigh 113kg - that's after four months (coming up five) of low carbing. The weight loss was much quicker initially, it's slower now but I don't actually mind, because the reason it's slower is that I've got my sugars fully under control and they don't rise even after a naughty treat now, so i have those occasionally. If I didn't my weight loss would be faster, I'm sure, but I'm doing this for life and I'd rather it be sustainable. But for the first three months I was very strict, and actually I found that fine too - and I was never hungry. I still don't eat bread, potatoes, chips, sweets, biscuits or chocolate. I am ok with an occasional piece of cake now and again.

One thing I would say is that although you've got a lot to lose, maybe don't think of it in terms of having to lose 80kg, just yet. Yes, you could lose 80kg without becoming underweight. But that doesn't mean you have to lose anything like that to make a huge, huge difference to your health, your fitness, your looks and, hopefully, your insulin requirements. Because if you can reduce that (safely of course) it should help with the weight loss. And you'll probably find a big, big difference after losing, say, 10% of your body weight. So maybe make that your first goal (and I wouldn't be surprised if you hit it quite quickly - that's one advantage of having a lot to lose!). My second target after that was to get my BMI below 40 so that I was merely Obese and not Morbidly Obese lol. I've just achieved that, and my next goal is to be in kilo double figures. And my final goal is 85kg. Yes, the charts say I should weigh 70kg. But you know what? - I am quite happy with 85kg.
 
I am just overwhelmed by all the positive responses I have had, thank you all.

First day nearly done and I am pleasantly surprised; I feel full! REALLY full!

So I had tuna salad for lunch, took half my usual novo rapid so 30 units and after an hour had blood glucose level of 3.4... oops! As I am not used to going even as low as 5 this gave me the shakes and I decided to drink 200ml of milk which I was shocked to discover has 9.6g of carbs in it. This brought me to a nice 5.6 and it stayed steady till dinner. I am not a master chef or anything so I'm staying simple at the moment, I had chicken with a little barbecue sauce on the top and pepperoni slices and quite a bit of veg. I was planning on having some strawberries and double cream for afters but I'm truly stuffed. This is so unusual for me, I can tell by the way my husband looked at me when I told him this that he thought I was lying or something! Just 1 hour after dinner my blood glucose is 7.9, very happy with that.

So today I consumed about 40g of carbs, is that ok? Should I strive for less?

Overall a positive first day. I am just hoping it continues like this.

Cass x


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I think 40 g carbs is very good, and I don't think I would strive for less just now.

If you want a low carb alternative to milk, you could try unsweetened almond milk. It's carb content is negligible, and only 22 cal in 100ml. Make sure you get the unsweetened, though.
 
Well done!
40g is low though. I don't think I could stay that low. Your body will take time to adjust to your new diet - don't give up but also don't resist making moderate changes to what you are doing.
I've stuck to around 60g most days with 100g a couple of days a week. I found this easy but it did take my body a while to adjust to the new regime - constipation was an initial problem and I was hunting around for sources of low-carb fibre and did increase my carbs a bit from my initial40-50g. After a couple of months things started to settle down and as long as I keep myself well hydrated I don't have any problems.
good luck!
 
Morning all,

Finzi said:
If you want a low carb alternative to milk, you could try unsweetened almond milk. It's carb content is negligible, and only 22 cal in 100ml. Make sure you get the unsweetened, though.
Click to expand...

Thanks I will keep my eye out for that.


I do worry I may get constipated, how long before you got this problem? I am ok at the minute, but obviously I've only done it for one day!

So I am a bit disgruntled because my blood glucose level was 6.5 before bed but this morning they are 9.7, I took my usual 36 units of levemir and really did expect better, although still slightly lower than normal because they are normally 10-11 but I've always thought this was because of my levels before bed.

Anyway, this morning I've had alpro soya yogurt which has just 2.1g carbs per 100g. I had it with raspberries which were frozen because the frozen ones were cheaper with the same level of carbs in them, so I left them to defrost in the fridge overnight and this morning they were sat in a lovely juice which really gave flavour to the yogurt. I also included a tiny amount of chopped almonds and followed it with a chuck of cheese; 6.04g carbs altogether and really enjoyed it, more than any cereal I have ever had!

Cass x


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Do you test through the night at all? Your rise could be due to dawn phenomenon, or maybe your levimer level is incorrect! You should eat dinner 4-5 hours before bed and eat nothing else. Test before bed, then test a couple times over night at say 2 hour intervals. This should give you a guide as to whether your rise is slow and steady (wrong Levemir dose) or all at once at a certain time (dawn phenomenon).

Hope that helps!
 
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