Not Getting Enough Calories

kre8tiv1 said:

Hi,

I'm newly diagnosed T2 (since March) taking 2,000 mg. Metformin/day. I was on 1,000 mg. Metformin/day, but Doctor increased as I was not having great results on the lower dose. I'm on a moderate carb diet (90g) and 1200 calories. However, I find that I am not eating enough calories. Most days I'm only getting in 900 or so. I don't know what foods to eat that are higher in calories and lower in carbs. There's only so much cheese I can eat! Also, I'm not really very hungry, but I do force myself to eat 3 meals and snack in between.
Any suggestions as to foods that will help in my caloric intake?

Thank you.

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Fats and protein would be excellent. Plenty of eggs, extra oily fish such as salmon, mayonnaise, olive oil, loads of butter, bacon, fatty meats, full fat yogurts, and of course double cream in your coffee and with strawberries or raspberries.

Are you testing your own blood sugars? If so, what sort of levels do you see pre and post meal? What was the increased HbA1c that encouraged your doctor to increase your metformin? Metformin is an appetite suppressant, so that could be why you aren't hungry.

Is there a specific reason you need more calories than you are hungry for, like being underweight or dropping weight too fast? But if you like to up them, just one rasher of bacon added to your food is somewhere between 30 and 80 calories I think.

If you don't want to add more cheese and butter try greek yogurt? and don't forget oil based dressings on salads

kre8tiv1 said:

Hi,

I'm newly diagnosed T2 (since March) taking 2,000 mg. Metformin/day. I was on 1,000 mg. Metformin/day, but Doctor increased as I was not having great results on the lower dose. I'm on a moderate carb diet (90g) and 1200 calories. However, I find that I am not eating enough calories. Most days I'm only getting in 900 or so. I don't know what foods to eat that are higher in calories and lower in carbs. There's only so much cheese I can eat! Also, I'm not really very hungry, but I do force myself to eat 3 meals and snack in between.
Any suggestions as to foods that will help in my caloric intake?

Thank you.

Click to expand...

There’s no need to eat twice a day let alone six! Are you following advice from something or someone specific?
Metformin doesn’t really do an awful lot to your levels and if you’re not seeing an improvement in numbers, you’d be better of lowering your carb intake.

Perhaps if you tested out your meals and start a food diary it would help you.
Test immediately before you eat and then again 2 hours after first bite.
Look at the difference between before and after. It should be no more than 36mg/dl (2mmol/l) absolute maximum, preferably a lot lower. More than that and there were too many carbs on your plate.
I suspect you are eating too many carbs. I hope I am wrong.

What do you eat in a typical day?

kre8tiv1 said:

I don't think eating 900 or fewer calories a day is healthy. I do eat Greek yogurt most mornings for breakfast. My blood pressure and lipids are very good (on meds for those), so I'm not overly concerned with the high fat, I just don't desire it.

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Statins and metformin can cause nausea.
Calories don’t really matter, carbs do.

kre8tiv1 said:

Only eating 90g of carbs per day. Most days less than that, as I am only eating 900 calories. Here in the US, the standard amount of carbs for a diabetic is 40-45g per meal (over 120g per day)! Which is crazy in my opinion, which is why I took myself down to 90 max. Have only been on the higher dose of Metformin since Friday and my morning numbers today have been the lowest since being diagnosed.

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90 is still quite high, loads of us here are under 20 and get our cals from fat and protein. All that eating isn’t good either, your pancreas needs a rest.

kre8tiv1 said:

Only eating 90g of carbs per day. Most days less than that, as I am only eating 900 calories. Here in the US, the standard amount of carbs for a diabetic is 40-45g per meal (over 120g per day)! Which is crazy in my opinion, which is why I took myself down to 90 max. Have only been on the higher dose of Metformin since Friday and my morning numbers today have been the lowest since being diagnosed.

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Here in the UK the standard amount of carbs is more than those you quote!
As your levels are still high, it may be worth your while reducing your carbs even more. We all have different tolerance levels, and maybe 90g is too much for your body to cope with. You could also try 2 meals a day, skipping breakfast so you extend your overnight fast, and having larger portions of protein and low carb vegetables at lunch and dinner.

Hi @kre8tiv1

Can I suggest that you fill in your prolfile? Particularly the type of diabetes and the medication fields.
Simply go to your profile by clicking your name, top right of screen, choose the Personal Details option, and enter the information. Then save.

It would help members to understand your situation and give you appropriate responses.

Hi. My advice would be to forget calories as you don't need to think about them. You need to select a sensible daily level of carbs say less than 150gm/day for starters and then have enough fats and proteins to keep you feeling full. If your weight is too high then reduce the carbs a bit and vice versa to gain a bit of weight. If your blood sugar is not in the right region then also adjust the carbs for that as well. You should be able find some level of balance but more medication may be needed if you can't find the right balance. You can of course tweak the fats and proteins a bit. The point I'm making is that for many of us carbs are the key to both weight and BS and keeping them down will normally help. Calories may be a useful tool for marketing people but have a very weak scientific basis for measuring the food you eat.

Statins can also raise blood glucose levels.

I’d also agree with the above advising to try lowering carbs more. I certainly couldn’t eat 90g a day without much higher numbers. I eat less than half of that.

Forget calories and concentrate on nutrient density. Fats are essential for life, protein is essential for life but carbohydrates bring nothing to the table. 90g of carbs and 900 cals per day says that you are fuelling on carbs rather than on healthy fats which means that there is a risk that your Insulin Resistance will worsen given time. The fact that you are eating (esp carbs) multiple times per day may cause or exacerbate fatty liver which in turn worsens insulin resistance.

Avocado, eggs and nuts especially brazils) are all good sources of fat, protein and calories.
Coleslaw is useful as you gain some much needed vegetables, as well as calories from the dressing. Remember you still need to balance your diet.
Do you need to lose weight? On such a low calorie diet, that should happen. You may be more comfortable eating three times a day, slightly larger meals and not snacking in between.
Wishing you well on your journey towards better health.

Before deciding on which way to go it would be useful to establish if you are a slow onset type 1 (still has beta cells) and to sort out the iron deficiency such that you get a clear result on the HBA1c. Note that the GAdd test isn't always conclusive anyway.
If type 1 low carb can work by helping you preserve whatever beta cell function you have.
if type 2 low carb can help you reduce insulin resistance and slow down or reverse your progression to further medication. Don't foregt that the meds treat the symptom of high blood sugars but aren't addressing the underlying metabolic issue.
90g is as you say better than the Standard American Diet though so you are clearly willing to try things a different way!
Other than worrying about the amount of cals you are eating, do you feel lacking in energy and unwell generally? If you do have elevated blood sugars then you are likely to feel less hungry and less energetic. When you do get blood sugars a bit lower perhaps you can add in some of the fats and protein foods mentioned by others here albeit gradually 1 meal at a time and monitor how well you react to keep you motivated.
The only problem if you are genuinely eating a very low calorie diet is that you will likely be missing out on essential nutrients because you are eating insufficient quantity and variety of foods. Carbs from grains tend to have a lower nutrient density as well as spiking your glucose levels.

I wouldn’t count calories. Just eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re not. With lower carb eating you’ll find that your appetite once again has total control.

Remember also that your body has several thousand calories of stored energy which it can access when insulin circulation drops low enough. This will be more true the more you lower your carbohydrate ingestion.