Oh (insert expletive of your choice)!!!

[Helsin]

Two weeks into LCHF and getting on fine. I'm really not missing bread or other daily carbs like rice, pasta and potatoes and just have little pangs that I have to avoid any sweet treats. My IBS problems sorted themselves out within the first week. It's miraculous! I've bought a code free meter and my average is 5.5 and I saw a 4.5 yesterday after a 40 min walk. I feel less bloated and generally clearer-headed and well, however ... I'm not losing much weight. I had lost 1.5 kg after the first week, but this week nothing. I'm trying to tell myself that this is not just a diet and I'm convinced LCHF is the right way for me to tackle my diabetes, but feel rather disheartened this morning. I ate a late cooked breakfast yesterday morning (5.9 before/5.8 2 hours after), didn't snack (or want to) during the day, except for two coffees with cream and sweetener, walked, dusted off my exercise bike and managed 10 mins, ate a lovely dinner of duck, cauli mash and chicory with cream sauce. My treat for the day was sugar free jelly with a little cream and one square of dark chocolate. I'm a model pupil! Evangelistic even! Please, someone, tell me this will sort itself out. My main worry is that my cholesterol is too high and I am relying on the diet to get the weight off and sort that out.

 

[Squire Fulwood]

I found that the weight loss was not rapid. In fact I didn't notice it was happening until shortly before a review. I had noticed a tight waistband wasn't tight anymore but didn't think too much about it. 96 down to 83kg must have taken a year or more.

The other things are still being sorted. Lower Hba1c and a normal (even low) blood pressure.

Just keep living the new life style. It works in the end.

 

[IanD]

You are doing well Positive results all round. Your body will take time to adjust to your diet change & may be in a false "starvation mode" whereby it is seeking to maintain weight. You may need to reduce daily calories.

It's early days - cholesterol & weight take time. My chol was 7.6 when I was diagnosed & is now steady at about 5.5. I couldn't take statins, & the need for low cholesterol is highly questionable - I'm fit & well at 75, after 14 years of type 2 & 6 years of LCHF. My weight is stable at a BMI of 25-26 - slightly overweight - but is that a problem? I thnk not. My weight tends to rise through the winter & fall through the summer.

 

[Andy12345]

sounds like your doing great keep at it


Sent from the Diabetes Forum App

 

[ItalianKitten]

Two weeks into LCHF and getting on fine. I'm really not missing bread or other daily carbs like rice, pasta and potatoes and just have little pangs that I have to avoid any sweet treats. My IBS problems sorted themselves out within the first week. It's miraculous! I've bought a code free meter and my average is 5.5 and I saw a 4.5 yesterday after a 40 min walk. I feel less bloated and generally clearer-headed and well, however ... I'm not losing much weight. I had lost 1.5 kg after the first week, but this week nothing. I'm trying to tell myself that this is not just a diet and I'm convinced LCHF is the right way for me to tackle my diabetes, but feel rather disheartened this morning. I ate a late cooked breakfast yesterday morning (5.9 before/5.8 2 hours after), didn't snack (or want to) during the day, except for two coffees with cream and sweetener, walked, dusted off my exercise bike and managed 10 mins, ate a lovely dinner of duck, cauli mash and chicory with cream sauce. My treat for the day was sugar free jelly with a little cream and one square of dark chocolate. I'm a model pupil! Evangelistic even! Please, someone, tell me this will sort itself out. My main worry is that my cholesterol is too high and I am relying on the diet to get the weight off and sort that out.

I can appreciate that weight loss can be a huge motivator, I really do. However, in my personal experience weight loss doesn't seem to follow a linear process.

I maintain a very detailed food and exercise log, and just by following my appetite I seem to be able to keep a constant caloric intake. Yet, on some weeks I don't lose anything, on others I do. My body doesn't seem to care much about what it "should do".

I've just come out of a three weeks no-loss period, and then lost a lot in a handful of days; I can't explain it, but I can assure you that it adds up. On a completely unrestricted LCHF regime I have lost 32kg/70lbs since January.

This is a long term game, don't let a few days make you lose sight of the big picture. As we say in Italy, forza e coraggio! (have strength and courage!)

 

[zand]

I've just come out of a three weeks no-loss period, and then lost a lot in a handful of days; I can't explain it, but I can assure you that it adds up. On a completely unrestricted LCHF regime I have lost 32kg/70lbs since January.

Well done ...I am so.o.o.o jealous!

 

[Helsin]

I'm not being very rational, I know. It's just that the start of a new 'diet' usually results in a more rapid loss and I could really have done with that incentive. I've just got my appointment for the DESMOND course and am worried that slow results might sway me to their way of thinking.

 

[zand]

I'm not being very rational, I know. It's just that the start of a new 'diet' usually results in a more rapid loss and I could really have done with that incentive. I've just got my appointment for the DESMOND course and am worried that slow results might sway me to their way of thinking.

Yes, I totally understand where you are coming from. I am so pleased for other people when the weight just falls off them. But it isn't like that for me either. My advice would be to stick with LCHF and remember that any weight loss is good. I've had a peak at your info and your BMI is quite a lot less than mine, so that's good too.

For me, exercise is important as well as diet, but even diet and exercise together don't yield great results. I am having to put everything in to trying to lose weight and am beginning to address physiological and psychological issues which have caused barriers to me losing weight in the past.

Keep going, I am sure you will get there in the end. It's just a bit frustrating when everyone else seems to get there before you.

And let us know when you have lost some more too.

 

[Mazzer]

Hi Helsin, I follow the LCHF diet. Don't be disheartened, I didn't lose any weight for the first couple of weeks and then it just started to fall of without even trying. Since diagnosis in Feb this year I have lost 24lbs and am now down to my ideal weight of 8st 5lbs. Keep with it Helsin, it just takes time for your body to get used to the new diet.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Marilyn

 

[zand]

Hi Helsin, I follow the LCHF diet. Don't be disheartened, I didn't lose any weight for the first couple of weeks and then it just started to fall of without even trying. Since diagnosis in Feb this year I have lost 24lbs and am now down to my ideal weight of 8st 5lbs. Keep with it Helsin, it just takes time for your body to get used to the new diet.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.

Marilyn

Mazzer 8st 5lbs.....Wow!!!!! Well done, it is encouraging to see others losing weight (even though I'm jealous). Thanks

Yes Helsin , YOU CAN do it......and maybe I can too

 

[ItalianKitten]

Well done ...I am so.o.o.o jealous!

The (not very) funny thing is that my entire life I struggled to keep my weight in check with HCLF regimes, and a horrible struggle it was too. I was constantly hungry, and sometimes I couldn't sleep because of it. Dante's Inferno had nothing over my carbs cravings.

Then I was diagnosed as diabetic, and I started following the LCHF regime to manage my blood sugar, weight loss being the last thing in my mind. Imagine how dumbfounded I was when not only my blood sugar improved enormously, but weight started falling off me like if I were melting.

The big lesson to take out of this is: fat doesn't make you fat.

 

[Brunneria]

Serious question:
How long did it take for you to put the weight on?

The slower your loss, the more satisfied you are, the fewer hunger pangs, the fewer hypos, the better you sleep, the more energy you have... It also gives your skin time to shrink with you.

If it took 5 years to gain the weight, losing it in weeks might be such a shock to the system that you rebound back up to a higher weight (and high carbs).

Slow is much better. And soooo much kinder to a body that is already dealing with diabetes.

 

[Helsin]

I know, but putting it on was so much more fun!

 

[Brunneria]

Yeah... (Reminiscent sigh)

 

[Mazzer]

Mazzer 8st 5lbs.....Wow!!!!! Well done, it is encouraging to see others losing weight (even though I'm jealous). Thanks

Yes Helsin , YOU CAN do it......and maybe I can too

Hi Zand, thank you, there is no question of maybe you can do it - you CAN do it. I know from reading your previous posts that you have had some other problems, but think positive, you will get there it just takes a little time. I am sure everyone here will give you as much support as you need to achieve your goal. I will be following your progress, so don't let me down.

Good luck

Marilyn xx

 

[Scandichic]

I can appreciate that weight loss can be a huge motivator, I really do. However, in my personal experience weight loss doesn't seem to follow a linear process.

I maintain a very detailed food and exercise log, and just by following my appetite I seem to be able to keep a constant caloric intake. Yet, on some weeks I don't lose anything, on others I do. My body doesn't seem to care much about what it "should do".

I've just come out of a three weeks no-loss period, and then lost a lot in a handful of days; I can't explain it, but I can assure you that it adds up. On a completely unrestricted LCHF regime I have lost 32kg/70lbs since January.

This is a long term game, don't let a few days make you lose sight of the big picture. As we say in Italy, forza e coraggio! (have strength and courage!)

I am exactly the same. When you don't lose anything for 3 weeks, you do feel p@@@@d off and you've followed the diet to the letter but then the weight loss starts again so hang on in there.

 

[poshtotty]

Hi @Helsin

I feel for you as we are in the same boat. I'm now in Week 5 of LCHF and am still waiting to see some weight loss. Until the weekend when I had a 2 day blip, I'd been incredibly disciplined like you and hadn't snacked or felt the need to.

But I have seen other improvements such as improved mental clarity, greater energy levels, a lowering of before and after meals bs etc so I'm sticking with it for a while longer, but it does get disheartening when we read of others either rapid or significant weight loss and we wonder why me, especially when we need to see weight loss to motivate us.

I've increased my exercise too in the hope of kick-starting it, but to no avail. You are not alone with the slow weight loss progress, but keep in mind the other good things happening.

Don't give up. I've had a moan here about my bewilderment at no weight loss and that is the one message which keeps coming back to me. Don't give up. It will happen.

LCHF is a lifestyle change not a diet, so we need to re-educate ourselves, which is what we are doing in these early stages. I'm using the My Fitness Pal app which records my daily carb intake and this has average 85 carbs daily which doesn't seem excessive from what other members recommend.

Don't be too hard on yourself. I hope you see some weight loss soon to give you encouragement. I hope I do too!

 

[Indy51]

While I understand where you are coming from, I really worry that you are setting yourselves up for failure if you're basing every success around weight loss and not around BG control - after all, the BG control should be the focus for all diabetics, no matter what their weight. IMO all this talk about needing weight loss for motivation is setting yourself up for failure from the outset.

Let's face it, what we tell ourselves about ourselves is a self-fulfilling prophecy and it's almost like you're trying to make a bargain with the universe and giving yourself an "out clause" in advance. Barring a miracle cure, you're on this diabetes journey for life, so worrying about weight loss over a short period of time is self-defeating. Try concentrating on BG control for life instead.

 

[Helsin]

Hi Indy51, I understand what you're saying, but my point was not as much 'oh poor me I want to lose weight fast', but rather that LCHF may be excellent as a long-term choice for my diabetes, but for my cholesterol? Maybe not so much. I was/am hoping that my cholesterol would improve as a direct result of weight loss and increased activity.

 

[Indy51]

Nothing is ever immediate and I think people often find that at first their cholesterol goes up as lipids are mobilised and released in the blood stream, but after 6 months or so they start to see improvements. I know that's been the case for me, especially with triglycerides, though my total cholesterol still sends the doctors into a tailspin.

There's a heap of information out there and it can get awfully confusing - even more so than the LCHF debate for BG control, LOL.