Trouble losing Weight

It sounds from your description as if you've increased your activity levels quite a bit since you've taken the new job? In itself that's a good start, but as you do that you may also need to increase your calorie intake to compensate.

For steady weight loss, most guidelines I've read say that you should really not be cutting your calorie intake by more than about 10% to avoid your bodie going into starvation mode.

Teh other thing that may be happening is that you are burning fat, but building denser muscle in its place. Keep an eye on your waistline and how your clothes are fitting as well.

You might want to research basal metabolic rate, which gives an outline calorie need based on weight, sex and activity levels. You could also find the calorie cost of walking as well and use that as a guide to your calorie needs, then subtract your ten percent from that for weight loss

Hi big_daddy,

I have read through your other posts and notice that you are finding it hard to stick to any eating plan without support from the rest of the family.
Without knowing the sort of things you are eating on a daily basis, it is difficult to know what is going on. It could be that your blood sugars are all over the place because of what you are eating. You really need to let us know a typical day of your food intake.
I know it is difficult to test if you cannot afford the test strips. Have you considered a Codefree Meter as they are the cheapest.
The meter plus all the paraphernalia and ten strips is £11.60 and additional strips are £6.49 for 50.
http://www.homehealth-uk.com/medical/bl ... esting.htm
Hope this helps,
CC.

Hi. It sounds like you are having carb hits from the snacks etc which will cause a vicious circle and is possibly part of the feeling faint. First, don't buy any snacks of the sugary or heavy carb kind in the first place. If they are accessible you will eat them. We are all tempted so, for example, we have no biscuits or cakes in the house. Have healthy snacks available. Nuts are very good as a snack. I have Green & Blacks 85% dark chocolate most days but only a few pieces. Note that dieting is far more effective for weight reduction than exercise, although exercise is still a contributor and has other benefits. My wife has lost a lot of weight recently thru a seriously low carb diet for a week at a time. This does mean forcing the body into ketosis (fat burning) which will not do any harm for short periods. She has not put this weight back on despite the sceptics who say that sort of diet doesn't work.

Weetabix isn't all it's cracked up to be. It seems really plain and healthy but it is loaded, I mean LOADED with sugar/carbs. Sent me up to 16mmol and I'm apparently normal so god knows what it's doing to a confirmed diabetic.

Yeah all of that breaded stuff needs to go. Potato. Bread. Pastry, all that stuff.

I know your freezer sounds exactly like any working class family's freezer- like mine! My dad gets /offended/if I try to prepare my own meals and not the chicken Kiev or fish fingers he cooked.
I understand it is often difficult and expensive to cut that food out. Im trying to eat more meat, fish and veg by shopping in Lidl.

I keep reading people recommending snacking on cheese and handfuls of nuts to keep yourself going. Hopefully someone with better knowledge than me will stop by. I'm sure you'll settle in to the level of activity at your new job. Plus it's probably the food shooting up your BG and then letting it drop that'd make you feel tired anyway,

Absolutely best of luck in all that you do *many snuggles*


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Hi big daddy, read about the problems you are having and read the comments of others. I disagree with the comment that weetabix is loaded with sugars, it is in fact one of the best cereals you can eat. I have one weetabix plus a hand full of All Bran every morning without any problems. The thing is you have to eat smaller portions but more regularly. I have something to eat every 2 hours. Even a piece of fruit such as an apple, banana etc. should help to stabilise your energy levels. I also need to lose weight and it is really hard, but I write down everything I eat and try to plan healthy meals and snacks ahead of time. When you write everything down you'd be amazed to see how much you eat on a normal day. Stay positive and try to eat more fruit as snacks.


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Im surprised noone has proposed you to adjust your Insulin intake instead.
Your Insulin sensitivity goes up quite a bit with excercise, it can be as much as 100%. Basicly you may only need around half of the usual dosage on those days compared to normal (lazier) days - if you are heavily exerted.
It seems to me way too uncommon to actively look at Insulin usage and adjust accordingly. Instead many favor upping food intake to compensate for hypos, but it's a horribly bad logic and removes focus from whats really the problem imho.

Good blood sugar levels are usually the measuring point of successful Diabetes management, which is only half the truth.
Most go with what the Insulin dosage their nurse/doctor suggests and stick to it rigidly. But Diabetes, if anything, is an illness with infinite variables so being able to adjust dosage according to food need&intake is key.
In my mind the ground pillars is always how much food you *need* - not how much food you need to counter your Insulin dosage. Like any person if Diabetics eat more than we need we will gain weight, or at least be unable to loose weight if that's what we wish. The difference is that if a set Insulin dosage is your starting point you don't have a choice - eat or face Hypoglycemia.

The real culprit here is usually too much Levemir, as it can accelerate metabolism and essentially keep you feeling hungry non-stop through the day. Levemir requirements vary greatly from person to person no doubt, same with excercise. But keep in mind Levemir in only intended to allow glycose to access your cells small amounts at a time, blood sugar rise from eating is best managed with Novorapid or similar.

Diabetes is really the "Für Elise" of balancing acts.
You need a constant flow of energy (glucose) to your cells throughout the day, this is what Levemir is designed to do.
Eventually you get hungry or simply need more energy than what is already floating around your blood, this is where Novorapid gets handy.
Your cells always need some amount of carbs to sustain function, but both carb intake and *then* Insulin need to be adjusted to level each other out - as well as your are able.
Of course when adjusting Insulin dosage, especially up, err on the side of caution! Do small increments/decrements in dosage and keep an eye on the levels.
Keep in mind when eating or injecting than it takes about 20 to 30 min both for food (barring liquid carbs drinks/soft drinks/ect.) and Insulin (Rapid) to start working, and not before then you will see which side bg swings to.

After 13 years and a lot of reading & listening to my body i've come to the conclusion that noone is more knowledgeable on my Diabetes than myself. No amount of reading and biological study can tell me how my body works in particular - it's up to oneself to figure that out.
I've not had a HbA1c done since I took motorcycle license last year, and before that it had been 5 years since I stopped doing Ambulatory visits. Last year it read 5.7, so things have not been going bad at all.