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Type 1 gaining weight with healthy lifestyle

steph1986

steph1986

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
I have had type 1 for 20yrs now and on at least 5 injections a day. I eat healthy low carb diet and I exercise 3-4 times a week and yet my weight still goes up. My thyroid function is fine so that doesn't explain it. I get no consistent help from my diabetic clinic. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions to improve my situation? Many thanks
Steph
 
If your thyroid is normal, your diet is 'healthy' and your diabetes is well managed the only answer i have for you is - age.

People tend to get older and their metabolism gets slower and eventually they tend to put on weight with no discernible change in their daily lives.

I think the common thread is that every diabetic assumes any problem we have is diabetes related, but like you said you simply cannot find a tie to your T1D, so logically there probably isnt one lol Perhaps your just getting older haha
 
You may be one of the unlucky ones like my wife, who isn't diabetic, but has a poor natural metabolism. She has virtually no carbs and only just manages to control her weight within the good area. I can only suggest controlling the carbs even further if such a thing is possible. What is your typical daily carb intake?
 
@steph1986, seen in your previous post back in March that you were going to ask for the drug Metformin to help with your bg control and weight gain, did you manage to get it prescribed?
 
Do you count calories? Low carb is great but if you exceed calorie intake, it wont help you to loose weight.
Also, what is your actual thyroid result? I was borderline for a long time but my consultant didn't want to put me on levothyroxine. I started few months ago and I can see I'm loosing weight without dieting. I believe it can be hormonal as I had that problem too. I also think that contraceptive pills may contribute to weight gain
 
I hope it's not my age as I'm only 29 ha ha! I didn't manage to get any kind of response regarding metformin. I just got the usual see you in 6months with the hope that a miracle has happened and my situation has changed. My car intake varies from almost nothing to 100gram but I try to keep it lower than 70grams. I also have genetic pancreatitis which stops me absorbing food properly. I don't smoke or drink. Why is it so hard even when we are doing our best
 
steph1986 said:
I have had type 1 for 20yrs now and on at least 5 injections a day. I eat healthy low carb diet and I exercise 3-4 times a week and yet my weight still goes up. My thyroid function is fine so that doesn't explain it. I get no consistent help from my diabetic clinic. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions to improve my situation? Many thanks
Steph
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Although it is a bit of a pain to have to exercise, I try to exercise every day. Mostly it is with at least 30 min brisk walking after lunch. At home sometimes after dinner also either a 20 minute walk or get on the exercise bike for 12 to 20 minutes. Any exercise I time to do usually in the 2 hour peak sugar time after meals and that coincides with the peak effect of the novo rapid.

My Dr advised me to cut back on the insulin when I was in weight gaining mode so I suspect that more exercise for you will allow you to reduce your doses. My doses work with the level of exercise I do. In fact when I travel and don't exercise plus have hotel or restaurant food my random BG levels go balistic. The Dr always warns me about cutting back insulin by about a quarter when planning to exercise but you have to get used to what works with the level of exercise undertaken if done every day and I don't need to adjust down. In Australia I am fortunate that the weather is kind for outdoors most of the year round. However there are plenty of aerobic gym exercises which I am sure will do the trick for you. Good luck!
 
Hey Steph, you might just need to give your metabolism a bit of a kick. Try adding in some weight lifting, it is actually great for building lean muscle and rebooting your metabolism. However, if you do not do a lot of weight training, watch out for delayed hypos! I have had some that have been up to 12 hours later!!
 
steph1986 said:
I hope it's not my age as I'm only 29 ha ha! I didn't manage to get any kind of response regarding metformin. I just got the usual see you in 6months with the hope that a miracle has happened and my situation has changed.
Click to expand...


Some type 1's who struggle to lose weight have found that Metformin has helped so do try and push it at your next review, but as @ewelina says above, you must look at your calorie intake, if you burn more calories than you consume then the weight will eventually fall off.

I lost over 2 stone when on a low-carb diet of around 120g a day, I just cut down on my food intake and stopped eating snacks between meals and stuck to 3 meals a day, before that I'd regularly have supper which all added to the calorie count, it can be done but down expect too much too soon, your better losing weight slowly which allows the body to adapt as this way your less likely to put it back on. Good luck.
 
You may be low carbing, but having a lot of calories?

"All calories come from either fat, protein or carbohydrates"
 
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