Type 1: Impossible to lose weight

[MH2010]

I have been type 1 for 26 years and overweight for all but 3 of these years.

The lowest my weight has been is 10st and now I am at my heaviest and it is drivig me crazy.

Before anyone starts with the 'rip Maria apart', I want advice, NOT a load of people criticising me.

On a usual day, I eat

Breakfast- porridge
Lunch- eggs/bacon
Supper- chicken/veg

I do not snack and all test results (thyroid etc) always come back as 'normal'

I walk loads and go swimming 3 or 4 times a week.

I was a VERY badly controlled diabetic for a few years and this is the time my weight was at its lowest.

My sugars are all between 4-6 usually now but no matter what I do, the weight creeps on.

I am not going to say my weight now but it is enough to make me feel depressed, I have no social life as I dont want people to see me looking like a beached whale.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I end up driving myself crazy.

 

[magsiesss]

Unfortunately I cannot offer any advice as I have not lost an ounce since being diagnosed and changing lifestyle myself ... so will be watching for responses and advice you receive.

I can offer you a hug though .... good luck

 

[paulliljeros]

Hi @MH2010 How many carbs do you eat on a typical day, and how much insulin are you on? I am by no means an expert, as I have been stuck at 80kgs for a couple of years, but have started to look into low carb in order to lower insulin in a controlled manner. Unfortunately, diet restrictions due to CKD are making it difficult, but from my limited knowledge, insulin is a type of growth hormone, and I believe this is why weight gain is attributed to insulin. This may be something worth looking into, but please don't take this as advice to simply stop taking insulin!

 

[novorapidboi26]

for me the weight comes off when the insulin comes down, but you are only really having porridge and veg....

do you have many hypos and how many units of basal insulin is going in of a day....

 

[catapillar]

Have you tried logging your food to check whether you are in calorie deficit?

Burn more calories than you put in - it's an oldie, but a goodie. If you are sure you are consistently in calorie deficit and are still struggling to shift any weight then definitely look at further investigations etc. Sorry if you are already confident of calorie deficit - it's not clear from your post what the calorie intake & burn is.

 

[chalup]

You may be more insulin resistant in the morning. T1's can be resistant as well as T2 and it is possible to have both. You are eating your biggest carb meal first thing in the morning. You might be better off having the bacon and eggs for breakfast. Do you suffer from dawn phenomenon?

As for tearing you down, I see no reason for anyone to do that. You are here and asking for suggestions to help yourself become more healthy and you are obviously wanting to do whats right for you. Those things are all positives and you will get no criticism from me.

 

[Freema]

Any advice would be greatly appreciated before I end up driving myself crazy.[/QUOTE]

well don´t know if fasting works for diabetics on insuline...

it is not easy for everyone to loose weight especially with insuline resistence...

what I have read about ways to get the level of unwanted insuline down , there is one major way and that is fasting...

it sounds hard, but it gets easier after some days...

to me it was the best way to do about the same every day, and that meant fasting from 19 o´clock untill next day 12 o´clock

those 17 hours with no foods at all do put insuline a bit down...

but on top of that I do count calories and that means 1000 calories an not even a nut more ...

what would healp a lot more is a 3 days fasting on only 500 calories in 1 meal at only that time of the day... the third day of fasting gets insuline down with about 60% and thats about the most change we can do with fasting... more days doesn´t help much more except with of cause loosing weight,
admit I didn´t do this yet but have it in mind....

every 10 day i do eat a little more like 1300 calories (because I deserve it) but I do count in everything every little bite of anything also sugarfree gums each piece.

some people do fast 500 calories 2 days a week and loose a lot this way, but my caracter is not like that, but the advantage in that way of fasting is that the body does not get used to living from very little and therefore do not shrink the brain and Heart in order to live and maintain the body weight from less calories..

I have done my weightloss on low fat actually and high protein... but the main focus is the excact counting of calories..

If one is very heavy it can be easier to start a little higher like 1300 calories pro day the first month.. and only eaten in the time window of 7-8 hours (not cheating)

i did drink pure water and tea and in the afternoon a cup of coffee, not in the morning as it stresses up the liver to maybe send even more glucose out in the blood.. the first week you could chew 10-20 pieces of sugarfree gum the rest of the day to stand the long hours of no food... but remember it is not good for fasting...
the first 3 days I did get headace, but that disapeared and I got a lot of energy, but got a hard time sleeping, that became easier over time...

just stay focused... somedays though i only ate fresh coconut meat the whole day....

here is a weight caculator , but remember that too low in calories do not help weight loss in the long run as you after the weight loss can get fatter from less calories then ....

http://www.healthyweightforum.org/eng/calculators/weight-loss/

 

[ickihun]

I see why adding weight is a concern but how much have you added over the years and any child bearing years inbetween?
Hormones can change a persons weight regardless of calories.
I wouldnt expect a young girl's weight to be compared to a 2 childbearing woman to be the same weight or less.
Your body changes.
Accepting that puts weight gain in perspective. From there assess how much weight liss would be reasonable.
Many cannot accept 2lb or less a week as a huge achievement. I do. From your post I know you do too.
To aim for 2lb loss how do you think that can be achieved?
Water loss (period nearly finished)
Drinking more water to rehydrate your body as any dehydration can be enough for your body to retain excess water. Watery veg can help with that. Cook veg well.
......I can go on.
Little tips to help out but combined can easily help with that 2lb loss.
Blocking a liver dump can reduce my need to added insulin in my day.
When and what increases your bgs which cause the need for more than necessary insulin?
Ive halved my insulin need intermittently as im only human I occasionally forget these and other tips to stop weight gain.
There are more tips but what foods to eat and when seems to make a huge difference. Calories a little. (In excessive eaters).
Type 2s are constantly weight gain aware. Have a look around those forums for hints and tips. Successes are a great mental boost. Even 2 lb at a time. I have a long job too and often get disheartened but carry on doing positive tips and you will eventually see a difference. Best of luck.

 

[azure]

@MH2010 Could you have some insulin resistance? Your daily food intake looks fine there, so I'm wondering if the issue is something hormonal.

 

[MH2010]

Taking metformin but no odea to be honest @azure

 

[azure]

I was going to suggest Metformin possibly, so that's good you're taking it. The other thing I thought of was female hormones - either your own or any you're taking in medication. As an example, I've always been slim, but when I was on the pill I put on pounds in weight very quickly even though my diet was exactly the same.

 

[MH2010]

The only things I take are insulin (NovoRapid & Lantus) plus the metformin.

Last time I went to diabetic clinic, I said I wanted Metformin as I heard it was good for decreasing appetite but am hardly hungry as it is.

Sorry for the delay in replies, my aunt died this morning so head is all over the place.

Since I started taking care of myself again (16 months ago) my weight has almost doubled, even though I am eating a hell of a lot less, I walk almost everyday & walk to/from swimming which is a really steep hill.

I have no idea how many calories I eat a day but I gave one of the nutritionalists at the gym a copy of my food diary when I was keeping one & she said I was having nowhere near as many calories as I should.

I am at a total loss and it seems like everything is against me.

 

[azure]

Sorry to hear about your loss @MH2010 My sympathy to you and all your family.

It may be worth using something like MyFitnessPal so you can measure your calories, carbs, etc, and see if there's any obvious place where you can do some trimming. I've used that app and even though I know what I eat and think I have a pretty good idea of my calorie intake, it was very helpful to see it all laid out. Also, you can then be sure you're eating a consistent amount each day. Even if you only do it for a few weeks, it can be useful info.

If you treat the recommended calories as just a guide, perhaps that will help? I think we're all individuals and we don't all conform to the average or the norm.

Maybe you could also experiment with different meals at different times eg try a different lunch.

Do you know how many carbs you eat a day? Can I ask how much insulin you take?

NB - you don't have to answer now. Just come back to this thread when you're ready if it's all a bit much. Don't worry about replying when you have other things to think about.

 

[MH2010]

I take 16u Lantus AM & 24u PM. NovoRapid on average is about 14u a day (too much if u ask me!) I take 1u for 10g carbs.

I am going to ask at clinic next week about trying tresiba or toujeo as heard they are meant to be better than Lantus.

I cant remember which one lasts longer than 24hrs though.

 

[azure]

Good idea about the longer acting insulin. It's worth seeing if that would suit you better.

If all is well with your thyroid, etc, then the only way I've found to lose weight is to lower carbs and to monitor calories. I've also found walking to be really good for,weight loss. If you want to up your exercise or swap things around to see if that will help, then that's also another option.

 

[MH2010]

I walk loads every day.

I am away to raid the bike out of the garage and get cycling again as well (if my fat ass doesnt snap the bike!!)

So fed up of always feeling like a fat bloater, going to GP tomorrow to see what they say cause I am sick of feeling like this.

 

[Kristin251]

If you're taking 14 units novo rapid for 10 carbs that equates to 140 carbs. I would feel just like you if I ate that many carbs. Some people feel great with that many and some not so much.

Seems like a lot of lantus too. As @azure mentioned, you may be insulin resistant. That does not help with weight loss

 

[qe5rt]

I second @azure 's tip on using an app like Myfitnesspal to have a closer (it's not perfect) idea of how many calories you're taking in. It's easy to use and allows you to scan the barcode of a lot of food products. You can use an online calculator like this to give you an idea on how much your basic metabolic rate is (use the bottom one marked TDEE women). It will give you a general idea on how low you'll need to be to lose weight. Consider it a guideline not an absolute truth.

That said looking at your daily eating habits i wouldn't think you're in a vast caloric surplus unless the portions are huge. But it's not an extremely healthy meal plan neither. The point being that micro nutrients (your minerals and vitamins) play a major role in weight loss and i don't think you'll get plenty with porridge, bacon, eggs, chicken en some vegetables. It can never hurt varying/increasing your vegetable intake, aim for a mix of different colored vegetables. Besides the obvious health benefits from eating vegetables it's nearly impossible to over eat on them as they fill you up pretty fast. Something like a single chocolate bar has the same amount of calories as a entire shopping cart of lettuce. But variation is key as mentioned combine different colors.

Another thing to consider it eating 5-6 times a day instead of 3 times. Your body can do all sorts of unwanted stuff when trying to lose weight. Eating small portions regularly can off set some of those things. It might be worth a shot but you should be mindful of your blood sugar since you'll be eating more often but smaller portions, the current basal might not apply anymore ... probably won't, so look out for hypos or even unexpected highs. Having a bit of a routine in your eating habits and exercise habits make it easier to control your blood sugar, at least i find this to be the case.

Furthermore you can retain more water when in a caloric deficit. This is different from person to person it doesn't seem to effect me but i know people that gain weight though lose fat the first couple of weeks. The lesson from this is incorporate a measuring tape (even prefer it above a scale) to track your progress. Measure belly, upper arms, upper legs, ... if you lose some inches there and the scale stays the same you can be positive you've lost fat and are on the right path.

On the exercise front the general rule is the higher the intensity the more weight loss. But you have to know for yourself on how fit you are and what you can do as i don't know your overall physical health. You might even want to see a doctor before you start doing high intensity stuff just to be safe (better safe than sorry). Without going into too much detail you can rate intensity in these 3 stages:

• Low: still able to make conversation without a problem. Example: walking
• Moderate: able to talk, not able to sing. Example: leisure cycling on a flat road
• High: not able to make a full sentence without catching a breath, or utter more than a few words. Example: uphill cycling

Other pitfalls are: lack of sleep, not drinking enough water, alcohol, certain vitamin/mineral deficit, stress. Not saying these apply but worth mentioning.

Keep in mind that these are just general guidelines, if you feel like you're doing everything right and you still don't see results i would wager to say something else is going on.

I'm not going to say losing weight is easy and it can be upsetting so best of luck to you and my sincere condolences in this difficult time for you.

 

[Mátyás]

Good morning!

I am struggling with the same, with DM-1 is quite challenging to lose weight. However, on my opinion detoxicating your body (for me, for example, consuming aloe vera gel for a longer period worked), eating low-carb, drinking enough clear water and doing long-time exercises (running, walking, swimming, basketball, football, ski, etc.) can deliver results.

I found out that without reducing insulin level it is impossible to lose weight. In order to reduce the insulin level, you have to do some exercises and/or eat low-carb. This is my suggestion. By the way, I am trying right now to lose some weight in this way, too (I gained too much kg after my long-effect insulin has been changed, though I do not eat more).

Don't give up and you will succeed!

Hug,

M.

 

[drvicky786]

I am a doctor and type 1 diabetic. I also gained too much weight by anabolic effect of insulin and overdosing. I lost 42kg in eight and half months by reducing calorie intake mainly refined carbohydrates and reducing insulin but also keeping control of blood sugar. I am now having ideal bmi. Dont lose hope and keep trying.