Type1. LCHF Diet

Hi Joanne,
4 weeks is not long on an LCHF diet, and a plateau for a while is quite common. I have been doing LCHF for over 2 years and I lost 2 stones in weight and feel much better in my own skin. You can choose your own level of carbs depending on what you want and don't want to eat, but keeping to around 50g per day was what worked best for me. I still have to take regular NovoRapid bolus injections, but they are much smaller doses than before. I still take 20u of Lantus per day. As a Type 1, I don't expect LCHF to cure my diabetes, but I think it is a diet that does reduce the strain of diabetes on the body. There is some advice for Type 1 diabetics doing LCHF on www.dietdoctor.com.

Hi Joanne, I feel your pain! So annoying when you hear so many stories about weight loss on lchf. I have been on it for 2 years now. My blood sugars are better than they have ever been. My weight is about 6lbs down on when I started! No matter what I do I cannot lose any more! I walk 1.5hrs 5 times a week, occasionally swim.
I comfort myself with my improved hba1c results and figure eventually I will hit on the right formula and the weight will come off.
4 weeks is early days for you. Keep going. Stay strong.

As I said earlier, do you eat enough fat? Do you possibly overdo the protein bit?

When did you have your thyroid checked last?

Glad your thyroid is good!!
Google gluconeogenisis and it will explain protein and the storage in the liver.

Excess protein can cause weight gain and there is no need for it.
The formula is .8-1g per kg LEAN body mass. We don't need to feed far so use the lean body mass.i also have to bolus for half my protein. So if I eat 20g (3 oz) I need to bolus as if it were 15 carbs. I also take 6 injections a day. 3 for bf at 7-8 and two more after to stop the rise before lunch at 3. They are small doses but still injections. Arg.... only way I know of to stop the morning rises.

The best diet I've used to stay lean or drop weight is vlc (less than 20/day), moderate protein as described and just enough fat to satisfy

However, food intolerances can halt loss. So can all grains and dairy, too much saturated fat, processed foods etc. I need to eat clean burning, high quality fuel, just not too much.

joanne75 said:

Thank you all for your replies, I had a baby 18mths ago and still need to loose 1 stone to get to where I was pre-pregnancy and I just cant seem to shift it, Ive always struggled to loose weigh. I am seeing my dietician as well, she is not keen on the LCHF diet and yes I am probably not following it to the book and am on low carb but like some of you I still need 6 injections a day and still have to have Rapid with meals with very low carb or non carb, I just don't know what the way forward is.

I don't eat a lot I swim 160 lengths a week I walk about 10miles a week and do pilates and still I manage to put on weigh, I don't drink much alcohol (a little at the weekends), mabe the way forward is to calorie count and have a very restricted very low calorie diet

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Don't underestimate the effect pregnancy can have. Even after delivery, our bodies often like to hang on to a bit of extra weight. It can vary from pregnancy to pregnancy too. I held on to weight that was definitely nothing to do,with what I was eating. It was bizarre as I usually find it hard to put on weight.

Then this suddenly started shifting and I lost that weight in a few weeks - even though I was exercising less and eating exactly the same food. There was definitely some kind of hormonal shift.

So don't lose hope. Perhaps try something like MyFitnessPal so you can record your food and see that you're eating ok. Some people do find that eating too few carbs can cause problems of its own, so eat what works for you. We're all different

joanne75 said:

Hi @Totto just had thyroid checked all is fine and Im not sure if I am eating too much protein maybe I need to research more maybe I just don't get the concept where would be the best place to look for further info on LCHF?

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Dietdoctor is s very good place.
The key to low carb is fat.

Ihad my thyroid checked lots of times and was always told it was fine. It wasn't. What were your thyroid test results?

joanne75 said:

@Totto sorry I don't know what the results were just that they were ok, I have looked at the Dietdoctor so will see how I go. @azur I use my fitbit and that records what I eat so I am only consuming about 900cal a day if not less on some days, I just don't understand why I cant loose weight, I thought the more insulin you take the more fat you store but I might be wrong that's why I am so keen to do the low carb

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No, insulin doesn't work quite like that if you're Type 1. To put it simply, we're just replacing the insulin we can no longer make ourselves.

Regarding your weight, perhaps you're eating too few calories? How many carbs a day are you eating? LCHF doesn't suit everyone and it can cause physiological insulin existence. Our situation is different from someone with Type 2 so we often need a different approach.

I eat vlc and it suits me very well. Small insulin doses suit me well too.

It's not the insulin that will make us fat but the foods we eat that need to be covered by insulin. I store every carb I eat, no lie. Any grain or dairy goes right to my bum. I do eat lc veggies because they're healthy and I like them. Other than that it's just mostly protein and avocado. Simple and basic but I love it.
Recently I think I developed a food intolerance to nuts as everytime I ate them the top of my hand would itch so those are out now too. The ever dwindling elimination of foods. Just don't take my avocado away!!!

Obviously you are not over eating calories but the type of food you're eating could matter. Do you think you have any food intolerances? I probably eat about the same amount of calories as you, especially without nuts. I have never needed loads of calories. Zaps my energy when I eat large meals. I'd rather graze which is hard to do with insulin.

Do you know how much protein you're eating? And are you including enough healthy fats? A calorie isn't a calorie in my book. How low carb is low carb to you? Maybe some tweaking to shift things. Fat is fuel and in the absense of carbs it does not make us fat.

Have you figured out your macronutrient ratios?

As azure said, SOME people do better with a few more carbs but SOME people do better with much less. Which way do you FEEL better?

You should ask for a print out of your thyroid test results.

Starving yourself is rarely a good idea. It can mess up your metabolism even worse and makes your body hanging on to its stores. You could try and eat more fat and see what happens but if your thyroid is a bit slow you may not be able to lose weight no matter what you do. Get those thyroid test result and post them here and I'll help you interpret them.

Like you I am a diabetic of 30+ years, 3 yrs ago I started on my version of a low carb diet bit still eat a whole grapefruit, banana and a mango for breakfast, however I have no diary, so only get my fats from salad dressings and meat. Also no flour products, rice or potato ever.
I now have 1000 injections less a year and have lost over 3 stone.

Good luck and best wishes.


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Hi Joanne, do you sleep well and or get enough, as this is very important for your body to implement health changes.

joanne75 said:

Thank you for the replies, yes I understand that chips and garlic bread are not low carb? hence why I put I had they things once in 2 weeks as it was eating out. I was under the impression that coleslaw at 3.2g per 100g was low carb and the melon is the lowest you can possible get. Even if I just have eggs for breakfast I would still need to take some fast acting. My portion sizes are very small. Thanks very much I obviously need to do some more research

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I'm T1 and can't touch melon as it's so high in sugar. I find red and blue berries much better. A glass of milk would put my glucose level way up too- full of lactose which is a form of sugar.

joanne75 said:

Thank you for your response, so what do you eat in a day?

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bacon and eggs for breakfast in various forms. greek yog and berries and nuts

lunch cloud bread/lettace wraps/soup/leftovers

dinner meat and veg with some sauce normally...stir fry/tofu/full English fry up minus bread

just a few suggestions

I second they thyroid also