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Underweight - Now It's Getting serious

cold ethyl said:
Rhubarb? I find that doesn't spike me or Bramley apples.

I'm sure some of the loss is down to feeling so worked up by everything. It is hard to be trying so hard and for it to not be working out. Have you tried discussing how worried you feel by all of this with any medical professionals ? It seems that you need a more holistic approach than that currently being offered as you are worrying yourself ragged with it all - obviously you don't want to become a diabetic, but nor do you want to lose so much weight that you are ill both physically and psychologically. I would be seeing my GP and asking for help to pull all the strands of this issue together.
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Thanks. Seeing him Wednesday. I have been very stressed on top of everything with family issues but I have been taking great care with my diet and next I will be ill because of the weight problem!
 
NoCrbs4Me said:
My 2 cents: the problem may be simply that you're not eating enough. 1500 calories is too low, as others have said.
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When I try to increase my portions I end up not being able to eat anything for ages because it take so long to return to normal.
 
Maybe if you explain all of this to your GP it might be possible to be referred to the hospital diabetic clinic who may be able to look at off licence use of something like Metformin to keep your BS levels lower ... When you say that larger portions make it take too long to come down, what sort of levels and duration are we talking about?
 
I have to agree. I am also 5ft 4" and am still losing bits of weight on 1600 calories. I don't do strenuous exercise, just 2 20 minute walks a day. I think you need to up them. I would have an extra slice of Burgen, enjoy a proper sandwich, more cheese, coffee with cream.

Your total cholesterol has gone up, but what about your other lipids? If your HDL has increased, that is very good and that will have increased your total. You need to look at the whole picture with cholesterol, not just the total, and the triglycerides are important. Do you know what these levels are?

Are you stressing too much over your BS levels so you won't eat anything that raises them, even my a little bit? Maybe you are being too hard on yourself blood sugar-wise?
 
SJC said:
1 - 2 small bottles water. Two or three deface coffees and a coupe of decaff teas.
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That's not a lot either - in terms of fluid. Have you tried bulletproof coffee? It's not something I fancy, but it's very high calorie.
 
It takes more than 1500 calories to just breathe if you are a normal weight.

Could you tolerate double cream in your coffee or avocado's added in?
 
cold ethyl said:
Maybe if you explain all of this to your GP it might be possible to be referred to the hospital diabetic clinic who may be able to look at off licence use of something like Metformin to keep your BS levels lower ... When you say that larger portions make it take too long to come down, what sort of levels and duration are we talking about?
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Likely to stay in the high sevens for three to four hours. Then it comes down to about 5.5 after five hours. I am trying to snack in between too. I don't like to eat anything if my BS is higher than 5.5. Maybe that's a wrong approach.
 
AndBreathe said:
That's not a lot either - in terms of fluid. Have you tried bulletproof coffee? It's not something I fancy, but it's very high calorie.
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And how would all this extra butter and cream affect my already rising cholesterol because I will refuse to go on statins.
 
donnellysdogs said:
It takes more than 1500 calories to just breathe if you are a normal weight.

Could you tolerate double cream in your coffee or avocado's added in?
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For a woman of 5ft 4 inches my dietician told me 1500 calories would maintain weight, anything above would add weight. I do get through 3 avocados a week.
 
SJC said:
And how would all this extra butter and cream affect my already rising cholesterol because I will refuse to go on statins.
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There's no guarantee that your lipids will rise if you increase fat.

But, let's just cut to the chase here. You are going to have to choose the least bad imperfection. Living with the modifications you have made doesn't appear to be working out for you. Continuing to lose weight from where you are now is unsustainable, and if taken to the extremes, could be fatal. I'm certainly not suggesting you are close to that, but if you don't make adjustments and continue to lose weight, that could e your ultimate destination.

So, you have to choose what you are going to do.

As I see it, you have a few few options:

- Eat more, generally.
- Eat additional high calorie options, such as bulletproof coffee (only an example)
- Up the carbs
- Take food supplements
- Add in snacks
- Do all of the foregoing

Anyone else have any further ideas?

Your dietician and doctor will have views on this, but at the end of the day, you are the one who lifts the fork to your lips.......
 
SJC said:
For a woman of 5ft 4 inches my dietician told me 1500 calories would maintain weight, anything above would add weight. I do get through 3 avocados a week.
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Well, either you are under calculating your intake or 1500 calories is not holding you steady.
 
AndBreathe said:
There's no guarantee that your lipids will rise if you increase fat.

But, let's just cut to the chase here. You are going to have to choose the least bad imperfection. Living with the modifications you have made doesn't appear to be working out for you. Continuing to lose weight from where you are now is unsustainable, and if taken to the extremes, could be fatal. I'm certainly not suggesting you are close to that, but if you don't make adjustments and continue to lose weight, that could e your ultimate destination.

So, you have to choose what you are going to do.

As I see it, you have a few few options:

- Eat more, generally.
- Eat additional high calorie options, such as bulletproof coffee (only an example)
- Up the carbs
- Take food supplements
- Add in snacks
- Do all of the foregoing

Anyone else have any further ideas?

Your dietician and doctor will have views on this, but at the end of the day, you are the one who lifts the fork to your lips.......
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I still feel a bit of an enigma to the docs. Nobody in the family has diabetes nor has had for as long back as we can ascertain. I was average weight and always ate a healthy diet. It shocked me and my dietician even thinks it was a fluke reading, but I can't ignore it going back up to 40 from 37 when I upped the bread a bit ...and the oatcakes. My cholesterol was always low 5's. Then it went up to 5.7 after I started LCHF and then up to 6.5. I can't ignore the figures. Something isn't working for me generally. Thanks for your reply.
 
SJC said:
Likely to stay in the high sevens for three to four hours. Then it comes down to about 5.5 after five hours. I am trying to snack in between too. I don't like to eat anything if my BS is higher than 5.5. Maybe that's a wrong approach.
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Ok. I wonder if something like Metformin wouldn't help you then as it seems odd that you are staying in high sevens that long... It won't lower your levels massively , but does help make the spikes lower and shorter in my experience. GPs in theory can't offer it to pre diabetics but an endocrinology clinic probably could , though if you have gastro issues they may be reluctant.
 
cold ethyl said:
Ok. I wonder if something like Metformin wouldn't help you then as it seems odd that you are staying in high sevens that long... It won't lower your levels massively , but does help make the spikes lower and shorter in my experience. GPs in theory can't offer it to pre diabetics but an endocrinology clinic probably could , though if you have gastro issues they may be reluctant.
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I can't see it happening myself. I am not leaving the doctors next week until I have had a long talk with him and come out better understanding what's going wrong and why. It's all weird to me. I am getting very confused generally about it all. My husband had a piece of cheesecake and we took his BS three hours later - it was still 6,5. For one small piece of cheesecake that seems quite odd to me. He's not diabetic and had his bloods done about five months ago.
 
SJC said:
I can't see it happening myself. I am not leaving the doctors next week until I have had a long talk with him and come out better understanding what's going wrong and why. It's all weird to me. I am getting very confused generally about it all. My husband had a piece of cheesecake and we took his BS three hours later - it was still 6,5. For one small piece of cheesecake that seems quite odd to me. He's not diabetic and had his bloods done about five months ago.
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The fat in the cheesecake can slow down the spike so he might not have been any higher earlier.
Hopefully your GP can help as this is obviously distressing you. Write a list of all your questions - it may even help to email them to the surgery in advance of appointment and to ask for a double appointment so you don't feel under pressure.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
Well it doesn't work for me! 1500 is not enough.
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Calories are really carbs or fats. I can't raise carbs much more. I can raise fats but I don't know if it will be at the expense of my cholesterol going up even higher. Damned if I do, damned if I don't. Find it strange that some people on LCHF get a lower cholesterol.
 
SJC said:
I still feel a bit of an enigma to the docs. Nobody in the family has diabetes nor has had for as long back as we can ascertain. I was average weight and always ate a healthy diet. It shocked me and my dietician even thinks it was a fluke reading, but I can't ignore it going back up to 40 from 37 when I upped the bread a bit ...and the oatcakes. My cholesterol was always low 5's. Then it went up to 5.7 after I started LCHF and then up to 6.5. I can't ignore the figures. Something isn't working for me generally. Thanks for your reply.
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As I said earlier, total cholesterol is meaningless on its own. You need the full breakdown before you can say you have high cholesterol. If I were you I would ask for this breakdown (HDL, LDL, Triglycerides) HDL is the good cholesterol, and if this increases it also increases your total. I'm not saying you haven't got high cholesterol, I'm just saying you need to know the breakdown and which of the lipids are causing the problems.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
As I said earlier, total cholesterol is meaningless on its own. You need the full breakdown before you can say you have high cholesterol. If I were you I would ask for this breakdown (HDL, LDL, Triglycerides) HDL is the good cholesterol, and if this increases it also increases your total. I'm not saying you haven't got high cholesterol, I'm just saying you need to know the breakdown and which of the lipids are causing the problems.
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I have. I wrote about it on here about a week ago. LDL 4.5 HDL 1.4 Trig 1.3
 
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