Weight, control and babies?!?!?

sarahjane...whatever you do, DON'T GIVE UP! you will find that this forum is fabulous- i've been T1 since 2000 also, and honestly - have been learning the most about this blummin disease since i found this forum very recently. yes, like you - i've always been told to include starchy carbs in every meal. after this length of time it's hard to think of any other kind of meal isn't it! i was just building up my knowledge and confidence to start cutting down (not cutting out, just down) carbs but have found that i'm pregnant at the mo so can't go experimenting right now. saying that, i can still use control with my portions.

read all the posts on this subject (maybe not all...but have a good poke around) lots of opinions on how a lower carb diet can be beneficial to blood sugars & the bonus that it requires less insulin! less insulin = less weight gain! i was just beginning to get my head round this. maybe you could try cutting carbs down and adjusting your insulin down also...you need to be a test-aholic when trying new things out tho, to see how it affects you, and then you can adjust insulin up or down accordingly.

i have been 6 stone overweight before and i know i required more insulin as a result. you really do need to get some of this weight off before conceiving, i know we're not all the same, but both my previous pregnancies (i have a 9yo & 2yo) resulted in a 5 stone weight gain each time!!!! the second pregnancy i was already overweight by a stone and a half before i started, so my 5 stone gain meant i was 6.5 stone overweight! it wasn't very comfortable. i was still working on getting weight down when i find out i was pregnant, so i am going to try SO hard to try and not gain the same amount of weight this time (but it's very hard when insulin need rises quite sharply, and the hypo's also come along more frequently).

last year i lost a couple of stone just by cutting down (not low carbing) on food in general, and increasing my activity (gym...started off gently on the bike & cross trainer, til i felt fitter, then started spinning classes - i wasn't the thinnest in the class, but there sure were all shapes & sizes, and boy it really started to shift the pounds!) best of all, i started to feel better, not out of breath & 'old'!!! that's when i realised i no longer wanted to shift weight just to look better but just to feel better.

the best piece of advice i could ever pass on is that there isn't a magic spell that sorts it all out, it's something that YOU have to take control of and little bit by little bit you can chip away at it. and that if you have an 'off' day - you go to bed that day and draw a line under it - the next day is brand new and you must tell yourself you haven't ruined it all, you just have to get back on it the next day. a blip won't ruin the whole thing. 2 steps forward, 1 step back....2 steps forward, 1 step back - is better than no steps forward.

do keep in touch and let us know how things are going, sounds like you've got the best motivation ever to finally take control of your weight. good luck