Weight gain

Chromeautofill said:

Hi,

Ive cut out the junk food, I'm eating more 'healthier' food, ive cut down on meal portions, I'm even getting off the train a stop earlier and walking the last 2 miles to work, yet ive gained 2 1/2 kilos in weight !!!
I'm trying to lose it, not put it on, I'm now at the heaviest ive ever weighed, 87.5kg . . where am I going wrong ??

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What are your 'healthier foods' ? I ask because lots of people think whole grains and fruit are 'healthy' but can cause troubles with weight and bloods for some of us.

What are you eating now? Are you testing your bloods at home after meals?

2.5kg is nothing. This could be water retention, it could be the difference in the time of day you weighed yourself, it could be muscle instead of fat (muscle weighs more).
Personally, I don't worry about my weight but about my waist measurement and my BG readings.

Sure, you may not be seeing improvements but you do not say how long you have been more active, eating healthier, etc.
As many people on this forum say, managing diabetes is a marathon not a sprint.

Chromeautofill said:

Its my 3rd week eating 'healthier' food, and yes it is fruit, not a massive amount I have to admit but its 101% more than I used to eat, my diet now is 1 shredded wheat with whole milk for breakfast, 2 slices of wholewheat bread with cheese and tomato for the filling, 2 plums, 2 apricots, an handful of blueberries, and an apple for lunch at work, (or sometimes tuna/mackerel sandwiches) and chicken breast or pork chops, 2 small potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower for my tea, and i'll have a weight watchers yoghurt as a treat occasionally

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I'm sorry but that is a TON of carbs for a normal person let alone a diabetic. And it's highly unlikely you'll lose weight and far more likely you'll gain weight!!

WAY too much fruit. Too many starchy carbs like bread and potato. If you're prediabetic this is not going to go well I'm afraid. I strongly suggest you get a home meter and start self testing before you eat, one and two hours after you eat.

There are loads of low carb threads and what people eat.

Lots of us do something like this.

Eggs bacon sausage, omelet, hard boiled egg with or without mayo, deli meat and cheese bf. No breads. No milk but rather heavy full fat cream

Lunch is often salads with protein and cheese and some above ground veggies with full fat dressings

Dinners are proteins and veggies with oil or butter

Some eat some berries, the lowest carb fruits with heavy cream for desserts.

Snacks are nuts, olives, hard boiled egg, cheese slices etc.

With pre diabetes you are looking to REDUCE carbs as they are the ones that spike your blood sugars.

wheat, all carbs and sugars make one gain weight if one does not count the calories...

what to avoid when one wants to lose weight is all kinds of bread, corn , potatoes, rice, cakes, all sugary drinks , all kinds of juice, fruits and..when one is diabetic ones blood glucose raises from all kinds of carbs, and then when one's blood glucose is raised ones insulin is also very raised in type 2 diabetics, and high insulin leads to rapid weight gain unfortunately.

Type 2 diabetics (and prediabetic ) many times initially have a very raised level of insulin 7 to 10 times what normal people have BUT the body can not use it to lower blood glucose which it does in non-diabetics... unfortunately the ability to store fat is still very much a fact and the higher levels of insulin the more fat one is able to store..

so the trick is when being type 2 to lower blood glucose as much as possible and thereby also lower insulin levels as much as possible... eating low carb helps a bit in lowering insulin and then it is again possible to lose weight, doing intermittent fasting helps even more in lowering insulin levels and is therefore very beneficial to type 2 diabetics.

so the best avice I could give you is to count your number of grams of carbs , and try stay under 100 grams in total in a day..this would get your blood glucose and insuline back in the levels non-diabetic people have .. if not then try going even lower in grams of daily carbs

Chromeautofill said:

Its my 3rd week eating 'healthier' food, and yes it is fruit, not a massive amount I have to admit but its 101% more than I used to eat, my diet now is 1 shredded wheat with whole milk for breakfast, 2 slices of wholewheat bread with cheese and tomato for the filling, 2 plums, 2 apricots, an handful of blueberries, and an apple for lunch at work, (or sometimes tuna/mackerel sandwiches) and chicken breast or pork chops, 2 small potatoes and broccoli/cauliflower for my tea, and i'll have a weight watchers yoghurt as a treat occasionally

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How does that compare to what you ate before? Have you increased the fruit to replace other sugary things?

What you've described is a perfectly normal day's food for many people - in fact, I eat more carbs than that but I don't have IR and I'm on insulin. If you're trying to control your BS and lose weight, then it might need a few tweaks.

Do you use something like MyFitnessPal to keep a count of calories, carbs, etc?

Hi @Chromeautofill ..
You will come across a lot of conflicting information around but the key point to take on board is that managing and controlling your diabetes (or pre-diabetes) through exercise, diet and testing your Blood Glucose seems to be the best way forward for many people. For me, committing to an LCHF (Low Carb High Fat) lifestyle and testing 3-5 times a day seems to be working and you'll find that there is a wealth of info, relevant advice and positive support about LCHF on the forum ..

I suggest that you read up on the Low Carb Program and you might also find the discussion on the Low Carb Diet forum helpful .. together with the following Diet Doctor websites, which will give you all the info that you need on what and what not to eat ...
Low Carb Intro and Information and Low Carbs in 60 Seconds

In working out your "food plan", it is a top priority that get yourself a test meter and, for this, the following websites might help:
https://homehealth-uk.com/product-category/blood-glucose/
for the SD Codefree meter, which costs £12.98 or:
http://spirit-healthcare.co.uk/product/tee2-blood-glucose-meter/
who distribute the TEE 2 meter, which is free.
I have both which I alternate for comparative purposes and I have never found any significant difference between them.

Unless you are prescribed a test meter and strips by your doctor (unlikely), the costs of testing comes down to the ongoing charges for test strips and lancets. Make sure that you tick the appropriate box on the on-line order form and you won't pay VAT on your meter or strips.
For the SD Codefree, the strips are £7.69 for a pack of 50 and there are discount codes available for bulk purchases:
5 packs x 50 use code: 264086 .. cost is £38.45
10 packs x 50 use code: 975833 .. cost is £76.90
For the TEE 2, the strips are £7.75 for a pack of 50 .. but there are no discount codes currently available

I'm testing 3-5 times a day which works out at around £10 to £12 per month for either of the two packages above but, more importantly, I now know what my BG levels are .. and I can now manage them

Hope this helps

I always put on weight at a great rate when eating a proper healthy balanced diet containing the 'normal' level of carbs. I'm afraid that for many people 'normal' just doesn't work.
Try to avoid anything made with grain, sugary fruits, potatoes and anything low fat - I looked for weight watchers yogurts and they seem to have more carbs per pot than my first meal of the day.
It can be very strange at first, but there have been people trying to argue for low carb eating for at least 150 years and being ridiculed for it - I'm going to make a jumper with Dr Atkins was right on it, as soon as I get back to a medium size.

Resurgam said:

I always put on weight at a great rate when eating a proper healthy balanced diet containing the 'normal' level of carbs. I'm afraid that for many people 'normal' just doesn't work.
Try to avoid anything made with grain, sugary fruits, potatoes and anything low fat - I looked for weight watchers yogurts and they seem to have more carbs per pot than my first meal of the day.
It can be very strange at first, but there have been people trying to argue for low carb eating for at least 150 years and being ridiculed for it - I'm going to make a jumper with Dr Atkins was right on it, as soon as I get back to a medium size.

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I am and feel exactly the same.
Carbs make me sleepy and bloated as well. No need. I LOVE my higher fat foods. Lasting energy, no bloat.

@Chromeautofill, sometimes it's easier to say what we can eat rather than can't.
Any kind of protein, eggs, fish, beef, lamb, poultry, pork etc
Above ground veggies rather than root veggies
Fruits , berries in smaller amounts are best, tropical the worst
Fats full fat cheese butter avocado oil nuts full fat cream.

Lchf can be hard to wrap your head around but carbs are not for diabetics. At least ones not on insulin.

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Chromeautofill said:

I hear so many conflating reports about the fruit side of things, one NHS website said eating fruit such as apples and berries can help reduce blood sugar levels because fruit contains natural sugar and not processed sugar, and on the packet of cheese (Gouda) it says 0% carbohydrates, of which 0% sugars, so unless I'm missing something I didn't think you can get any lower than 0%, the pork chops are also 0% carbs and sugars too, same goes for the tuna, so unless I can find food stuff that contain less than 0% I'm going

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I think this is where testing yourself with a meter before and two hours after a meal comes in. We are all different. What effects one of us, may not affect another person. Personally I find fruit a no-no, but can eat some wholemeal bread, some potato, and as much cheese, meat and fish as I want.

It sounds like you are making a great progress with all of this : )

Chromeautofill said:

I'm going to have to starve myself to death by the look of it, and ditto for the chicken with 0% carbs/sugar, i'll ditch the fruit, bread and potatoes then if they're going to be a problem, its going to be a long, hard journey by the look of it

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I can eat reheated fresh mash potato without a spike especially if butter in. Yummy hot!

Chromeautofill said:

I hear so many conflating reports about the fruit side of things, one NHS website said eating fruit such as apples and berries can help reduce blood sugar levels because fruit contains natural sugar and not processed sugar, and on the packet of cheese (Gouda) it says 0% carbohydrates, of which 0% sugars, so unless I'm missing something I didn't think you can get any lower than 0%, the pork chops are also 0% carbs and sugars too, same goes for the tuna, so unless I can find food stuff that contain less than 0% I'm going

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Unfortunately, our bodies can't really tell the different between natural sugar and processed sugar. All sugars are broken down by the body into monosaccharides (natural fruit sugars, processed refined sugars, all of it). The difference with fruit is that it contains fibre, which can slow the digestion of the sugar down.
A small amount is fine in moderation, but diabetics and prediabetics will find that their tolerance is very low. I can and do eat a few strawberries most evenings, loaded with cream. The cream slows the digestive process, meaning that I don't get so much of a blood sugar spike.

Don't be disheartened by a low carb diet. It sounds daunting, but once you get into it, it's not too difficult. It's actually quite a decadent diet, and you find that you are so fuller for longer and eat a lot less in general.

I can wholly recommend the Blood Sugar Diet books by Dr Michael Moseley, if you are looking for some guidance and ideas about what to eat.

I just had a look at some of your previous threads, well done on improving your diet and cutting out the junk. Did you get a meter as advised?

Chromeautofill said:

I'm going to have to starve myself to death by the look of it, and ditto for the chicken with 0% carbs/sugar, i'll ditch the fruit, bread and potatoes then if they're going to be a problem, its going to be a long, hard journey by the look of it

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The last thing you need to do is starve yourself. Once you cut carbs low enough you will naturally not feel hungry. Fat is far more satisfying than carbs. Carbs make manybof is hungry. And so does the high blood sugar they create.
Replace the fruit with avocado, replace the bread with a big spoonful or peanutnor almond butter ( it doesn't have to go on bread) and put on celery sticks. Replace some more of the fruit with cheese and a few nuts.
Tuna/mackerel as well as the egg or chicken salad salad with mayo etc go great on top of a large lettuce leaf or salad greens.

It is a bit overwhelming at first but once you find a routine it gets much easier. It's really a matter of swapping carbs for fat. Protein stays the same.

Chromeautofill said:

Hi,

Ive cut out the junk food, I'm eating more 'healthier' food, ive cut down on meal portions, I'm even getting off the train a stop earlier and walking the last 2 miles to work, yet ive gained 2 1/2 kilos in weight !!!
I'm trying to lose it, not put it on, I'm now at the heaviest ive ever weighed, 87.5kg . . where am I going wrong ??

Click to expand...

I wouldn't worry too much about it as long as your blood sugars are ok and you are sure you are not eating more unconsciously as you may be hungrier. I have the same problem. My husband bought me a Fitbit as I wanted to get more mobile and it definitely encourages you. I put on 2 pounds in the first 3 weeks but it's apparently muscle. You can google it for some interesting explanations. Keep at the exercise though it is worth it. My BS and need for insulin has dramatically reduced and combined with the LCHF diet my HbA1c has reduced from 60 to 50 so I am getting there.