Weigt gain help

[yvonne1310]

I have been on insuline for 8 months and have gained 3 stone !! They have recently put me bk on metformin to try and stop me using my quick acting !! I have tried a low carb diet and I didn't loose a thing !! And it made me feel very ill !! I dont eat over amounts of carbs at all plz help I need to know if this will work


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[Daibell]

I think you need to accept that low-carbing is the only way forward and you need to set a daily limit of, say, 150gm. Low-carbing shouldn't make you feel ill at all. I wonder why your surgery is trying to stop you using your rapid insulin? It could be that they are worried that you are matching your insulin to a high level of carbs which will always cause weight gain. I assume you are carb-counting to work out the rapid insulin shots? Can you give us some idea of you daily meal pattern. Apologies if you are already below something like 150gm/day as it's impossible to diagnose from afar.

 

[Spiker]

Yvonne as Daibell says your insulin needs to be matched to your carb target. If you don't reduce the insulin to match the lower carbs then you will either overeat or have hypos. Either way that will make you gain weight.

Do a one day carb fasting test to verify your basal rate is correct. Then do some tests to verify your carb ratio and correction ratio. Then as you low carb keep an eye on all these 3 values because your insulin sensitivity may improve, and your correction ratio will increase as your weight drops.

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[noblehead]

There's a great explanation from the Joslin Centre about weight gain and insulin:

http://www.joslin.org/info/why_did_i_gain_weight_when_i_started_taking_insulin.html

I'm guessing that on your previous experience of low carbing you went to far (Atkins etc) and cut your carbs too much. As Diabell says go for a more moderate approach which many of us type 1's on the forum folow, say a level of between 130-180 and see how you get on, there's no need to lower your carbs to the extent that it makes you feel ill as food should be enjoyed, other than that try having a word with your dietitian at your hospital clinic for ways in which to cut back on the calories in your diet, if you burn more calories than you consume the weight will begin to fall off.

Good luck Yvoone!!!!!

 

[Spiker]

There's a great explanation from the Joslin Centre about weight gain and insulin:

http://www.joslin.org/info/why_did_i_gain_weight_when_i_started_taking_insulin.html

Thanks for posting noblehead but I think the linked article is pretty poor. It strongly suggests that insulin doesn't really cause weight gain on an ongoing basis, and if there is weight gain it's the patient's fault for continuing to eat with the same appetite they had before they were diagnosed. This is nonsense and also quite patronising of Joslin I think.

The reality is that insulin facilitates weight gain because it's a powerful anabolic agent. Which is why it is banned from sale without prescription in the UK, and is a drug of abuse by body builders.

I hate seeing this 'blame the patient', "it's all in your head, dear" misinformation coming out of HCPs who are supposed to support diabetics. They are trying to blame the patient and protect insulin. Hopefully nothing to do with the huge sums of money Joslin receive from insulin manufacturers.

 

[noblehead]

I think the article is excellent and explains the process of weight loss pre/post diagnosis, nothing patronising as far as I can see and it does say that patients should discuss weight concerns with their HCP's if it becomes a problem.

As for the funding and collaboration with insulin manufacturers, as the Joslin Centre is one of the world leaders in diabetes research I don't suspect that they could do this alone from donations from the public, if the likes of Sanofi are willing to pour back some money back into research from the profits they make................well .I say well done them!!!!!

http://www.joslin.org/about-joslin.html

Without research we would still be living in the dark ages as far as treatment is concerned, and n order for new treatments (and a possible cure to become available) to make our lives more comfortable we need the research, the Joslin Centre are doing an excellent job and few would argue with that

 

[Spiker]

You don't think it would have been less patronising of Joslin to say "you are not imagining things, insulin does cause you to gain weight, that's one of its important functions" ?

To me the article seems more concerned with discouraging diabulimia than communicating the facts.

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