What is the best way to loose weight

Hi thumbless1.

If you can manage to lose weight and keep your Bg levels down with the DUK etc Diet advice, then good luck to you. You may be OK on it.
There are several alternatives, low GI, Low Carbs etc. You need to have a good look around and read the success stories threads. Listen to what your HCP's tell you - then if you think it isn't working. Try something different which may well work better for YOU.

Hope this helps.
Ken.

Hi Thumbless1,

I suppose the "best" way to lose weight has to be the one that works best for you, that you feel comfortable with and that you think you can maintain. As Ken suggests have a read for the various threads and you will find that different people have found different ways that work for them.

My own personal choice was a reduced (rather than low) carb diet of around 100-120g of carbs per day. I find that allows me sufficient carbs to keep the carb cravings happy, but also low enough for a combination of meds and my pancreas to be able to deal with comfortably. It keeps my BS levels steadily at non-diabetic range and has helped me to lose weight. And because it doesn't feel like I am having to deprive myself, I think I will be able to maintain it indefinitely.

Hi Thumbless1

Like Dennis I have chosen the reduced carb option just because it works well for me. I was having trouble losing the weight that I wanted to whilst still eating high carb foods like bread, pasta, rice,potatoes etc. I still eat fruit veg etc and cereal (bran flakes) and loads of fish and meat. I still occasionally eat high carb foods but in general have reduced them right down. I also run 3-5 miles a day which really helps and have recently started weight training again, The result is that I have lost 1.5 stones in around 2-2.5 months and my blood sugars are much better. I had a few teething problems to start with but with some good advice from some of the guys on this forum I think Im at a level of control and at a weight that Im happy with.

So i think once your foot is better and you can exercise again and you have a good read of some of the posts on this forum the weight will start coming off. Its just a matter of finding what works best for you. Have you thought of riding a bike instead of running whilst your foot is injured? I bought a turbo trainer off ebay which allows you to ride your bike on the spot-fantastic exercise and you can watch the tv at the same time!!

All the best and I hope your foots better soon

Rich

You're doing very well so far, IME getting your BG in line is one of the best ways of losing weight as it will bring down your insulin requirements and insulin is #1 fat stashing hormone. Reducing your insulin resistance will also help majorly with this, which the metformin and exercise will help with (see if you can do some weighlifting, especially Slow Burn, as growing muscle will also grow more glucose transporters in addition to using them which causes said receptors to drink up the glucose).

The substrate which is converted into body fat is NOT dietary fat but dietary carbs. Prior to the seventies or eighties everyone knew this, but the knowledge was hidden by the paranoia about fats and is only now re-emerging.

It's the opinion of many that it's DUK (and the ADA) who have the hidden agenda.

http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/cate ... ight-loss/

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/category/weight-loss/

some sources which may help

The best ways to lose weight is by eating a healthy diet and exercising every day , but don't over exercise because it is bad

dr.sweet said:

The best ways to lose weight is by eating a healthy diet and exercising every day , but don't over exercise because it is bad

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Can I ask what you define as a 'healthy diet' please ?

Hi thumbless1
I tried the DUK diet for several years. I ended up weighing over 16 stones and using quite a lot of medication.
I went low carb( with lapses) a couple of years ago and have lost 2 1/2 stone( which is less than some people) got my Hba1c into the 5% club and keep very well. I eat a healthy diet
meat, poultry, fish, eggs, cheese, butter, cream, salads, veggies,berries, Fergus Bread, nuts and for occasional treats, black chocolate, a profiterole, a piece of apple or pear or a dried apricot.
I can walk 5 miles, uphill and down dale on uneven surfaces in an hour and 20 minutes. If I get puffed, going up, I gett my breath back on the flat or downhill. I do 4 -5 exercise classes a week.
I mind my toddler grandchild every Wednesday.
Not bad for a formerly sick 62 year old
Others are doing much better than me,perhaps they weren' so heavy to start with?
PS I have only 1 agenda "To help anyone I can, in whatever way I can"

Hi Thumbless1,

In very simple terms, the only way to lose weight is to take in less calories than your body uses up. Even though everybody tells you not to, I've been losing weight by calorie counting.

In what I see as a quite separate exercise, I also changed my diet to eating a very-low fat, plant-based, wholefood diet (almost but not quite vegetarian/vegan).

That has been very successful for me. I've lost 25 kgs (4 stones) in around eight months. What's more my HbA1c has come down from 8.5% > 6.8% > 5.7% and last time to 5.5%. Things are still going well on both fronts.

I'm now trying to lower my after-meal blood glucose levels by reducing some of the carbohydrate that i eat - particularly at breakfast time.

Best wishes and good luck with you improvement programme - John

wallycorker said:

In very simple terms, the only way to lose weight is to take in less calories than your body uses up. Even though everybody tells you not to, I've been losing weight by calorie counting.

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With respect John,

Your statement is a huge oversimplification of what is a complex process. Taking in less calories is not the only way in which to lose weight - in fact in certain circumstances it won't lose you any weight at all. Lets say for example if you eat 100g of carbs and 50g of fats per day, and your body needs 100g glucose for energy. Your weight will remain static - because it gets it's energy from the glucose that carbs convert into, not from fat.

Now take the same scenario but you cut out the fat completely (and fat has the highest calorific value of all the food types), you will have a big reduction in your calorie intake, but your weight will still remain static, because the carbs you are eating still match the body's need for energy. Your weight loss will only come if some of the calories that you are dropping are derived from carbs and by doing so you have reduced your body's energy needs to less than will be provided by the remaining carbs. Once that happens then the body can start to burn off some of it's fat reserves to make up the extra energy needed, resulting in weight loss.

wallycorker said:

In very simple terms, the only way to lose weight is to take in less calories than your body uses up.

Click to expand...

I follow a reduced carb diet because I find it the simplest way to control my BG levels.

I also carefully control my calorie intake and exercise in a manner which raises heartbeat and respiration over a prolonged period at a time, thus encouraging the 'burn' of calories.

These 2 methods in combination are working well for me

I believe John's statement is sound.

viv1969 said:

wallycorker said:

In very simple terms, the only way to lose weight is to take in less calories than your body uses up.

Click to expand...

I follow a reduced carb diet because I find it the simplest way to control my BG levels.

I also carefully control my calorie intake and exercise in a manner which raises heartbeat and respiration over a prolonged period at a time, thus encouraging the 'burn' of calories.

These 2 methods in combination are working well for me

I believe John's statement is sound.

Click to expand...

Yes - I know someone else who has lost a load of weight just by reducing carbs.

I also agree that exercise is important. However, people also need to know that exercise - at the level that as most of us do it - is a relatively small contributor to weight loss. You need to walk or run (I can't remember which but it means the same thing to me) around 10 miles to remove 300 calories. Personally, the only way I'm going to do that is to eat 300 calories less. :roll:

Wallycorker...you might want to read my post again slowly......

I'm AGREEING with you! Sheesh.

Dennis said:

wallycorker said:

In very simple terms, the only way to lose weight is to take in less calories than your body uses up. Even though everybody tells you not to, I've been losing weight by calorie counting.

Click to expand...

With respect John,

Your statement is a huge oversimplification of what is a complex process. Taking in less calories is not the only way in which to lose weight - in fact in certain circumstances it won't lose you any weight at all. Lets say for example if you eat 100g of carbs and 50g of fats per day, and your body needs 100g glucose for energy. Your weight will remain static - because it gets it's energy from the glucose that carbs convert into, not from fat.

Now take the same scenario but you cut out the fat completely (and fat has the highest calorific value of all the food types), you will have a big reduction in your calorie intake, but your weight will still remain static, because the carbs you are eating still match the body's need for energy. Your weight loss will only come if some of the calories that you are dropping are derived from carbs and by doing so you have reduced your body's energy needs to less than will be provided by the remaining carbs. Once that happens then the body can start to burn off some of it's fat reserves to make up the extra energy needed, resulting in weight loss.

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Hi Dennis - My statement might be a huge oversimplification - in fact I thought that I indicated that in my post. However, with the greatest of respect,the same cannot be said of your response. I regret to say, it's a little bit too heavy for me - I can't follow the argument. Might be because I'm thick!

Seriously though, you may be correct but it is my experience that if I eat too many calories I put on weight - if I eat less calories than my optimum calorific needs - taking consideration of my weight and level of activity - then I lose weight. Over sixty-five years, I've never noticed my weight remaining static whenever I've reduced my calorie intake below that which I can calculate as being necessary to maintain weight for for someone in my situation.

I've lost weight - more than 25 kgs of it - very consistently over the last eight or nine months. The only times that I've even slowed down to any extent is where I have been eating a few more calories than usual - i.e. Christmas, weekends away and such like. Believe me, as regards my weight becoming static, that isn't anything that I've experienced over that time.

Over that period of time, my blood glucose levels have followed the same pattern - i.e. a consistently downward trend from HbA1c of 8.5% > 6.8% . 5.7% and last time 5.5% and still improving. I'm extremely happy and overjoyed about the improved diabetic control because that was - and still is - my over-riding objective.

Best wishes - John

viv1969 said:

Wallycorker...you might want to read my post again slowly......

I'm AGREEING with you! Sheesh.

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Relax viv1969 - I know that you were agreeing with me - I acknowledged that in my post regarding both the possibility of weight loss by cutting carbohydrate and also your point on exercise.

As you say yourself, ...you might want to read my post again slowly......

I was simply pointing out to anyone that might be interested that you have to run/walk a very long way to get rid of a very few calories. I come across people on a fairly regular basis who think that they can eat just as much as they want just so long as they walk a couple of miles a day. It's hard work losing weight through exercise - much too hard for me! It's got to be the cutting out calories route for me!