When low carb may not be enough

[Brunneria]

They had a rather cruel saying in my youth a long time before fat children and political correctness! "No one came out of Belsen fat!" Sick, but true!​

This is a support forum.
In my opinion, comments like that have no place here.

Especially since the impact of insulin resistance on obesity is discussed so often on these boards.

 

[Angelofthemarches]

I agree, @Brunneria.

 

[miahara]

They had a rather cruel saying in my youth a long time before fat children and political correctness! "No one came out of Belsen fat!" Sick, but true!​

Maybe a bit insensitive, and not very helpful and as you say 'sick', so perhaps best not repeated now most folk are wiser.
My late father in law was interned and starved in Russian concentration camps and escaped the Katyn massacre by 7 days. He wasn't fat but still developed diabetes later in life.

 

[douglas99]

But it doesn't help if it's simply a 'back patting' and a 'yes' forum.

Tough love isn't a bad thing.

 

[donnellysdogs]

I genuinely used to barely eat enough to keep a rabbit alive... but its what you eat not qty of eating....

Have you sat down and truly weighed every gram of food that you eat??

I used to weigh my 100g of skinned cucumber, 50g of avocado and two teaspoons of tuna...
That wasnt enough to keep a rabbit alive.. but adding in lashings of oil and a dollop of mustard and a dollop of honey was able to increase my intake to moderate weight....

2 florets of broccoli, 1 courgette and 100g buttenut squash isnt enough for a rabbit... but add in the pesto, philadelphia cheese and butter and walnuts into the courgettes and its enough fat and calories to keep a human going. Add in some cauli rice and lashings of olive oil and herbs and being quite inactive due to other medical reasons and its enough to keep you alive....especially when split in to 3 or 6 portions through the day...

I would recommend that you really weigh every gram of food, every tea or coffee drank... I have 24g carbs of milk a day in my teas!!
Log your exercise and life style in full for 4 weeks...
If you want to do it fully, check your nutrition balance too... make sure you are getting enough vit and minerals like iron, calcium etc..

People with paralysed colons like me can gain 7lbs from not being able to empty bowels. If you have problems like that, please talk to your GP.

 

[AndBreathe]

Thanks one and all for replies. Lots more things for me to consider. I will find the answer eventually. I have an appointment with the diabetic team some time in the future. It will be interesting because they have been warned that I am paranoid about gaining weight, a possible outcome of something like gliclazide (if the last time is anything to go by).


That had been my thought but total carb for spud and squash per my serving (1/4 packet) of about 65gms is 8 gms.

A fair question, most of my carbs come from vegetables and that still means at least 40 gms of carb. I see from my weight by date software that 4 oz (113gms) onion is 10gms carb. Then I 'd have to dump a whole meal for another 10 gms carb. Not impossible, but made trickier because eating more fat upsets my stomach and even flirting with a little more fat last year (proper yoghurt, cheese and cream in coffee, helped me gain 11 kgs.

I seem to be able to be in ketosis at 40 gms although I've not checked recently. It was one of many tests I had done a while back.

It's a shame that I didn't know that they can put a number to insulin resistance last year when 40gms - 80gms was just about right. It would seem, at least the GP thinks, my insulin resistance has deteriorated, I have a number for it now, just nothing to compare with.

Believe it or not I'm no stranger to the gym. I was doing quite well until I had my second knee replaced last January and because of the way they hammer the prosthetic into the femur, I had the most awful sciatic pain for quite some time. I still get a lot of back ache and muscle pain in legs and arms. Still, as soon as I can my brains to work out how to put my static bike together, it will be a start.

Graham, I recall you looking forward to your knee op as you hoped it would precede a TransAt (ARC if I recall) adventure.

Touching on exercise; I recently attended a presentation by a researcher from the NIHR on exercise with T2. There was a lot of content and I wish I had taken more fulsome notes, but one BIG take-away for me was their findings on the impact of merely standing up, every 30 minutes, for 5 minutes. It appears that for most T2s, the act of standing up is very effective in improving blood glucose levels. Any more than standing up is a bonus, but the key is the act oof standing up, as we usll the major muscle groups when so-doing. He quoted some numbers, but couldn't completely clarify exactly what they referred to, so as the findings aren't yet written up, I won't quote them.

Neither he, nor I, am suggesting that anybody gets up in the night to stand by their bed for 5 minutes, just for each of us to be mindful of sitting for any protracted length of time.

I guess, anything we can add to encourage the metaphoric scales to tip our way.

I wish you success.

 

[Mike d]

But it doesn't help if it's simply a 'back patting' and a 'yes' forum.

Since when was it that? Seen some raging debates before they've been removed entirely or sanitised. Have to agree with Brunneria though. That Belsen comment should rest in the past and I am NOT politically correct by any measure. Just know the insensitivities attached to such a horrific episode in history

 

[MDHalstead]

I would look at increasing your exercise.

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

Have you sat down and truly weighed every gram of food that you eat??

Yes. How else can one tell how much carb one is eating? Guesswork isn't an option.

I use some PC software called "Weight by Date". It can't tell me how much carbs/calories/fat/sodium . . . . (up to 10 different things) unless I weigh everything. Kitchen scales that a plate goes on is useful. Zeroise with plate on, then add items noting weight thus enabling the calculation of the weight of each item. Pain in the backside but the only way to be 100% accurate.

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

Graham, I recall you looking forward to your knee op as you hoped it would precede a TransAt (ARC if I recall) adventure.

I should have sailed in November 2015 except that In August 2015 when I met up with the rest of the crew for a bit of a "shake down" before the owners sailed off from the UK I was unwell and the others decided that I would not be well enough for the November departure. They had no idea that I actually had a burst appendix and peritonitis which was operated on in early September. In October I was trekking up Urca Mountain (Rio de Janeiro), the first bit before the cable car to Sugarloaf and the statue of Jesus Christ. So, although I was fit enough for most things, I see it as a godsend that I wasn't stuck on a yacht with 5 people who couldn't even discuss my health to my face preferring to do so behind my back and having consumed what I consider was a large quantity of alcohol.

I take on board the whole thing about exercise, although I no longer keep a time sheet, I seem to be on my feet most of the day and the first opportunity to sit down is to eat at lunch time and then again at dinner time. I know shopping, cooking and housework don't count as exercise, but I at least get some exercise walking to and from the shops.

All the best

Graham

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

I would look at increasing your exercise.

Well and truly noted.

I've been vacillating about getting a bike and have opted for a decent static bike. Struggling to put the stupid thing together almost as we speak as it were. Just have to finish the decorating the living room, then decorate the front room, lay power cables down the garden to the man cave, clear out the garage, get my little boat ready for the summer . . . . . . . . . . .

Ever so slightly tongue in cheek - I think I need more staff so that I can allocate more time to exercise. LOLOLOL

I have taken the exercise comment on board, anything I might say is just a poor excuse for not spending more time exercising.

 

[MDHalstead]

I have gone from 18 stone to 15

I started doing the couch to 5k a few years ago. Got my first 70.3 tri this year.

Make time 30 mins a day will make the world of difference.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Yes. How else can one tell how much carb one is eating? Guesswork isn't an option.

I use some PC software called "Weight by Date". It can't tell me how much carbs/calories/fat/sodium . . . . (up to 10 different things) unless I weigh everything. Kitchen scales that a plate goes on is useful. Zeroise with plate on, then add items noting weight thus enabling the calculation of the weight of each item. Pain in the backside but the only way to be 100% accurate.

Many, many people say they are accurate but dont weigh etc.
I am told by my Docs that I am hyper vigilant (paranoid) in medical terms although one consultant recently changed his descriptive of me to being a perfectionist..

However with my bowel probs I have to analyse every gram of food etc to keep me out of A&E and hospitilation.

Glad to hear you are spot on with weighing etc.

My lack of exercise definitely helped contribute the 4 weeks to me putting a stone on in that time... erratic bowel movements can for me put a 1/2 stone on or Iose 1/2 a stone in 6 hours!! This was recorded at hospital...

 

[donnellysdogs]

My GP cos of my degenerating knee has said to bike ride as best form to keep knee good.

 

[kokhongw]

Have you considered intermittent fasting? Occasionally having 2 meal a day instead of 3?

Skipped 2 dinners and my post festivity weight came back down from 78kg to 75kg. Week long FBG from > 6 mmol back to 5.5 mmol.

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

I am told by my Docs that I am hyper vigilant (paranoid) in medical terms although one consultant recently changed his descriptive of me to being a perfectionist..

Me too, what with food diaries (Calories, protein, carbs, % cals from carbs, Total fat, Sat Fat, trans fat, Sodium, Fibre) and weight charts (helped me get to grips with spread sheets, no bad thing LOL). My poor old GP literally doesn't know what to do. I think the reason I do it is because I know for sure what I'm eating, I've seen how people can "guesstimate", badly.

I realise exercise is the key and I'm afraid that anything I say is just an excuse. I spend a small fortune on chiropractor, reflexologist and even the HbOT is helping, but pain is a major issue.

 

[lindisfel]

Meaning?

Some may need a gastric bypass because of calories in!

 

[JohnEGreen]

My GP says he needs at least two days notice of one of my impending appointments in order to prepare..

 

[DavidGrahamJones]

I have gone from 18 stone to 15

I started doing the couch to 5k a few years ago. Got my first 70.3 tri this year.

That's good. I was 165 kgs and I got down to 118 kgs, the interesting thing about my food diaries is that I know I've followed a calorie reduced diet for the best part of 10 years now. The first major chunk of weight didn't go until I stopped taking Rosiglitazone when it just fell off. Being prescribed Gliclazide put an end to that. Then when I started low carb I lost a load more and better still stopped taking Gliclazide.

Having stalled for a while my GP suggested I wasn't eating enough, well . . . . that was a disaster, even though I only added non carby things like yoghurt (no added sugar), cheese, nuts and a bit of cream in coffee, I gained about 17kgs.

I have gone through periods of intense exercise and at one point I was swimming 1km 5 times a week, 1 hour personal trainer, 1 hr gym 3 times a week, swimming lesson and golf at weekend and all I really managed to do was end up in pain.

Running isn't an option because of two artificial knees, running is part of the reason I had to have replacement knees, along with playing rugby into my 30s and racquet sports into my 40s. So please look after your knees, I wince when I see people running with bandages on their knees, if the knee hurts, there's a reason, don't make it worse.

 

[MDHalstead]

I retired from rugby this year at 42.