Any diabetics need to lose lots?
 

Hello everyone,

This is the forum for me. I want to get down to 160lbs (no lower 'cause I really like the curvaceous look). That means 104lbs!

I started diet and exercise a year ago but was on birth control pills and COULDN"T lose! I figured if I came off the pills I would lose easily because I cut down the diet and was exercising 4 times a week BUT (and here's the rub) I put on 6lbs in 1.5 months.

It is time to get medieval about things, and I think I need a little support to do that. I do have to be a little careful due to the diabetes (I'm on diet only, no meds) but that should improve if I can lose the weight I want to.

Hi! I'm not diabetic, but I do know what it is like to face losing more than a hundred pounds. I always found it better to look at the horizon, but to focus my mind on a set of small, achievable goals, which could be reached in a few days. In other words your next objective is to lose 3 pounds, while the aim is to lose more than 100. Then, when you achieve the 3 pounds, you have something to celebrate. If you wait for the 100+ achievement, you may have a very long wait. When I was at the starting-out stage, I made a weekly feature of celebrating another 3 pounds lost, or whatever it happened to be. You stray from the path sometimes, but all you have to do then is re-lose it. After a while you try and stop having to repeat the process...such a waste of time and effort. Having said that, I have seesawed a bit myself in the central patch, but am now back on track with the same weekly objectives as at the beginning. I think you may find, with the diabetes, that a low-carb diet, and the weight it loses, will both ameliorate the condition. By the time you reach your target, the condition will possibly have gone..? Anyway, good luck, keep up a steady plod, and you'll do it.

BIG diabetic!
 

Well, I certainly belong to this group, on two counts; I am diabetic and have about 100 lbs. left to lose. I am exploring the low carb options right now and I am not absolutely sure they are for me, but it's for sure I have been trying every other way to lose weight.

I am middle aged, having some of the complications of diabetes, and my doctor doesn't care how I get the weight off as long as I do it! I feel so low right now, even a 10 lb. loss would seem wonderful to me. So I will come hang out with you guys and see if I can make this thing work for me.

More info as we go along; just wanted to hop in here and say I am present and accounted for!

Jenny :wave:

hi Jenny, welcome to Active Lowcarber
 

Low-carbing will help you to lose weight, and as Andy pointed out to Artemis_ra, will decrease the diabetic symptoms you're having. Not sure what those symptoms are, but they shouldn't be taken lightly. Chronically elevated blood sugars, even if you're still producing insulin ... can have negative effects on your health such as high cholesterol and triglycerides among others. You're right to be concerned, and good for you taking the steps to improve your health.

Since you're still "just looking around" at lowcarb programs, I suggest you take a look at Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - a Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars. Even if you decide to follow another low-carb program, you will learn so much from this book about blood sugar and insulin, and how keeping blood sugars low and STABLE is the key to treating, preventing and even reversing health problems associated with diabetes. Losing weight will definitely help, as obesity is well-known to increase insulin-resistance. You can probably borrow the book from your library. In the meantime, check out Dr. B's website .. http://www.diabetes-normalsugars.com/ ... Several chapters from his book are published online ... especially read chapter one, everything you ever wanted to know about blood sugar and insulin.

Take care, and look forward to reading more posts from you :)

Doreen

Wow! Doreen, you constantly amaze me with the breadth and depth of your assistance to others! As no-one can possibly carry so much around in their head all the time, you obviously spend a lot of time looking things up for people. So, from all those of us whom you've benefitted - thanks!

Many thanks!
 

Thanks so much for the information. I know there is an answer out there, and pointing me in the direction that will help me get information if extremely helpful.
In the early '70s I tried some of the basically NO CARB diets and they didn't work out for me; I was hypoglycemic at that time, over producing insulin in preparation for diabetes, and my blood sugar would get way too low. At that time, there were no home glucose monitoring devices. So, when :wave: I found out some of the plans now include small amounts of carbohydrates, specific times for carbohydrates, etc. I thought I would start to look at them again. After a quick look at the website for Dr. Bernstein, and the graphic about genetic tendency to crave carbohydrate foods, over production of insulin, etc.--well, if I can't find the book at the library I will be ordering it.

We spend so much time preparing a presentation for work or a paper for school, and so little finding out how our body may work differently from others.

Once again, thanks for the directional sign on my road to health!

I started out in April needing to loose 125 lbs and so far have lost 50 of those pounds. I would highly recommend Dr. Bernstein's book to any diabetic whether they need to loose weight or not; this has almost become a Bible for me in my war against diabetes. My doctor has been very impressed with how quickly I normalized my blood sugars and have been keeping them at normal levels. My blood sugar was normal within 2 weeks of beginning a low-carb way of eating, although I was taking Glucophage at the time also. In the 3 1/2 months since then, I have been able to first cut my dosage in half, then stop it completely. I was also able to get my very high blood pressure back to normal and get off high blood pressure medication as well. If you are a diabetic, I would urge you to at least give the low carb way of eating a try; it won't hurt you and it could greatly improve your health! What have you got to loose? (excpet excess weight and taking a lot of pills or shots!). :D

Wow! Lisa, that is a tremendous post to read. First-hand evidence, inspiration to others, thought-provoking for the medical profession - it has the lot. This almost ought to become compulsory reading! Thank you so much for sharing that with us.

And best wishes for what looks like being a successful and productive future in the LC way of eating.

Diabetic... yes!
 

Yesterday was my third day of the induction and I thought I was going to lose it. My Glucose-Blood levels were all over the map... 55 to 210, back and forth, being a type II, I've never had to deal with that before. I didn't like the way I felt, it was awful, headache, stomach ache, depression all the really fun stuff.

Today I'm doing better, but, at 10: this morning I was 105 at 12:Noon I was 205, I ate lunch at Noon and at 12:30 I was at 207, at 2:50 I was at 181 and at 3:50 I'm at 148.

Normally I was holding about a 120 to 140 no matter when I tested. I know testing eight or ten times a day is almost neurotic but I have to figure out what is up here.

I am on over ten meds a day for different things but my BP is 120/80 HDL/LDL col= 110 and I weigh 370. My three month fasting BS is 138. Numbers like those make doctors crazy. I was taken off Avandia yesterday due to severe edema, that may also help the weight loss, considering I put on 60 lbs in the last six months.

Diabetes complicates this whole thing but I'll get through. By the way, am I headed in the right direction?

Jims...

are you taking oral antidiabetics or insulin? It may take a couple of weeks for your blood sugar to stabilize, but believe me, it will! Your body is still in the process of switching from burning carbs for energy to burning fat. Once it completes that switch, things will be much more stable. I would highly recommend Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes solution to read. Dr. Bernstein is a type 1 diabetic that has been low-carbing to control his diabetes for almost 50 years and has been using this way of eating to help his patients achieve normal blood sugars as well! Also keep in mind, that some of your other medications could be affecting your blood sugar readings. Work closely with your doctor. As this way of eating begins to take effect, your medications may need to be adjusted. Checking your blood sugar 10-12 times a day might be a bit excessive, but Dr. Bernstein recommends testing 5 times a day at the beginning. My doc is happy with once a day at this point; just to make sure that I'm staying on track. BTW...after 8 months on this way of eating, my average blood sugar is 100. It WORKS! Hang in there and let us know how you're doing.

Thank you...
 

Dear Folks;

Thank you so very much with information and support. I'll keep you posted. At ten o'clock tonight my BS is 94. I can't help it I'm an engineer and I'm building a BS Model. That could mean a lot of different stuff... :D

I'll keep you posted, Thanks again. Jim

Jims...I was reading your first post again. Best times to check your blood sugars to get a good picture of how your doing is fasting first thing in the morning, 2 hours after every meal and than again at bedtime (that's five times a day) Checking it at other times doesn't always give you a good indication of how you're doing because everyone's blood sugar goes up after a meal. The test is how quickly does it come back down again. Now that I've been doing this a while, my blood sugar rarely fluctutes more than 20 or 30 points after a meal and is nearly always in the normal range at my 2 hour blood sugar readings. Also...don't know if your're a diet pop drinker like me, but I found that anything with Aspartame (Nutrasweet) in it caused my blood sugars to bounce around a lot. There are a couple of diet pops out there that are made with Splenda; Diet Rite is one of them and I think Tab is also made with Splenda. If you are low carbing, don't forget to drink at least 64 ounces of water daily. You didn't mention what low carb plan (if any) you are following and what level of daily carb intake you are at. Good luck!

Lisa...
 

Great information Dear One. Thank you. I'm at 20 grams during induction and I'm actually below that. I am doing the Atkins Diet Plan. My goal loss is 140 lbs. My waking Number was 89, 10 AM was 81. I am preparing for lunch now. I haven't completely given up caffine, but I'm only having a 12 oz for lunch just to quiet my headache.

Thank you again for info on the reasonable approach to when is the most meaningful times to test. I'm still runing a bit low but I'm not feeling all that badly all considered.

Thanks again all. Jim

Sorry Lisa...
 

Lisa;

I'm sorry for over looking your question. I'll try to answer it now. I am a type II diabetic on oral meds and diet. I was doing well on the diabetes BS control but my weight has changed in the last six months by 50 + Lbs. Partly due to water retension and severe edema caused by Avandia a anti diabetic med. I am off that for now and we will see how the control goes. As you can see there are a lot of factors to my current situation, so I have to sort them out one at a time. Thanks again for all the assistance. Jim

I guess I need to get Dr. B's Book!!!
 

After lunch I was fine at 2:30 this afternoon and by 4:30 I was at 57 at 5:30 my lips and tounge started tingling and I got very disorented, my BG was 40! Thats bad huh? I took a couple of glucose tabs and it's now up to 166 and I feel fine.

P.S: I will get Dr, B's book tommorrow!!!

Can the Atkins approach really work for diabetics, I'm a little shakey now.

Jims...

If you're blood sugars are dropping that low, your medications may need to be adjusted already (doesn't that sound good??) Depending on what type of oral medication you are on, you can develop hypoglycemia (that's low blood sugar) if you don't adjust your dosage as you decrease your carbs. Diabetes medications that work by stimulating your pancreas to produce more insulin can have that effect if you are not taking in enough carbs for your insulin to work on. Does your doctor know that you are low carbing? Let him know that your blood sugars are getting too low; he can best advise you how to proceed with adjusting your dosage or perhaps try you on a different medication. Has your doctor tried you on Glucophage? It works by making your body more sensitive to the insulin that it produces naturally, not by forcing your pancreas to produce more, and it's nearly impossible to become hypoglycemic taking it. You might find Dr. Bernstein's plan a little easier to work with for controlling your diabetes than Dr. Atkins. Dr. B recommends that you drop your carb intake no lower than 30 grams a day (no induction period), although typically, I'm usually more around 25. Also...hate to tell you this, especially since you seem to be going through caffeine withdrawal, but caffeine can stimulate an insulin response in your body (cause your pancreas to produce insulin) as can Nutrasweet and this could also lead to a bout of hypoglycemia. From your earlier readings today, I'd say you are doing pretty well....80-100 is the target range to shoot for. 40 is no good, though. :o( You might want to try and avoid caffeine for a while, especially since your blood sugar bottomed out after you had some at lunch. Definitely get Dr. B's book....it's excellant...and yes, low carbing IS a good way to control (and sometimes even reverse) diabetes. I know that it's been almost curative for me and for others like myself who have followed this path. Hang in there!

Hi Lisa N,

You are doing a terrific job here (I think!). At least, your knowledge of this topic way exceeds mine, and you have first-hand experience. But you do not have to battle on your own indefinitely. There is a low-carb mentor with specialist skiils in this area and first hand experience herself (Ruth) whom you could pull into this whenever you want by sending her a private message. Also there is a whole specialist sub-forum which deals with diabetes, which is where you will frequently find her. Also, Doreen who posted earlier is a qualified nurse. So what I'm saying is that there is help here if you need it. But congratulations on what you have done to date.

Andy

starting back
 

Hopefully I have learned my lesson to stay on this way of eating. Went off to try another diet because although i was losing inches my weight didnt change. I am also a type 2 diabetic on 2 different meds. When I was on this woe my blood sugars stayed absolutely normal. With meds and "not on diet "on ww my blood sugar stayed at 200. I am in my med forties and want to keep my body parts. Also avoid added risk of strokes or heartattackes. I guess I will have to try harder on weight loss but for the rest of my life I now this is the woe i am going to do.



darling :wave: :thup:

Well I actually survived!!!
 

Well, I actually survived!!! My first year of Atkins as a way of life and I had lost 150 pounds on my anniversary date! I have been off all medications for over 11 months, that’s good too. I’m being checked every three months and my numbers and totally normal. I was insulin dependant now I don’t take anything for control, just food.

I got kinda wild and crazy over the holidays and I’m back on induction again. I have a goal weight of 220 to 230. If it takes another year (I don’t think it will, I can walk and swim now) that will be fine with me, the most important thing to me is my health and vitality and I’ve got those back.

In the photograph those are my actual pants, I didn’t borrow them from a fat friend (slur intended, LOL) those were mine! 1 year, 150 pounds, I did good. (Smiling broadly to myself. LOL)

Happy New Year!

Hi Jimgems,

Way to go -- 150 pounds in one year is really impressive. :cheer: I've missed seeing your posts around here -- I hope you are doing well.

Just me...
 

Thanks Liz;

I am busy getting a small business off the ground (now that I have all this energy) I'm making progress and yet slowly. Thanks again and I hope all is well with you. Best, Jim