I currently eat about 80 carbs a day which comes from 2 apples and a kiwi…the rest of my diet consists of protien and salad.I am trying to lose weight but whenever I exercise on this plan I have to eat carbs before and after!I am on a pump and I suspend my pump half an hr before exercise,during exercise and for half an hour after!I dont understand how I can lose weight!If I dont exercise I eat less carbs!
You need MORE FAT.
A low carb/ high protein diet isn’t very efficient for weight loss. In fact it’s not a lot better[if at all] than counting Calories.
To be effective for Blood glucose control AND weight loss, you need to go to low carb/high fat. It actually doesn’t matter if these are natural sarurated fats or unsaturated oils, but keep off transfats,[often labelled “hydrogenated fat” or oil]
You can even try the much maligned ATKINS.
Hana
PS exercise without the right diet will not take weight off you either.
Dr. B recommends that you take enough carbs to sustain your blood sugar during exercise. A good way to do this is with smarties. Smarties are 6g carbs per roll, and 0.4 g / tablet, a perfect small dosing of glucose. If you are doing a consistent steady state exercise you should be able to figure out just the right rate, perhaps on tablet every 5 minutes.
Hopefully that can let you exercise, not eat too many carbs and break through to lose some weight.
You may need to specify which smarties… because in the USA, Smarties are those little fruity/tart tablet candies, but in Canada and maybe other places, Smarties are like M&Ms…
You need to eat less carbs. Dr Bernsteins book explains this very well i highly recommend reading it. 30 carbs a day, not 80 is where he says will help us see weight loss.
Bernstein’s recommendation on carbs is 6 for breakfast and 12 each for lunch and dinner. That makes your 30 Patty.
However I stand by the need for FATS.
It has another side effecct. Since I upped my fats, my lifelong dry skin is much better. I’m in m 60s too. And i’m losing weight. If slowly.
Hana
Yes Hana, I agree with the fats. I have grown to love butter and cheeses. I was on weight watchers for 6 years and am brainwashed NOT to eat fat. It has been, and still is hard to believe it isn’t hurting me. I have only lost 6 pounds since June, where I lost 60lbs in 2 years on weight watchers. The only numbers I care about right now are my BG’s and a1c’s and they have been wonderful. I used to suspend my pump the same way she does but Dr B says to pop a glucose tab every 5 min or so to prevent lows while exercising. So far this has worked for me. The hardest part is remembering to always have it with me. However the only exercise I get is walking. I don’t know what she is doing.
Smarties are English chocolate buttons coated in crisp sugar candy and brightly coloured. They go back a couple of generations[so A much older product than M&Ms}
They are thought of as a children’s candy.
I agree that you should eat fewer carbs and more fat. Also, try reading Sheri Colberg, “The Diabetic Athlete”. http://www.shericolberg.com/ Another good one is “Think Like a Pancreas.” I am not on insulin yet (LADA), but I had a lot of problems exercising when I first started back to the gym. They tell me I was dumping glucose fromt the liver giving me high numbers after exercising. I’m pretty strict on the Bernstein diet, and now, I don’t have problems exercising, but I still produce a little of my own insulin. Weight training is the hardest to regulate. I lost 15 quick pounds after I went low carb, and now, it is much, much slower, but I’m 57yo, and I’m lucky I’m losing weight. I keep going down sizes…Must be Zumba class. Oh, BTW, salad, especially with Romaine lettuce, gives me the highest bg levels. I cannot do salad unless it is Spring Mix without tomato or any of the other good toppings. I quit eating salad because it was so problematic. I don’t eat fruit.
Throughout the things Ive read it seems that 30-40 is the magic carb number to ensure weight loss. Also I would assume less fat than your body requires to ensure you utilize your fat stores as opposed to the fat your consuming. I have about 30-50lbs to loose and its going very slowly, but Im ok with that as my BGs are brilliant.
I am perplexed on this issue, too. I don’t have trouble with staying below the 30 g carbs, except that when I walk briskly for 30 min at lunch break, I need about 25 carbs to keep my bg from dropping. That puts me over the 30g for the day. I have dropped my insulin significantly, but I either go high, or I have to eat those extra cabs to sustain. I am on shots, so it isn’t as easy as stopping the pump for a while.
I find i rarely need any carbs for exercise. My system seems to rum well on fairly high fats. I do a mixture of resistance and cardio exercise during the week.
Hana
Do you bolus for lunch? If you do, you may find that you need a markedly different I:C ratio for a meal followed by a 30 min walk versus a meal with no walk. And I guess I am just a bleeding liberal, I consider dietary carbs taken to sustain normal blood sugars during exercise as not counting towards daily totals (they are “free” carbs). Dr. B suggests that you use small amounts of glucose during exercise to keep your blood sugar at proper levels as needed.
About Smarties - I don’t have to add carbs in order to exercise, yet, but if anyone runs across a method other than Smarties, please let me know… Because of my intolerance of Corn, I cannot do Smarties. It is pure dextrose the last time I checked. Anything with glucose syrup is out, too, because glucose syrup in the US is made from corn. I just can’t think of what a good alternative would be.
I haven’t been bolusing for lunch. The problem is if I drop my long term any more (4 units levemir in AM), my bg goes up steadily all day. I am fine if I don’t take that 30 min walk, but when I do, I have to eat at least 20 g carbs or I am really low withtin a half hour of getting back from walking. When I don’t walk, I am crankier after lunch, so I prefer to walk to keep myself professional at work.
Do I just need to be low carb for a couple of weeks before I can exercize? This is still my first week, and I haven’t really been low carb yet by Dr B’s standards, because of that correction I take with exercize. I’d rather eat a piece of fruit before I walk than have glucose tabs when and after I walk.
Any more advice?
So, I’m still a little confused. But it does sound that you basically have a proper basal established. And it may take several weeks to become fully adapted to low carb, but your experience may just be something you have to work wiht. So from what you have said:
- Lunch, 12 g carbs, no bolus, no walk -> no hypo
- Lunch, 12 g carbs, no bolus, 30 minute walk -> hypo
- Lunch, 20g carbs, no bolus, 30 minute walk -> no hypo
That such a small amount of additional carbs averts hypos seems so trivial. 8g of carbs gives you about 32 additional calories, hardly enough to fuel a brisk half hour walk that consumes perhaps 200-300 calories.
I suspect that what might be happening is that your brisk walk increases your absorption. In fact, there is some argument that some of the improved “insulin senstivity” from exercise comes from better circulation and absorption.
First, I am a liberal and consider any carbs consumed as part of sustain normal blood sugars during exercise are “freebees” and don’t count towards daily total. So just eat the carbs that you need and don’t worry about it. Secod, if I am correct, you are only eating 8g of carbs more, that is hardly much and is actually consistent with what Dr. B recommends which is to consume limited amounts of carbs during exercise as needed to sustain your blood sugar.
I hope that helps.
Sorry. I could have been more clear.
- Lunch, 12g carbs, bolus, no walk, no hypo
- Lunch, 12 g carbs, bolus, 30 min walk - hypo.
- Lunch, 20 - 25g carbs (depends how hot it is, etc), no bolus, 30 min walk, no hypo, no hyper
- No lunch, no walk, no hypo.
Maybe I’ll just eat a piece of fruit before my walk, and then eat lunch as planned. I can have a no carb lunch, other than the fruit. If I don’t eat something before I leave, my bg drops and I end up eating glucose tabs while I walk, which just feels self distructive, as I am doing it. I’d rather eat a piece of fruit, or a “no no” vegetable.
Thanks for the help, BSC, I left the book behind at a relative’s house when I traveled fro Christmas, but should have it back within a week or two.
Well, actually it is a bit strange that you can have a lunch without bolus, walk and be fine. But I guess my advice would be to just consider a lunch of 20-25 g carbs to be a freebee. It is carbs used to sustain your exercise.
In the scope of things, we all have to adapt. Optimally, you would like flexibility to chose to eat lunch or not and walk or not. You have that, depending on what you wish to do you. What may be easiest is to decide whether you are going to walk before eating lunch, then just eat your planned 12 g carb lunch. Then, if you wish to walk you can have something more to eat. Really, I don’t understand why you think having sugar to sustain normal blood sugars is bad.
I don’t believe sustaining blood sugar during exercise is self destructive. I actually believe that the benefit of exercise is not the calories you burn, but the post exercise benefits. And I am not convinced that sustaining normal blood sugars affects things, you will after all have to eat later to replenish depleted glycogen stores, so whether you eat a glucose tab now or eat more later doesn’t matter. And restoring your body to a normal blood sugar won’t stop fat burning. If you body is going to burn fat, that is going to happen whether you are at 50 or at 83 mg/dl.
I guess I have just developed a little bit of a “carbs are medicine and you don’t want to OD.” When you say it that way, I guess I was not looking at this in a healthy way. Great points, and thanks again, bsc.