I’ve been doing a low-carb diet since about May in an attempt to both lose weight and get better control of my blood sugars. Over the past nine months I’ve experienced both a significant weight gain (about 20-25 pounds, and I was already overweight to begin with) as well as a rise in my A1c, both of which I’m concerned about and hoping to bring back down. The diet hasn’t been totally steady, I’ve had days (and one three-week period) where I’ve eaten higher amounts of carbohydrates. But not crazy high, since I don’t eat out much at all (a few times a year), so all the carbohdyrates I did eat were counted and bolused for. I’ve also been exercising every day, but some days more than others.
Despite low-carb, I’ve actually been gaining weight in recent weeks (in terms of not only the scale but also clothes not fitting and feeling it physically), although my blood sugar control has been great. Back in May I did lose a few pounds, then I went off-track during an intensive graduate course for three weeks this summer and gained it back (which was honestly surprising, since I was walking about 7-8km every day during that period), and now that I’ve been back on low-carb for several weeks my weight’s continued to climb past where I originally started back in May! Also, I’ve noticed that while my insulin requirements did drop during the early summer, they haven’t really dropped much since taking that break, even with eating 50-70g/day I’m still needing just as much insulin (basically the only decrease is the fact htat I’m not bolusing as much insulin throughout the day, but I haven’t experienced a drop in basal needs or ratios like I did before). Maybe that’s from the additional weight gain.
I’m wondering what else I can do, besides low-carb, good BGs, and daily exercise, to help lose weight. Is counting calories important as well (I keep reading that counting calories isn’t necessary on a low-carb diet)? Maybe Stevia has an effect on weight loss (I’m trying to cut back on that)? Maybe I need to go ultra-low carb like 30 or 40 grams a day? Most of the carbohydrates I do eat right now are from fruit and veggies or else dairy-free alternatives that are slightly higher in carbs than dairy foods, such as unsweetened almond yogurt which isn’t as low-carb as regular Greek yogurt. Or maybe I’m just impatient and am still “gaining” weight from my three weeks off several weeks ago and it will take a few weeks for weight loss to begin again?
I went to a dietitian at a local hospital’s diabetes clinic over the summer to find out how many calories I should eat to lose weight, and she couldn’t give me an answer—just kept saying that they don’t count calories anymore, just carbohydrates. So that wasn’t much help, and it’s so hard to untangle fact from fiction online and in books.
Any tips/advice/encouragement from people who have lost significant amounts of weight (like 50-100 pounds)?
Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer for you. But, I have been on low carb and have also gained a few pounds. I’m not entirely sure the two are related. My weight gain (about 10 pounds in the last few months) can probably be attributed to the much better control I’ve had during the same time. But I’ve noticed a creep up of a pound or two or three since switching to low carb two months ago. My goal was better control, not weight loss, but I’m not exactly happy about a weight gain. Aside from weight gain being sometimes connected to better control, I thought it’s maybe the calories from the high fat.
I’m sure that the weight gain is very frustrating. Bernstein argues that you should reduce or increase protein to lose/gain weight respectively. Have you tried restricting protein more?
I haven’t tried that. I haven’t been keeping a log of what I eat, so I think I should start doing that. Then I’ll know exactly how much protein/fat/calories/carbs I’m eating.
there still has to be a defect, but that’s normally because the body adjusts. I’d use a food counter and go 30g carb, 75g protein and the rest healthy fats. no poly veg oils or margarine to about 1500 cal.
or this is easier at 20g carb and is the diet in the video, It will cut back the insulin
I would have to do some major planning to cut back to 20 grams a day. Even 30 grams would be really hard, I think, but I’d do it if I absolutely had to. It took me weeks just to get to 50 grams a day, but it’s now feeling pretty normal. It would take some meal planning before going even lower. That’s still my big challenge, to keep on top of planning and cooking every week—every time I end up eating carbs it’s because I don’t plan ahead.
In thinking about it, I’m thinking that to decrease my basal insulin I probably need to exercise longer or exercise more strenuously. That would probably also decrease my bolus insulin a bit as well.
Have you had success losing weight with the really low-carb diet as opposed to less strict low-carb? It’s odd because when I first started eating 50 grams a day my insulin requirements did drop a lot (almost in half), and everything seemed to be working as it should. It’s only since taking that break a few weeks ago that I seem to have put everything in reverse.
EDIT: Just realized that this is in the T1/LADA section. So maybe my experiences aren’t terribly useful!
I discovered that just carb restriction wasn’t enough for me to continue losing weight over time. At first I lost a lot of weight, then the weight loss stopped unless I restricted even more, when I ran out of carbs to restrict, I moved onto restricting protein too, then moved onto getting measurable blood ketones on a ketogenic diet, then when that stopped working, restricting calories as well… It drove me off the rails.
I’m sure I was just “doing it wrong”, that’s what most of the people on the low-carb blogs/forums told me. I wasn’t perfect every day but it was the best that I could do.
Eventually, I went to moderate carb (100g/day) and have regained all the initial weight lost. Now I just focus on my blood glucose and ignore my weight as best I can.
if you watch the video, insulin is also a fat storing hormone and T2s have too much without taking more. they keep laying down fat and can’t access their stored fats.
A t1 can also be an insulin resistant like a t2
you need to get the insulin down and keep good BG levels to lose weight.and you do that with low carb and 75g protein, because up to 50% of protein turns to glucose. so you can’t eat too much protein either…
I’ve never been told I’m insulin resistant, and I don’t think I take huge doses of insulin that insulin-resistant Type 2s post about. I’m not sure what exactly defines “too much” insulin, how would one know? My endo has never mentioned any concern about me taking too much insulin or being insulin resistant. When I’m not eating low-carb I take 65-75 units a day. Eating low-carb, I’ve been taking 47-52 units a day, most of the difference being that I’m bolusing for fewer carbs. At the beginning of the summer I was taking 35-45 units a day due to both reduced basal and reduced ratios and less carbs. I’m going to try increasing my daily activity level, as exercise has a huge impact on lowering my blood sugar.
I’ll have to start tracking my food to see how much protein I’m eating. As is, I can’t download my pump to see how many carbs I’m eating, which is annoying, so I’m just guessing on the 50-70 grams of carbs a day. It could be less than that. My pump doesn’t track protein or fat, so I’ll have to use my FItbit or something else for that. I’ve been using less and less processed food, trying to cook as much as possible from scratch, which makes the tracking a bit harder with no packages to go by (but way healthier).
No problem, any first-hand experience is useful! I’m sorry to hear that your weight loss has been so futile. How frustrating. I don’t worry about being overweight as far as “looks” or anything like that. But lately I’ve been feeling overweight, which I hate, and I also have concerns about its health effects in the future.
I’ve realized I have to balance low carb with counting/reducing calories to lose weight. When I was just going low carb, it was easy to include a lot high calorie food (fat calories add up really quickly. So while counting carbs but not calories may work for some people, when I switched to tracking calories with a low carb slant, I changed my diet (realized some of my go to items were SUPER high in calories, and generally ate less) and lost 15 lbs. When carb counting alone works for people to lose weight, it often does in part because it tends to inadvertently result in fewer calories consumed—if that’s not the case, it won’t. Might be worth using an app like LoseIt to just track what you’re eating for a few days to get a sense of your entire caloric intake.
Yep, I think I’m going to do this. I have a Fitbit and that app can track calories/food. I’ve started making a lot of my own foods (bread, cookies, breakfast cereal) so will have to calculate those recipes and start weighing what I’m eating to figure it out.
The one part of the video I don’t agree with is when the doctor in that video compares the DCCT and notes that on the high carbohydrate diet used in that study were “only achieving an A1c of 8.9% or 7.1% with medication” to people in other studies using less carbohydrates “achieving normal blood sugars off medications.” Those two things can’t be compared. The rest of it was interesting, though.
I hope you get this figured out Jen. I have the opposite problem of losing weight due to all my digestive issues I think. I think it was also not being able to eat without the crashing lows etc. I also gained weight after my initial dka, I had lost 20 lbs or so and I was eating low carb then. Now though I’m a bit higher carb again and no weight gain yet but I seem to be holding steady now. Maybe it is something to do with your thyroid/graves disease/medication?
Just for reference I look quite insulin resistant (that’s my roundabout way of saying that I am obese). I take 50u of basal and between 25-50u of bolus depending on how low-carb my day turns out.
Low carb alone wasn’t enough for me to lose anything. I had to go to ketogenic, then after i lost the weight I added in some more carbs, but I still eat MAX about 40 a day. I have no idea if this will be unhealthy long term or not, but it’s been the only way I know to maintain a slim figure since I became Diabetic (7 years ago). In addition to eating low carb (20-30g max a day) it mattered WHAT I ate. I eat really clean (avocado, butter, Parmesan cheese, salads, low carb veggies and meats make the bulk of my diet), drink 2 litres of water a day, green tea with coconut oil in it, Bulletproof coffee and do a mix of cardio/strength/resistance exercise daily (20-40 mins). I have not noticed any negative effects from the stevia that I have (about 4-6 drops daily). Things such as yogurt, fruit and even too many low carb home baked goods are off the table for me. I keep my calories low too (the right amount for my particular height and weight goals). A lot of controversy on if that is needed, but that’s been necessary for me personally.
This is just what’s worked for me. Everyone’s different. I wish you all the luck on your journey!
The only thing that helps me lose weight when I need to and keep the number where I want it is to count calories. If I keep the daily count around 1500 or so, I’m fine. If I consistently eat more than 1500 calories a day, I gain weight, without fail. It seems a lot of people somehow magically hit the right number simply by restricting carbs, but personally, I can find a lot of high calorie/low carb food to eat, so that would never work for me.
Oh, for what it’s worth, I’m Type 1 and also found it SUPER helpful to add metformin to my regimen (taking the ER kind, 1500mg/day, split into two doses). I lost about 10 lbs just from that. Then an additional 15 lbs once I started a combo of calorie counting and mostly low carb (instead of being strictly low carb). My insulin doses were never that high, but it helped lower them all the same while bringing my A1c down, and I had gone from not carrying much of my weight on my belly to having more there, so I’m guessing insulin resistance was a factor.
I take 50u of basal and between 25-50u of bolus depending on how low-carb my day turns out.