I can add that the suggestion to use the moderate/ low-intensity exercise to burn fat is a good one! I had wanted to try this but am not exactly inclined to go slow but, w/ the onset of icy winter road conditions and some different goals, I am cutting back to the 60% heart rate ballpark and am seeing the predicted results and dropped about 5 lbs after a couple of weeks of paying careful attention to that?
For some people insulin is a make fat drug no matter what you do. It is important then to minimize the amount you use. A low carb diet and you could try adding metformin an oral drug to the mix. It is a miracle weight loss drug for some diabetics. And best of luck I am in the same boat.
Guess that it not marketing that you can eat what you want.
http://www.minimed.com/pumptherapy/whypumptherapy/index.html
No. 3: You can eat when you want.
Because you can control your insulin on a pump, YOU (not your injections) get to decide when you want to eat. You can eat when you are hungry - or not - delay or skip a meal. Have that extra piece of pie if you like - on a pump you can handle it - no problem.
I agree with you DWQ. Before getting a pump, I was also concerned about all the posts I have read on message boards about people gaining weight after going on a pump. I am using a pump to help with better control over my basals, but I am also not changing my eating habits. When I was diagnosed 27 years ago, I was taught that I cannot eat whatever I want. Our bodies are not normal and we canāt eat like a normal person. Anyone that thinks otherwise should put a CGMS on for a couple days and just see what happens when they eat what they want. Some of these people that are only testing a couple times a day have no clue what is happening during the hours that they are not checking their BS.
I 'm totally with Lynne. I am one of those people that lost weight, about 40 lbs, ON the pump. It's more work, but once you have your rates set for an appropriate diet/exercise then the rest will happen like it does for non-D. The pump is even helpful for keeping track of total daily insulin needs, a good metric for how you're doing.
Calories in, calories out, that is the plan that I followed. On food, restricting calories will help to force you into making better choices because you have to choose foods more carefully. Sure, you can eat junkfood, but eating only x calories of junk food will leave you unsatisfied; you're more apt to pick something healthier and more filling, more often. On exercise, do what you enjoy (or tolerate) the best, for as long and as hard as you can. It doesn't matter whether you walk, run, or whatever, you can always push yourself a little bit. Forget about ideal heart rates for this zone or that zone. Burn the calories and your body will take care of the rest.
I think you hit the nail on the head, Kelly. That is totally unbelievable!
I have heard other people talk about that. I know DWQ said it was a pic of a pizza on the box but I thought it was a pic of someone eating a brownie on the box. I do remember a conversation once about the message that was being sent with that picture.
I have been able to use less on insulin on the pump and I have not changed my eating habits. But unfortunately, some people do decide that they can eat what they want!
Thereās a pic of someone eating what I think is a large piece of carrot cake on the Minimed CGM box. Wearing a CGM opened my eyes to exactly what and how much my body can handle.
We all (including non-diabetics) experience metabolic slow-down as we age, which is why you see all the slim, gorgeous young girls and boys in their teens (I taught high school for 16 years!) who can just snarf down everything they see! On the other hand, as you get older, you just can't maintain those eating habits.
Some people are naturally slim -- it's genetics, not virtue -- and some people are naturally round -- it's genetics, not gluttony. Moderate to severe obesity is another ballgame -- more and more, they're finding out that there are a lot of metabolic problems, many of which are not going to go away with simple diet and exercise (and many severely obese people cannot exercise enough to help anyway).
I did not gain weight on insulin, and all the pump did was fine-tune my insulin, not make me turn into a glutton! Reduced-carbing is helping, because protein and fat keep me full for longer. But the real goal of my reduced carbing is to eat more low-carb veggies (I am NOT a veggie lover). The weight loss is slow, which doesn't matter, because I don't have much to lose, and I don't miss the carbs. It also keeps my insulin dose as low as possible.
Enough rambling!
Have an extra piece of pie.Great message to send to diabetics.
I'm on MDI & eat when I want. Taking along a vial & syringes in my meter case is nothing. I don't believe that people on pumps generally experience fewer lows from reading posts here. Also from what I've read here, they may have more highs, or higher highs, from pump failures, set problems, etc. I've yet to have an injection fail me due to technical problems:)
Pumps have decided advantages for kids & for exercising. Adjusting basal is great feature.
When I was on MDI, I would never remember to take precautionary insulin and syringe (later, pen) along. I would think I was going out for a few hours, and then go home, when suddenly someone would suggest going out to eat, and I didn't have anything with me. Or I would take them along, and then forget to take them out of my purse, and the insulin would go bad.
MDI also made it too tempting to skip shots (I have never been emotionally at ease with diabetes). With the pump always with me, I have fewer excuses not to bolus.
I really don't think the pump is for everyone, and tight control is not the only reason for getting a pump. Individual feelings and needs must be taken into account. And I wish the pump were more available to those Type 2's who could really benefit from it.
I am not in any way trying to advocate that pumps are badā¦ or that pumps always lead to weight gainā¦ Just that a lot of pumps get marketed as ānow you donāt have to watch your diet, you can just eat whateverā¦ā If some people want to live like that, that is THEIR choiceā¦ But if they donāt have the āgeneticsā for a fast metabolism, they will likely gain weightā¦ And yes, a lot of people DO gain weight, and itās not just a Type 2 issue! LOTS of Type 1s struggle with weight gain issues with insulin. It is not a fast rule ANYWHERE that Type 1ās are all skinny, and none of them have weight issues brought on from too much insulin! I take offense with people like Lynne who just try to pretend that weight is a Type 2 issue onlyā¦ When lots of folks struggle controlling how much and what they eat, and gain tons of weight when they get on insulin, and we know because they share it in this forum, all the timeā¦ And many of them are Type 1ā¦! And yeah, I know plenty of Type 1s who also have high blood pressure issues, or high cholesterol issuesā¦ Those are not āfat peopleā only issuesā¦
One other thing that occurred to me is that it was really important for me to realize that losing weight is a very s l o w process for me? When I was 275 lbs, BP was trending up, cholesterol was ok but had started to ooze in the wrong direction, knees hurt, ankles hurt, back hurt, etc. The overall picture was really grim. That was like 6 years ago and the progress was very slow but, once I started, I kept at it. The lose three, gain two thing has happened over and over and over again, perhaps because I am not disciplined, like to party, whatever. Maybe it would have been faster if I had done less carbs but if the progress is slow, itās still progress and can lead to improving whatever habits got you there in the first place? I freaked out a bit over the summer as a wild vacation+ a new scale made me gain like 10 lbs and I was like āeeekā but I just got back on the bandwagon and kept at it.
You never were on the Lantus Opticlick! One of the happiest days of my diabetes life was when I was able to switch to a Solostar for Lantus. I had multiple failures including one my first week which was very frustrating and scary.
I certainly have a lower standard deviation on the pump - including fewer lows - but mileage does vary.
Maurie
DWQ, I agree with you. Your post said āmarketed asā not that everyone on a pump did it. I have also been reading posts for years with people saying they gained weight after going on a pump and that was a big turnoff for me until I realized that it was the āI can eat anything I wantā attitude that caused the weight gain, not the pump itself. . I wish there was some hard & fast rule that all type 1s are skinny so I could eat what I want and not worry about gaining weight! I was only able to do that when I was running 10 miles a day. And when I quit running & continued to eat like I was running 10 miles a day, I gained weight. There are plenty of overweight T1s, including those that were diagnosed as little kids ā a woman on another board that is overweight was diagnosed at 2. She doesnāt hide the fact that she is overweight.
This post is NOT about Type 1 vs Type 2... in ANY WAY, SHAPE OR FORM.
It is about a Type 1 concerned about gaining weight since getting on insulin, and especially while being on a pump.
If you want to argue Types and focus on that, then you have completely missed the bus in this discussion.
Excess production of insulin, and excess injection of insulin WILL cause weight gain in most adults, regardless of Diabetes or Type. That is a fact.
I did worst on my last diet lost 10 gained back 20.
There are NO restrictions here as to where anyone can post. I have taken extensive time to learn the things I have learned in here... as I prepare for my future with Diabetes down the road. If I have useful information to anyone, I can post *wherever* I want to... And I am sorry if that bothers you.
If you think I have no room to talk, then consider not talking while others (like Kelly WPA, who have had Type 1 Diabetes since the 80s) speak -- and you might learn something from them... Without being so rude all the time.
We are ALL here for support, and to learn. If you don't like people correcting your wrong information, then a forum is not for you.
Not trying to take sides or anything but just to chime in with a random anecdote. I'm Type Weird, something between 1 and 2. (We'll leave aside the issue of whether they are different diseases or not.) Usually at the diabetes clinic, where just statistically you'd expect the majority to be T2s, I find I am one of the skinniest people in the room. (Just for the record I take a US size 10 in jeans so am neither slim nor obese)
I then attended a T1 carb-counting workshop at the same clinic. On the first day I joked to myself that I would be able to find the workshop venue by following all the skinny people. Lo and behold, just as expected, I was surrounded by slim people. I looked around the room and I certainly looked the fattest there. I was the elephant in the room in more ways than one, hahahaha! Though to my surprise, I didn't have the highest BMI there - that honour belonged to a 20-something who'd had T1 since the age of 7.
Sarah Lynne, one very nice thing about TuDiabetes is that the forums are all blended here. I rarely go to individual forums and I tend to look at stuff on the front page. I like that the majority of the T1s posting on this board do not seem to have the attitude of some of the T1s on other boards. I have been T1 for 27 years and I find it hard to believe the attitude of some people about T2s.