How many carbs do you eat a day ? Or how many per meal ? My dad is Type 2 & he eats 45 carbs a meal . I am Type 1 ,my doc told me that I can eat 75 carbs a meal . Just wondering what everyone else does .
hi, Tyler, this is a subject of great interest to many. We have an older discussion on it with 1082 replies, so if you’d like to spend the rest of the afternoon reading…
https://forum.tudiabetes.org/topics/how-many-carbs-do-you-eat-per
Don’t really pay much attention but looking back at my logs I eat around 120 - 130 per day. Probably more when I run.
I’m Type I and I average 130 per day. I’m female, 5’4", 135 lbs.
thanks guy’s yall are a big help !
For as long as I have been counting carbs, I have had 45 per meal and 15 for snacks. Depending on how you count them, makes a small difference, but it sounds pretty normal to me. Maybe because you are insulin dependent you get more?
Check with the nutritionist people about that one.
I think we are all different, Tyler, and age and size are just part of the equation. Many people eat lower carb to try and control their blood sugar and to keep the dose of insulin lower. The more insulin the more likely weight gain and insulin resistance develops. Also the higher the dose to cover more carbs, the harder the chance of bolusing accurately and not ending up either high or low. That does sound like a lot of carbs but the question is does it work for you? What sort of blood sugars do you have two hours after eating? Is your weight stable? Those are the questions you want to ask yourself. If you are having trouble keeping your blood suagr in target range then some tools to try would be exercise and/or lowering your carb intake.
My 15 yr. old 6ft. tall son who has T1 was told to stay 75 carbs a meal or under. Might change as he gets older.
I’m an advocate of lower-carb and have done it for years - less than 100g a day, sometimes a lot less. I’m T1 (LADA) and on insulin.
On the other hand, I’m now of the opinion that it doesn’t matter as long as you’re a normal weight, healthy and keep your BGLs pretty much in normal range and have a good HbA1C.
Since the end of December, I’ve had a time of enormous stress, horrendous working hours, eating at least 2 carb-fest take-away meals a day (nothing else on offer).
I’ve just reluctantly had an HbA1C done and to my great surprise it was 6.8. I thought it would be way more because I wasn’t testing every 2-3 hours as usual. My pump is working well, it seems. Despite the higher carb and more weight-gain-promoting insulin, it’s been offset by more physical activity.
So even on higher carb, healthy eating and weight aside, the issue is, whether your diabetes is considered to be ‘controlled’ or not and you’re not having huge spikes followed by lots of lows (to make a normal average).
I would always advocate to try lower-carb for anyone whose diabetes and/or weight is not well controlled. Sometimes it’s not about what you’re told (most D-educators still promote higher carbs), it’s what works for you!
thanks again
Seems like i overeat compared to a lot of you
On a weekday I eat around 230 carbs, and on the weekends it can be up around 270-300.
5’8" 135lbs
Alan,
Awesome A1c! I’m a follower of Dr. Bernstein also, consistently 30-35 carbs daily, & it changed my life. I’ve read about young kids being on low carb diets & doing beautifully, so questionable that growing bodies need excess carbs any more than adults do. They need protein & sufficient fats, but not high carb.
270… what my dietician told me is first they should calculate ur caloric needs for the day (for me 2500). and from there, they take a certain percentage to figure out carb needs. my day looks like this
brekfast - 75
lunch - 60
snack - 30
dinner - 75
snack - 30
Tyler, each of us is different, for me I do 20 to 30 gm/meal, 3 meals, and ≈15 per snack 2 snacks for a total of 90 to 120 gm/day. I started with the ADA amounts, not knowing any better then started cutting back until I stayed in my range and this is where it wound up being I run mid 80s before meals to ≈120 an hour after. I take Janumet twice a day.
85-100 grams per day.
Hi group My name is Bill From Philadelphia PA. I average between 200 and 400 carbs a day. I went from being close to 250lbs 5 years ago to just about 180 on 10/11/2010. I am on the pump for the last 4 years but have been type 1 since 1966. I have a great Dr. Neil Streisfeld of Bala Cynwyd PA. Exercise is hard due to Multiple Sclerosis that I have had for 4 years. I do work about 20 hours a week. Some times my Bg drops below 70 but usual average about 120 now a days. My last A1c was 6.6
was 6 months ago. I live alone since wie walked out on me 20 months ago.
The “sweetbee carbcounter” app for iphone gives a real clear insight on your carb intake, and you don’t need to read all afternoon 
… http://itunes.apple.com/be/app/sweetbee/id384056025?mt=8
I eat 75-80 carbs a DAY. 
40 to 50 grams per day. I counter dawn phenomena with a 2 to 3 gram breakfast.
I recently saw an increase in my one and two hour readings, with attendant deterioration in H1C. I gave up coffee and that seems to have done the trick.
I follow dr Bernstein’s plan and try to keep my carbs under 30 for the whole DAY that is counting each ounce of cheese as 1 gram mind you… nuts, add up. My blood sugars are so much easier to control this way.
I’d recommend reading his book or going around the web to read some forums. Lots of happy type 1’s and 2’s out there.
I’m T1 12 years dx’ed 1997 at age 25.