[notme]

Originally Posted by Alice

One thing I've started is tracking the calories (not just carbs) of the foods/glucose that I eat for lows. I find that on some days those carbs easily can add a few hundred calories to my daily total. I can remain the same weight at 1500 calories...and need to reduce to 1200 to lose weight slowly. Doesn't sound like a lot, but at 5 foot 2 inches, those pounds jump on quickly.

Also, I found I was concentrating on carbs to match with my insulin. Have that talent down pretty well! But, I was losing sight of the calories and have gone back to tracking calories.

Even though I attend Weight Watchers, I still count the calories instead of the points. I think after watching several segments on TV about true calories in restaurant food (Blooming Onion at Outback is over 2000 calories...)...I find I can eat through my 1200 calories very easily if I don't track them.

I couldn't agree more Alice. We have lost sight of counting calories, calories from fat and calories from carbs. I honestly think counting calories is the way to go and eating whole foods rather than processed foods. Hard to accomplish this day and age of fast eating. I think it is why Europeans do so much better than we do. They still believe in the art of cooking and the art of eating. We eat on the run.

[Lloyd]

I've lost lots of weight on insulin, by limiting my carbs to 75 or 80 per day.

-Lloyd

[notme]

That is awsome Lloyd. Congratulations on your weight loss. I hope you keep up the good work!

Being women, I think it is naturally harder for us to lose weight. Type one diabetes requires a larger amount of basal and bolus insulin to control blood sugar and there is no natural insulin being produced.

I have tried limiting carbs, exercise and limiting fat with a negligable result. I am not a lot over weight, but enough that it makes me uncomfortable. I was always on the thinner side until I started taking insulin.

I wish I could lose weight, but I am about to give up. I am going to talk to my doctor again about hypothyroidism. It runs in my family with both my Mother and my sister taking medication. My tests have always been borderline normal. We will see.

I guess I would rather carry a few extra pounds than have long term complications.

[ant hill]

Originally Posted by aperfectbass

In addition to lowering b/s, insulin makes fat. Its really the only thing that makes fat accumulate. This is what makes the Atkins diet work. I had some weight issues in the past year or so and read this somewhere and has really helped me. So ask yourself, are you eating for you or for the diabetes?

Yes this to me makes a lot of sense as I get some lows in my day so if I were to discount my insulin and look at listen to your body and say I have had enough. I find that the more insulin that you take the more food to cover for it.

For me, I was feeding the diabetes (when I'd go low, I'd eat for that reason) So I backed down my insulin to match my eating habits. I've lost a little bit so far. The extra 10 units or so of humalog and 5 of lantus i would give myself each day would essentially turn my excess eating directly to fat.

I do the same Alice for the lows and that gives me some indication to back off the insulin. Sure you will see the BG's start climbing up and so go walking or something that will bring that BG down.

Originally Posted by notme

I think it is why Europeans do so much better than we do. They still believe in the art of cooking and the art of eating. We eat on the run.

Now that made me smile Nancy as I think that the food they eat is so enticing and it's much better for you.
In France they don't eat a plate full as you look at a 10" Plate and they just use half of it! So there is some merit in eating small.

Originally Posted by Lloyd

I've lost lots of weight on insulin, by limiting my carbs to 75 or 80 per day.

-Lloyd

That's awesome Lloyd!!

Originally Posted by notme

I guess I would rather carry a few extra pounds than have long term complications.

As for me I can afford to loose some Kg's (in your case Pounds )
So buy looking at just cutting back the insulin little by little and keep looking at my plate and eat small. If I dwell on that I may loose some Kg's.

[karabea]

Oh....I am soooo frustrated. I have been really watching my BS ( have been in low 100s) my carb intake- eating less than 85 grams per day and only taking 5-6 units af Apidra and I have still gained an additional 3lbs in the past 3 days (that makes 15lbs since really watching it the past few weeks). ANY OTHER SUGGESTIONS- I am DESPERATE!!

[notme]

Have you had your thyroid checked karabea?

[karabea]

yes I have and my levels were off. I am currently takin 0.50 a day, at first it helps, and then seems to quit working. This is the 4th time that I have been placed on synthroid. At this point, I do not think that the drs know what they are doing. So frustrated!

[Sarah Black]

Hi Everyone, especially Karabea

My story is sooo similar to yours (and I'm having the exact same difficulties) and this prompted me to join the site. Hopefully together we'll eventually find a solution...

In December I was hospitalized with ketoacidosis, and was placed on an insulin pump while I was unconscious so that the doctors could better monitor what was going on. I gained 15 kilos (that's 33 lbs) in 2 weeks - the gain was so incredible that they actually brought in a different scale because they thought that the first one was broken! Since I'm very athletic (about 2 hours of sport per day) they had me on a 200 g carb, 1900 calorie diet.. since then we've been gradually reducing the calories and the carbs (and thus the insulin doses) as well as augmenting my daily exercise to 4+ hours per day. Despite all of this I weigh in at 70 kilos (154 lbs) at xxx (5'1), whereas my normal weight before, with diabetes well-regulated, was 50 kilos (110 lbs).

On to a possible solution : my mum has been doing loads of research to help me out with this, and there seems to be a lot of disagreement on how to eat, etc. Something I'm going to try is limiting not only the number of carbs but the type of carbs as well, avoiding stuff like pasta, bread, rice, basically the starchy stuff, and instead having vegetables and a little fruit to go with it (apparently though if you do this, to not lose muscle mass one must get enough animal protein). So, instead of having a small bowl of pasta to get my 30g of carb per meal, I'll have loads of veggies (1 giant can of green beans only has 6g of carb!). So, if anyone has tried something like this, let me know - and of course I'll share everything I know about this with you guys

[BrianSCohen]

Insulin is a very powerful hormone. We all hear about how insulin is the key hormone controlling how glucose is absorbed by our muscles. What we don't hear much about is that insulin is also a fat storage hormone. When we eat excess carbs, insulin also signals to our bodies to store those excess carbs as body fat. If you start insulin therapy and you are starting to gain fat, you should look at your carb intake. Reducing your carbs can really address this issue. Lloyd says that he has lost dramatic weight in this way limiting his carbs to just below 100g/day. You might think about trying this and see if it works.

[Sarah Black]

Hi again!

Well, it's only been a week, but I'm already seeing some results (and, most importantly, feeling sooo much better!). I've been really careful about limiting my carbs to about 30g per day (a nice big salad every lunch and dinner with at least 4oz of protein), and I've lost 5 kilos (about 10 lbs)! Hurrah! I've also got more energy AND my highest blood sugar (after meal test) has been 1,21 (about 6.0 I think); normal before meal & during the day & night has been 0,65-0,85

Everyone who's been saying that fewer carbs = less insulin = less excess weight/fat seems to be absolutely right! And it's nice to read stories from those who have had success (nice work!).