Hi - new to this - oldish hand at diabetes

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Sparkles

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Hi everyone

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes 15 years ago but managed to stave off type 2 until 7 years ago when I had to start taking Metformin.

I have been reading some of the post of newby's on here and I am surprised just how much rings true with me. And because I have never spoken about it before or had any support I thought all these symptoms were unique to me.

My biggest problem at the moment is maintaining weight. Sometimes I get down and feel "to hell with it all - lets eat whatever I fancy". I guess I am just not a strong character, although I know for me that weight control is also sugar level control.

I was reading about dietary advice from Dieticians in one post. I also spent some time with the Dietician and she couldn't understand when I said that the easiest way for me to lose weight was to cut out the carbs altogether (or reduce them dramatically). She insisted on the "healthy plate" and over two months I put on 6 pound.
 
Welcome to the site............

I am overweight and am certainly no expert, however I do know its simple maths..........calories in to calories out...........

So although closely related, blood sugar control and weight are separate in there own special way..................

Look forward to hearing from you.......🙂
 
Hi Sparkles, welcome to the forum, sorry to hear you are having problems with your diet, lots of helpful advice here though 🙂
 
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Welcome to the forums Sparkles 🙂

Wheee! Another Essex person joined 😉
 
Welcome to the forum Sparkles! 🙂
 
Thank you

Thank you everyone for making me feel welcome.

Novorapidboi26 - thank you for the advice. I just need the magic formula for keeping the weight off once I have lost it (me and several million others I wouldn't bet)!
 
Sparkles said:
Hi everyone

I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes 15 years ago but managed to stave off type 2 until 7 years ago when I had to start taking Metformin.

I have been reading some of the post of newby's on here and I am surprised just how much rings true with me. And because I have never spoken about it before or had any support I thought all these symptoms were unique to me.

My biggest problem at the moment is maintaining weight. Sometimes I get down and feel "to hell with it all - lets eat whatever I fancy". I guess I am just not a strong character, although I know for me that weight control is also sugar level control.

I was reading about dietary advice from Dieticians in one post. I also spent some time with the Dietician and she couldn't understand when I said that the easiest way for me to lose weight was to cut out the carbs altogether (or reduce them dramatically). She insisted on the "healthy plate" and over two months I put on 6 pound.
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Hi Spearkles, welcome to the forum 🙂 Unfortunately (as you have learned) dietary advice from professionals can vary a great deal, and it seems you were getting the standard line of lots of starchy carbs with every meal. One size does not fit all however, and the ideal diet for any diabetic is the one which allows you to maintain a good weight and keep your levels under control - the problem is that we are all different in what we can tolerate and what works best for us! I can't believe this isn't obvious to dieticians, but that it is the simplest message to give to people who perhaps aren't prepared or in a situation to understand all the complexities of it, so it is a 'make do' sort of advice. For those willing to investigate and learn, however, more detailed advice should be given, based on personal preferences, maintaining flexibility, and achieving the goals of good blood sugar control and good weight.

Please feel free to ask any qhestions, nothing is considered 'silly' 🙂
 
You could always keep a food log for a few weeks. You could then compare how your calorific intake compares to your weight gain/loss.

Although novorapidboi26 is absolutely correct, I did find that I tended to put weight on easier with calories from carbs then calories from other sources.
 
Hi Sparkles - welcome to the forum 🙂

Mark T said:
You could always keep a food log for a few weeks. You could then compare how your calorific intake compares to your weight gain/loss.

Although novorapidboi26 is absolutely correct, I did find that I tended to put weight on easier with calories from carbs then calories from other sources.
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I'm sure there's a lot in that Mark - especially if the carb intake is sufficient to raise your BG (and keep them up). I'm sure I read somewhere that one of the first responses of the body to high BG is to store the excess/unusable energy for a rainy day as fat. From what I can gather many T2s at diagnosis are/have been putting on weight specifically because their metabolism of carbs has broken down. More weight - more insulin resistance - higher BGs - more weight... and round and round and round...

I can't remember who posted it (whether it was here or somewhere else) but I read someone's account of losing weight while eating more calories which they put down to exchanging carbs for other things.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
...I'm sure there's a lot in that Mark - especially if the carb intake is sufficient to raise your BG (and keep them up). I'm sure I read somewhere that one of the first responses of the body to high BG is to store the excess/unusable energy for a rainy day as fat. From what I can gather many T2s at diagnosis are/have been putting on weight specifically because their metabolism of carbs has broken down. More weight - more insulin resistance - higher BGs - more weight... and round and round and round...
Click to expand...
I read somewhere that the consumption of carbohydrates triggers the release of insulin and therefore, since you need insulin to either push the resulting glucose into the cells for use or to store the glucose as fat, you need to have some carbs to maintain weight (fructose can apparently be stored as fat without the presence of insulin).

This however contradicts what I?ve read elsewhere that there is a sensing gene (glucokinase I think) that detects the blood glucose above a certain level and causes insulin to be secreted.

The truth is probably a lot more complicated then either of those descriptions 😛
 
Hi Sparkles and welcome to the forums. As you can see already you are by no means on your own in finding that your body disagrees with the advice you've been given. As has already been said, one size does not fit all, so we all need to find out what works for us. This means trail and error and learning form our own mistakes, as well as listening to other peoples experiences. That's one of the ways this place comes into its own.

Calories in calories out, where the calories come from, what time we eat and how much excercise we do as well as what health problems we have apart from diabetes and what meds we take. All play a part, as do genetics. Like you I've tried everything and get dispondant at times. The trick is to keep trying, and to keep coming on here and talking about it. Take care and keep posting. XXXXX
 
Hi Sparkles and a warm welcome to this wonderful forum x
 
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