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How much do I need to loose?

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Squirrel

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
OK I am on a diet, and I wondered if anybody has experience of losing weight and getting rid of the diabetes. Just wondering how much I will need to lose.

I suspect that the reason I have diabetes type 2 is my body shape, and that shape was caused by anorexia as a teenager. My sister is one year younger than me and hasn't got diabetes.

I am 53 and type 2 since aged 40. I have very slim legs, bum and hips. Just my waist and stomach are big. Maybe caused when I regained weight after the anorexia. At my worst aged about 17 I weighed less than 4 and a half stone and nearly died.

I am about 12 and a half stone nowadays. 5 foot 3to4. (Don't you see red when non diabetics who can eat what they like say diabetes is a disease of obesity? When it's actually body shape?)

Do you think I would need to lose loads and be really skinny to kick-start my pancreas into starting to produce insulin again? Obviously it depends how much I lose before it goes from my waist. Was just looking for others' experiences. I have not been down to 8 stone since the anorexia and at first I got fat in my early 20s, then gradually slimmed down to a size 14 in my mid-late 20s, in the 10 stone range mainly. Then like many people I gradually gained and went up to size 16 then 18 as I got older. Though that's just in dresses and tops. I am a size 10 or 12 in skirts and trousers.

I think my ideal weight for my height is supposed to be about 9 stone. But that may not be enough weight loss if my body is stubborn about losing round my middle.
 
Hi Squirrel
As a T2 your pancreas is still producing insulin, just not enough. What meds are you on for your diabetes?
 
I was on Gliclazide and Sitagliptine but now I am on insulin and Sitagliptine. Since 2 weeks ago. I was on Metformin for a number of years then it started making me feel sick all the time. They put me on a lower dose of slow-release Metformin which worked for a couple of years then that started making me feel sick too. So now it is insulin and Sitagliptine.
 
Squirrel said:
I was on Gliclazide and Sitagliptine but now I am on insulin and Sitagliptine. Since 2 weeks ago. I was on Metformin for a number of years then it started making me feel sick all the time. They put me on a lower dose of slow-release Metformin which worked for a couple of years then that started making me feel sick too. So now it is insulin and Sitagliptine.
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I'm T2 as well and am also on insulin because my pancreas has been damaged through multiple episodes of pancreatitis. There are members on here who have successfully come off meds through following a low carb diet. But I would caution you to be very careful when trying to loose weight. You would need to monitor your bg levels very closely. Are your blood glucose levels within the recommended levels for a T2 presently?
 
I got rid of my diabetes - in that I have normal Hba1c and blood glucose just by eating a low carb diet.
Once my numbers were normal they continued to fall over time as I stayed eating the same foods.
I am now almost a year and a half from diagnosis. I have lost weight, but that is a natural consequence of the normal BG levels - lower insulin levels too probably but that is just a guess, as mine is all home grown.
Eating low carb is a really effective way of lowering blood glucose so you will need to monitor very closely to keep your medication from driving you into hypos.
I have lost loads of fat off my middle, none of my clothes fit and I've had to get new everything as things just slid off me - very uncomfortable when walking around the supermarket!!
A lot of emphasis is put on the idea that diabetes is all about being overweight - but my weight stayed steady all the time I was working my way down to normal numbers and only after that was there a sudden OMG - nothing fits!!
 
Sometimes weight isn't always a factor, I lost 7 stone before finding out that I was diabetic. I have a long family history of diabetes so decided to lose weight to try and prevent it, but 18 months and 92lbs lighter I was diagnosed, but mine may be due to genetics more than lifestyle and everything else anyway.
 
The closest you can get to getting rid of diabetes is being in control by lowering blood glucose to normal levels, but you will still be diabetic, just in good control. If you go back to eating carbs & sugar, it will return. I lost 4 stone & am now normal weight & normal HbA1c, but i'm still diabetic as I still have insulin resistance.
 
Davein said:
Hi Squirrel
As a T2 your pancreas is still producing insulin, just not enough. What meds are you on for your diabetes?
Click to expand...

It may be producing it - but being ineffective due to resistance.
 
How disappointing that you can't get rid of it even if you get to almost anorexic weight! I had read of studies where losing fat around the pancreas kick-started normal function. This was people who were put on a diet of 500 calories a day for 3 months. Don't know if anybody else read of that study. Those people were then able to eat what they wanted (as long as they didn't gain weight). This has made me even more depressed.
In answer to the original question, no my blood sugar levels are not normal. I have only been on insulin 2 weeks and am still increasing the dose every 3 days, as advised. Very down at the thought of never been able to eat cards ever again if if a walking skelton!
 
BTW none of the HbA1c readings people are giving on the bottom of their posts mean anything to me as everybody seems to use the American scale. I don't understand this scale. The one I know is where 6 is normal.
(Although when we tested my husband on my blood glucose testing machine his reading was 7.8 and he isn't diabetic!)
My meter uses the 6 as normal scale.
 
Squirrel said:
BTW none of the HbA1c readings people are giving on the bottom of their posts mean anything to me as everybody seems to use the American scale. I don't understand this scale. The one I know is where 6 is normal.
(Although when we tested my husband on my blood glucose testing machine his reading was 7.8 and he isn't diabetic!)
My meter uses the 6 as normal scale.
Click to expand...
The way of recording HBA1C was changed a few years ago in the UK though many use a conversion to quote numbers. 42 is the old 6.
 
@Squirrel, in the UK the standard for measuring HbA1c is mmol/mol (ie: a number such as 42 or 56). This was introduced several years ago to replace the old percentage measurement (say, 6 or 8). Quite a few GP's still use the old measurements. The readings on your meter are in mmol/l, which is totally different to the other measurements. I think (though I am not 100% sure) that the US still uses the old percentage measurements for HbA1c.🙂
 
OK I will have to ask the nurse, because now I am totally confused about what reading I should be aiming for! I assumed 6. The nurse practitioner said to aim for 4 to 7. Which would imply that my meter is using the % measurements where 6 is 'normal.' Like I say, my husband had a reading of 7.8.
 
Squirrel said:
I think my ideal weight for my height is supposed to be about 9 stone. But that may not be enough weight loss if my body is stubborn about losing round my middle.
Click to expand...
You need to also think about exercise to firm up the muscles, nice gentle toning exercise would be ideal
 
OK I read the meter instructions and it is supposed to be 4.4 to 6.7. At least I know now.

What sort of things are people eating who are trying to manage diabetes and also lose weight?

I am eating:

Breakfast - small helping of porridge oats with semi-skimmed milk. No sugar obvs.

Mid-morning - Cappuccino, no sugar or chocolate, and a couple of small slices of apple or a couple of strawbs

Lunch - very small portion of scrambled egg

Afternoon - as mid-morning

Dinner- dessert spoon full of potato or sweet potato if I have managed to get it, dessert spoonful of green veg (peas and green beans, or courgette spaghetti etc), 6 Quorn cocktail sausages

Dessert - low fat plain yoghurt

Snack - few almonds, or a Babybel cheese

I have been veggie for over 30 years and don't eat meat or fish
 
Also on Saturdays only I have chocolate and a couple of bags of crisps.

Does anyone else treat themselves once in a while? It gets very boring. I wondered about giving myself slightly more insulin on such a day.
 
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