I have stopped losing weight - any ideas?

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lordburnside

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Hi,
I was diagnosed as diabetic about a month ago so I decided to try and lose weight. I have walked 40 miles a week and the weight came off until about a week ago. I eat oats, milk, yoghurt and a little fruit for breakfast and a salad for lunch (includes feta/chicken) that fits in a standard lunch box. I don't bother with an evening meal but might have a banana or two (max) chocolate digestives. I walk 4+ miles a night without fail! and I walk the rest on a weekend to make up 40miles. So I would say I eat 1000 calories and walk off 400. I am totally fine with that regime for a couple of months. (Craving roast pork and crackling)

However I would expect to have last 3lbs last week and I didn't - whats going on? I haven't drunk alcohol for a month so anyone know why?
Maybe I have lost water - I don't think I have grown much muscle.

I need this regime to succeed. I am 15stone 4lbs down from 16 stone
 
lordburnside said:
Hi,
I was diagnosed as diabetic about a month ago so I decided to try and lose weight. I have walked 40 miles a week and the weight came off until about a week ago. I eat oats, milk, yoghurt and a little fruit for breakfast and a salad for lunch (includes feta/chicken) that fits in a standard lunch box. I don't bother with an evening meal but might have a banana or two (max) chocolate digestives. I walk 4+ miles a night without fail! and I walk the rest on a weekend to make up 40miles. So I would say I eat 1000 calories and walk off 400. I am totally fine with that regime for a couple of months. (Craving roast pork and crackling)

However I would expect to have last 3lbs last week and I didn't - whats going on? I haven't drunk alcohol for a month so anyone know why?
Maybe I have lost water - I don't think I have grown much muscle.

I need this regime to succeed. I am 15stone 4lbs down from 16 stone
Click to expand...
That is quite a good weight loss, 8lbs in a month so your body is likely making adjustments and although you may slow down on weight loss you may be losing inches.
I was always told when I did SW years ago when I stopped losing weight I was not eating enough.
 
Leadinglights said:
That is quite a good weight loss, 8lbs in a month so your body is likely making adjustments and although you may slow down on weight loss you may be losing inches.
I was always told when I did SW years ago when I stopped losing weight I was not eating enough.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply. I will eat a small evening meal for a few days and see what happens. This is do difficult! I have given up such a lot! And I am doing 90000 steps s week. I should get a medal!
 
I suspect you are miscalculating the number of calories you are consuming. From the food you have listed, you are consuming a lot more than 1000 calories a day. Two chocolate digestives and two bananas are nearly 500 calories. Even if you are sticking to 1000 calories a day, that's a starvation diet and not really healthy :(

Do you weigh all the food you eat? Since going low carb I don't weight anything but when I used to calorie count, I had to weigh everything religiously or it would be too easy to go over my 1200 limit.

Walking is a brilliant exercise for mobility but it doesn't actually burn many calories. I walk at least five miles a day but it doesn't really contribute that much to any weight loss.
 
Thanks for the reply. I think your right about walking but I must be burning something. I could try running/jogging but at 68 years old it may be too much of a shock to the system!

You could well be right about the calories too. I have scales but its a bit difficult working it all out,
Lunch is one celery stick, handful of spinach, 4 olives, quarter of a pepper, one boiled egg, a large tomato, walnuts, chia seeds, two radishes, spoon of mayo, drizzle of olive oil, thumb size of feta, tiny bit of chicken, one spring onion. It tastes great and have eaten it for several years.
Breakfast is oats 50g, warmed with milk, 3 dollops or creamy yoghurt (full fat), few rasps/blueberries and dessert spoon of nuts.
I only eat one banana or two chocolate digestives 3 times a week.

Maybe I need more protein. Its all too complicated. If this fails its starvation or liquid food in a bottle. Yuk
 
What you're eating is exactly what I love to eat apart from the oats, bananas and biscuits. I know they send my BG levels through the roof so I avoid them totally and don't even have them in small amounts.

What I do however is have LOTS of food that doesn't raise my BG levels, for example cheese, chicken, yogurt, melon, veggies (no potatoes), salad, olives, nuts etc.

What you're describing is not a lot of food and you will potentially get very fed up of eating this way. Whatever you do has to be sustainable for the long term or you will slip back into old eating habits. Have you been given a blood glucose meter so you can test what affect your food is having?
 
I wouldn't be too worried just yet. Your weight is not a perfect indicator of body fat. A pint of water weighs 1lb.

Here's an example of how variable body water weight can be. The graphs attached represent my weight over a 2 week period. If you measure the difference between the two points indicated in red I lost 0.45 Kg (1lb) in 8 days. If you add a few days to take a longer period into account, I lost 2.8 Kg (6.2lb) in 13 days. My diet and levels of exercise were unchanged during that period of time.

Make sure you're drinking plenty of water and short plateaus like this one will sort themselves out. If it goes on longer than 2 weeks then it's worth further investigation.
Short plateau.png
 
Thanks for the reply. I am giving this another month then on holiday for a week which is dangerous! Ist blood glucose post diabetes is end of April. Need to be back in the lower 40s by then. Was 55mmols per what’s it!

If I get remission I will be very careful what I eat.
 
Deb_l said:
What you're eating is exactly what I love to eat apart from the oats, bananas and biscuits. I know they send my BG levels through the roof so I avoid them totally and don't even have them in small amounts.

What I do however is have LOTS of food that doesn't raise my BG levels, for example cheese, chicken, yogurt, melon, veggies (no potatoes), salad, olives, nuts etc.

What you're describing is not a lot of food and you will potentially get very fed up of eating this way. Whatever you do has to be sustainable for the long term or you will slip back into old eating habits. Have you been given a blood glucose meter so you can test what affect your food is having?
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I have a BG meter but it’s always above what it should be! I am eating the food they say I should but it isn’t straightforward!
 
lordburnside said:
I have a BG meter but it’s always above what it should be! I am eating the food they say I should but it isn’t straightforward!
Click to expand...
You may find that the big hit of 50g oats which could be as much as 30g carbs could be pushing your blood glucose up early in the day so you are starting your day at a high level.
Having the yoghurt and berries with a very small 20g of a low sugar or keto granola or eggs may be a better breakfast.
What readings are you seeing on your monitor the aim is 4-7mmol/l before meals and no more than 8-8.5 2 hours post meal or no more than 2-3mmol/l increase after 2 hours. You could check your oats meal to see what that is doing to blood glucose level.
 
Thanks for replying. Its my weight I am worried about and was going to sort out my glucose later! but I guess one affects the other. I had in mind that losing 34lbs would stop me having diabetes eg per Roy Taylor.
I dare say I am eating too many oats and if I have eggs I need bread! I am have just started to eat sourdough. Its OK!
I used to have bacon and egg but put on weight. I suppose I can eat scrambled or poached eggs some mornings.

I think I probably need to study nutrition!
 
lordburnside said:
Thanks for replying. Its my weight I am worried about and was going to sort out my glucose later! but I guess one affects the other. I had in mind that losing 34lbs would stop me having diabetes eg per Roy Taylor.
I dare say I am eating too many oats and if I have eggs I need bread! I am have just started to eat sourdough. Its OK!
I used to have bacon and egg but put on weight. I suppose I can eat scrambled or poached eggs some mornings.

I think I probably need to study nutrition!
Click to expand...
If you make an omelette with mushrooms, or other veg you don't really need bread but using your monitor you could check if you can tolerate the sourdough bread.
 
trophywench said:
@PerSpinasAdAstra - instant cringe - sorry. 🙂

A pint of water, weighs a pound and a quarter.
Click to expand...
You're right - I Googled before I posted but got the weight of a US pint - 1.043 lb. A British imperial pint weighs 1.25 lb.

I usually work in kilos. 1L of water weighs exactly 1Kg.
 
:rofl: And you know if you multiply the imperial to get to the metric, (2.2 lbs in a kg and 1.8 pints in a litre) that is exactly what it works out to!
 
lordburnside said:
Hi,
I was diagnosed as diabetic about a month ago so I decided to try and lose weight. I have walked 40 miles a week and the weight came off until about a week ago. I eat oats, milk, yoghurt and a little fruit for breakfast and a salad for lunch (includes feta/chicken) that fits in a standard lunch box. I don't bother with an evening meal but might have a banana or two (max) chocolate digestives. I walk 4+ miles a night without fail! and I walk the rest on a weekend to make up 40miles. So I would say I eat 1000 calories and walk off 400. I am totally fine with that regime for a couple of months. (Craving roast pork and crackling)

However I would expect to have last 3lbs last week and I didn't - whats going on? I haven't drunk alcohol for a month so anyone know why?
Maybe I have lost water - I don't think I have grown much muscle.

I need this regime to succeed. I am 15stone 4lbs down from 16 stone
Click to expand...
If you watch you’re not eating too much cheese and milk and have a meal in the evening instead of what you’re having. It could be some protein and veg . Doesn’t need to be a heavy meal. . Says me that put on last week
 
I find that I can eat only around 10gm of carbs in a morning - but I do so along with protein and fats. If I don't have the small amount of carbs my BG goes on rising.
When diagnosed I concentrated only on BG levels, I was quite shocked when the nurse who insists of weighing declared I was down 90lb from my heaviest recorded weight and asked what method I'd used. I knew I'd been losing weight as my cloths were not just loose but dropping off.
I don't eat oats or any grain nor bananas. Biscuits are created in my kitchen with low carb ingredients. Chocolate is the highest cocoa one available when I visit a supermarket. My salads are huge, often with lots of cheese and several eggs. I don't count calories, only carbs.
I used a blood glucose tester to see how I was affected by various meals and foods, and altered what I was eating accordingly.
 
Drummer said:
I find that I can eat only around 10gm of carbs in a morning - but I do so along with protein and fats. If I don't have the small amount of carbs my BG goes on rising.
When diagnosed I concentrated only on BG levels, I was quite shocked when the nurse who insists of weighing declared I was down 90lb from my heaviest recorded weight and asked what method I'd used. I knew I'd been losing weight as my cloths were not just loose but dropping off.
I don't eat oats or any grain nor bananas. Biscuits are created in my kitchen with low carb ingredients. Chocolate is the highest cocoa one available when I visit a supermarket. My salads are huge, often with lots of cheese and several eggs. I don't count calories, only carbs.
I used a blood glucose tester to see how I was affected by various meals and foods, and altered what I was eating accordingly.
Click to expand...
Thanks for that. This is all very complicated. I had fruit and yoghurt for breakfast then watched an expert on youtube saying you should eat a savoury breakfast! They all say drink more water but I am never thirsty.
I am having roast veg for tea with some salmon after walking 4 miles. The skill will be when I go on holiday and sitting in a pub with pie on the menu and beer on tap!
 
Jinty2001 said:
If you watch you’re not eating too much cheese and milk and have a meal in the evening instead of what you’re having. It could be some protein and veg . Doesn’t need to be a heavy meal. . Says me that put on last week
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. I will see how I get on in the next week or two. It all sems so complicated!
 
lordburnside said:
Thanks for that. This is all very complicated. I had fruit and yoghurt for breakfast then watched an expert on youtube saying you should eat a savoury breakfast! They all say drink more water but I am never thirsty.
Click to expand...
There is a school of thought that says high insulin levels will block stored fat from being released from fat cells in the body. In the early stages of Type 2 insulin levels in the blood are likely to very high - the insulin just doesn't work properly due to the phenomenon of 'insulin resistance'. Experts who subscribe to that school of thought recommend avoiding carbohydrates - so little or no fruit with breakfast, if you want to lose weight. This will reduce the amount of insulin in the blood, enabling fat to be released from fat cells and burned. Some even suggest that this is necessary for a Type 2 - that it's difficult or impossible for a Type 2 to lose weight if, for example, they eat much fruit (or bread, or any other carbs).

This concept is controversial (at least it is for me), mostly because it does not fit with experience for you, or for me, or for many others with Type 2. If the 'insulin blocks fat burning' theory does hold water it certainly doesn't apply to everyone with Type 2. As a result different experts have different, sometimes strongly held views on the subject of the best way for a Type 2 to lose weight.

As to drinking water - there are many reasons given by experts as to why this is a good idea but for me the reason is purely practical. I find that when I'm losing a lot of weight my digestion slows. I've read this is due to the body trying to extract as much energy from food as possible. Drinking plenty of water helps to keep the bowels moving.
 
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