Weight control

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Carelbi

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 2
Help! I was diagnosed type 2 a year ago with A1C of 48. Since then I have carefully lost 12 kilos and am down to my pre pregnancy weight, 55 kilos, of my twenties (currently 76 years old). I have also, with diet and Libre 2 monitoring, got my AIC down to 6.0% or 42 mmol/mI which believe is heading towards the bottom of prediabetes.

My problem now is that I don’t wish to lose any more weight, which does seem to continue happening, and would like some advice on what to add to my diet to sustain my current weight. We eat sensibly, organic as much as possible, fresh meat, fish, veg and fruit… so no cake, biscuits, bread, pasta, etc.

I am trying to get an appointment with a dietician, but they are quite booked up in my area (Limousin, France), so would be grateful for help. I did notice from my monitoring that, on the occasions I ate more than I really wanted, i.e, bigger portions, my glucose spiked higher than what I would call normal, so I guess I need suggestions that stop my weight loss and don’t increase the spikes.

Many thanks for any help…
 
Bonjour Carelbi, are you still eating a calorie deficit, ie limiting your calories? I ask, because my answer would be different if you're eating enough calories so you shouldn't lose weight, to if you're still dieting. If it's the former, I'd be going back to the doctor and asking if you can be tested to make sure that you're a type 2, as weight loss isn't usually associated with it, but is with other types of diabetes.
There's food which won't cause you spikes - basically anything low carb, so meat, fish, chicken, cheese, nuts etc which are also higher in calorie will help you maintain your weight. Be mindful that some of them are also quite fatty, and that's not good if you've got higher cholesterol.
Best wishes finding something that works for you, Sarah
 
Adding healthy fats like avocado, nuts, nut butters, seeds, and oily fish can help @Carelbi as well as full fat dairy like Greek yoghurt and some of the lovely French cheeses. It has to be on a regular basis, so look for opportunities to add to your meals or add these things as snacks.
 
Another suggestion to add to @Inka's list of fats above is double cream in your coffee every morning. Fat will not generally affect your BG levels, will provide extra calories and slow release energy and keep you from feeling hungry.... and it tastes good..... especially cheese! If you are not getting the majority of your calories from carbs, then the body is quite happy to run on fat and protein, so you need to increase those other two food groups in order to maintain or increase weight.

It still amazes me how much healthier I feel eating a higher fat/low carb diet and whilst people worry about their cholesterol levels increasing with fat intake, I have found that my cholesterol levels have decreased, despite eating a lot more fat than I ever did. What I find with my cholesterol is that it seems to be linked more to carb intake than fat intake.
 
Carelbi said:
Help! I was diagnosed type 2 a year ago with A1C of 48. Since then I have carefully lost 12 kilos and am down to my pre pregnancy weight, 55 kilos, of my twenties (currently 76 years old). I have also, with diet and Libre 2 monitoring, got my AIC down to 6.0% or 42 mmol/mI which believe is heading towards the bottom of prediabetes.

My problem now is that I don’t wish to lose any more weight, which does seem to continue happening, and would like some advice on what to add to my diet to sustain my current weight. We eat sensibly, organic as much as possible, fresh meat, fish, veg and fruit… so no cake, biscuits, bread, pasta, etc.

I am trying to get an appointment with a dietician, but they are quite booked up in my area (Limousin, France), so would be grateful for help. I did notice from my monitoring that, on the occasions I ate more than I really wanted, i.e, bigger portions, my glucose spiked higher than what I would call normal, so I guess I need suggestions that stop my weight loss and don’t increase the spikes.

Many thanks for any help…
Click to expand...

What sort of spikes are you seeing?
 
Hi. Make sure you add fats to the proteins in the diet as both can help stabilise weight without adding to blood sugar. I don't know what French dieticians are like but be careful in the UK as posts on the forums show that many dieticians haven't clue and follow the old low-fat mantra.
 
Windy said:
Bonjour Carelbi, are you still eating a calorie deficit, ie limiting your calories? I ask, because my answer would be different if you're eating enough calories so you shouldn't lose weight, to if you're still dieting. If it's the former, I'd be going back to the doctor and asking if you can be tested to make sure that you're a type 2, as weight loss isn't usually associated with it, but is with other types of diabetes.
There's food which won't cause you spikes - basically anything low carb, so meat, fish, chicken, cheese, nuts etc which are also higher in calorie will help you maintain your weight. Be mindful that some of them are also quite fatty, and that's not good if you've got higher cholesterol.
Best wishes finding something that works for you, Sarah
Click to expand...
hi Sarah, I had my blood test three days ago, which is 5.9, or 41 mmol/mol which seems to be at the top of normal. I didn’t follow any particular diet last year, just ate smaller portions, cut out potatoes, bread and pasta, and gently lost those 12kilos over the year. When I was tested a year ago I was at 49 mmol/mol, so definitely just entering diabetic type 2. I haven’t counted calories, maybe I should start doing that. Thanks for your help.
 
You sound like you're doing really well Carelbi, gentle loss of 12Kg is something you should be proud of. Well done!
 
Carelbi said:
hi Sarah, I had my blood test three days ago, which is 5.9, or 41 mmol/mol which seems to be at the top of normal. I didn’t follow any particular diet last year, just ate smaller portions, cut out potatoes, bread and pasta, and gently lost those 12kilos over the year. When I was tested a year ago I was at 49 mmol/mol, so definitely just entering diabetic type 2. I haven’t counted calories, maybe I should start doing that. Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Windy's right, unintentional weight loss can be a sign of Type 1-- but, if you were Type 1, it would have been impossible to achieve that HbA1c result without taking insulin. You were Type 2, and now you've reversed it! Getting your weight down from from 67kg to 55kg, and your HbA1c down from 48 to 41, is brilliant, congratulations.

If you're still losing weight unintentionally, it's simply a matter of increasing your calorie intake. Long before I developed Type 1, I used to get too thin occasionally, simply by failing to pay attention! And it's especially important for older people not to get too thin. Also, research in recent years shows that older people need a *lot* more protein than was previously thought.

So go for more protein-- and more unsaturated fat; it's saturated fat that can cause problems with LDL, more broadly non-HDL, cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol; HDL cholesterol is the good one.

If you're worried about non-HDL cholesterol, eat more foods which are high in protein but have little or no saturated fat: chicken, fish, nuts, eggs, and low-fat dairy. A good tip is to get some skimmed-milk powder and add it to skimmed milk; it adds calories and protein and makes the milk taste creamier, but without adding saturated fat.

If you're not worried about non-HDL cholesterol, Barbara's right-- double cream and cheese are your friends! And lucky you, being in France-- fromage heaven. And of course butter ...

Just experiment! You could count calories while experimenting, or you could simply leave it to your scales-- if your weight starts rising above where it should be, cut back on foods with a high density of calories (like nuts and cheese); if your weight falls again, eat more high-calorie foods again. Oh, and a bit of red wine may help too. ; )

Have fun, and all the best!
 
Last edited:
rebrascora said:
Another suggestion to add to @Inka's list of fats above is double cream in your coffee every morning. Fat will not generally affect your BG levels, will provide extra calories and slow release energy and keep you from feeling hungry.... and it tastes good..... especially cheese! If you are not getting the majority of your calories from carbs, then the body is quite happy to run on fat and protein, so you need to increase those other two food groups in order to maintain or increase weight.

It still amazes me how much healthier I feel eating a higher fat/low carb diet and whilst people worry about their cholesterol levels increasing with fat intake, I have found that my cholesterol levels have decreased, despite eating a lot more fat than I ever did. What I find with my cholesterol is that it seems to be linked more to carb intake than fat intake.
Click to expand...
Hi yes far too many subscribe to the "Fat" is bad/dangerous yadda yadda etc when infact it's it's carbs/sugars that are the enemy.
Cholesterol levels increase to try to repair damage doing/done by Various types of sugars one of worst is high fructose corn syrup clogs arteries.
I found vintage Cheddar.Waitrose duchy blue top non'homogenised milk.peanut butter(Meridian no sugar/salt/palm oil).Real rye bread.Meat =Cholesterol good loosing weight then listen to dietician don't have this have this this and this = put on weight and cholesterol raised.
 
Spathiphyllum said:
Windy's right, unintentional weight loss can be a sign of Type 1-- but, if you were Type 1, it would have been impossible to achieve that HbA1c result without taking insulin. You were Type 2, and now you've reversed it! Getting your weight down from from 67kg to 55kg, and your HbA1c down from 48 to 41, is brilliant, congratulations.

If you're still losing weight unintentionally, it's simply a matter of increasing your calorie intake. Long before I developed Type 1, I used to get too thin occasionally, simply by failing to pay attention! And it's especially important for older people not to get too thin. Also, research in recent years shows that older people need a *lot* more protein than was previously thought.

So go for more protein-- and more unsaturated fat; it's saturated fat that can cause problems with HDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol.

If you're worried about HDL cholesterol, eat more foods which are high in protein but have little or no saturated fat: chicken, fish, nuts, eggs, and low-fat dairy. A good tip is to get some skimmed-milk powder and add it to skimmed milk; it adds calories and protein and makes the milk taste creamier, but without adding saturated fat.

If you're not worried about HDL cholesterol, Barbara's right-- double cream and cheese are your friends! And lucky you, being in France-- fromage heaven. And of course butter ...

Just experiment! You could count calories while experimenting, or you could simply leave it to your scales-- if your weight starts rising above where it should be, cut back on foods with a high density of calories (like nuts and cheese); if your weight falls again, eat more high-calorie foods again. Oh, and a bit of red wine may help too. ; )

Have fun, and all the best!
Click to expand...
If you cut out Saturated fats your A,D,E vitamins decrease as they need Sat fats for your body to absorb.
B and C are water soluble.
Cholesterol you eat has no effect on levels in body as your body is biggest creator of it and cholesterol makes your hormones and much more but also repairs the body like arteries damaged by sugars.
 
Spathiphyllum said:
Windy's right, unintentional weight loss can be a sign of Type 1-- but, if you were Type 1, it would have been impossible to achieve that HbA1c result without taking insulin. You were Type 2, and now you've reversed it! Getting your weight down from from 67kg to 55kg, and your HbA1c down from 48 to 41, is brilliant, congratulations.

If you're still losing weight unintentionally, it's simply a matter of increasing your calorie intake. Long before I developed Type 1, I used to get too thin occasionally, simply by failing to pay attention! And it's especially important for older people not to get too thin. Also, research in recent years shows that older people need a *lot* more protein than was previously thought.

So go for more protein-- and more unsaturated fat; it's saturated fat that can cause problems with HDL cholesterol, which is the bad cholesterol.

If you're worried about HDL cholesterol, eat more foods which are high in protein but have little or no saturated fat: chicken, fish, nuts, eggs, and low-fat dairy. A good tip is to get some skimmed-milk powder and add it to skimmed milk; it adds calories and protein and makes the milk taste creamier, but without adding saturated fat.

If you're not worried about HDL cholesterol, Barbara's right-- double cream and cheese are your friends! And lucky you, being in France-- fromage heaven. And of course butter ...

Just experiment! You could count calories while experimenting, or you could simply leave it to your scales-- if your weight starts rising above where it should be, cut back on foods with a high density of calories (like nuts and cheese); if your weight falls again, eat more high-calorie foods again. Oh, and a bit of red wine may help too. ; )

Have fun, and all the best!
Click to expand...
Errmmm … is not the conventional wisdom that it is the LDL that is the “bad” component (if too high), not the HDL? And that even the total LDL may not matter much if it is mostly high particle size? And neither may matter much if triglycerides are very low? But I am no expert …
 
childofthesea43 said:
Errmmm … is not the conventional wisdom that it is the LDL that is the “bad” component (if too high), not the HDL? And that even the total LDL may not matter much if it is mostly high particle size? And neither may matter much if triglycerides are very low? But I am no expert …
Click to expand...
Apologies-- typo!!! Yes, LDL is the bad one-- more broadly 'non-HDL', which includes triglycerides-- and HDL is the good one. I've edited to correct!
 
Oscar said:
If you cut out Saturated fats your A,D,E vitamins decrease as they need Sat fats for your body to absorb.
B and C are water soluble.
Cholesterol you eat has no effect on levels in body as your body is biggest creator of it and cholesterol makes your hormones and much more but also repairs the body like arteries damaged by sugars.
Click to expand...

Interesting.
So these vitamins will only be absorbed in saturated fats.
Unsaturated fats simply have no effect?
Do you have any articles on that?
Because I try to avoid saturated fats, and seem to have had no issues for several years?

I simply increase portion sizes to gain weight, and reduce them to lose.
Healthy Mediterranean diet, and it keeps everything on track.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
bulkbiker said:
Sigh....
Click to expand...
My trigs are consistently 0.5 at the bottom of the reference range, which I think is good, but I have no formal knowledge of the matter ..
 
childofthesea43 said:
My trigs are consistently 0.5 at the bottom of the reference range, which I think is good, but I have no formal knowledge of the matter ..
Click to expand...
Excellent trig level what about HDL?
 
bulkbiker said:
Wow that makes your trig/HDL ratio quite amazing.. well done.
Click to expand...
Is the idea here that the trigs facilitate the process by which LDL can damage arterial walls, so better for the trigs to be low? Or are elevated trigs harmful directly independently of LDL?
 
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