Weight loss or lack off.

K

Katie_P34

Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1.5 LADA
Pronouns
She/Her
Hello good morning guys,
I was diagnosed as LADA on the 24th June being treated a type 1 diabetic on novarapid and lanctus (injected 4 times a day). Since they told me on the 28th May that I was a diabetic I have changed my lifestyle, my diet has completly changed I exercise and work out 3 times a week plus what I do day to day anyway. And the frustrating part is I have not lost any weight! My husband is doing the same (he's not diabetic and has lost 2 stone). I am carb and. Calorie counting adjusting my insulin to how much carbs I have.
My question is could I be injecting to much insulin is that the reason I'm not losing weight? As I'm LADA my pancreas is still producing insulin just not enough to sustain me so I have to inject to bring my sugars down. I've tried the last two days to reduce my lanctus (background insulin) but yesterday I spiked quite high and during the night.
I don't know what to do, I really want to lose weight but nothing is working. I feel trapped.
 
what ratio are your macros? How many cals per day? Do you believe you are in a deficit?

and good morning
 
What do you mean by macros sorry?
I am limiting myself to less than 100g of carbs a day and consuming less than 1500 calls a day. Some days I am cal deficit some days not.
 
Sorry, protein, fats, carbs. have you set out a %? For example, I do 60% protein, 30% fat and 10% carbs.
 
Welcome to the forum @Katie_P34

Sorry to hear you haven’t seen the weight loss you were hoping for.

In my experience insulin has no independent capacity to make me lose or gain weight.

If I take too much insulin I have more low glucose ‘near misses’ and/or hypos, which need treating with fast-acting carbs and that can contribute to weight gain.

Additionally it IS normal to (re)gain weight while “eating the same” when insulin therapy starts, because the insulin is needed to process the food and absorb energy from it. Before starting on insulin often people are losing weight no matter how much they eat, because the glucose from that food cannot make it out of the blood stream and into the cells, it just stays in the blood wreaking havoc.

Then when insulin is introduced, suddenly the body can metabolise carbohydrate properly again and the pre-diagnosis weight loss is quickly regained.

The confusing thing can be with a slower-developing diabetes like LADA, because all that may have happened more gradually and the rapid unintentional weight loss may not have happened (but the person may have been unwittingly increasing portion sizes).

I’ve taken insulin for over 30 years and I’m roughly the same weight I was when diagnosed. If I eat more I put weight on. If I eat less, weight comes off. But in either case the insulin is only processing the food - it isn’t causing the weight fluctuation in and of itself.
 
everydayupsanddowns said:
Welcome to the forum @Katie_P34

Sorry to hear you haven’t seen the weight loss you were hoping for.

In my experience insulin has no independent capacity to make me lose or gain weight.

If I take too much insulin I have more low glucose ‘near misses’ and/or hypos, which need treating with fast-acting carbs and that can contribute to weight gain.

Additionally it IS normal to (re)gain weight while “eating the same” when insulin therapy starts, because the insulin is needed to process the food and absorb energy from it. Before starting on insulin often people are losing weight no matter how much they eat, because the glucose from that food cannot make it out of the blood stream and into the cells, it just stays in the blood wreaking havoc.

Then when insulin is introduced, suddenly the body can metabolise carbohydrate properly again and the pre-diagnosis weight loss is quickly regained.

The confusing thing can be with a slower-developing diabetes like LADA, because all that may have happened more gradually and the rapid unintentional weight loss may not have happened (but the person may have been unwittingly increasing portion sizes).

I’ve taken insulin for over 30 years and I’m roughly the same weight I was when diagnosed. If I eat more I put weight on. If I eat less, weight comes off. But in either case the insulin is only processing the food - it isn’t causing the weight fluctuation in and of itself.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the reply, everything you said about the LADA is true. Everyone kept telling me I was losing weight even though I wasn't trying and wasn't eating the best and it scared me so I ate a little more that was just before my diagnosis. But now I'm really trying it's not happening. I'm depriving myself of all the things I love in the hope i lose weight. I even stupidly reduced my insulin and got the spike making me feel crappy thinking it was that. I just don't know what else to try anymore. I know I'm only a month into it and I should be patient but I'm trying so hard
 
ident said:
Sorry, protein, fats, carbs. have you set out a %? For example, I do 60% protein, 30% fat and 10% carbs.
Click to expand...
I have the cals and carbs app and I've paid for the advanced vertion it has set me a target and I don't even reach that. The first month I'm restricting my carbs and cals which isn't working and then I'm going to try a low carb. High protein diet. I don't know what else to try. I've stopped completely snacking (only having a rich tea buiscuit when I have a hypo). My thing I'm struggling with is exercising I started exercising on a bm of 7mmol. I was really enjoying it and then my alarm went off 3.9mmol after 40 mins I ignored it as I felt fine and thought it may have been a wrong reading then 5 mins later alarm at 3.4mmol. I stopped stood up and felt so shaky and wobbly it was a real hypo by the time I checked it manually it was 3.2mmol and took me a while to recover. It's things like this I havnt worked out how to prevent from happening. I had a wholemeal sandwich and fruit before I worked out and only took half my dose of insulin cos I knew I was going to work out.
 
Katie_P34 said:
I know I'm only a month into it and I should be patient but I'm trying so hard
Click to expand...

Ah it’s so tough! Especially when your OH is losing weight already on the same programme. :(

Do you think there’s a way of adapting your weight-loss meal plan to help it feel less punishing / denial? But still keep the available energy levels at a point where weight loss should happen gently and sustainably?
 
If you are excercising, its possible you are replacing body fat with lean muscle...so your weight may not reduce, but your fat percentage may be.

I think i read somewhere muscle tissue weighs more than fat
 
It sounds really frustrating, especially with all the changes you’re making. One thing that helped me when I faced a similar challenge was reviewing my insulin dosage with my doctor. Sometimes adjusting your insulin can have a big impact on weight loss. I also looked into how others managed their insulin and found some good tips on https://goliathsteroids.com/ for fine-tuning dosage to balance out the effects.

Sticking with your current routine while making small adjustments could make a difference. You might also want to keep track of other factors like stress and sleep, as they can impact weight too.
 
Last edited:
Delaparis said:
Sticking with your current routine while making small adjustments could make a difference.
Click to expand...
This is generally good advice, but it's important to have at least some idea of the current routine. It's well worth getting hold of a set of kitchen scales (Try to avoid the completely flat ones, as they're often less sensitive) and track current nutrition in an app e.g Cronometer:

cronometer.com

Good kitchen scales can be had from Amazon for about 15 quid

It's important to try to rule out the 'Hawthorne Effect' by sticking to normal meals for a while. This will give an idea of why things might not have been working, before making any changes that might be more conducive to goals. Also important to pit these numbers against approximations of BMR and a rough (T)otal (D)aily (E)nergy (E)xpenditure (including rough idea of N.E.A.T).

It's not as complex as it sounds, and there are many calculators online.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top