What do your fat numbers look like?
coryh00
Posts: 55 Member
Hi,
I'm nowhere near the 20 carb/day diet (nor will I be as long as I'm on metformin) but I have been trying to drop the carbs as much as possible (tough when I have to eat another 40 right after supper on the way to the gym just to keep my sugar level above 70 working out) and up the fat/reduce protein.....problem is I seem to have a problem staying at/under recommended saturated fat levels (I'm also way over on sodium most days). What is the trick, or is that just how it works? I'm still trying to get my head around the whole eat fat to lose fat mentality, which I'm slowly warming up to, but the saturated fat thing is really bothering me.
I'm nowhere near the 20 carb/day diet (nor will I be as long as I'm on metformin) but I have been trying to drop the carbs as much as possible (tough when I have to eat another 40 right after supper on the way to the gym just to keep my sugar level above 70 working out) and up the fat/reduce protein.....problem is I seem to have a problem staying at/under recommended saturated fat levels (I'm also way over on sodium most days). What is the trick, or is that just how it works? I'm still trying to get my head around the whole eat fat to lose fat mentality, which I'm slowly warming up to, but the saturated fat thing is really bothering me.
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I try to get at lead 80% Of my daily calorie intake from fat. For me that equates to about 120 grams of fat every day. as far as Salls goes, when you follow a low carb way of eating your body starts dumping salt so you have to compensate for that by increasing your salt intake and the lower carb you go the more you have to increase your salt. It is generally recommended when you follow this way of eating that you get between 3000 milligrams and 5000 milligrams of sodium everyday. I have found that personally my body requires at least 5000 milligrams of salt every single day. If I drop much below that, I tend to get cramps in my calves and feet every morning.0
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Hi coryh there is a recent thread here on saturated fat that addressed that question. click the past discussions link at the bottom of the page and you should see it.
Regarding your blood sugar levels, one of the great things about a Keto diet for a diabetic is that it becomes very possible to get off your meds. I only took metformin briefly as it made me very ill, so I was moved to insulin. But I've adjusted my insulin to my diet as opposed to eating enough carbs to dose the same, in 55 days I've gone from 310 units a day to 25 units a day. I'm working towards getting off it entirely as it inhibits weight loss.
You might want to chat with your doc about transitioning to a lower metformin dosage if you're having crashes instead of eating more food. Or even check with your pharmacist about cutting your pills in half.0 -
I had to stop mine (metformin) last week as my bp's were low after 2 weeks of low carbing. I will take today as I had a carb blow out yesterday & know it has spiked but will test regularly until they drop to safe levels again.0
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Greatest advice above! I second all of it, but especially the metformin dosage. As you eat lower carb the need for the medication decreases (pretty quickly usually). Any low blood sugar issues you have now are because the medication dose is too high! You really need to talk to your doctor about decreasing the dose, imo!
My fat grams are right at 100gm per day. Have been for almost a year. I just had lab work in January, and my cholesterol was 181, with triglycerides at 53!! This proves to me that eating fat does not cause high cholesterol (unless you eat high fat and high carb! That's a disaster!)! Please, don't be afraid of saturated fat! I'm afraid that our government recommendations have led people to a life of disease! I recommend you read "Cholesterol Clarity" by Jimmy Moore. Is a wonderful book that helped me understand the NEED for fat in our diets!0 -
Fat is your friend! I promise!
I'm around 100g total fat a day and at least half if not 3/4 of it is saturated fat. Most of mine comes from coconut oil, butter and the meat I eat.
Embrace that fat. Love the fat. Eat the fat. Lol
And definitely check into decreasing the metformin. Right now, you're eating more carbs simply to satisfy the metformin. Eating carbs triggers insulin. You're insulin resistant so, your body sends you too much insulin. Once your cells are prompted to take in the glucose (and store it as fat in your liver most likely) you're left with too much insulin and you get a low blood sugar.
Honestly, you would probably be better served to skip the workout if you might go low than eat more carbs to get through it. Skipping the workout will not add stored fat to your liver or cause an insulin rush but eating the carbs will. Then you're on an endless loop of "feeding the insulin". You're really not feeding your body, you're feeding the insulin.
Watch the Jason Fung video in the videos submission in the launchpad. I think @fitgoat recommended it on the thread. At around 20 minutes in it really explains all that b0 -
My fat intake is 80% (about 140g.) daily. I feel good and I am never hungry.0
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Forgot to thank you all for the replies.
Update:
Saw my Dr today, and my "lower carb" diet and exercise has managed to bring my A1c from 10.1 to 5.4 in 3 months. He also reduced my Metformin, and I asked him what he thought of LCHF diets, and his reply was low carb is the way to go, and if my fat intake goes up in the process so be it since research is showing the added fat (and even higher than reccomended cholesterol) is not hurting anything and actually helps some people. I was expecting a different response from him, but it was a good surprise.0 -
Forgot to thank you all for the replies.
Update:
Saw my Dr today, and my "lower carb" diet and exercise has managed to bring my A1c from 10.1 to 5.4 in 3 months. He also reduced my Metformin, and I asked him what he thought of LCHF diets, and his reply was low carb is the way to go, and if my fat intake goes up in the process so be it since research is showing the added fat (and even higher than reccomended cholesterol) is not hurting anything and actually helps some people. I was expecting a different response from him, but it was a good surprise.
Sounds like you found a winner of a doctor! Woot!
And yeah, don't worry about the saturated fat. The recommended number is artificially low and almost entirely politically motivated. The way I look at it is this -- our body fat consists of around 40-50% each of saturated and monounsaturated fats, and 5-10% polyunsaturated fats. These numbers stay pretty consistent regardless of the foods we eat (even if our diet is devoid of fat, entirely, if we eat excess calories, the excess will be stored in more or less these proportions). This says to me that our bodies run well on these ratios, generally speaking, so our diet can (and arguably should) reflect those ratios. Now, guess what? Humanity's favored prey animal -- the large ungulates (bison, deer, cattle, etc) have just about the same fatty acid ratios.
So, what's this mean for your numbers in MFP? It means that if your fat goal is 100g, 40-50g or so of that can be saturated and it's okay, and you'll likely hit that number if you're getting most of your fats from animal sources like butter or lard.0 -
Forgot to thank you all for the replies.
Update:
Saw my Dr today, and my "lower carb" diet and exercise has managed to bring my A1c from 10.1 to 5.4 in 3 months. He also reduced my Metformin, and I asked him what he thought of LCHF diets, and his reply was low carb is the way to go, and if my fat intake goes up in the process so be it since research is showing the added fat (and even higher than reccomended cholesterol) is not hurting anything and actually helps some people. I was expecting a different response from him, but it was a good surprise.
That is spectacular. I dint even know your and this brings me almost to tears of joy. So happy for you!0 -
Great news and such an encouragement. I have to wait 5 more months to see my doctor and get my blood work done again. Thanks for sharing!0
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I am so happy for you!! How fantastic that your A1C improved so much so fast, and that you have a good dr who supports your WOE.
As for my fat grams, I was around 1350 calories/day until recently, now 1400, and I eat around 100gm fat/day, give or take about 10 grams. My carbs are usually in the 20s-30s and protein anywhere from 60-90 (I think average is in the 70s).0 -
This was one year ago:
LOL, not a usual day for me. These days, I hit around 200 grams of fat. Sometimes less, it depends on how much I eat that day. I don't fear going over.
Edit: In case you're wondering, almost all the carbs came from Sonny's ribs (same with the fiber). This was still a carnivore diet, but the seasoning adds up when you're eating several thousand calories of ribs.0 -
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Christine_72 wrote: »
No, I was weight stable. Not gaining, but not losing [much] either. I averaged around 2,600-2,700 calories a day during that period, if my memory serves. My weight trend for the month of February, 2015, was going down at a rate of 0.13 kg/week. I lost a total of 0.6 kg (1.3 pounds) for that month. Which is pretty much what I consider to be weight stable. The days before and after that were lower. I tend to gain only if I add carbs in. At worst, I stay the same weight when I gorge on meat.
While MFP says my calorie goal was 2200 calories, that's not true. I was eating to hunger and ignoring that. I never bothered to change it, because I didn't pay attention to it. I tracked for a few months, as a friend was trying to stick to his new year's resolution to get fit. Ironically, it's the same friend who I am tracking for again. For the same reason. Of course, I am looking to lose a little weight now (I wasn't then), because I fell off the wagon around November through December because of work stress. And, I put on some weight. Carbs combined with my normal food amounts can pack weight on insanely quickly.0 -
Awesome A1C results!! It's wonderful that you have a doctor who is on board with this woe too!0
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Wow! Having watched the video @Sunny_Bunny_ shared I now understand what that drop in A1C levels means. Huge congratulations!!!!!0
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