Any other type 1 diabetics on MFP?

TiniTurtle

i've been a type 1 for about 10 years now & find weight loss to be much harder with diabetes. insulin lowers metabolism & hypo moments need extra food & exercise needs to be planned for... i was just wondering if there are others on MFP working with their crap pancreas' toward weight loss too. )

merrillfoster

Count me in. It's super frustrating. Have you found anything that helps?

TiniTurtle

no haha i'm using an insulin pump & that is useful so i can lower the amount of insulin i'm getting when working out or if i'm eating less, which helps prevent lows, but no useful help. there are a lot of type 2 forums on here, but their info isn't very helpful. have you been doing anything that helps?

the worst is when you're having a bad blood sugar day (ups & downs & all overs) & i get insatiable hunger it seems, like i could stuff my face all day & not be full. it is the WORST not eating when feeling like that...

merrillfoster

I've been trying to be better about tracking my sugars, but other than that...yeah I haven't found much to help. How do you like the pump? With the low blood sugars, it's the worst! I eat like everything in sight!. It's an awful cycle too. Lately my lows have been coming really fast (like, me feeling low to me passing out is like a 10 minute window lately) so I try to eat something really fast to avoid, you know, passing out. So then I overeat, and have to take more insulin to compensate for it, and the cycle repeats! It's so frustrating. How long have you been diabetic (sorry if I'm being nosy, it's nice to have someone to talk to that actually, you know, gets what I'm saying. I complain to my other friends (you know, the ones who are like, omg, i just lost another 10lbs without even trying!) about how hard it is, but they're like, oh, that sucks?)

sh3lby03

I'm not diabetic but hypoglycemic. It's awful because when I get in one of my spells I want to eat sugar or other carbs quickly so I feel better and don't pass out but it causes a rebound spell a few hours later. Eating 6 smalls meals a day with carbs and protein seems to help me.

TiniTurtle

shelby, that works for me too, but i find it inconvenient when i'm at school or clinical (i'm a nursing student) to be able to find time for that.

merrill- i was diagnosed at 15, i'll be 25 in 2 months- so almost 10 years. i LOVE the pump. i'm soooo much more complaint & my a1c has improved drastically. it makes it so i can eat or drink when i want by just adjusting some buttons. Lantus didn't work on me, so i was on humalin N forever & hated it because i'd go low if i didn't eat at a meal time/peak. when were you diagnosed & what type of insulin do you use? i'm a huge advocate for the pump, it makes me more normal; not needing to pull out syringes & being able to eat when & what i please ) i wish i had it in college. i've had my minimed pump about 4 years now.

lraymond558

I have had type 1 for about seven months now and it is really REALLY important to eat enough protein to hold your numbers over and also to decrease BG spikes and the crashes that follow spikes. one thing that MFP doesnt take into account for diabetics is that we require more protein than a nondiabetic because we have more severe and more common lows than them (yes nondiabetics have lows too!). as well, if you can maintain your numbers within a tight range, weight loss is much easier. exercise is still super super important because it builds mucles tone and thus increases/speeds up our metabolisms.

something very important to remember is that we now store fat differently than nondiabetics do, which is why it is hard to lose those "five last pounds"... watch your salt intake because it causes water retention which, in women, can add an extra ten pounds to our normal body mass. also, find practices that relax you as stress forces fat to be stored in the gut/pelvic region right below your belly button.

also, although it is important to eat enough carbs to stay in the proper range and to meet your insulin doseages, you shouldnt eat a large amount at once because it increases your chances of a high, followed by a crash due to treating it too intensely. also, unwhole carbs like white breads, sugars, bleached bread, etc. are stored as fat in your body and should thus be avoided for reasons of weight loss as well as diabetic management.

i hope this helped

ps- i am on levemir for my long acting which has no peaks and covers snacks two hours apart at 15g carbs each and then i take humalog for fast acting when i have a meal more than 20g carbs at once. it has definitely made my transition into this "diabetic lifestyle" a lot easier for me. it works on the sliding scale and is something i recommend for non-pumpers (works very similarily to the pump but is injected with a pen and the basal is injected all at once).

TiniTurtle

thanks lray )