Diabetes and dieting

zanaedreamwalker

I have Type 2 Diabetes and am struggling with 1200 calories not keep my blood sugar up high enough to not have the shakes and feeling overly emotional. I customized my diet to be 1400 cal/day. Has anyone else been having to deal with this?

Lefty634

Yes if I eat enough to feel good I am not losing and if I am losing I feel like jello. Walking helps me alot

Debbe2

Yes, I have diabetes as well. It's difficult but manageable. Your diary is closed so I couldn't see it but if you want to open it I can look at it if you'll like? Most important is to incorporate protein with fruit and carbs to help stabilize blood sugar. Also will help you feel satisfied longer. I think I'm MFP friends with your daughter. :flowerforyou:

StinkyWinkies

Type 2 diabetes here and 1200 cals/day is way too low for me...I also set my carbs, protein, fat to what my doc thinks I should be eating, percentage-wise. My current calorie intake goal is 1650 and I am losing ~1/week and I walk at least 5 days/week for a minimum of one hour. (I know, I know, I hate walking for the sake of it, but it makes a difference, gotta work up to it)

Joycemw

I started on the taislim program...can be found in the foods listed. Two shakes a day, plus the taislim drink 2x's a day and I am not hungry and I'm under my calories with a very nice dinner in the evenings. Taislim was made for diabetics.

Hearts_2015

I have Type 2 Diabetes and am struggling with 1200 calories not keep my blood sugar up high enough to not have the shakes and feeling overly emotional. I customized my diet to be 1400 cal/day. Has anyone else been having to deal with this?

I've found what really helps me is to eat every 3 hours or so, my body has gotten used to that and seems to do well with it. It keeps my blood sugar from crashing which trust me I know the feeling and it's not great.

I do 5-6 small meals a day and make sure I do a mix of carb, protein/fat at each of them. I'm not sure even when MFP sets me at 1200 that I would keep it at that, but that's just me, I don't think it'd be enough to keep my blood sugar consistent.

Are you eating back some of your workout cals?

JaceyMarieS

I have Type 2 Diabetes and am struggling with 1200 calories not keep my blood sugar up high enough to not have the shakes and feeling overly emotional. I customized my diet to be 1400 cal/day. Has anyone else been having to deal with this?

What is your meter reading when you get shaky and emotional? How often is this happening? When are the lows occurring? Before meals? After meals? During exercise? After exercise?

What medications are you on? Metformin? A sulfonylurea or other insulin stimulating med? Insulin? Lows are more likely with insulin or insulin-stimulating drugs.

How long have you been diabetic? What is your current A1c? Average fasting and post-prandial numbers?

Could it be a "false low"? In a nutshell, your body is used to much higher blood glucose and when you start moving into "normal" territory, it can feel like a low. If you're used to being at 225, 150 can feel "low"

Could it be reactive hypoglycemia? This would be a sharp spike caused by too many carbs at a single meal or snack, followed by a crash....it's a very unpleasant roller coaster!

What kind of and how many carbs are you eating? When are you eating them? Your diary isn't open.

How often do you test? Fasting? Before meals? After meals(and how long after meals)? Before bed?





I routinely eat 1200-1300 calories and exercise (walking, elliptical, swimming, weights) for at least 45 minutes per day. I don't have issues with lows, but I only take metformin, which does not cause lows.
That said, you can certainly customize your settings to allow more calories, less carbs, more fat, more protein, more fiber, less sugar or anything else you feel is in your best interest.

Smokey19

I had trouble with blood sugar crashes on a 1200 cal. diet. Make sure to keep healthy carbs. handy at all times and make sure to eat proteins with your carbs. to keep your blood sugar more stable.

NorthWoodsLee

Yes, I have diabetes as well. It's difficult but manageable. Your diary is closed so I couldn't see it but if you want to open it I can look at it if you'll like? Most important is to incorporate protein with fruit and carbs to help stabilize blood sugar. Also will help you feel satisfied longer. I think I'm MFP friends with your daughter. :flowerforyou:

This is great advice! I'm Type 2 as well and was too depressed to really work at managing my blood sugars until I started this journey in May. My blood sugars are now looking good and stable and I hope to be off all meds soon. Very good advice pretty much throughout this thread. I definitely agree with the suggestions to eat lean proteins (e.g., skinless chicken breasts or even a nonfat plain greek yogurt) with some fruit or other carbs. That will lower the glycemic impact of the sugars and help keep your blood sugars more stable. And that's great not only for your diabetes but also for your weight loss efforts because it avoids blood sugar spikes, which cause your body to want to store fat and the resulting blood sugar crashes, which make you hungry or more prone to overeat.

Also, as others in thread have suggested, try eating several small meals a day. I always resisted that suggestion, but now try to eat about six meals a day, roughly every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, usually with a lean protein, some fruit, and/or a veggie (o.k., I need to work on eating more veggies). I eat breakfast around 7:00, eat a midmorning light meal around 10:00 or so with a protein and carbs, again at around noon or 1:00, a mid-afternoon or late afternoon meal, dinner, and an evening snack or meal. This keeps me from getting so hungry that I overeat and, to my surprise, helps me stay within my calorie goals.

Oh, and try at least walk 30 minutes every day. If you do, you should be able to eat more than 1,200 cals and still lose all the weight you want. You'll do great.

jerbear1962

Type 2 Diabetic here, I'm actually living without my meds right now and have for almost a month now. I eat roughly 1200 to 1500 a day depending on menu. I try to have my breakfast, a mid morning snack, lunch, an afternoon snack then dinner...on occasion I'll have a mid evening snack. I have incorporated a lot of fruit and veggies into my diet. I found out what foods raised my blood sugars high and gave them up. I now don't touch, rice or pasta, very limited amounts of potatoes and breads. Fried foods attacked me hard too so I rarely have anything fried. Regular soda killed my numbers too. I got to having extremely low blood sugars so my doctor took me off my meds with the understanding if I have more than 3 high readings in a row to get back on them. I've stayed between 89 to 119 for past 23 days. I've lost a total of 70 pounds as well.