Type 1 Diabetes and Losing Weight

Butterfly0702 was right there are a lot of us T1's out here. I've been T1 for 25 yrs. I too am trying to get to 150 lbs, in the last 8 weeks I've lost 11 lbs. This site has helped me a lot giving me a tool to track my calories, etc and have friends support helps a lot.

Hey there!! I'm T1 ALSO!! There is a lot of us here and everyone is wonderful!

I've had T1 for 13 years now, just got the pump last wk!! Y did I wait so long?? ;-)
I'll add u as well.GL.

Pinkita, I've taken Symlin (still do, sometimes). Let me know if you have questions about it. I do like it.

Hi Meg,
My name is Diane & I've been a T1 for 39 years. I'm not on a pump but take Novolog 3-6 times/day & Levemir @ bedtime. Since joining MFP & have had my dose reduced 3 times. I have lost 26 lbs but it has taken a year. It is slow but its happening!

Feel free to add me if you like. That goes for any other T1's also. I love giving & recieving support & encouragement & sharing knowledge about diabetes from those who really understand where you are coming from.

God bless you on your journey,
Diane

My child is type 1...struggling with weight. Any tips are helpful. I would like hear from folks who use or used Symlin

I messaged jamja72 about Symlin, if others would like the info I'd be glad to share!

The downsides for me are coming up from "Symlin lows", and the hassle of setting a watch reminder to take the other 1/4 of my insulin in 30-90min since I've switched from a pump to shots. Not impossible at all, though. And it does cut your insulin in half, can help you come down from highs fast (if you take all the insulin at once instead of waiting 30-90min), and can make you feel full faster. I found, unfortunately, that once I was taking it a while the full feeling went away and I was eating the same amount. I was lucky and never had nausea with Symlin (with Victoza, yes, so likely would with Byetta or Byurdeon which are more potent forms of Victoza).

Erin

Hi Erin,

Thanks for the info. You mentioned that you switched from the pump to shots--did you not like the pump, and if so, what didn't you like about it? I've been thinking about going on one so any info is appreciated

Hi Everyone! So nice to see the posts and support out there!

Pinkita - While I love being on the pump, there are a few minor downsides that I have found - but for me my blood sugars have never been better since switching! Since I play a lot of sports (volleyball, softball) I find that I have to take the pump off during these times (I have a Medtronic, but I know there are others that you can leave on during activities like swimming, the OmniPod is one of them I believe). Sometimes the tubing does get caught on things as well (I saw someone mention this on another board) and if you are wearing a dress or something where you can't clip it on a belt loop, etc. it gets kind of tricky (although I just usually hide it in my bra haha). The other thing that I found is that sometimes my skin gets a little irratated from the adhesive on the site, especially if I go for a long run. These things are minor for me though, and the positives of the pump far outweigh them!

Do what works for you though - that is what is most important! As long as your healthy and have good blood sugars I don't think it matters if you are on the pump or not :flowerforyou:

I've never heard of Symilin - I am going to have to check this out!

Hi Meg,

I guess nothing's perfect My insurance is with Kaiser and they only have Animas and the MiniMed (made by MedTronic I believe). I've heard that one is waterproof but otherwise they're the same.

I'm finding that my sugars are improving with the new regimen of splitting the Lantus to 2 injections; however, I sleep in on the weekends so my sugars are high on those days--I'm guessing the pump would make that easier? The other issue I'm noticing is many lows during the day, so I bolus very very low doses of Novolog for meals, and even with those low doses I may still have lows, which I really want to avoid, not just for safety but also because when my sugar's low I just want to eat and eat and eat!

I didn't bolus for lunch today because I calculated I'd need 3 units, but I'm going to workout in a little while and don't want to risk a low. The other reason is that I forgot to take my Lantus when I woke up, and didn't inject it until 3hrs after! So I don't want the Lantus overlapping with my Novolog.

I'm currently doing 8units of Lantus AM and bedtime, and I tried 7 units, but my sugars were high all day. I'm often in the position wishing I could inject 1/2 units (another reason I want to try the pump).

Thanks for the info!

Thanks for the info, Erin!

Hi everyone! My name is Kendall, I am 21 years old, and I have been t1 for 18 years this april -- planning on celebrating my 18th diabetes birthday by doing all the right things like smoking cigs & injecting, watching porn & injecting, getting a tattoo & injecting.... JUST KIDDING. :laugh:

I used to have the pump during high school. I was a big athlete and found that it was too cumbersome to get through 3 hour long practices with & I'm allergic to latex but the steel needle sites were a little too rough for my skin. :sad: I am not opposed to going back on the pump later in my life but for right now, I am happy with my lantus and humalog! I am currently training for a half-marathon and while I haven't lost substantial weight, I have gained muscle which helped me drop a couple units off my lantus dosage and nighttime carb:insulin ratio -- very exciting. I am considering splitting my lantus in half for morning and night but will wait until I am no longer training because I don't want to shock my body too much as well.

I would love to get in touch with some other type 1's. I don't know really anybody with type 1 and it would be nice to have a friend who understands my frustrations with lows and highs, exercise & weightloss efforts while managing type1. I had a brief spout with diabulimia a few years ago and generally had very poor control [though I think it is hard not to during the teenage years] but now I am really proud to say that I track all of my blood sugars and insulin amounts, and test 7-10 times a day. I can relate to a lot of people on the diabetes control spectrum, I guess is what I am trying to say

Good luck everyone on your weightloss and diabetes management! I hope to add you as friends [though I have no idea how as I just got MFP today] and to help one another out! :flowerforyou:

<---Type 1 here, since age 12. I use a MiniMed pump. I've lost 112 pounds in one year :-) You're welcome to add me.

I was just diagnosed as type 1 last October. It's been quite an experience. I admire all of you who have lost weight! I gained 40lbs on insulin and am now trying to get it off, along with an additional 20lbs (I was overweight when diagnosed).

Feel free to add me if you like

I've been T1 for...22 years now (man I'm old). Got it when I was 8. It's alot harder to lose weight but doable--I lost 30 lbs last year (and gained 10 back...siiiigh...reset the ticker today). I can't stand the idea of a pump (everyone thinks it's hilarious but I can't deal with needles and the idea of something permanantly 'in' me completely freaks me out) but have been managing pretty well with the lantus and novolog.

Actually I have a question for you guys: lately, I've had episodes where I will feel really low, but when I test it is completely normal (or sometimes even high). My doctors can't give me an answer, but has anyone else had this happen?

Feel free to add me if you want

Hi, I'm a type 1 diabetic (20 years) and I have also started to develop hypo like symptoms when i am actually quite high! I;m not sure eiter why this happens, but glad to know someone has has this happen too. :-)

PLEASE TAKE THIS AS A BLOG AND CONSULT YOUR DOCTOR BEFORE CHANGING YOUR LIFLE STYLE OR INSULIN


Hello everyone. I've been type one for 24 years now, I've never struggled with losing weight. I can lose 4lbs a week when I'm training hard (I'm a road cyclist for a team in the UK), the only problem is I can put it back on twice as quick when I'm not. So if you want to lose the weight the trick is you will need to have an active lifestyle or it will just pile back on FAST or you will never lose it in the first place. Its all in the Metabolism if you can find a low-medium carb diet that speeds up your Metabolism and exercise 3-4 times a week then you will crack it. Your insulin requirements will decrease dramatically and you will feel more awake and active. Everyone's metabolism is different and the type of diet needed to speed it up will be different so trial and error is needed to find the correct one for yourselves. You will know when you've got it right trust me.
When you diet is correct and your exercising 3-4 times a week you will need to step it up to shed the weight. I use an insulin pump so this bit is easy, I reduce my Basel 1 hour before exercising, when exercising i monitoring my blood levels every 20mins and keep a log. My aim is to adjust my Basal and keep my blood sugar level unaffected during exercise, I can never achieve this so I keep some glucose tablets handy incase I drop below 4mmols. If I stick to this the weight falls off me and good blood glucose levels still maintained. The day and night after exercise your body will be more sensitive to insulin, remember to reduce the insulin and not to feed the insulin.
what I always think is, insulin is a hormone that opens the gates to let sugar out of the blood and into the muscles. So if the gates are not open enough then body fat is converted into energy for the muscles. please note this is only my opinion and I'm no doctor. Thanks Duane.

Its said that once good levels are achieved it will take about 9 weeks for the feelings of low and high blood sugars to return to normal. So keep them good for 3 months, then when your feelings are back it gets easier to judge insulin and food requirements when a blood test is not convenient.