Type 2 diabetic using insulin and can't stop gaining weight?

I'm not of much assistance with this, but what I do know is that it would be EXTREMELY dangerous for you to stop taking your insulin without consulting your doctor first. This is a great forum to get people's opinions and suggestions, but this is not where you should be looking for medical advice. Obviously, you have a medical history (as we all do) which you haven't shared here. Your doctor is the best person to speak to about this.

Best of luck and take care of yourself! :flowerforyou:

You're going to need to step up the exercise. I started taking Humulin N about 2 and a half years ago and ended up gaining back 38lbs of the 50 I had lost. The metformin I was taking previously had helped with the weight loss.

Hi. I'm a type 1, but when I was first diagnosed it was mistakenly as a type 2. I don't disagree with any of the above advice I've read, but I will make one correction. When looking at foods on the glycemic index, you want low numbers, not high. The higher the number the faster it will spike your blood sugar. Keeping your carb intake lower, and spread out through the day, along with choosing low glycemic carbs, will help to keep your blood sugar at an even level. Exercise does help too. Drink plenty of water. This will also help lower your blood sugar, and I tend to find that I become dehydrated very easily now. Another thing to watch for is your protein intake. You need to be sure you are getting enough protein, but you also need to be sure that you are eating some protein along with your carbs. When you eat some protein at the same time, this will slow the metabolism and help avoid blood sugar spikes. Also, how often are you going low? Sometimes balancing insulin dosage can be tricky and it takes time to learn. Every time you go low, and have to have an unplanned snack, those are often unplanned calories that can really add up. I don't know about you, but when I am low I am desperate/frantic and will eat more than I should in an effort to feel better. It's incredibly hard to remain disciplined when you are low. One last thought, I found the book 'Healthy for Life' by Dr Ray Strand to be very helpful. Feel free to add me as a friend if you want. Take care!

Yes, low GI is correct, it was early when I posted - thanks for helping!

Hi. I'm a type 1, but when I was first diagnosed it was mistakenly as a type 2. I don't disagree with any of the above advice I've read, but I will make one correction. When looking at foods on the glycemic index, you want low numbers, not high. The higher the number the faster it will spike your blood sugar. Keeping your carb intake lower, and spread out through the day, along with choosing low glycemic carbs, will help to keep your blood sugar at an even level. Exercise does help too. Drink plenty of water. This will also help lower your blood sugar, and I tend to find that I become dehydrated very easily now. Another thing to watch for is your protein intake. You need to be sure you are getting enough protein, but you also need to be sure that you are eating some protein along with your carbs. When you eat some protein at the same time, this will slow the metabolism and help avoid blood sugar spikes. Also, how often are you going low? Sometimes balancing insulin dosage can be tricky and it takes time to learn. Every time you go low, and have to have an unplanned snack, those are often unplanned calories that can really add up. I don't know about you, but when I am low I am desperate/frantic and will eat more than I should in an effort to feel better. It's incredibly hard to remain disciplined when you are low. One last thought, I found the book 'Healthy for Life' by Dr Ray Strand to be very helpful. Feel free to add me as a friend if you want. Take care!

Yes, low GI is correct, it was early when I posted - thanks for helping!

So, snickers bars and pasta but no fruit.

Hi. I'm a type 1, but when I was first diagnosed it was mistakenly as a type 2. I don't disagree with any of the above advice I've read, but I will make one correction. When looking at foods on the glycemic index, you want low numbers, not high. The higher the number the faster it will spike your blood sugar. Keeping your carb intake lower, and spread out through the day, along with choosing low glycemic carbs, will help to keep your blood sugar at an even level. Exercise does help too. Drink plenty of water. This will also help lower your blood sugar, and I tend to find that I become dehydrated very easily now. Another thing to watch for is your protein intake. You need to be sure you are getting enough protein, but you also need to be sure that you are eating some protein along with your carbs. When you eat some protein at the same time, this will slow the metabolism and help avoid blood sugar spikes. Also, how often are you going low? Sometimes balancing insulin dosage can be tricky and it takes time to learn. Every time you go low, and have to have an unplanned snack, those are often unplanned calories that can really add up. I don't know about you, but when I am low I am desperate/frantic and will eat more than I should in an effort to feel better. It's incredibly hard to remain disciplined when you are low. One last thought, I found the book 'Healthy for Life' by Dr Ray Strand to be very helpful. Feel free to add me as a friend if you want. Take care!

Yes, low GI is correct, it was early when I posted - thanks for helping!

So, snickers bars and pasta but no fruit.

I don't make a habit of eating those foods, but if I do, I dose my insulin accordingly. When choosing fruits, I keep their glycemic index in mind. I have grapefruit and berries almost daily. I would also choose an apple (39) vs watermelon (72). I do eat bananas on a regular basis, but I only eat them prior to a workout, usually a run. Natural food is obviously better than processed, and I am very limited with starchy processed foods like bread or pasta.

Thank you so much for all your suggestions. My sugar is totally controlled. All the carbs I eat come from fruit (berries) an occasional cup of soy milk or almond milk and slice of wheat bread. ( I never have all three on the same day). So carbs are less than 20g per meal for sure.

How can you gain weight on 1500 calories? I also walk 2 hours to work, (1 hour there and 1 hr back)

It is so frustrating. Before my a1c was 12.5 when I wasn't taking my insulin, now I don't know but my blood glucose avg on my meter is 107 so I think that is very good now. And because of my eating habits I have gone from 15 of insulin each meal to about 5 per meal.

If I cut all carbs would that help, or a liquid diet?
I would be happy to add an hour of exercise a day but I don't want to eat less.

I have no idea what you weigh, how tall you are, and what your calorie needs may be, so it's hard to say if you are eating too much or too little. You may find that you need to be very diligent moving forward. Do you log faithfully? Do you weigh and/or measure your food? Do you wear a heart rate monitor? These are all tools that can help you more accurately estimate your calorie needs. You may find using a fitbit, body media, or jawbone helpful. You certainly could increase your exercise either in duration or intensity, or both. Strength training will build muscle which will help burn fat. Avoiding alcohol and getting enough sleep can also improve fat loss. I would NOT go on a liquid diet or cut all carbs. This would be unhealthy and dangerous. Another thought, 107 is an excellent average blood sugar number, provided that it's a pretty steady number, not an average as a result of wild swings between extreme highs and extreme lows. 107 is well within the normal range. If that is the case, your A1C should be around 5 or a little under. You have plenty of room to decrease your insulin a little and still be within a healthy range. My doctor (you would have to check with yours) is looking for an A1C of 7 or lower. You probably could aim to keep your blood sugar average around 120 instead. If you are dosing 1 unit of insulin per 15 grams of carbs, try 1 unit/20 gr and see what happens. If your blood sugar spikes too high then go back to what you were doing before. If it stays within an acceptable range, stick with that for awhile and see if you notice a difference in your weight loss. On a side note, I have noticed that I can get away with taking a smaller dose when I am eating healthy. If I indulge on something sweet or unhealthy, I need to increase my dose in order to keep my blood sugar within an acceptable range. This is where the glycemic index comes in handy. Those lower to mid level foods (50-60 or below) don't spike your sugar as much therefore you don't need as much insulin.

Hi. I'm a type 1, but when I was first diagnosed it was mistakenly as a type 2. I don't disagree with any of the above advice I've read, but I will make one correction. When looking at foods on the glycemic index, you want low numbers, not high. The higher the number the faster it will spike your blood sugar. Keeping your carb intake lower, and spread out through the day, along with choosing low glycemic carbs, will help to keep your blood sugar at an even level. Exercise does help too. Drink plenty of water. This will also help lower your blood sugar, and I tend to find that I become dehydrated very easily now. Another thing to watch for is your protein intake. You need to be sure you are getting enough protein, but you also need to be sure that you are eating some protein along with your carbs. When you eat some protein at the same time, this will slow the metabolism and help avoid blood sugar spikes. Also, how often are you going low? Sometimes balancing insulin dosage can be tricky and it takes time to learn. Every time you go low, and have to have an unplanned snack, those are often unplanned calories that can really add up. I don't know about you, but when I am low I am desperate/frantic and will eat more than I should in an effort to feel better. It's incredibly hard to remain disciplined when you are low. One last thought, I found the book 'Healthy for Life' by Dr Ray Strand to be very helpful. Feel free to add me as a friend if you want. Take care!

Yes, low GI is correct, it was early when I posted - thanks for helping!

So, snickers bars and pasta but no fruit.

I don't make a habit of eating those foods, but if I do, I dose my insulin accordingly. When choosing fruits, I keep their glycemic index in mind. I have grapefruit and berries almost daily. I would also choose an apple (39) vs watermelon (72). I do eat bananas on a regular basis, but I only eat them prior to a workout, usually a run. Natural food is obviously better than processed, and I am very limited with starchy processed foods like bread or pasta.

My trying to be sarcastic was really to suggest that GI isn't really that reliable. I suggest you look at the GL of the carbs you consume, which basically measures the carb load on blood sugar, which has more relevance for diabetes.

That would work as well. I believe that the GL influences where a food is found on the index, but I could be mistaken. Either way, I have found the GI to be helpful in managing my diabetes.

This is very relavent! Insulin helps to absorb the CALORIES IN ALL FOOD BETTER! This comes directly from information published by the American Diabetes Association, which is a highly credible source. It stands to reason if your insulin is helping to absorb calories better and extra calories are what causes weight gain, you WILL absorb more calories into your body, no matter what food you choose to eat. Sure some foods have less calories in them than others, but you are still absorbing calories better, no matter how many calories are in a particular food. With the more calorie absorption, you get added calories, which do contribute to weight loss. One things to help counteract this is to obviously increase your exercise pretty much where you are burning even more calories--even though more are coming in with the help of your insulin. This is very current information from the American Diabetes Association--a reliable leader in Diabetes information.

How can you gain weight on 1500 calories?

By using 1400, if you buy into the calories are in control theory.

Your diary is closed and you haven't said your daily carb intake in grams. Carbs from fruit are not exempt. You've pushed the surplus glucose out of your blood (a good thing) into glycogen and/or fat stores hence the weight gain.

Try reading Dr Bernstein's work, bloodsugar101.com etc but please don't go down the Diabulimia route and lose a foot or your eyesight.

In addition to glycogen storage, water retention is enhanced. It requires water to store that glycogen in the cells and insulin tends to raise some other hormones that enhance water retention as well.