Weight loss success?
okulyd
Posts: 147 Member
Has anyone had success with weight loss? If so what did you do? I'm trying to lose 35 pounds. I will be happy with 5! Just need to get the scale moving the right direction. My dr. think insulin maybe the problem but obviously I can't do anything about that. I excise 5 times per week and try my best to eat whole, natural foods. My household has been sugar free for the past 5 months which means that we don't eat ice cream, cookies, BBQ sauce or other things that have lots of sugar or any high fructose corn syrup in it. Since we cut out sugar my husband has gone down one full pants size and I have stayed the same or even increased my weight. I know that most of this is me, I have cheat days, low days, etc...But how do you balance diet, exercise, insulin so that you are losing each week?
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Hi okulyd!
It really helps to keep an *honest* food diary. Even if you just have a few nuts (my "bad" snack of choice as they don't have much carbs), put it on the list, it adds up. It might also be that your metabolism because of the insulin is a little bit "worse" than what the website recommends, i.e. you need to cut your calories down a bit more than other people.
Also depending what insulin therapy you're doing, if you can shift to eating less carbs and more protein that will reduce the amount of insulin you need, but talk to your doc about that before trying it if you're unsure!
I managed to lose 12 kg (ummmmm... 26 pounds?) in 4 months after I switched to the pump, been holding it for 3 months now, and now getting back on track to lose some more, so it *can* work. But I'd been trying before for ages and know how frustrating it can be... exercise, sugar drops, eat, correct, and BANG it's like you've not been working out at all!!0 -
*honest food diary.
*1 unit of fast acting insulin for every 10 carb grams.
*30 carb grams for every 60 minutes of being active to control hypoglycemia episodes.0 -
Thanks everyone! I love the example of exercise, get low, eat, etc... and its just like you never did it at all. This happens all the time for me. Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels like this! The only activity I have found that doesn't leave me low if hot yoga.
I'm on a Medtronic pump and been diabetic 30 years. I also use the CGM. I attempt to eat low carb by limiting to no more than 45 grams per meal. Sometimes I go over but find I am most stable when I stay below that and usually I can make due with 30.0 -
Have you read the Diabetic Athlete handbook yet? Gives you a lot of ideas on how to make your insulin/carb intake match your activity so you can enjoy without going low.0
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I will say, I remove my pump pre workout, I cut my water in my water bottle with some gatorade and have a spoonful of PB before I hit the gym. Then post workout, I bolus in like .8-1 unit to cover my workout and that seems to work well for me.0
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I just restared my journey on 3/31/14. I cut out all wheat and dairy products (I have psoriasis in addition to type 1 diabetes) and have been exercising 5 days per week. I sent my pump readings over to my medtronic trainer who works out of my doctors office for her to look at the numbers because every time I exercised I was going low about 10-15 minutes into whatever activity that I was doing. She cut my basal rates, my carb ratios and has me drop my basal to 50% an hour before I start exercising. This has worked wonderfully for me and now the weight is coming off and I'm not constantly treating lows! Prior to March 31st, I was averaging 160 units of humalog per day and am now averaging 80 units.
Its so weird, since I started to eat this way, I am never hungry anymore. I think since I am eating high quality foods now, lean meats, fruits and vegtables that my body is getting a lot more nutrients than it was before. I thought that the no dairy was going to be hard but I haven't craved it at all. I am really hopeful that after years of trying different things that I have finally found something that works for me!
Last year my A1C was 11, I went on the pump in November and I dropped it to 8.4. I can not wait for my appointment in June to see what it will be this time! I've been diabetic since I was 10 and am 33 now, it feels really good to finally be taking care of myself
Good luck on your journey! 0 -
I used to try to drop my basal rates ahead of the gym, but too often something would come up at work, etc etc, then I would be screwed and running high. My A1c has been consistantly below 6.4 for the past 8 years. SO suspending and reconnecting seem to work better for me....plus even when I dropped my bassal, I would be taking barely any insulin before the gym (like a basal rate of 30%) and STILL dropping low....so I said eff it.
In terms of units per day, I am usually around 36-42 total. My carbs per day are usually around 120, but not always. By upping my protein, I take less insulin and frankly feel better. Been at this for over 27 years and pumping for 12
Do I still have pizza every now and then and a beer? Sure. But I try not to do it more than once per week and don't beat myself up if I do.0 -
Wow, keep up the good work everyone! I love all the good ideas! This is so motivating!
I average between 26 to 36 units novalog per day. I weight 170. I do crossfit in the morning before work so there is never an conflict and for the most part I haven't had lows as a result of this particular activity. I'm still trying to figure out if I need to eat before doing it or not. If I don't eat I spend the whole hour thinking how hungry I am and don't always have enough energy to do the actual workout. If my BG is on the high side I'll skip eating, take a correction bolus and usually end up perfect after the workout. If I am under 150 I'll eat 30 grams carb. I tried doing cottage cheese but I find that straight carbs give me more energy. Crossfit isnt' generating any weight loss (its been 4 months of 5x per week) although I know I am stronger. I suspect I need more cardo and I definitely need to reduce my food intake.0 -
I do some PB before I work out, if I have time!0
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I have had some issues with this as well, but have found this tool really helpful in managing them. So I now know that when I take my dog on a walk, I burn about 200 calories. If I'm a little high before I leave, I won't have a snack. If I'm normal, I'll have a snack about 1/2 the calories of what I'm about to burn off. It might sound counterproductive, but your body burning calories doesn't stop the minute you stop working out, it keeps going and your metabolism improves. I've witnessed this by drops in my insulin to carb ratio and my basal through the entire day when I started working out.
I clicked on your diary and don't see that you log your food - you might try doing that. The tool on here will help you set what your calorie intake should be and you can log your exercise to see how much you've burned. My problem in the past, every other time I've tried to lose weight, I'm fairly certain has been that I'm not eating enough calories and my body has been trying to hold on to them so it hurts my metabolism. You may think that you're cheating and having too many calories, but you're kicking butt at crossfit that often, maybe you need more calories than you're account for?
Iv'e had good luck with Honey Stinger Wafers before workouts - they are small, have honey for the carbs and also have fat and protein - they just seem to be the right balance for me for a good 5K run or about 30 mins and they don't leave me feeling sick to my stomach.
Good luck with your journey! 0 -
<---Me!!! I lost 110 pounds, naturally, in one year on MFP. Old fashioned eating right and exercise. You can see my pictures in my profile.0
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I did some body building in college and while crossfit style training is incredible, it isn't the best way to lose weight, and from my experiences, I think T1 has something to do with it. Crossfit tends to build a considerable amount of muscle and if you don't add cardio, you won't lose weight. I was a wrestler in high school (before I had type 1) and had no trouble keeping off weight by doing crossfit-style workouts. I was diagnosed with T1 at 18 and I've gained weight ever since. While in college, I added muscle and mass much faster than my peers. I think that has a lot to do with not losing weight from lifting.
Only biking, swimming, and running consistently help me drop weight, but it's always a challenge. The biggest problem I have is balancing lows - decreasing my basal throughout the entire day. I now gain weight when I'm exercising thanks to all of the extra juice and fruit snacks I use to correct hypos.
Good luck! Let us know if you make adjustments and have success!0 -
Just wanted to give everyone an update on my progress. So far not a large amount of loss and if you look at my food logs you'll see that I have also done a lot of cheating. I'm trying to make a life style change that I can live with so I allow myself to eat real food in smaller amounts.
For the past two weeks I have cut out the majority of carbs. I can't believe I didn't do this sooner. I have had so much improvement in my blood sugars and my acne disappeared. Many less lows although I still need to tweak my basal rates a little bit more. I mostly only bolus in the morning when I have my strawberry smoothie and run just on basal the rest of the day. I don't know if low carb (my goal is 100g per day) is sustainable long term but so far it has been surprisingly easy. This might be because in two weeks I only hit the goal once but I am still learning what to eat and finishing up some of the higher carb items that are in my house. I think with a little more practice I will be able to eat 100g carbs or less on most days.
I think if I keep this up I should make good progress toward my fat loss goals. Next week I am going to add in more activity which will hopefully help speed the progress. I will try to add a daily walk to my exercise routine and 1000m on the rowing machine. Walks are always a challenge for me because I always go low when I walk for more than 15 minutes. I think because my other activities (soccer, cross-fit, skiing) are intense they raise my blood sugar and keep me from going low where walking is steady and not intense so I drop quickly. My next challenge is to master how to walk without going low.0 -
I have been playing with temp basal and bolus rates to keep from going low on hiking trips. What I've found works for me for walking/hiking is not to drop the basal with a temp rate prior to my hike/walk but to exercise after a meal that I've only bolused for a third to half of the carbs eaten. This seems to keep me much more stable than a 2 hour prior temp basal reduction and allows for a more spontaneous approach to fitting in activities.
Just did a 5 mile walk with 1400 foot elevation change - after a McD big breakfast - was able to stay stable around 100, added in an uncovered GU gel shot 22 carb half way through the 2 hour walk and was no lower than 91 by meter check every 30 minutes. Had my dex set to boink when I went below 100 and watched the trends as I went.
Will see where I end up at and if I boink low later. but have torched 715 calories according to my ifit log for today.
Have been trying to work this out on my nordictrack X9i in the safety of my workout room so I can take it to the White Mountains of New Hampshire for my upcoming vacation in august. Have a nice B&B as a home base and a few awesome mountain views to hike to with lunch on the top before returning. Last year was a steep learning curve as I was new to both T1D and the pump and had a lot of trouble staying on top of the roller coaster while hiking! Could not keep enough carbs in the pipeline to cover both IOB and the seemingly endless mountain trail ups! Would crash, recover but then have the endless liver dump that took for ever to get back on top of. Hoping I get it dialed in before we head back up later in the summer.0 -
I've had diabetes since I was 8 and I lost 40 pounds last summer!
Keeping good control & ensuring that I had good levels really helped.
Before exercising, I always eat a carby meal, but simply inject less. I tend not to inject for around 50 carbs before a 2 hours training session, then will eat around 30 carbs after the session as my blood sugar levels continue to go down a few hours after the session aswell.
Everyone's different so it will probably take some trial & error to get it exactly right (as it did with me!)0
