Type 2 Diabetic Successful Dieters Wanted!!

reepobob
reepobob Posts: 1,172 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I've got a dear friend on MFP that is getting very discouraged in her weight loss journey...She is a Type 2 Diabetic and has been losing and gaining back the same four pounds over the summer and early fall. She is eating low carbs and high protein, drinks plenty of water, combines strength and cardio exercise, and is eating her exercise calories back. She is taking Metformin as well as glimepiride. The glimepiride tends to make her hypoglycemic and she retains weight, but if she gets off of that med, her blood sugar spikes no matter how good her diet is.

This is a great community and I am hoping that there are similar people out there that struggled with a similar problem as a Type 2 Diabetic and then "figured it out" and sustained a nice steady loss. If you are out there, please respond as she is at her wits end and is seriously considering gastric bypass and/or lap band surgery and I feel that that should be a last resort option.

Thanks in advance...

Replies

  • littlelaura
    littlelaura Posts: 1,028 Member
    hugs thank you ..my dear friend... *sniffles* wipes a tear from my eye... not giving up, no worries, will keep going no matter what.
    you are the absolute best, I love you dearly!
  • AZackery
    AZackery Posts: 2,035 Member
    Your friend should eat like a diabetic. 45 grams of carbs per meal and 15 grams of carb per snack. She needs to follow the low GI food list, eating foods that are > 55. Drink plenty of water. Start with 64oz a day. A half of gallon of water to a gallon of water is good. For her house, if she's not drinking filter water, she can buy a Brita pitcher from Walmart for like $9.00.

    She must not focus on the scale, because scale weight loss and fat loss are two different things. When a person want to lose weight, they should be looking to lose fat. Why? Because anyone can lose 5 pounds of scale weight in an hour, but no one can lose 5 pounds of fat in an hour.

    Fat loss takes patience.

    For exercise, she needs to do things that she enjoy doing. Measuring tape is good tool to track her progress. Scale weight will never determine the size clothes a person wear or even how healthy they are.

    If she can afford it, she either needs to buy a body fat scale or since she already has a scale, she can go to Academy or GNC and buy an Omron Handheld body fat monitor to track her results.

    She can message me and I can explain to her how to track her body fat percentage/pounds of fat loss.
  • JipsyJudy
    JipsyJudy Posts: 268 Member
    I'm prediabetic and have been discouraged because my fasting blood sugar keeps going up even though I lost 16 pounds. I posted a request for help with this and made some diabetic friends here who have provided good advice. I recommend " The Insulin Resistance Diet Book" for your friend. At the moment I have restricted my crbs to 30 grams a meal, and I will get retested in December, but a couple of diabetics here have told me they cannot eat more than 15 carbs per meal. I will cut back to 15 carbs a meal if the current pkan doesn't work. Type II diabetics simply cannot process carbs as others can.
  • Contrarian
    Contrarian Posts: 8,138 Member
    Bump!
  • dittiepe
    dittiepe Posts: 557 Member
    I'm prediabetic and have been discouraged because my fasting blood sugar keeps going up even though I lost 16 pounds. I posted a request for help with this and made some diabetic friends here who have provided good advice. I recommend " The Insulin Resistance Diet Book" for your friend. At the moment I have restricted my crbs to 30 grams a meal, and I will get retested in December, but a couple of diabetics here have told me they cannot eat more than 15 carbs per meal. I will cut back to 15 carbs a meal if the current pkan doesn't work. Type II diabetics simply cannot process carbs as others can.

    I'm not a diabetic, but I've taken care of a lot of them. I've seen a lot of doctors switch to a 15-20carb/meal diet plan for their patients because of insulin resistance. Not everyone can pile in the carbs and be fine. This goes for people with or without diabetes. I agree with dropping carbs down significantly and then gradually increasing them to see where your 'stall' is.
  • JaredBergeron
    JaredBergeron Posts: 379 Member
    Feel free to add me, the diabetes diagonsis scarred the crap out of me and two years later, off all the meds and feeling much better! you still have to watch what you eat, but getting the belly fat off will defiantly help your body be more efficient with the sugars.
  • diamondrn8
    diamondrn8 Posts: 10 Member
    I have a WW scale that measures fat, bone, water, BMI and weight. I am on oral meds and Lantus. I have been doing WW because I was able to lose 50 pounds on the plan 5 years ago. Now that I am on Lantus and menopausal, I haven't been able to lose more than 5-10 pounds and it fluctuates wildly. I would love some help!
  • diamondrn8
    diamondrn8 Posts: 10 Member
    I've paid for Weight Watchers, Quick Weight Loss and I am now paying for South Beach diet. I have lost 5 pounds on the SB low carb diet. I haven't eaten bread in almost 3 weeks. I slipped one time and ate 1 cup of pasta. Besides that, I eat coucous. I am taking Metformin, Januvia and Lantus. I would love to get off all of these medications. My problem is a high stress job and no time or energy for exercise except on Saturday-Sunday. I need motivation and whatever tips you want to share.
  • diamondrn8
    diamondrn8 Posts: 10 Member
    Great Job on the Hgb A1C! Hoping that I can get in that range. My last one was 6.5 :(
  • truedecember
    truedecember Posts: 151 Member
    I second the vote for the "diabetic diet" of 45g carbs per meal, and 15g carbs per snack. A diet with this pattern that incorporates fruits, vegetables, low-fat protein will lead to weight loss. How "low carb" is she eating? With type 2 it's important to eat enough carbs to prevent hypoglycemia. Every time you get a low, your body is going to fight back and cause you to over-compensate by eating too much which will then hinder weight loss.
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
    As a diabetic, I say aiming for no more than 15-20 carbs/meal is a good goal. I can't lose if I go above about 80 grams/carb a day. I don't understand people who say 45 grams/carb per meal. If I ate that much, my blood sugars would go through the roof and I would have to increase my meds. However, I'm only on metformin and that doesn't induce hypoglycemic lows like some of the other meds do.
  • rubyosburn
    rubyosburn Posts: 119 Member
    Hi, I'm Type 2 diabetic and also take Metform (1000 mg a day) please tell your friend to add me. We all need support, my weight loss is slowing down and I know how frustrating it can be.
  • lacroyx
    lacroyx Posts: 5,754 Member
    it can be a long demotivating struggle but tell her not to give up! it can be done!
  • AZackery
    AZackery Posts: 2,035 Member
    As a diabetic, I say aiming for no more than 15-20 carbs/meal is a good goal. I can't lose if I go above about 80 grams/carb a day. I don't understand people who say 45 grams/carb per meal. If I ate that much, my blood sugars would go through the roof and I would have to increase my meds. However, I'm only on metformin and that doesn't induce hypoglycemic lows like some of the other meds do.

    45 grams of carbs per meal and 15 grams of carbs per snack is taught to eat in a diabetic class held by a diabetic nutritionist.

    I know that all diabetics know this, a diabetic doctor sees diabetic patients and a diabetic nutritionist teaches diabetic classes.

    A diabetic doctor will tell his or her patients to eat low GI foods > 55. A diabetic nutritionist will show a diabetic how to eat.

    A diabetic diet is base off low GI foods.
  • funkycamper
    funkycamper Posts: 998 Member
    As a diabetic, I say aiming for no more than 15-20 carbs/meal is a good goal. I can't lose if I go above about 80 grams/carb a day. I don't understand people who say 45 grams/carb per meal. If I ate that much, my blood sugars would go through the roof and I would have to increase my meds. However, I'm only on metformin and that doesn't induce hypoglycemic lows like some of the other meds do.

    45 grams of carbs per meal and 15 grams of carbs per snack is taught to eat in a diabetic class held by a diabetic nutritionist.

    I know that all diabetics know this, a diabetic doctor sees diabetic patients and a diabetic nutritionist teaches diabetic classes.

    A diabetic doctor will tell his or her patients to eat low GI foods > 55. A diabetic nutritionist will show a diabetic how to eat.

    A diabetic diet is base off low GI foods.

    If I ate that amount of carbs, I would have to increase my metformin dosage to keep from going too high or add in other diabetic medications.

    I have taken diabetic classes at my local hospital taught by a diabetic nutritionist and a nurse with specialized diabetic training. While recommendations about carbohydrate levels were discussed, they made clear that these recommendations are not set in stone and can very from individual to individual.

    In short, i eat to my meter. I have tested one and two hours post-meals/snacks and have found the carb load limit that works for me that keeps me from going too high. I have also been able to lower my metformin by doing this and, if this continues with further weight loss and increased fitness, I may be able to go off my metformin completely and still maintain good BG control.

    Isn't that more important than shooting for an arbitrary number that requires that I increase my metformin dosage in order to keep from going too high? Why on earth would the need for more medication be a good thing?
  • nursejennyk
    nursejennyk Posts: 9 Member
    edited May 10
    I’m type 2 as of this summer. I’ve lost 53 pounds so far. Started metformin in October because I just couldn’t manage with diet like I had when I had gestational diabetes. I switched to synjardy ( Hardin and metformin) a month ago and it seems to help with my numbers
    I lost the weight without any help from apps or doctors. I’m actually just coming back to MFP now because I want to track macros.
    I’m lost the first 53 pounds by intermittent fasting and OMID ( one meal a day). It worked so welll. Now I’m on Synjardy I need to be careful of making ketones so I have to reinvent the wheel I guess. I would love to be part of a chat community with support.
  • MargaretYakoda
    MargaretYakoda Posts: 2,994 Member
    nursejennyk wrote: »
    I’m type 2 as of this summer. I’ve lost 53 pounds so far. Started metformin in October because I just couldn’t manage with diet like I had when I had gestational diabetes. I switched to synjardy ( Hardin and metformin) a month ago and it seems to help with my numbers
    I lost the weight without any help from apps or doctors. I’m actually just coming back to MFP now because I want to track macros.
    I’m lost the first 53 pounds by intermittent fasting and OMID ( one meal a day). It worked so welll. Now I’m on Synjardy I need to be careful of making ketones so I have to reinvent the wheel I guess. I would love to be part of a chat community with support.

    Welcome back to MFP!

    Here’s a group for diabetes discussion that I have found helpful.
    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/1772-type-2-diabetes-support-group

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