I joined this forum today as my doctor has told me I need to get from 87kg, 13.7st, 191.8lb to 70kg. That is a loss of 17kg, 2.7st, 37.5lb. This is assuming my conversions are correct.
Recently I was diagnosed with Diabetes T2, Metabolic Syndrome, and Multifactorial chylomicronemia syndrome (MCS or type V hyperlipoproteinemia). They are all linked together. Hypertension is also on and off and high LDL plus low HDL cholesterol. High cholesterol and obesity.
The advice I was given was to diet and exercise more. I have been waiting to see a diabetes nurse for 3 weeks and could be waiting for 4-6 more for dietary advice. Whilst I have been waiting, I have joined the gym but am currently too unfit to do much there but do what I can until my watch starts yelling at me to stop and then push it just a little further. I do not do weight training but lean more towards a little cardio and a couple of leg weights as my knees haven't been all that flexible for many years.
As for the diet, most of my information has been trawled from the internet from many sites and most of them contain different information or not much useful information at all. From what I can see, I am aiming for low-sugar, low carbs, low-fat, and low-calorie foods. How many calories and carbs I should be taking, I do not know. Calory-to-carb ratios on the net range from 10% of the calories in carbs to 36% of the calories in carbs which isn't a great deal of help.
I have incorporated more oily fish into my diet (cost permitting) and cut out red meat, minimised other meat and even have vegetarian days throughout the week. Brown rice and pasta whilst better for you are still carbs which get converted into blood glucose. Legumes also appear to not be low on carbs. This swings me back to waiting on the diabetes nurse to help me formulate a sustainable plan.
Before my diagnosis, I was eating one meal a day occasionally 2 but have started 3 meals a day which isn't easy. I find myself eating because the clock says it is the right time and not because I am the slightest bit hungry. I am, in my opinion, eating plenty of vegetables, which whilst filling are probably not enough. in the past few days I have found myself dwindling to around 950 calories and 20-60g of carbs a day and most of those carbs come from breakfast cereals.
My hope is that in this forum, I can find some solid advice on what I need to do to overcome the anxiety this situation is causing.
Written by
Zephyre
3kg
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Good morning Zephyre and welcome to our forum. I'm sorry to hear of your current medical problems and hope that you get to see the diabetic nurse sooner rather than later.
For this formum, your first step should be to click around the site and get familiar with everything, a good starting place is our pinned posts, here's a link to make it easy to find
This forum thrives on peer to peer support and we suggest as a minimum to join in with the Weekly Weigh In and the Daily Diary. Both will give you a good start on your journey. The more you chat the more support you will get and be able to give. Take a look at the other threads too and join in with whatever takes your fancy.
You will see we have a challenge running at the moment, its coming up to half way through but don't let that stop you joining in
We look forward to seeing you around the site and joining in. Any problems, just shout out and someone will be there to help you out
Thank you for your reply. My post was mainly a "Hello, this is me and why I am here" statement. I will certainly be looking through the posts and topics within this community.
hello Zephyre, you have come to the right place for dietary, exercise and emotional support, so wish you well.
I joined a few years ago, starting at 83kg and got down to just below 70kg, then in the intervening years put a few KGs back on… which i am trying to lose. I did it by joining the daily (now weekly or fortnightly) weigh-in, which made me more accountable to those supporting me and kept me focused. The daily diary is also a good place to get recipes and ideas and further support
I did a low carb (not obsessively) high fat approach, so yoghurt & fruit and muesli for breakfast; hard boiled eggs or crustless quiche and salad for lunch - avoiding bread - and healthy dinner. It works for me, and is a fairly sustainable way to incorporate into your future diet when not ‘dieting’
Hey. I am glad your weight loss journey is working for you and I look forward to catching up. I believe that emotional support is very important as not only does it give you somewhere to take pride in your accomplishments but also ideas and advice and new things to try.
We are very fortunate to be doing this in a day and age where instant global communications in this kind of format are available to us. ^^
I spoke with my partner just last night and she said to me "you can't be that sick, you don't look that sick". I told her, I am not sick, I just have issues and I hide them well. She then has the audacity to wonder why I hide all of my hospital appointments and tests from her. She is about as supportive as a jello railing lol.
Firstly, feel free to use kgs if that's what's more familiar to you: we have a mix of pounds, pounds and stones and kgs here so we each tend to have an idea of what we're all about.
Regarding diabetes: the key thing to remember is that it is a disorder of carbohydrate metabolism: so it's the carbohydrates you need to tackle, not fats. That means understanding "sugar" in its broadest sense i.e. which foods convert most quickly to sugar in the bloodstream. There's a useful visual guide here dietdoctor.com/low-carb/vis...
Take your time going through the first link that springersrule has given you. Once you're settled on the diet suitable for your diabetes, the weight loss will follow - and you won't need to count anything.
I don't know how much of a user of social media you are but you may like to look up Dr David Unwin, an English GP who has had great success with his patients in reversing Type 2 diabetes. Very inspiring.
Thank you for your warm welcome. I will revert back to Kg in the future. I am originally from the UK so I used to do stone and lb but then moved to north Sweden 6 and a half years ago and now find myself using kg which is also difficult for me lol.
Tackling fats is due to (according to my doctor) obesity. I personally believe I am maybe in the border lands on that as the figures vary slightly from country to country. Also high cholesterol. High bad cholesterol and low good cholesterol at least. I need to reverse that.
I currently helped someone who got to hospital with blood sugar sky-high and also did some meal planes and shopping with her in the beginning which the diet nurse approved.
Important for now till you have your appointment with the diet nurse is that you really try to eat 3 meals on a regular basis without any snacking between that the stomach has time to deal with everything.
There is no need to cut out everything, just start with cutting out all 'white sugar' and most of the processed food.
There are several fruits that are still good for you. When eating fruit it's important to eat them with a meal and not in the morning or as a replacement for a meal.
Yes, all kinds of legumes have a lot of carbs, but also fiber and other good stuff which balances them out and the sugar goes slowly in the blood. You can add 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas or other legumes to your meals. Try to avoid canned legumes, in Germany they are with added sugar and salt.
When you like potatoes, go for in Germany we call it 'pan potatoes', they are not deep fried but in a pan with a little oil and lots of onions. You can also eat steamed or boiled potatoes, they also increase the blood sugar slower. Avoid mashed potatoes and also all kinds of highly processed potatoes.
Same with carbs, use the whole grain instead of the white versions. But only a little to each meal. My friend was told to add 3 TSP of rice or the same amount of uncooked pasta to a meal. Or 2 potatoes. When you like cereals, 2 TBSP oats or other whole grain flakes with (plant)milk or yogurt.
Veggies are fine, you can eat them a lot to every meal cooked and raw. Try to eat them in pieces, for everything that is mashed or pureed the sugar went to the blood faster.
I would change your aim from low sugar - low carbs to healthy natural sugar (fruits, veggies, legumes) and healthy carbs (legumes, fruits, veggies, whole grain rice, pasta and oats).
I would (and did with my friend, who was overweight 121 kg) only focus on these two parts of the meals, which can be challenging enough.
I would deal with how many calories and all the other ideas later on your journey and maybe they are already gone by then.
Everyone is different and their bodies are different but focusing only on cutting out white sugar and highly processed food has changed a lot for my friend. Her blood pressure went down and also her sugar level so that she already was able to reduce her meds and insulin of course supervised by her GP and the nurse who comes every day to give her the Insulin and meds. And she lost 16 kg in the past 8 weeks.
I have looked up the other illness, and can see now where you are coming from with the low fat, less meat approach.
You could use fat reduced dairy, yogurt and cheese and steam your cooked meals or try as my friend did before stir-fry them in a little fat free broth or water in a non sticking pan.
Are you taking any meds? And have you told with your GP about supplements for the oil-needing vitamins?
Currently I am taking Metformin, Januvia, Atorvastatin, and Enalapril. It looks like I may be switching to Janumet from Metformin and Januvia and to Atorbir from Atorvastatin.
I'm new to this whole ball game, I'm afraid. For the last 17 days, I have been trying to make this up from the vastly varying information I can find on the internet. I haven't really spoken to my doctor about anything.
White sugar I take 6-9g per day, more often than not just 6. I know it is bad but I enjoy a cup of tea with a little sugar. Gotta have some vices. I started eating 3 meals most days 17 days ago and that is going quite well. I also swapped the milk from 1.2% to almond milk for my cereal in the mornings. I am eating Greek unsweetened yoghurt either plain or with frozen raspberries or strawberries if I do need a snack. and just yesterday ordered a little bottle that lightly sprays oil for cooking. I am hoping that works well.
I switched from 12% ground beef to vegan mince. I can't believe it's not mince... oh wait yes I can! as I like to call it. and have started using light lower fat lower calorie cheese plus other small changes to lower fat lower carb alternatives.
I have taken up walking. Just today I walked across the border into Finland and up the local big hill to get a good view of the surrounding area. 260 meter elevation. 6.6km there. A total walk of 13km. It was strange though. I weighed in right before I left at 83.7kg and when I got back I weighed 83.2kg. I hope to one day find out where that 500g went so I can send it some friends lol.
I certainly appreciate the advice you have just given me and will make every effort to incorporate it into my diet planning.
The only thing that rings bells is the low calories. I realise that calories are only part of this but for me with little knowledge they were an indicator as to how much I ate .Initially I did 1250 but lost more weight with 1400 as I felt more confident I could sustain this . I scanned food and basic macros using MyFitnessPal free app but only for a month as guidance or else it can take over your life . Your walking is fantastic as I think this got me away from snacks . I took a large water bottle with cold fruit tea as the flavour made me drink it . Reading your post I feel we become our own medics . I would ask for meal plans -say for 2 weeks when you see an expert . Just giving a list didn’t help me one bit .
Hey. I know almost nothing about dieting and since I started, in the absence of any assistance and support, had to make this up as I went along. I know calories are not the enemy but the various diet plans I could find were all talking about diet plans high in things I have to eat less of, or 900-1500 calories. I didn't really have much option but to pick the low calorie option. My knowledge is starting to advance now and hopefully I can get a CGM next month which will make things easier.
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