Frustrated Diabetic

[not2late]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

OK, it's Tuesday... weigh in day. After almost 8 weeks on Atkins, I've lost 2 pounds. My fasting blood sugar was 254.

While 254 is still much better than 354, it isn't coming down much more.

That's great!!!! A 100 point drop is nothing to sneeze at! Congrats on the improvement!

I'm not sure if I should continue the Novolog, Levemir and/or Januvia, to try and get the blood sugars down to normal, but when I do, the weight comes right back up. I'm exercizing enough that most days when I wake up and can barely walk.

Take it easy on the exercise. While it's good to exercise, you shouldn't exercise to the point that it incapacitates you.

I'm cutting back on the carbs till they are almost non-existant.

How many net carbs are you having?

It probably doesn't help, but I received a present of a nasty sinus infection that has my head pounding, my breathing difficult and zero energy.

My condolescences....allergy season is starting up and I haven't been very faithful with my sinus rinses, so I'm sniffling up a storm....

I'm neither suffering of hunger, nor am I craving sweets, I'm flooding my body with water ... plus!

I haven't had any soda or cafeinated coffee in weeks.

THAT'S GREAT! It's the hunger and cravings that does alot of people in. Now that you've overcome that, you'll find that you have better control over food (and not the food controlling you.)

My frustration is turning to depression!

Frustrated? At what?

Your blood sugar is improving.

You've lost a few pounds.

You're not craving or feeling hungry.

You're exercising.

That's quite a list of accomplishments! No need to be frustrated or depressed. You're making improvements and that's what matters. Whether you run or walk, one step forward at a time will get you to your goal.

[forbey]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

Yesterday's menu was unusual. It was a day off, but a day sick.

Breakfast was 2 eggs, fried in butter, and two sticks of string cheese.

For lunch I split a deli baked chicken with my wife.

Dinner was 2 baked filets of Tilapia and 1 cup steamed cauliflower with butter and cheese.

No snacks, light on the water (Monday morning a water main in town broke, putting the whole town on a boil order), I managed to get in a minimum o4 64 oz, but not my usual 170+. Exercise consisted of moving 34 pound jugs of vegetable oil and working on the wiring in my house.

Sinus problem, unfortunately, was not allergies. My wife has been suffering from a sinus cold for several weeks and I finally got it.

[H20baby]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

Hey Forbey-
Don't get too down blood sugars are great and steadily improving and you just posted on the 18th that you finally realized that you weren't following atkins as well as you thought you were. Now that you have your revelation things should continue to improve.

Great job keep it up!

TTFN
Melody

[2big4mysize]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

have you started checking your blood sugar during the day to see if you are getting better results later in the day or is it still AM and PM?
congrats on that 100 point drop.

Keep working your atkins you are getting healtheir and should be seeing inches of body fat being shed as you add lean body mass doing your workouts and eating your atkins.

[forbey]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

I have problems with my job and keeping the monitor around, malfunctions to changes in temerature, etc. So I stick to taking it AM & PM.

Another concern, or question, if I have been that far out of wack for so long, what type of weight gain might a person (especially a large person) have as they began to get more active and regain previously lost muscle mass.

Muscle weighs more than fat. Theorhetically, if the muscle memory was active enough, a person could regain muscle density and mass in quantities greater in weight in comparisson to the amount of fat burned. Some of this could be evident in the weigh one's clothing fits, but might be confusing regarding areas like the thighs, calves, buttocks, chest and arms.

I am still confused about the blood sugars, if I am in lypolisis and burning fat for energy and not using insulin to help open the cells for the sugar, what does that do to the blood glucose levels?

forbey

[2big4mysize]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

lots of questions


first off

I am still confused about the blood sugars, if I am in lypolisis and burning fat for energy and not using insulin to help open the cells for the sugar, what does that do to the blood glucose levels?

Atkins ketossi means you are primarily using fats for fuel not totally, so you will be using glucose for some energy needs. The insulin production should take the glucose levels down as you will not have as much glucose being absorbed from your foods not made from glucogenesis. If your glucose levels do not continue to fall then you need to talk to your treatment team about increasing the meds you need to lower it.

Another concern, or question, if I have been that far out of wack for so long, what type of weight gain might a person (especially a large person) have as they began to get more active and regain previously lost muscle mass.

muscles need to be fed and used to grow and we atkinseers do both of those. We expect and get muslce mass increases. that is one reasons we measure and weigh so we can see the change in body comp. How much you will add will depend on your body your exercise and your diet. If you are in a negative calorie situation that is your expendatures from all sources exceeds your intake then you will drop scale weight unless you are holding fluid weight even when we are growing muscle tissues.

they don't weigh more they are denser so the muscle pound will be smaller then the fat pound if one swaps one for the other on their body.

[forbey]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

Sorry, I could have said that more clearly.

A pound of fat weighs the same as a pound of muscle (or a pound of feathers). But the amount of space taken up by a pound of muscle is considerable smaller than a pound of fat. So a person could lose fat, gain muscle, increase in weight but decrease in size.

So, again, the question begging for an answer, for a person who has literally been eating their own lean tissue because their blood sugar couldn't get to their cells, could the period of time recovering the lost tissue be long enough to frustrate the most persistent Atkinsian for weeks or months?

Yeah, it is a physiological canundrum, but It might contain some answers to my 8 week scenario.

[forbey]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

Having been reminded by several (not2late and H2OBaby come to mind quickly) I do have a great deal to be thankful for.

First, my max weight had reached 354 this time last year. My approach at the time, under insurance mandates, was to find an approved weight loss program and follow it with my Dr's supervision. So I went to the WW place and procedded to confuse the heck out of them. I modified my WW program, by removing as many undesireable carb sources I could. Over the next 10 months I got down to 294, but then started to put it back on again, even while trying to maintain the program.

As a large man, the problems of such a restrictive diet was tearing me down and I was getting weaker. physically and mentally. Even though I had lost over 60 pounds (and gained back 10).

Here is where I started working to get back on Atkins. Although I am still working to refine the Induction diet, I learning through the help of many of you here to identify more of the hidden bad carbs. In spite of my mistakes I have gotten back down to 290 (and now below) and kept it off for 8 weeks. Plus the changes in blood glucose, well being and fitting into my clothes better.

I'm thinking much of my frustration is locked into two things, 1. wanting desperately to get my weight down more and this persistent head cold.

Either way, I'm feeling better, getting around better and, according to my wife, looking better!

How can I argue with that!

[not2late]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

Hey forbey, I think we ALL would want to start Atkins today and tomorrow morning wake up at goal weight. But it ain't gonna happen because that weight didn't appear overnight.

I understand the frustration because I was one of those people who were disappointed at losing "only" 20 pounds. Then my boss told me to go to the supermarket and pick up two 10 pound bags of potatoes and walk around with them. I didn't walk around with them, but I realized after picking up 1 bag that what I lost was "alot"!

So don't get frustrated. I've seen too many folks fall off the wagon because they "only" lost 40 pounds and they get discouraged that they aren't losing faster. Look at it as each pound you lose is 1 pound closer to your goal. keep looking forward and looking at all the good stuff that is coming from your weight loss/ATkins.

[forbey]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

No no, I'm not looking for immediate results, although I did lose 17 pounds in 2 weeks on the Marine Corps version of Atkins in 1982. (That's Atkins with PT out the wazzoo)

I was just hoping to see more than 2 pounds in 8 weeks.

Either war, I'm not in any danger of jumping ship.

We had been stock piling food for a while, for just in case type situations, last night we loaded up 3 big bags of BAD carbs to drop off with my daughter's family. So we're one step closer to elimination temptation.

[ziggy]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

OK, it's Tuesday... weigh in day. After almost 8 weeks on Atkins, I've lost 2 pounds. My fasting blood sugar was 254.

While 254 is still much better than 354, it isn't coming down much more. I'm not sure if I should continue the Novolog, Levemir and/or Januvia, to try and get the blood sugars down to normal, but when I do, the weight comes right back up. I'm exercizing enough that most days when I wake up and can barely walk. I'm cutting back on the carbs till they are almost non-existant.

It probably doesn't help, but I received a present of a nasty sinus infection that has my head pounding, my breathing difficult and zero energy.

At present I am taking Metformin, L-Carnatine, Co Q-10 and 1 other I can't remember, plus vitamins. All out of the Atkins vitanutrient recommendations for decreasing insulin resistance. I'm adding cinnamon to my coffee and herb teas.


I'm neither suffering of hunger, nor am I craving sweets, I'm flooding my body with water ... plus!

I haven't had any soda or cafeinated coffee in weeks.

My frustration is turning to depression!

Diabetics always have a harder time loseing weight but don't give up

remember when eating such low net carbs you need to eat nutrition dense foods like organic pasture raised beef liver in order to get all the vitamins your body needs

also know alot of the norm vitamins will make you retain alot of water so if you just started a new vitamin thats of the normal type thats why your weight is up abit. but i think these vitamins would be good i don't think they would make you retain water to process them
Organic Organ Delight - The Ultimate Traditional Superfood

now as for your cold do you have a sinus rinse? these netti pots work nice
YouTube - neti pot
YouTube - NeilMed NasaFlo Neti Pot

and also for your cold heres how you can eliminate it
YouTube - VITAMIN D KILLS H1N1 and NO SCIENTIFIC PROOF FLU VACCINES WORK

lots of sun light and cod liver oil heres a link that will show what brands of cod liver oil are good
Cod Liver Oil Basics and Recommendations

[forbey]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

Thanks, Ziggy.

[hounded]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

I'm up to a 20-minute quick walk a day.

This is what you said about your walk. Maybe if you cut down some on the intensity to a moderate level your blood sugar would go down some. Many times I find my sugar levels go up with intense exercise, but go down with moderate exercise. I've read it has to do with muscles calling for more sugar and hence insulin to supply to supply it during heavy exercise.

[morimoto]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

Here are some tips that I have found useful.

1. Buy bacon that has no sugar added. Most supermarkets carry at least one brand that will have no added sugar.

2. Instead of sugar-free sodas, switch to Diet Rite or drinks sweetened with Splenda. Stay away from anything sweetened with Aspartame!! Even then, limit this to 1 or 2 sodas per day.

3. Drink 100 oz of water per day, if not more. Not drinking enough water will cause your body to retain water and cause scale frustration.

4. If you are stalling, quit taking supplements for a while. Some supplements can cause your body to retain water. It's different for each person and it's different depending on which brand of supplement you take. I was taking many of the recommended Atkins supplements and they would cause to me to stop losing or *gasp* even gain weight. Stopping them for a few days caused a large loss of water and reinvigorated my faith.

5. Look at taking GTF Chromium and Cinnamon (yes, Cinnamon) as supplements to control your diabetes. These 2 supplements have anecdotal evidence they control blood sugar in diabetics.

6. Be careful where you eat out. For instance, some places mix bread crumbs with their hamburger. I know IHOP uses mixes pancake batter with their eggs to make them "fluffy". If you feel particularly full after eating out, question what hidden secrets were in what you ate. After I ate at IHOP, I would feel more full than normal and found the pancake batter horror after researching WHY I felt so full eating there. Let your body be your guide.

7. Depending on how much you need to lose, consider Atkins a lifestyle change and not a diet. This is my 2nd time on Atkins, I lost 100 pounds the first time and gained it all back +55 lbs. I am now down 70 pounds the 2nd time around but I have accepted low carb as something I will have to do the rest of my life.

8. Limit your sodium intake. Too much sodium can cause water to be retained and cause weight stalls. Eating out is a sure way to get too much sodium, don't exacerbate the problem by adding even more salt.

Hopefully these tips will help some people here. It's frustrating to hit plateaus or not lose as quickly as expected, but sometimes it's small things like supplements or hidden sugars like that in bacon that can cause stalls.

[forbey]

Re: Frustrated Diabetic

Thanks, Morimoto,

As for diet vs life change. I've done Atkins 3 or 4 times, this time has to be a chnge, not just a temp things.

Unfortunately, the word diet is beat up and misunderstood. Diet - is nothing more than a word to describe what you are eating. So no matter what we eat, it's all our diet. Sometimes it's a good diet, sometimes i's a bad diet and sometimes it's a temporary diet.

With my health issues, this MUST be the GOOD diet I use for the rest of my life!

Thanks,

forbey