Fat Loss for a Type One Diabetic

Hi all , I’m a type one diabetic on insulin , I’ve been lifting in the the gym for about 3 years and love it ,it has changed my life around I was fat shit diet and drunk to much ! But now my diet. Is better and I’m less fat lol . But I’ve started to do a low carb diet under 50 g a day it’s going ok lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks, having to have less insulin so I’m hopefully loss some fat too but my problem is that in the absence of carbs my body is turning my protein into glucose and it keeps spiking my b/s levels so I have to inject more insulin so it a bit counter productive in cutting the carbs ! I’m 5 9 And 195 lbs I go to the gym 4/5 times a week cardio / weights

[quote]Peter35 wrote:
Hi all , I’m a type one diabetic on insulin , I’ve been lifting in the the gym for about 3 years and love it ,it has changed my life around I was fat shit diet and drunk to much ! But now my diet. Is better and I’m less fat lol . But I’ve started to do a low carb diet under 50 g a day it’s going ok lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks, having to have less insulin
[/quote]

So you need less insulin…

…except that you need more insulin?

It sounds like your total insulin requirement hasn’t changed so much as the timing of your blood glucose spikes (and therefore the timing of your insulin needs) has changed–fair to say?

type one diabetic since 13 and been in the iron game 5+ years now. I woudn’t slash your carbs anymore than a normal person would dieting. You will need much less insulin as you go along eating less calories/carbs and lose fat, I’m always much more insulin sensitive as a diet goes along, so my ratio of carbs per unit of insulin because much larger.

[quote]Mtag666 wrote:
type one diabetic since 13 and been in the iron game 5+ years now. I woudn’t slash your carbs anymore than a normal person would dieting. You will need much less insulin as you go along eating less calories/carbs and lose fat, I’m always much more insulin sensitive as a diet goes along, so my ratio of carbs per unit of insulin because much larger. [/quote]
Hi thanks for the reply , I think I’m going to up my carbs to 100 g per day I felt so weak in the gym tonight it was embarrassing lol my training partner who I usually match with weights kick my ass . Do you find when you are dieting you need to inject more for protein ?

[quote]Peter35 wrote:

[quote]Mtag666 wrote:
type one diabetic since 13 and been in the iron game 5+ years now. I woudn’t slash your carbs anymore than a normal person would dieting. You will need much less insulin as you go along eating less calories/carbs and lose fat, I’m always much more insulin sensitive as a diet goes along, so my ratio of carbs per unit of insulin because much larger. [/quote]
Hi thanks for the reply , I think I’m going to up my carbs to 100 g per day I felt so weak in the gym tonight it was embarrassing lol my training partner who I usually match with weights kick my ass . Do you find when you are dieting you need to inject more for protein ? [/quote]

Honestly I’m not sure. I’ve never gotten so low on carbs that I’ve needed to really take protein into consideration.

I’m a type 1 diabetic in the beginning of a diet too. For health, I have always been low-carb (under 50 grams a day) which has allowed me to have a HbA1C of 5.1 for the past 3 years (well, 5.0 - 5.2, really). I just make sure to keep the carbs I do have (not much) right before I work out. So lunch may be tuna-salad with some rice (a half cup cooked), and the rest of my meals are very low carb. While dieting I allow my carbs on workout days to be up to 100 grams. I keep protein high, which used to cause some spikes in my blood sugar. But… Once I started limiting my calories (I track, calorically, everything but vegetables), the protein stopped causing my blood sugar to spike. At least if I keep it under 200 grams a day. The rest is fat.

It is working. :slight_smile:

–Me

EDIT: BTW, it isn’t the absence of carbs that spikes your blood sugar. The body will do gluconeogenesis to make sure it has enough carbs, but it isn’t going to overload you from it. Likely the excess protein in your diet is what is causing the blood sugar spikes. Not a lack of carbs.

[quote]kravi wrote:
I’m a type 1 diabetic in the beginning of a diet too. For health, I have always been low-carb (under 50 grams a day) which has allowed me to have a HbA1C of 5.1 for the past 3 years (well, 5.0 - 5.2, really). I just make sure to keep the carbs I do have (not much) right before I work out. So lunch may be tuna-salad with some rice (a half cup cooked), and the rest of my meals are very low carb. While dieting I allow my carbs on workout days to be up to 100 grams. I keep protein high, which used to cause some spikes in my blood sugar. But… Once I started limiting my calories (I track, calorically, everything but vegetables), the protein stopped causing my blood sugar to spike. At least if I keep it under 200 grams a day. The rest is fat.

It is working. :

–Me

EDIT: BTW, it isn’t the absence of carbs that spikes your blood sugar. The body will do gluconeogenesis to make sure it has enough carbs, but it isn’t going to overload you from it. Likely the excess protein in your diet is what is causing the blood sugar spikes. Not a lack of carbs.[/quote]

Thanks for that is hard to get it right , I just can see how I’m going to get my fat down any more it’s just stopped and it frustrating !

This study was done with type II diabetics, but suppversity recently wrote about a study that found 1g of powdered ginger taken twice a day to be nearly as powerful as diabetics medicine (metformin). Google and check it out. I don’t know anything about the subject and your problem, but maybe you can find something helpful in the article.

If you do decide to have some ginger, pour a large mug of green tea and mix in the powdered ginger. It’s a very simple way to get a lot of nutrition.

[quote]EyeDentist wrote:

[quote]Peter35 wrote:
Hi all , I’m a type one diabetic on insulin , I’ve been lifting in the the gym for about 3 years and love it ,it has changed my life around I was fat shit diet and drunk to much ! But now my diet. Is better and I’m less fat lol . But I’ve started to do a low carb diet under 50 g a day it’s going ok lost 7 lbs in 2 weeks, having to have less insulin
[/quote]

So you need less insulin…

…except that you need more insulin?

It sounds like your total insulin requirement hasn’t changed so much as the timing of your blood glucose spikes (and therefore the timing of your insulin needs) has changed–fair to say?
[/quote]

[quote]Sutebun wrote:
This study was done with type II diabetics, but suppversity recently wrote about a study that found 1g of powdered ginger taken twice a day to be nearly as powerful as diabetics medicine (metformin). Google and check it out. I don’t know anything about the subject and your problem, but maybe you can find something helpful in the article.

If you do decide to have some ginger, pour a large mug of green tea and mix in the powdered ginger. It’s a very simple way to get a lot of nutrition.[/quote]

Slightly different for us type 1s, but if ginger increases insulin sensitivity that is great nonetheless. I use ginger when I go scuba diving to keep me from getting sea sick :smiley:

–Me

[quote]Peter35 wrote:
Thanks for that is hard to get it right , I just can see how I’m going to get my fat down any more it’s just stopped and it frustrating ! [/quote]

Don’t get your fat down any more. Try to keep carbs under 100 grams a day working out, and under 50 grams a day on days you don’t work out. Find your sweet spot for protein (mine is, as I said, < 200 grams a day), and make the rest fat. Fat is blood sugar neutral, and as long as you aren’t eating more calories of it than you should will likely have little impact on your weight loss.

As a complete aside, I did a genetic analysis of myself on promethease and it reported that my genes show that I do better on a low-fat diet. All I can say is, “whatever, hippy”. I’m doing just fine on a high protein (ish), highish fat diet with low carbs despite this.

–Me