Hi I’m 16 and I’ve been trying to lose weight for a while but it’s just not working. I am dieting and working out but I’ve just been either gaining weight or staying even. Has anyone else had this problem
@TMNTGIRLT1D hi Kimberly.
It’s pretty common to not lose weight when you are working out because you may be converting fat to muscle. It’s a good idea to get a %body fat so if your weight isn’t moving but your % body fat is decreaseing then you are still winning.
The next thing is an understanding of if your total daily insulin is more, same, or less. Insulin is a grown hormone so the amount you are using to control blood sugar should decrease slightly to moderately if you want to get smaller. I try to dial back my pump basal and my mealtime insulin and lower blood sugar by eating less carbs and using more activity.
Also if you are going low while working out and then have to eat carbs (calories) to fix a low you are not going to get the optimal results.
Also, low thyroid is common with type [. The same antibodies that destroyed your insulin cells will eventually destroy thyroid cells and it is very hard to lose weight with low thyroid.
I reduce insulin, reduce carbs, increase activity and try to keep bs under control and it works for me like juggling a watermelon an egg and a chainsaw…so easy! Honestly It does work with patients. Good luck.
Hi Kimberly @TMNTGIRLT1D , you didn’t mention the method, or tools, you use to manage your diabetes so my possible “help” for you may not be easy to accomplish.
I will expand on the excellent advice @Joe provided and base my suggestion on if you use an insulin pump. If using a pump, the first thing you should try is validating your basal rates - or more difficult, making certain that you are using the proper amount and timing of background insulin [such as Lantus] and then move to meal-time carb ratios and accurate carb-counting.
Begin “validating” basal rates for evening and overnight by eating a “normal” supper and then not eating anything until after noon the next day; check your BG frequently and eat if necessary and if you need to eat for a “low” stop the validation, adjust / reduce your supper insulin the next night and try again; if your BG is too high during the night calculate what is needed for a correction and take more insulin with your supper the next evening. Do this process until you can “survive” 18 hours without needing to make corrections. Similar fasting can be done for day-time basal. YES, it take lots of patience and time but it is worthwhile - I have done this with all changes of season.
Once your basal / background insulin is correct, then follow Joe’s suggestion of reducing what you eat and using accurate carb:insulin ratios.
When you say “dieting”, what do you mean?
Losing weight requires you find the right “sweet spot” in your caloric intake.
Cutting out too many calories will send a message to your body to move into starvation mode. It then holds onto every calorie you give it because it isn’t sure when it’s gonna see food again.
Cutting too few calories and the body doesn’t notice the difference and everything stays status quo.
Have you done the three day tracking of everything your putting in your mouth? Then find your caloric requirements on the internet to either gain, lose, or maintain weight. That will give you a ballpark estimate of how many calories you need to deduct to “trick” your body into staying calm and not going into “OMG!! I’m in a famine” mode and holding onto everything you feed it.