Hello!
I have been a T1 for 24 years. I have always been active, counted carbs, avoided all the no-no’s, etc. Within the last year I have tacked on another 15 pounds and I just can’t understand why. I see a naturopath in addition to my endo. My blood work comes back fine, but my naturopath believes I have a low functioning thyroid. Anyone else dealing with this? It would explain the weight gain and inability to take it off despite all my efforts to eat right and work out. Again, my TSH and T4 all come back fine. I am asking for a slew of other thyroid tests bc I am now more educated about what tests they run. @Tikicristi, you might benefit from getting a more in depth thyroid panel and seeing if that is what is stopping you from losing weight too.
@Joe-I thought I saw a post earlier with you saying your thyroid isn’t working either! How do you manage your thyroid now? I am curious, you seem very well-versed!
~Kristin
Hi! I’m new to this site. Diagnosed T1 one year ag at age 52. 5’6" 154 lbs but should be 140. I’m beginning Keto. Very frustrated. I exercise every day (interval training or yoga or hiking/biking, light weight lifting etc). I eat well/very little and very little alcohol. My dr ordered lab work for thyroid. I’d love to hire a personal trainer who has T1 but don’t know where to look. Thank you for all your suggestions. I ordered the Keto for Type 1 Diabetes book.
Hi you said basal should be 50% of your total insulin intake for a 24 hr period. I just started a Keto diet and using no mealtime boluses. Should reduce my basal rate?
A couple years ago I was overweight and had high blood pressure. I have type 1 also. I went on a plant based whole food diet. A lost about 25 lbs. I am 5’5" and am downto125. I also recently joined a FB group called Mastering Diabetes. There is both a public and private group. Their premise is a low fat whole food plant based diet, as it is known that high fat intake causes insulin resistance. The 2 gentlemen who run the group are both Type 1’s also. I eat around 100 carbs per meal, which includes a lot f fruit. I have so much more energy from eating more carbs, and it is so freeing to eat more carbs without guilt and it is delicious.
hi @sbrad4226, they update that book often… the latest version sorry I didn’t see the question before today!
Just a side note, cutting calories by too much (down to 1200 to 1300 etc) doesn’t work well for weight loss. You can’t sustain it and it may send your body into starvation mode where it tries to hold on to fat stores. More moderate calorie reduction works better in the long run. Also, several smaller sessions of food work better than the 3 main meals (hard to do with MDI but maybe easier with a pump?)
Hi, I also had a problem with weight gain at your age. I had pretty stable weights (with some effort) for around 30 years after my diagnosis of TID at 15 and then steadily gained nearly 30 pounds by the time I was 50… I also noticed what I regarded as “transitory insulin resistance” which was causing unpredictable spikes in blood sugar. and wondered if perimenopause/menopause was causing problems. I did some research and convinced my md to prescribe metformin. I was also motivated to do this because I work with researchers in gyn cancers and they have been investigating metformin as a preventative treatment (LOTS of breast cancer in my family). I have been taking two 500 mg tablets a day for nearly a decade now. In the first year the extra weight melted away. In the next year I lost another 10 pounds. I occasionally experienced a little queasiness–but it went away–and to my md’s astonishment my fairly mild, but really annoying diabetic diarrhea WENT AWAY. I also found that my blood sugars stabilized --no more bizarre spikes in the night which were probably due to insulin resistance triggered by fluctuating hormonal levels. Metformin isn’t for everyone–but I’m amazed at how little it has been investigated in T1. This is probably because its so cheap. Also, its amazing how little the menopause transition is discussed in the context of T1. At 45 you are probably entering perimenopause. Insulin is a hormone.which is influenced by other hormones (as any woman w diabetes who has ever menstruated or been pregnant knows), Anyway-the mechanism through which metformin works is a little mysterious–but it is a potent metabolic drug with a very well known and pretty benign side effect profile. I think that more T1s–especially women reaching a certain age–should give it a try.
Oh -one more thing. I think that I ate a little less while on metformin (I experienced fewer cravings and was better able to practice portion control). However, neither my diet or exercise level changed to the extent that could in any way explain my dramatic weight loss. It is very clear to me that the metformin was directly responsible.