Weight/metabolism- am I really abnormal?

[rytonsister]

Hi
I'm wondering if anyone else shares a similar body shape/metabolism to me.

As a child I was very very thin, very underweight. So much so that I was carted off to gp and given all sorts of potions but I was just honestly never hungry. I was made to stay school dinners in an effort to get me to eat but I just never had any appetite and eating when I was t hungry made me gag. I remember once being forced to eat a trifle at school and it coming straight back up

Those fat measures are notoriously inaccurate- I've got scales at home and it varies between 7-10% difference every time I weigh myself. I don't doubt you have high body fat but don't get fixated on the 40% mark.

With the diabetes would it be better if you eat little and often rather than just the 2 meals a day? I'm no expert but could it be because you are not maintaining a steady sugar level with your meal patterns?

I think the blood sugar diet as pp have said could help.

But I do think some of what you say is disordered thinking about food.

Biwi
Thanks I had been reading in diabetes uk about that 800 calories diet. I think when I start my new job I'd find it easier to do. If I'm home I can go all day without feeling hungry but at work I'm in the go and never know when I'm going to eat. I get hungrier at work and eat more but it's sporadic.

I've had my health checked including ovarian cancer checks because I have a lot of pelvic pain, but scans and blood tests all clear apart from severe anaemia and high blood sugar.

I think I'll try the 800 calories blood sugar diet . I'd read somewhere in diabetes uk that it's 2 shakes or soups and one small low calorie meal a day. I'd find it tough but I really do need to take some action in my weight now and get the diabetes under control.

Biwi - are there any details about this diet online? What's in the soups/shakes.

I know if I go to my doctors and tell them I need to do it they will laugh me out of the door. (This thread proves that! )

I mentioned the Blood Sugar Diet upthread - get the book and read it. It's less than a fiver on Amazon and you can eat proper food, not shakes. The book helps with your thinking about the restricted calories and has lots of recipe ideas. You don't feel hungry after a couple of days. You just need to plan your meals.

There is an official website for it btw, but I strongly recommend you get the book.

When your body fat was measured, did the PT take individual measurements at different places on your body using calipers or was it using scales that measure body fat?

rytonsister How are you treating your anaemia? The breathlessness/lead legs etc is probably much more to do with that than your weight I'd think, so once your iron levels are raised you should start feeling better pretty quickly

OP I'm the same height/weight as you but older.
To my knowledge I'm not diabetic but I feel too heavy and can't shift the weight that's crept on over the past few years; I feel better at 9st.

I've always been a bit pear shaped but am now straight up and down like a brick?!

My job is sedentary, so I'm walking 3 miles a day and have ditched the alcohol. I have thought about weights and will probably give them a go too!

I need to look at my diet, as it's very carb heavy, might try the blood sugar diet.

Keep us updated with how you get on 🙂

Ok, lots here

Body fat - those machines are a load of unscientific crap and your level of hydration affects the reading. Get the calipers out if you want a real measure

Menopause - you are prime age to be perimenopausal

Type 2 diabetes - there are other types/subtypes not just one and two - if you ate healthily and were active then why would you think it was caused by your diet/sedentary lifestyle?

Do you actually feel bloated/water retention rather than fat? You don't sound very well. Severe anaemia, fatigue, you sound like you have water retention imo. I would go back to gp (thyroid test again?), take some good vitamins, start on hrt maybe?

I think your metabolism is at fault here and needs kickstarting (and the night shifts certainly will not help with that at all)

Eating more protein (and probably some healthy protein snacks here and there) alongside a carb diet. I agree with a PP you need to eat more but of the right stuff

Drink cold water

and get an exercise plan in place - weights and cardio. The advice to start with low impact is good and build up slowly to HIIT

And address your anaemia that is going to make exercising very difficult

This is interesting re: pre diabetes www.dietdoctor.com/intermittent-fasting/time-restricted-eating

No tips here unfortunately, but I also believe you!

I'm also 5"4 and have a small frame (though not as small as you! Always petite as a child but never underweight and eg shoe size is 5). I'm currently around 8 stone and a size 8-10.. Nowhere near underweight looking but my ideal natural weight is probably around 8.5 stones.

When I was at uni, I went 'up' to 9.5 stones and I definitely looked a bit overweight and was very unhealthy. Even though my BMI was only 22/23. I've never been over that (except when pregnant) but I'm sure at more than 10 stones I would definitely also be 'fat' and having problems!

Even one of the consultants at DC1's birth commented on my small frame.. I had an 80 hr labour ending in am EMCS which he believed was partly because of the relative size of my frame compared to DC1's weight (8lbs 8oz so not huge but big for me!).

Did the gym trainer give you any advice on eating? Could you pay to see a dietician?

I believe you. I’m 5’5 and 10.1 st and at the top end of normal bmi. I just feel better at 9 or under. I eat a lot more than you normally though! I think a low carb/sugar for you with more meat etc. My auntie had type 2 but she was a lot bigger but very much on the tummy. She had a band fitted for which you obviously wouldn’t qualify but she had to change her diet to tiny portions more often with very little fat or sugar.

Definitely look more at low carb, high fat diets as I have seen it recommended for diabetics before, but then your example meal looks pretty good already.

I would suggest skipping the diet coke on your odd McDonalds though and maybe change the skimmed milk to whole milk - full fat dairy is much better and often advocated on the LCHF type diets.

Wowfrudge sorry I didn't realise that was the same diet! I will definitely get the book ordered today thanks for that.

Erm....what were the other questions now....see my memory is buggered too...

The anaemia is being treated I'm on tablets for low iron and low folates. Been in them about 2 weeks but still feeling pretty wiped out as my levels were very low .

I don't think it's much water retention I tend not to suffer with that. Just a fat middle.

The machine that did my body fat was at a Bannatyne gym. Did it twice over two weeks with same results.

I am going to give the blood sugar diet a go. Can't feel any worse than I do now!

Why were your levels so low? Did they find a cause?

Those scales lol. Once, I accidentally put in I was male. I noticed as it said I was 12% body fat 😱😱😱. So I changed it to female and immediately retested. It said I was 35% body fat!!!!

(Ideal range for us at our age is about 30%)

I get sick of these ridiculous threads. At 5ft 4 and your weight you are NOT overweight. Get a fucking grip.
No wonder there are so many body issues out there.

Stop enabling this nonsense everyone.
Your focus should not be weight but treating any conditions, eating healthier and exercising. That is it.
Everyone is hysterical these days if they weigh more than a fucking feather.

No.no.no

Do not try 800 calories a day blood fucking nonsense diet. Unsustainable and you'll feel miserable.

If you want to change your shape, do weights. You can increase your muscle to fat ratio and look more toned. Many women don't understand that weight and resistance training is excellent for health and physique.
With good weight training you can still eat a balanced diet and look great. And ditch the bloody scales. Your weight at your height is fine ffs

Binpedal - you are incorrect. The book advocates exercise as well as a short period of dieting with options for maintenance and is proven to reverse type 2 diabetes.

In fact, the NHS has endorsed low calorie meal replacement diets for people with type 2 diabetes as the health benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

But she isn't overweight
So I don't see how making yourself miserable on 800 calories is going to help anyone.
Cut refined sugar out sure, but eat three healthy meals (you need more than 800 calories for this surprise, surprise) which are nutritionally balanced.
Better to eat 1300 calories a day of healthy shit and exercise and lose weight slowly (if that's what you must do) than be crying into your fucking milkshake at the end of the week because you are starving and low on energy.

I'm very similar, like a stick insect when I was younger, 7 1/2 stone dripping wet, 5 ft 6/7, but I used to eat a lot. When I had children my weight stabilized about 8 stone ( still eating lots) no problem with weight.
Menopause and pre menopause changed that and I went up to over 10 stone, with all the fat round my middle but still no boobs. Technically, according to BMI I was ok but to me it wasn't "right" for me. Even my doctor told me to keep an eye on it, as I've always been slim, as is my children. ( not in an OMG you're fat way, just to keep an eye)
I did my own form of diet, as in I cut down on biscuits, one instead of two, one less potato, bit less cream on my pudding etc. If I felt like snacking I'd eat fruit rather than crisps, cheese and chocolate. Every Thursday I only eat fruit and veg all day, and I'm now at 8 stone 10. I'm at the thin end of BMI, but it feels right for me. It got rid of the fat round my middle, I could sit down and rest a cup of tea on my muffin top, so I know exactly what you mean. I went back to my usual clothes size as well, as having to buy trousers in 2 sizes bigger was a bit of a surprise. ( never had to buy bigger bras tho!)
Weight is very subjective tho, if you've always been thin, putting on that stone or so is more of a thing.
I still do my all fruit Thursday and have maintained this weight for a long time. Reading about the 800 cals diet/ intermittent fasting diet it seems I was doing something similar before I'd even heard of it!

I would say the OP & myself (identical height/weight) are on the high end of healthy weight, imo.