Help me choose a diet please!!

[SpidersAreShitheads]

My GP surgery rang me today to tell me that my latest blood tests show I’m pre-diabetic.

I’m absolutely gutted, but mainly annoyed with myself.

I lead a really sedentary life and my eating is erratic. I’ve piled on the weight over the years, and now at 48 and perimenopausal, just sensible cutting back isn’t having the effect that it has in the past.

My life is a bit tricky - two SEN DC who are now home educated, one of whom has high needs. DP has been off sick for two years and probably won’t ever be well enough to work again. My DM lives in an annexe attached to my home; she has cerebral palsy and I’m her carer. I’m self-employed and have deadlines. We’re in the middle of a huge renovation project - I have a functioning kitchen now but every other room is mid-reno (literally every room).

So what I’m saying is that I’m time-poor. I get very little sleep and I don’t have regular meals. It’s hard to get out of the house to go to the gym or for a solo walk. Exercise has always helped me shed the weight before but I don’t think it will this time.

I’m thinking I can probably get my 10,000 steps in per day walking up and down the garden (reasonably sized garden). I can nip out there as and when I’ve got a spare 10 minutes.

But diet. I think I need to do a “proper” diet in view of the pre-diabetes. But there are so many out there!!!

I’m not veggie, I can cook pretty well from scratch when I’m organised enough (and I enjoy it). I have a sweet tooth but I obviously need to pack that in. I really enjoy eating lean meat and I love my veggies. I also read that peanut butter is low GI and that might help with sweet cravings?

What is the best diet to try? Googling is just giving me a load of paid diet plans and there’s about a million of them.

Please help by pointing me in the right direction!!! I’m not doing the weight loss jabs, no chance.

I just don’t know what diet to look at first….. Low GI? Paleo? Atkins?? Mediterranean? It’s making my head spin…

I listened to dr Mindy Pelz on diary of a CEO podcast and she was really good.
She recommends women should go on a fasting diet to help control blood sugar and help regulate hormones.
Her book 'fast like a girl' might be worth looking into

Have you considered Slimpod? Very much "not a diet", it encourages a change in your relationship with food. NHS approved, no weekly classes to attend, all online and loads of support. Basic message is Eat less, move more, choose well.

I read Ultra Processed People a couple of months ago and it has radically changed how I eat. I don't have bathroom scales in the house but my clothes are getting less tight.

The problem is everyone bangs on about eating disorders and problems around restricted eating. Which is very pertinent if you are 8 stone or are prone to being obsessive.
However for those of us that " love food" or are always 2 stone plus more than we should be ...eat much less.
Bin carbs because they have too many calories. Bin snacks because that's not a meal and you need to learn it won't kill you to wait until the next lot of proper food.

Pick two times a day you're going to eat and only eat then. This will be easier if your two meals aren't bread/ sugar / high sugar foods.

If you get diabetes then you have to stick to a diet anytway.

I haven’t actually had any fruit yet other than one slice of kiwi fruit. I forgot that I’d developed an allergic-type reaction to kiwi so that buggered up my plans for lunch. I ended up having the yoghurt but not any other fruit.

The last three days I’ve had no standard carbs and no snacks. So no biscuits/cakes/sweets and no rice/potato/bread/pasta. Just protein and veggies for dinner. No fruit.

I had a snack today of two sourdough crackers and a matchbox size chunk of cheese (I believe that’s the correct serving size?). The sourdough crackers were slightly larger than the square crisps you can get, so much smaller than the usual Jacob’s crackers/Ryvita etc.

I’m not deliberately doing Keto and I will be eating fruit as I want to have a balanced diet. But I haven’t had any fruit yet. The last three days I’ve cut out sugar, caffeine, and carbs - other than very low carbs found in veggies and the crackers earlier. I’ve also dramatically slashed my calorie intake to probably half or a third of usual. I don’t think I’m eating quite enough at the moment for it to be a) a good idea or b) sustainable and I suspect that might be contributing to feeling so shitty? Much lower calories, no sugar, no caffeine, and very few carbs - I don’t think my body knows what’s hit it 🤦🏻‍♀️😂

I felt so awful earlier I had to go and lie down for a couple of hours. Luckily DP was having a good day so he did dinner for the DC and took over for a bit. That’s not always possible so I do need to feel a bit more human!!! Honestly thought I might pass out earlier, my head was fucking POUNDING. And I say that as someone who regularly gets hormone headaches every month and manages to cope…but not like this!

DP was suggesting I’ve gone too hard too quickly and wanted me to have a few biscuits but I’d rather not resort to that if I can help it. An ice pack on my neck/head has helped together with ibuprofen and paracetamol.

I am no expert but I think carb flu is due to your body switching to fat burning mode in which case as you said electrolytes will be useful. In order to do this you need to have around 30g carbs a day. Other symptoms will be headache, fatigue, bad breath, dry mouth.

Sugar withdrawal can come from just decreasing refined carbs in your diet. I have had this whilst still eating around 120 g carbs a day but just complex ones (veggies etc). I just cut out all the refined ones, flour, rice, bread etc. This is a different mechanism to carb flu as sugar acts on dopamine receptors and releases endorphins and when they stop being released you can experience withdrawal effects including headaches (similar to if you give up caffeine).

I am not clear on how many grams carbs the OP is eating so not sure which one will apply. I think though if she is going full on keto the advice is to take it slowly initially to give the body a chance to adjust.

You do need to make sure you're eating enough. But not necessarily back on the biscuits. Some fruit or a handful of nuts are good for a snack. I like apple slices with peanut butter. Or veg with some houmous. Do you drink plenty of water too?

I haven't read everyone's suggestions but if you are craving sweet then the best thing to do is quit the sweet stuff cold turkey. Including artificial sweeteners (they cause worse cravings than actual sugar). I'd also go easy on fruit and white carbs, so choose brown rice etc. Walking is super good for diabetes, but you need to get your heart rate up. Ten minutes here and there is a great start but ultimately it won't cut it. You're better off with 20 minutes of really fast walking.

I understand how hard it is to lose weight when you are stressed to the hilt and exhausted. Your cortisol levels will be at the max and that is the worst thing for hunger. Lack of sleep is also one of the biggest offenders for appetite control. Is there anything you can do that is just for you, even once a week, where you can relax a little? You need to get in the right frame of mind to eat better and while you're stuck in the stressful situation you're in, you will struggle and beat yourself up about it.

@Thegreatgiginthesky

Sugar is a carb. Therefore if you cut down/out sugar you're cutting carbs.

I would just calorie count as a start. You do a decent amount of steps. Do a calorie deficit calculator and go from there, you can download nutracheck or myfitnesspal for free and just track everything. No limitations on what you can have just portion control.

As an example from myself. I weightlift 2-3 times a week and my deficit is 2200 calories a day (maintenance 2700) and i lose approx 1-2lb a week doing this. Obviously you could reduce it more to lose more but its actually quite easy.

I would also try calorie counting, just cut back a little and see how you go. You need to take care of yourself OP, you seem to be doing so much for everyone else.

Hello all,

I just wanted to pop back on to say that the awful bastard headache only lasted a couple of days or so, and I've managed to stick to my diet all week.

I've not felt hungry at all - had loads of food, although I have craved a chocolate brownie or bar of chocolate a few times, but not given in.

Just weighed myself yesterday - I've lost 13 pounds in my first week!! Absolutely blown away. Obviously I know the weight loss will slow down, but it's a great start and I'm very motivated to keep going - despite DP trying to persuade me to get a takeaway last night!!

I just wanted to come back and say thanks for all your help getting started - I am really hopeful that this will be a permanent change to a healthier (and lighter) me.

Wow! That's bloody awesome OP. Well done! 👏

That's fantastic - really well done!

Just to warn you, it's very common on a low carb diet to see big losses in the first week, sometimes another good loss in the second week but then nothing in weeks 3 and 4. So be prepared for that. You know it works, so if you just keep doing what you're doing, it will get going again after that - probably settling down at about 2lbs a week (depending on how much you have to lose).

Wow @SpidersAreShitheads that is just amazing. Congratulations.😁

Thank you all so much, I'm honestly bloody delighted!! I know that level of weight loss won't be sustained, but it's given me a great start, and the motivation to keep going.

Thank you for the warning @BIWI - that's really helpful to know. I will steel myself for crappy results for a couple of weeks, and persist. I probably would have doubted myself so it's good to be aware that might be coming!

I have a lot of weight to lose though. I still weigh 137.6kg now (the utter shame of writing that figure down!!!!!) - so losing 13 pounds is like chucking a deckchair off the Titanic, it's nothing really.

I meant to get a tape measure to get my physical dimensions as that might also help to spur me on, but I keep forgetting.

I don't actually know what diet plan I'm following as it doesn't seem to precisely fit any of them! I'm just working on the principles of low carb, low sugar, minimise refined food, maximise eating whole foods and cooking from scratch, and try to eat plenty of veg to bulk out meals. I am tracking my calories but I'm not especially worrying about them. However, on a daily basis, they're typically between 1100 and 1500.

Hi all - I’ve been commenting on other threads about diet today so I thought I’d come back and update mine.

I settled on the keto diet and that’s what I’ve been doing. I haven’t actually managed to start exercising as the building work and renovation has been a bit of a bloody nightmare. But I have done some painting and decorating which had me sweating buckets so I have been a bit more active.

As warned (thank you again @BIWI!) the weight loss did stop for a couple of weeks even though I hadn’t cheated. But I just kept going and the weight loss started again. I’m about 6 weeks in so far and I’ve lost 24 lbs so far which I’m very happy with. I’ve had loads to eat and I’ve not been hungry at all. I’ve had sugar-free jelly or a bit of dark chocolate when I craved something sweet. If you don’t like bitter dark chocolate I found dark chocolate bars that are described as “vanilla” flavour are sweeter and more satisfying. I also bought some carb-free flavouring that I add to plain, unsweetened yoghurt.

Just thought I’d leave an update in case it helps anyone else getting started.

That's great to hear! And thanks for the update

I've list 2st following the hairy bikers method (ish).
Their recipes are calorie counted and really tasty. A lot of the dishes have become family favourites

Oh, and also - don't worry about the lack of exercise. It's diet that is most effective in terms of weight loss. That's not to say that it's not good for you, or that it won't contribute, but you have to do a lot of exercise, regularly, to see a loss on the scales.

Also @SpidersAreShitheads have you checked out the Low Carb recipe topic?