Just eat less and move more?

[fattygettingthin]

I'm very overweight. Have about 9 stone to lose, I'm so ashamed. I got diagnosed with type 2 diabetes yesterday. The dr who was also overweight told me all the things I'm now likely to get, and how I should lose weight as a matter of urgency. They even offered to refer me for weight loss surgery right there. I asked for some advice on losin weight alone and they suggested weight watchers and swapping coke for Diet Coke .

So my aibu is; how the fuck am I to lose 9 stone without surgery? I have a gym membership but I don't think I use it well. I 'workout' for an hour or so 4 times a week but really it's just playing at using my membership and I know I need to be better. But how? How do you learn how to workout properly?

All the workouts I see online are for like mega body building men! And suggestions of eating protein and working out for 4 hours a day. I need help. I know I need to do this. Is it unreasonable to want to see little workout cards near the machines in the gym?

What do you eat for breakfast when you so 'low carb'? Is weight watchers worth it? I have a 12 week membership now but I don't want to eat 'lite' yogurts full of sugar and sweeteners. It feels like a mammoth task that I can't do.

If you got to the end well done!

I wouldn't give your money to a slimming club! You may as well throw it away. Do not buy diet or ww foods either, they full of sugar or artificial sweeteners. There is so much advice online. Find Richie Howie on Facebook - warning he swears a lot but he tells you the scams.

I go to the gym and I've started doing 10 mins cardio, 5 mins alternating between two weight exercises, 10 mins cardio, 5 weights etc. It's stopped me getting bored and I feel fitter. Using the 5 minutes doing weights I get my breath back whilst doing something productive.

Having said that - diet is key here. You must know exactly what you putting in. Track what you are eating, every mouthful. I use my fitness pal app (free) and I overeat and eat the wrong things when I'm not using it. It's a way to make me mindful and aware of what I'm eating.

I don't have all the answers have around 3 stone to lose myself, but I was referred by doc to counterweight- an NHS program and this is what I'm learning. Ask your doc if they do something similar to counterweight in your area

Best of luck

OK the more of this thread I read the more I must say be wary of diet advise from non-diabetics!! Things like fruit, popcorn, rice cakes are way up on the glycaemic scale so are a no no.... low carb and don't worry about fat at all. But limit dairy a tad (bacially if you eat cheese all day you wont lose weight)... the low carb thing only works if you don't cheat though. But like with your bloods... it is an averages game. One cock up doesn't ruin everything, just don't do it again! Good luck!

Eat Less and Move More is now very outdated advice.....as 95% of those who restrict severely to lose weight (most diets) will regain that weight within five years and a good proportion will gain extra on top. There's masses of research out there now about this.

Your brain and body have evolved to gain weight. Those of us living now are descendants of those who were able to lay down stores of fat and survive famine. The problem is we now live in an obesogenic environment and no longer have to hunt and gather for food....so no famine. We can just drive to the shop for our chocolate or other calorific food.

My advice is to drop the calories but slightly ...by around 200 a day, carry on with the gym as you are more than meeting the weekly requirement for exercise. Play around with calorie intake but aim to lose weight slowly while building up muscle strength at the gym. Muscle burns fat very very efficiently and well. Your blood sugar will improve massively just from that. I am a year down the line from you....Ive dropped around 1.5 stone which is nowhere near what my GP wanted however my BP is now normal as are my blood sugars. Plus I've dropped three dress sizes from working out....if you stick 1lb of fat next to 1lb of fat you will see why...muscle is lean and smooth but fat takes up much more space and isn't smooth.

I'm finding the app MyFitnessPal (linked with MapMyWalk) really good. As you're diabetic you can use it to accurately track your sugar intake (though you have to go premium for some features).

For me the biggest things are watching portion sizes, cutting down highly refined carbs & sugar, and watching snacking. I can emotionally eat or eat out of boredom and that's not helping! Rather than treating yourself with food treat yourself to other stuff - hot bath, new shoes, etc. And set yourself realistic goals. Aim to loose a stone by summer, then another by October, etc.

Remember if you have a slip it's not the end of the world. Don't throw the whole day away. Get back up and try again. Bit by bit you'll get there.

If you get put on thyroid medication you should drop quite a bit that way.
Agree with some pps that if you're t2 diabetic you need to look at some sort of low carb eating plan.
Weights are better than cardio for weight loss as more improvement to metabolism.

@loulouland @Grumpbum @JontyDoggle37
I've been watching Richie's videos for a while. Considering joining RH fitness. What do I need to consider??

You need to be committed

The key to any diet, really, is recalibrating your appetite and sense of hunger.

This is straightforwardly miserable and something you just have to get through.

I went from eating probably 2,500 calories a day to around 1,400 because the middle-aged spread was getting the best of me. I had to re-jig my evening habits because that was my trouble time; I read a lot more now and go get a coffee most nights (I struggle to stay awake past 10).

One extremely important thing I've learned is to be very, very kind to myself when I slip up because people who feel sorry for themselves tend to not lose weight.

Dolores You start of by saying east less and move more is outdated and then proceed to describe eating less and moving more as the way to do it.

Wax you are right but the current "Eat Less and Move More" advice advocates dropping calories massively. Current research does not back that up.

Move more?

No...move the right amount ...so work on muscle strength etc.

I hear what you are saying but I'm not sure if it does tbh. I think there is a wide variety of options around, probably more than at any other time. Having a calorific deficit is really the only way to lose weight but advice/information/options on how you do that seems to be in abundance. I agree for sustainability you really need to view it as a lifestyle change rather than something you are "on" and then finished with.

Dropping less calories over a longer period will certainly help with the lifestyle part.

However, in this case the OP has diabetes, my understanding is that currently the best research available indicates that there has to be a large calorific deficit over a short period of time to get the best chance of reversal. I'm sure there are others on the thread that have more information than me but I think that's what the blood sugar diet is all about?

Another cliche but true.

"Even an empty bucket will fill up from drips"

In other words little by little. Chip away at it. A pound per week is 52lbs a year which will make a huge difference.

Sorry if anyone has suggested it! But I thoroughly recommend parkrun. Google it. There is hopefully one in your area.
It's a run not a race, and you can start off but walking the majority with little 30 second jogs but it won't be long before you're building it up. Its all inclusive.
Please don't be put off by 'running' its a great community and you will meet great people and get amazing encouragement. Good luck!

Waxon yes you’re correct. The blood sugar diet reverses T2 by having a quick weight loss in a short period of time using a calorie controlled, low carb high fat and sugar free plan. If you have T2, with all due respect, you must learn fast to control your sugar intake and your overall carb intake because otherwise you will end up on medication and possibly with all the associated physical problems that occur as a result of poorly controlled sugars.

I’ve already posted a link to our thread further up, but please do come and check it out. We’re very friendly!

Sorry, here’s the link again!

Blood sugar diet thread 10www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3222906-blood-sugar-diet-thread-10

Did the GP offer to refer you for weight loss surgery, or to the Obesity Clinic?

Either way you would have had an assessment and then it would be decided the best way for you to lose weight and get healthier.

Would you not take the referral? They won't just weight you and book you in for surgery.

Severe Obesity is a specialist area and you need specialist advice, that is without your diabetes thrown in.

Lots of people on here slating weight loss clubs, and I really don't know why. Yes, your head needs to be in the right place as with any commitment to lifestyle change but the group support is definitely not to be underestimated if you find the right group for you. I lost 5 stone in a year with Slimming World without adding in the exercise until a much later point. I did it whilst cooking mostly unprocessed fresh foods as I was cooking for my whole family and personally didn't want the little ones eating a load of additives etc. Sure you can go crazy on the muller lights and diet cokes etc but you absolutely don't have to! Slimming world definitely have a separate bit of advice/plan tweaking for diabetic members, not sure about weight watchers.

I find going to fitness classes more motivating and productive than just being at the gym gym where I will likely end up slowly mooching on a bike watching corrie, ha! Could this be an option for a bit of change?

Don't be downhearted, you definitely can do it once you believe you can!

Hey, there's even a fitting sw success story ;)

www.slimmingworld.co.uk/success-stories/amanda-hey.aspx

I've had a blood test done on Tuesday and this morning they rang and said I have a very low thyroid and said I need to go on medication for it? Also have non existent folate levels and b12 is v low.

Get the 'easily' fixed physical issues addressed.
If your folate and Vit B12 were very low, you are while heavy still malnourished, either because you were not getting enough of these vitamins in your diet or because you cannot absorb them properly. This should be followed up (rule out Coeliac's disease and Pernicious Anaemia for a start).
Please don't fall in to the trap of thinking that because your thyroid was/is underactive your weight will just fall off once you are taking the appropriate amount of thyroxine - having that sorted will help, but people with normal thyroids also get very overweight!

You sound like you are really ready to tackle this - go for it!

Re slimming clubs: they work for a lot of people. ANY weight loss method works for some people. Anybody losing weight with their chosen method should crack on. Otoh, going to whichever slimming club 'for 15 years' and not losing weight in that time? Well, honey, it ain't for you, try something else...

Hi there

What all these responses show me is that there is an awful lot of conflicting advice around eating well with diabetes/losing weight/ making sustained change. I agree in many ways with Mountains.

You have a problem metabolising carbohydrates. Slimming world, WW and the like are not made for people like you (not saying you can't lose an amount of weight on these). There are no 'free' carbohydrates for people with diabetes. The best new evidence explores low carb high fat, and intermittent fasting. There is an amount of work going on at the moment around 'reversability' of t2 diabetes on very low calorie diets.

Weight loss is the answer through food, with good excercise habits and sleep. As a first port of call I recommend you ask your GP if there is an XPERT diabetes structured education programme available locally.

T2 diabetes doesn't have to be a life sentence. You CAN make changes. 9st is 2 lbs a week for less than 18 months. Totally doable, in other words.

Give yourself time to process and be kind to yourself

As a PP said most people who lose weight gain it back, and more usually within 5 years. There is also evidence to suggest that once your BMI is over 40 the chance of ever being a healthy weight is 1/1350.
I'd go for the surgery. It's the only weight loss method with proven long term benefits.

ALL starches are metabolised in to blood sugar - the difference between a teaspoon of sugar and, say, brown rice is in how quickly it is turned in to sugar.

Mavis, while there is no disagreeing with your statement, personally I would not go down the surgery route before I had tried everything else. Never being able to eat a 'normal' meal again, having to think about avoid malabsorption, the potential for osteoporosis longterm etc etc would give me pause.
The absence of good evidence for various ways to lose ways does not automatically mean that there is evidence that it does NOT work.

And the body of evidence in favour of LCHF is rising all the time. AND it is not a 'diet' IMO, it is a change in how we eat and how we perceive what we should eat.

@DragonNoodleCake - you have to be prepared to put the effort in. Excuses won’t be tolerated! As long as you can do 15k steps a day and make sure your food fits your macros, you’re guaranteed to lose!

OP a mix of therapy , new eating regime and exercise will do it

I hate to state the bleeding obvious but you will need to eat LESS . Just prepare yourself for that fact as 1200 calories does equate smaller portions

What can I say - vegetables and pulses are a girls beat friend
It’s also very true that not every diet plan works

Vegans can’t have lean meat
Diabetics have a whole other raft of issues

When I stated I watched a great documentary on amamzon prime about a chef who was diagnosed with type 2 and his journey back to health

He was very lucky and he had HELP but it’s a great watch given your scenario

It’s called ‘why are we so fat’

And listen you will fall Off the wagon some days . Just get back
On it the next day

Cardio is great for fitness and Weights are great for muscle building and losing weight.

Start with diet then incorporate exercise.

80% Diet 20% Exercise.

I lost 4st by diet alone & 0 exercise.

As for 15,000 steps

Who has the time ! Even when I factor a walk into my Commute I get 10K

Just bear in mind not everyone has TIME !