To think too few people understand the role of insulin with regards to weight loss?

[Redterror]

So I am an advocate of low carb but I know plenty of people who have used slimming world, or weight watchers or any other diet to lose weight. I have seen though people being really negative regards low carb diets and I don't get it.

When you understand how your body deals with different nutrients it because clear that all diets need to lower insulin. How you do this is up to you but ultimately all weight loss diets do it.

When insulin is elevated then you can't burn much fat and instead rely on mostly burning sugar from your diet. If you want to burn mostly fat from your fat cells your insulin needs to be lowered.

People say eat less move more without understanding that for someone who is insulin resistant this is really hard. The body cells stop responding to insulin so stop taking up sugar from the blood. This effectively means the cells feel like they are 'starving' as they can't get enough sugar and this drives hunger signals. It also makes the person feel lethargic and lacking in energy, so exercise is harder.

You can reduce insulin levels by fasting, reducing carbs in the diet, reducing consumption of refined carbohydrates, cutting calories etc but the key is your insulin.

So can I ask, as I'm a bit clueless about this, how do I lower my insulin or at least not elevate it?
Asking as I have three stone to lose, and a month into an exercise plan I have lost nothing, which has totally demoralised me.
Any suggestion of what food I should definitely include or cut out?

@Fairislefandango low fat diets reduce insulin levels too. You will have restricted foods containing a lot of sugar by avoiding things like sweets and chocolates. You probably snacked less too. Both of these will reduce insulin levels.

But why do i feel starving if i only eat donuts even though its the same calories?

I’ve struggled with weight loss from hormone issues and hypothyroidism since my teens, the only way I ever lose weight is with fasting and keto+ resistance weight/exercise- It’s definitely a life style choice but one I have come to see works for me so I revert back to it when nothing else works.

I had gestational diabetes in my recent pregnancy and I really learnt more about how insulin works and what I need to do to keep weight off. I can’t do my usual fast or keto atm as I’m breast feeding and a diet of any kind makes your milk dry up immediately. My weight is ok atm but I’m keen to get back to losing more once I can.

my friends and family notice just how had I work to keep my weight in check, they will never think of the next thing they eat but I have to actively think about it every meal. It’s so draining when you have to work for a 1lb weight loss in a month when someone else would lose 4lbs in a week - but if you know that’s what needs to be done and commit to it it can be done.

all that said, when your life revolves so hard around losing weight and the struggle it’s understandable why individuals throw in the towel and say f-it, I’m just gonna eat what I want because the alternative isn’t working ; or working to minuscule effect.

@Redterror a steak will raise your insulin level more than a bowl of brown rice, so you want to rethink your science !

Presumably there is plenty of fat to burn because you're overweight so your cells don't need to send out signals to eat more because they have a plentiful supply of energy. That's why you don't feel hungry as much or get cravings

presumably?

so is this your own theories based on presumption and assumption, or is any of it based in science at all.

@Adultchildofelderlyparents the easiest thing to do first is cut out snacks and refined sugar. Eating frequently means you will be regularly spiking insulin. The more hours in a day your insulin is elevated the harder it is to lose weight.

Because they're calorie dense and it's food not calories that fills you up. An enormous bowl of porridge has at most as many calories as a regular Mars bar but is waaay more filling.

I have a theory (not scientific in any way) I think age and previous eating and dieting history plays a part. As a teen and early twenties I thought I was fat (size 12) and would go on calorie controlled diets on and off to bring it down and take me to a nice size 10.

When I was 26 I went on the depo provera hormone injection and I put on 3 stone in about 8 months. I was prob eating more I can’t remember but after the injection wore off I went on a SW diet - green days eat all the carbs you want. I had never really eaten much pasta before that but I loaded my days heavily with pasta (as it was free on a green day) and dropped the weight in about 6 months. I was delighted.

However my theory is that that sort of diet where you are over stressing the body with carbs damages it. I developed PCOS and later gestational diabetes and then diabetes type 2 - and as I have got older the ability to lose weight has become harder.

it is not simply calories in - I had COVID and barely ate for a week last Christmas - surviving on water and I stayed the same week when with the calories in theory I should prob lost 2 pounds. For the following 3 weeks my food intake was very very limited and I should have lost more weight - I didn’t.

it is so complex and mad diets can totally muck up your body. I wish I knew then what I know now about my body.

I inject liraglutide daily

Lost stone so far. That's how I decrease my blood sugar 🤷‍♀️

I use the word presumably in this context because someone is on a weight loss diet, I don't know that particular poster so they may not have lots of fat to burn.

Yes it's based on science. The role of insulin is well understood.

Similarly, booze is high in calories but doesn't fill you up.

How big are your spikes? And do you check around exercise too?

YANBU but your posts do ring with the zeal of a recent convert.

It annoys me, because so many people on here say low carb is the only way to go and all carbs are bad without bothering to differentiate between simple and complex.

I eat a well balanced diet and exercise a lot. I love complex carbs along with the occasional cake. At 51 and 175 cm weighing 65 kg I'm happy with that.

Great low carbs works, hopefully long term but I will never do it.

@MrsTuxedo I don't think I've mentioned steak or rice. Although your point depends on the size of either.

My point is when insulin is raised you will mostly be burning sugar and if you want to lose weight you need to burn fat. To burn fat insulin needs to be lowered.

I agree with you op to a point. Insulin resistance makes losing weight difficult for some people not everyone.
Plenty of people can lose weight easily while simply maintaining a calorie deficit and having will power. Those people aren't controlled by hunger hormones driven by insulin so it makes it a little easier to not snack or eat regularly. When you've a constant release of hunger hormones going on willing you to think about food and eat all the time it's very hard to resist.
Low carb and keto are excellent for controlling hunger and cravings but for many people it's not a way of eating they enjoy long term.
I've recently discovered fasting and I've taken to it like a duck to water. I've had weight issues for most of my adult life but when it was only ever a stone or two I could control it with a calorie deficit only.
As time went on and I was diagnosed with pcos, developed an autoimmune illness and acquired more weight that's when losing became impossible unless I used drastic measures, shakes, severe calorie deficit, keto etc. I would lose some weight but ended up gaining more as it was a constant state of deprivation/eating.
Since I've discovered fasting, I lower carb but I'm not low carb. I've basically cut out almost all the junk which I snacked on constantly. I've gone from constantly hungry to been hungry very rarely. I used to snack all day now I eat mainly in a 20/4 window and once a week 16/8. I eat what I fancy but I do make sure most meals are nutrient dense.
For me fasting needs some willpower but compared to normal dieting it's very little. I've always never been hungry in the mornings but used to eat breakfast as apparently it was the most important meal of the day and once I ate it I was hungry all day until bed time.
I do count calories as I believe energy in and out counts very much too. But I also realise that for my body and conditions insulin spikes have a negative effect. Fasting and controlling insulin spikes is one part of the programme that will get me to my goal weight and keep me in maintainance.
I've an ongoing thread on my journey in the fasting forum. It's early days but I'm committed to that WOE longterm.

Oh this is interesting because I am completely a grazer rather than a meal eater. So basically I'm raising my insulin all day. Gosh! Genuinely wish I had learned about body health and nutrition at school years ago.
I will stop my grazing and if the weight starts to drop off I will wholeheartedly be thanking you!

@Fairislefandango low fat diets reduce insulin levels too. You will have restricted foods containing a lot of sugar by avoiding things like sweets and chocolates. You probably snacked less too. Both of these will reduce insulin levels.

Hmmm... maybe. I certainly avoided chocolate, pastry, cake, biscuits etc because they are all high fat as well as high sugar. But I probably snacked more, and (unusually for me) ate sweets and super low-fat sweet snacks quite a bit because they were my only treats. Maybe they still didn't add up to the amount of sugar I was losing by not eating other also fatty stuff though.

You’re right I should be saying simple carbs are my enemy. Thanks for pointing that out.

Could you give an example of what you could eat in a day to lower insulin? I’m really clueless about all this

I have a theory (not scientific in any way) I think age and previous eating and dieting history plays a part.

It does. Muscle memory is a real thing. I remember a study where they matched up men by vital statistics but half had trained in weightlifting five years previous. The latter group gained muscle something like 30% quicker. You can also create permanent genetic changes to your body by lifting weights (and also by taking steroids).

Existing but shrunken fat cells also blow up again quicker than cells which need to be created from scratch. I think they said it was seven years that fat cells last (was a long time either way) so logically a formerly fat person will put on the weight quicker if they have existing fat cells vs somebody who never had them and whose body must create them.

A fat cell can go from microscopic to about the size of a full stop.

I agree - very preachy.

It can put people off

I will stop my grazing and if the weight starts to drop off I will wholeheartedly be thanking you!

I stopped grazing and started eating meals.
it worked because I ate less. 10 “snacks” a day could go over 2500 cals easily.

3 meals - rarely went over 1500-2000 cals. 200 breakfast, 400 lunch, 600 dinner.

guess what. Lost weight. Nothing to do with what I was eating (toast, lunch noodles or a sandwich, pasta/potato based dinner) but everything to go with the fact my grazing meant a much higher calorie intake.

Intermittent fasting worked for me too. I actually found it harder trying to eat 3x moderate meals as I was never full. With IF you always know you'll be stuffed after your last meal. In fact, I often found it hard to get in the accumulated calories at the end of the day, as if my stomach had shrunk or something.