# Struggling to lose weight



## Redmen69 (Apr 24, 2020)

Hi,

I wonder if someone can give me some guidance please?

I am a T1 and have been for 44 years since I was 6 and over the later years have struggled with weight. I am a very active person and have played football all my life.  4 years ago almost to the day I was weighing at nearly 15stone at a height of 5'10 but always been fairly muscly so it never really showed that I was fat.  So when my daughter was born and I decided I had to lose weight and get properly fit.  I started running and got up to 6 mils every day in a little over a year.  I got my weight down to 11st 12 which was still a bit too much and continued to run every day.  August last year I started on anti depressants tablets for anxiety and slowly the weight piled back on even though I was still running 5-7k not quite as much but still every day and walking too.  I average about 12-15k steps a day every day.

So after Xmas I weighed 14st 8 mid Jan I looked at my diet upped the exercise to include weights. reduced my carbs to what can only be 20 or 30g a day maximum and low calorie food too.  I have barely lost a thing, in fact I lost 6 pounds to 14st 2.  My body fat has gone down a bit but not a lot.  Last time I did this it fell off now nothing will make it shift.  In fact I lost all the weight inside about 4 or 5 months and bodyfat from 29% to 11% now it's back at 23%.

I don't know what is causing this, I eat virtually nothing some days and exercise and exercise and nothing.  It's demoralising.  I thought maybe I wasn't eating enough and as soon as I upped my eating my weight went up.  Has my metabolism stopped?  I have tried everything I can think of apart from speaking to the Dr, maybe there is something wrong with me?

Any help please?


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## rebrascora (Apr 24, 2020)

Hi. I am sorry to hear you are having such difficulties. It certainly is very odd when you are also eating low carb. Have your basal insulin needs changed significantly during these periods of weight loss and weight gain and which insulins do you use. Also what were your HbA1c readings like when you lost weight and then gained weight 
Do you keep a food diary and can you give us an idea of what you generally eat and drink on an average day? Your body must be extremely efficient if you are doing that much exercise on reduced carbs and calories and still not losing body fat. What are your BG levels like and have your carb:insulin ratios changed much?


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## SB2015 (Apr 24, 2020)

Sorry to hear you are having these issues with your weight, with no clear reason.
I think I would also suggest a food diary.  You are already looking at your carbs, 
but perhaps you would also need to consider calories. 

Having said that it would be worth contacting your GP .  I know that around here they are able to give phone appointments, and I felt that they had more time, as so few people are contacting them.  As you are so worried, and have considered possible causes, speak to them if you can.


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## Redmen69 (Apr 24, 2020)

Hi. my HBA1c has ranged between 39-44 it currently sits at the guesstimate from my libre at 40.

I don't keep a food diary but I think I am going to have to, I am getting pretty down about this and particularly today as my weight has gone up 3 pounds since last week. so am barely eating a thing, to the point of eating the kids easter eggs just to keep myself in range but that's only been the last week or so.  I use Tresiba and Fiasp.  At my best weight my Tresiba was 18 and Fiasp around 15/20 a day for food.  Now it's 25 Tresiba and around 10/15 a day for Fiasp although it's been as low as 5.  My 4-7.5 mmol range is 65% and outside 30% but that's normally that's around 7.8 - 8.5 occasionally up to 10 and very rarely high.  I don't have too many lows either.

I stopped taking the tablets for anxiety in December, I don't think I need them I am pretty happy person apart from this weight thing and the anxiety is something I can control now.  So much is written about these Tablets and weight gain as soon as I realised I stopped, don't feel any different so maybe they weren't having much effect anyway. 

Although I don't eat a lot my diet isn't the normal as I have no time for set meals and keep as low carb and low calorie as possible.  I often have just soup, vegetable mostly and I may have scrambled egg earlier in the day.  I supplement food intake to keep my BS in or with carbs but not a lot really.

Drs are impossible to get hold of now.

I am doing pretty much the same thing I was when I lost so much weigh with one big difference, I am eating way less.  However that's only because when I started it wasn't working so I reduced and reduced.


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## trophywench (Apr 24, 2020)

There is a medically recognised but completely counter-intuitive thing I've seen mentioned occasionally over the years - where your body stops losing weight because it isn't getting enough food for it to relax and perform properly hence it retains what fat it can cos it looks like nutrition supply is about to run out - ie you aren't eating enough. (Told you it sounded ridiculous didn't I)

Can someone with better knowledge about such things help me here, please?


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## Redmen69 (Apr 25, 2020)

Thank you, starvation mode? Yes I have considered this, am going to up everything for a week and see but it feels wrong :-(


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## Cazzablanca (Apr 25, 2020)

I am in this situation also. After losing 4 stone last year and with 2 stone to go I am maintaining weight on 900-1100 carefully weighed and counted calories.  I was wondering the same about starvation mode but when I have increased I gain a few pounds.  I am so desperate to get the rest off especially at the moment.  I exercise but but only 10m Hiit on static bike at the moment as I don't want to go out. 

I feel your pain.


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## Eddy Edson (Apr 25, 2020)

Who knows what's going on. But in your situation (and I've been there to some extent) I would really do an audit on what you're eating and how many calories you're burning to see if there is an imbalance.

Ignore the stuff about carbs being more weight-increasing than other nutrients - it's all really just calories, according to every credible study.

I find this a really useful free tool for tracking calories-in: www.cronometer.com

And this body weight planner https://www.niddk.nih.gov/bwp from the US NIH has been really useful for me in tracking calorie balance => weight over time, for food and exercise.

Good luck!


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## Redmen69 (Apr 26, 2020)

Thank you everyone much appreciated


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