# Diet-only weight loss: is it possible?



## Badnicki (Jul 26, 2021)

Hi all,

I was diagnosed with Type 2 just before having major surgery, which I’m now recovering from. I’m taking a “weight loss” approach to it as my HbA1c was 48, and for many reasons did not want the medication ahead of surgery. Normally I’d up my exercise and the weight would melt off, but that’s not going to be possible for about 3 months or so.  

I appreciate it varies from person to person, and that I have to see what works for me, but has anyone else had weight loss success through diet only? And did that involve a drastic change in carb consumption or something else?

It’s a pretty specific question that I have struggled to find an answer to, but I’ll take any diet/carb-related advice you can offer because I find it all very overwhelming to try and sort this out and also recovery from major surgery. 

Thanks in advance!


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## Gwynn (Jul 26, 2021)

Hi, I went for a short (5 months) low carb diet with very little exercise and the weight dropped off. Now I exercise a lot to push my metabolism up.

So, yes it may be possible.


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## Leadinglights (Jul 26, 2021)

I hope your recovery from your surgery goes well, yes, it should be possible to lose weight by cutting or reducing high carb foods. It probably become harder the nearer you are to your target but then you may have recovered sufficiently to start some gentle exercise. There are quite a few gentle exercises that might be suitable for you as anything which gets you moving even just arms, exercise doesn't have to be strenuous to help.
The main thing is to focus on recovery as a priority, the rest will follow.


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## Drummer (Jul 26, 2021)

Badnicki said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I was diagnosed with Type 2 just before having major surgery, which I’m now recovering from. I’m taking a “weight loss” approach to it as my HbA1c was 48, and for many reasons did not want the medication ahead of surgery. Normally I’d up my exercise and the weight would melt off, but that’s not going to be possible for about 3 months or so.
> 
> ...


I was eating a really healthy high carb diet on instructions from my GP to 'lower Cholesterol' - the highest weight I recorded was 264lb, but I stopped weighing myself some 6 months before diagnosis, and I was almost spherical.
I went low carb, 50 gm a day maximum, and without trying lost at least 50lb.
I did become more active, but do not do formal exercise sessions.
I started out way back doing Atkins - and he declares that exercise is essential, but for someone like me, very sensitive to carbs, the exercise required is minimal.


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## Badnicki (Jul 26, 2021)

Gwynn said:


> Hi, I went for a short (5 months) low carb diet with very little exercise and the weight dropped off. Now I exercise a lot to push my metabolism up.
> 
> So, yes it may be possible.


Hi Gwynn, thanks for the reply! How many grams of carbs was “low carb” for you?


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## Badnicki (Jul 26, 2021)

Drummer said:


> I was eating a really healthy high carb diet on instructions from my GP to 'lower Cholesterol' - the highest weight I recorded was 264lb, but I stopped weighing myself some 6 months before diagnosis, and I was almost spherical.
> I went low carb, 50 gm a day maximum, and without trying lost at least 50lb.
> I did become more active, but do not do formal exercise sessions.
> I started out way back doing Atkins - and he declares that exercise is essential, but for someone like me, very sensitive to carbs, the exercise required is minimal.


Thanks Drummer…50g sounds quite doable. I tried keto awhile back and it helped enormously, but didn’t feel particularly healthy. If I remember correctly on keto it was 30g of carbs, which wasn’t enough veg for me. I’ll see how I get on with 50g. Cheers!


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## Leadinglights (Jul 26, 2021)

I would start by making a food diary with what you are eating at the moment in terms of carbs and than reduce down slowly as reducing your blood glucose too rapidly can cause some people eye issues. By making gradual reduction hopefully you could avoid that. Just low carb means you can have loads of veg.
I reduced to 60g carb per day in one fell swoop and did have problems with my vision, near focusing terrible, distance fine, but it took 7 months to get back to sort of normal.


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## Drummer (Jul 26, 2021)

Badnicki said:


> Thanks Drummer…50g sounds quite doable. I tried keto awhile back and it helped enormously, but didn’t feel particularly healthy. If I remember correctly on keto it was 30g of carbs, which wasn’t enough veg for me. I’ll see how I get on with 50g. Cheers!


You do need to check on what you can eat - I am particularly sensitive to carbs, so I pick which foods I eat carefully - I avoid legumes as they seem to cause a higher rise than they should. 
If you chose the veges to be as low carb as possible you would be eating over half a kilo, easily.


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## Badnicki (Jul 26, 2021)

Leadinglights said:


> I would start by making a food diary with what you are eating at the moment in terms of carbs and than reduce down slowly as reducing your blood glucose too rapidly can cause some people eye issues. By making gradual reduction hopefully you could avoid that. Just low carb means you can have loads of veg.
> I reduced to 60g carb per day in one fell swoop and did have problems with my vision, near focusing terrible, distance fine, but it took 7 months to get back to sort of normal.


I had no idea that could actually happen. I like the idea of gradually cutting down so I can still focus on surgery recovery whilst making progress on the weight. Thanks!


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## Gwynn (Jul 26, 2021)

Hi again, I try to keep my carbs to beliw 125g a day but often reach about 100g

I just can't imagine the difficulties of trying to go lower, but then I haven't needed to.

Of course it only works if you weigh and calculate everything.


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