Hi everyone - I am working my ways towards a more low-carb life although I am still in the information gathering and planning phase. I am curious if anyone out there is practicing a Health At Every Size or weight neutral approach to LC? I am interested in improving my glucose control but, while I am a very large person, I am not at all interested in tracking the scale or following super rigid rules. Just wondering if there are like-minded people here. Thanks!

Just recently told I am a diabetic, so I am more focused on bringing my numbers to normal, and getting healthy, low carb is working.

Thanks robynsnest!

The thing about LC eating is that the rules are fairly rigid for it to work to our advantage. By our reducing the number of carbs we eat, the body makes a change in the way it uses energy. The results of the change is loss of hunger and, happily for most, a loss of body fat. The positive chemical changes stop when we eat too many carbs. The body knows.

Have you read around here on the forum? There are many different approaches. Many of us use LC eating to maintain weight loss. You know how it is, go on a diet, lose the weight, go off the diet, gain back MORE weight. LC eating can keep the weight off.

This is a good group of people always willing to help.

Welcome.

It is certainly possible to follow a low carb diet without focusing on weight loss. Just don't weigh yourself. However if your interest is in better glucose control you will need to pay attention at least to how much carbohydrate you are eating and how that effects your blood glucose levels. After a while the eating rules for a low carbohydrate diet (diet meaning just what you eat not something that necessarily promotes weight loss) will not feel rigid. They will feel natural and simply the way you eat, at least that's been my experience. It may come down to a choice between priorities, perhaps even philosophy vs science. It can be hard to figure out how to live in this world.

Jean

I agree with health at every size, to a degree. Just being 25 pounds overweight was enough to get me in trouble. If I were to gain 100 pounds, I would likely be very sick--I'm a smaller person, old enough that the increase in body fat would probably be due to increased fat cell size rather than fat cell number, in the first case, mechanical stress etc. will lead to inflammation, fat spillover will likely lead to elevated free fatty acids, unless carbohydrate intake is very low, probably fatty liver, insulin resistance, and given my family history, and the recent history of humanity for that matter, diabetes. The problem isn't percentage or total body fat, it's body fat in excess of the various organs, including fat tissue's, ability to manage it, that's entirely individual.

Great advise. Meat and LC veggies for me, MUST keep blood sugar down, focused on getting healthy.

Been there, done that! Take it from me, you have to be strict with your low carbing if you want to control your blood sugars. I dabbled with low carb for years, never ate a plate of pasta, most of the time tried to avoid bread, sugars etc. I was doing it mostly to try and loose weight, lost the same 20lbs over and over again.

Then I developed full-blown diabetes anyway. Just reducing carbs to less than the standard American diet (SAD) had not been enough, and it was hard too. Not being strict meant I never lost the cravings for carbs. However, upon diagnosis, I went strict low carb following Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution. That combined with metformin took my A1c from 12.0 to 5.2 in less than a year. I lost 50lbs along the way, not because I was trying, but because that's what generally happens when a type 2 diabetic controls their blood sugar by controlling their carbs. The weight is a sypmtom of the higher blood glucose/metabolic syndrome.

So, if you want to control your blood sugar via diet, you will need to be strict with your carbs. Your weight will do what it does.

Thank you!! Working hard and taking this very seriously...

Hi Robynsnest and welcome to the forum. Yes, you absolutely can do LC just for the health of it and not focus at all on your weight.

My husband and I found ourselves going low-carb "accidentally" after he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes with an HbA1C of 12.4. He's deathly afraid of needles and the thought that he might have to start injecting himself with insulin a couple of times a day almost put him into shock.

We decided to figure out if he could control his BG with diet. We started out eating very simple meals (one item) and tracking his blood sugar after every meal to see what that food did to him. For awhile he did a test every 30 minutes for up to 3 or 4 hours after every meal...until his BG dropped back down to fasting levels.

Then, if a food caused his BG to spike way up and/or stay high (above 130) for longer than about 90 minutes, we just quit eating that particular food. If his BG didn't react (no big spike), we knew that food was "safe" and he could eat more of it. If his BG went up but didn't stay up too long, we put that food in an "okay in limited amounts category."

Didn't take too long to basically teach ourselves what Dr. Bernstein and Dr. Atkins had been teaching all along. Fats don't raise blood sugar. Protein in reasonable amounts doesn't raise blood sugar. Limited amounts of carbs from non-starchy vegetables and low-sugar fruits are okay especially if eaten with fats to slow carb absorbtion. But grains, starchy vegetables and high sugar fruits cause serious BG spiking. A diabetic simply cannot eat those things and expect to control his/her blood sugars without medications. Not sure a diabetic can eat starches and sugars and REALLY control BG with meds either...but the AMA and big Pharma still wants you to believe you can.

BTW, for simplicity I tend to think of non-starchy veggies as "green carbs" and starchy veggies and grains and sugar as "white carbs." Whatever carbs a diabetic does eat should come from green-carbs, not white carbs. Dividing them that in my mind makes meal planning much easier.

Why didn't we just follow Dr. Bernstein's and/or Dr. Atkins diets?

Duh... Because I had never heard of Dr. Bernstein and, while I had heard mention of Atkins, I didn't know ANYTHING about what he actually taught because all my life I had simply rejected ALL diets as "fad diets" except the AMA approved food pyramid and the "eat less, move more" plan. As far as I was concerned, Atkins was as much a fad diet as the "grapefruit and cottage cheese only" diet. All my life I had closed my ears equally to everything I considered a "fad diet" and didn't even bother to read or consider what ANYBODY had to say if it wasn't accepted by the American Medical Association. Talk about being a true-believer! Looking back, I can't BELIEVE that was me.

But the thing I wanted to tell you is that, even tho we were focused totally on keeping Hubby's BG under control and not paying any attention to the scales, we both started losing weight and I, being "larger" lost weight FAST! About a month or two after Hubby was diagnosed, I suddenly noticed that all of my slacks were getting way too big for me...as in falling off of me too big. And I noticed that my constant HUNGER had gone away. I had quit snacking every night before bedtime without even noticing that I was doing it.

I hadn't been trying to lose weight and up to that point, I hadn't even bothered to weigh myself. But the weight came off anyway. It was at that point that I started researching on the internet, first learned the term ketogenic, found this site, and started learning the truth.

If you're in this for your health, that is absolutely wonderful! It is the single best reason to change your life.

Don't bother buying or using a weight scale. Do get a BG meter and start checking your sugars regularly. Find out what your fasting BG is. Pick a reasonable "max number" that you're shooting for with your post-prandial BG. If you're already been diagnosed with diabetes or pre-diabetes, then at first your goal might be "no BG readings over 150 and back to my fasting level within 2 hrs.) You'll probably find that there is some "magic" number for you re the number of green-carbs you can safely eat at a meal that won't cause your BG to spike up too much or stay up too long. Once you find your magic number, I predict you'll find your clothing soon starts to get too big for you too.

Over time, as your glucose control gets better, you might find yourself re-setting your BG goals to stricter numbers. Your fasting BG will likely slowly fall and your post-prandial BGs will run lower and lower and return to fasting levels more and more quickly.

Hubby's BG now seldom goes over 130 and is always back to his fasting levels (90 now) within about an hour. He is off all diabetes medication and his HbA1C runs between 5.1 and 5.3. For all intents and purposes, he is no longer diabetic. Oh, and he also is no longer overweight.

So yes, do this for your health. You won't be sorry!

Wow, let me start by saying how much this post meant to me , I just saw my doctor ( who isn't really, emerge clinic doc since my family doc of 20 + years just stopped practicing) and I was sure he'd be all impressed with my numbers dropping by half, but alas, is not at all happy with my fasting numbers. So your post was so timely. Thank you for taking the time, your information is very helpful,and your compassion is greatly appreciated...

Hi Robyn,

I went on LC to lose weight and accidentally found out I didn't need my diabetic meds any more, as long as I was at or near Atkins induction levels. It was a very happy surprise!

To make up for having no starchy carbs or sweets, you have to increase your proteins and fats. Make sure you eat enough to not be hungry.

I'm sure you already know, the more overweight you are, the more insulin resistant your cells are. Quirky little things. So, you might have to go lower carb to compensate. In other words, at a lower weight, you could eat more carbs and still control your blood sugar.

Getting some exercise is also key to controlling blood sugar. Going for a walk, as brisk as you can, for as long as you can, will help A LOT to keep blood sugar down. 20+ years experience here.

Eat for health! That is the best goal...

Thank you for the info and encouragement, I do so appreciate all this wonderful inside, I am taking it all to heart!

This is what I am trying to do, mainly because I struggle with disordered eating. The best part about not focusing on weight loss is eating low carb foods for pure pleasure.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am getting a little more focused on the scale. But if you don't get on the scale, you shouldn't have to worry about it.

I do focus on the scale, but mainly as a motivator. My A1C levels have dropped to 5.1, and all my cholesterols are in the normal range. That being said, this is not a WOE you can start and stop and still hope to have those benefits - you really need to stick to it. A slide here and there won't hurt, unless you're like me and just keeeeeeep on sliding for months. Anyway, my main point is that this WOE can be extremely beneficial if you follow the basic rules. BEST OF LUCK to you !!!