Woman's body attacked by own Insulin

That would be a good newspaper headline.

Its not sensational, its true.

So many of us have no idea what is going on in our own bodies.

As children we arrive at the table and eat what is put in front of us. I was a post war baby and somewhere is my ration book.

Food was not to be wasted. We learnt to clear everything on our plate.

At school we had puddings every day and loved my mashed potatoes. Always went up for seconds.

My obesity started in childhood. I had cravings for sugar and chocolate. I would buy a packet of sweets with my pocket money and finish them. I could never save some for later and also had a great problem with sharing my food.

Like many long term obese people I can remember my weight at significant points in my life.

I trained in Home Economics so was always surrounded by food and was nearly always well above any normal weight.

Sizes 18, 20 ,22 came and went and at my heaviest I was a size 24.

My life contracted to things I felt comfortable doing and taking part in.

The first time my insulin was measured was 2 yrs ago and it was 24 fasting.

Over the course of the 2 yrs I have reduced it to 14, keen to see what is the number at the next medical next month.

I know that the high insulin caused my cravings and binging and lack of will power.

I failed to even get through one day without a struggle.

Since starting this eating plan I have reduced my weight by 9kg in 3 mths. I no longer have any inappropriate cravings in the afternoons. I hardly snack at all.

For me it is a 2 phase approach.

One give up breakfast. I was never hungry that early in the morning, I ate because I thought it would stop me feeling hungry later in the day, but in fact the opposite is true for me.

Second keep carbs to under 25grms a day.

Then sit back and watch the scale scroll down.

Can Trust Myself Around Food

All my life I have had a problem with finding myself eating the wrong food at the wrong times and trying to justify it or trying to make up by not eating later.

It was an endless destructive battle with myself I could never win. I failed time and time again and had got to the point when I felt there was no point. Trying to diet and lose weight was just making me so miserable I might as well except the fact I was obese and stop trying to do anything about it.

That experiment when they put the marshmallow in front of the child and offer to double the amount if they can wait, was it 15 mins or 30 mins? That's not so much a test of willpower, but is an indicator of the amount of insulin level in the blood.

Low insulin and normal blood sugar and its easy to wait. High insulin and low blood sugar and the brain is demanding that glucose hit now!!

I have always enjoyed cooking but it was something I tried to limit because of the constant snacking while I cooked. Now I am free to cook again because I know that as long as I am within my 6.5hr eating window, 12 to 6pm and its not carbs I am free to have a small taste without any guilt at all.

Free at last.

I tried on 2 of my size 16 jeans yesterday and while I can get the zip up, something impossible 3 mths ago. They are too tight to wear comfortably now. So more work to be done.

But it's something that is doable and I now look forward to every day instead of dreading it in case I end up binging.

Yesterday I made another loaf of flax bread and cut into 10 slices and froze. Today I have made the 3 cheese omelette from Tom Kerridges book and that will be for my lunch. It makes 4 portions and often DH will have a slice as well. This morning I put in feta cheese, my home made yogurt hung cheese and some wensleydale cheese.

I got out 4 of my winter jackets yesterday and decided to soak them in the bath as they had got very dusty hanging in the cupboard since last year. I had to swill the bath out afterwards which just showed how dirty they were. They hung on the line most of yesterday and will go out again today.

A few months ago I would never of dreamt about tackling something like that. let alone washing them myself and getting the job done.

Insulin was just in control of my life, controlling what I thought about, constantly food, controlling what activities I could do, mornings only for mental work and controlling what exercise I did. As little as possible.
Insulin is a bully and I am so relieved I am now in control and not insulin.

Eat more Fat

This is something I have struggled with for most of my life.

I have no addiction to fats but I do have an addiction to carbs.

From my first diet 60 yrs ago I have been told that I eat too many calories and that is the reason why I am obese and have been most of my life.

So the answer is the cut back on the fat, skim milk, bread with no butter, trim all fat off meat, no chicken skin etc etc.

Eat more carbs that are low calorie and weight loss will result.

For some of us the above has worked for a short time but its a terrible way to live if like me you are insulin resistant.

My body produces too much insulin when I eat carbs. The carbs are inserted into the cells by insulin in the form of triglcerides or glucose and then the high levels of insulin holds the cells shut.

If this goes on every day the brain is starving and then it is highly likely than a binge will set in sometime in the afternoon or evening and the insulin levels stay high and the glucose in the blood is dropping.

The brain sends out a panic message for energy and sweet carbs are the brains goto food for quick energy.

The problem is that eating less fat is counter productive. Fat can slow the release of glucose from food eaten. So less fat in the meal, quicker glucose release and higher glucose in the blood stream and higher insulin response.

I now have a very rich diet. Much richer in good fats than I have ever had in my life before.

Thick cream in my morning coffees. Full fat mayo with lunch. Meat with fat and veg with butter in the evening. Only eating twice a day. No breakfast.

I can now go comfortably between 12 lunch to dinner at 6 without any need for a snack. I have far more energy than I have ever had in my life. I get tasks finished and am no longer procrastinating because I am so tired and lethargic.

My body is switching between energy from fat in my food and fat in my body for all its energy needs.

The result is a weight loss of around 1kg every 11 days.

This is not just a diet its an eating plan for the rest of my life. I am now looking at a non obese future, something that I thought I would never achieve.

www.realmealrevolution,com

Steady Weight loss and good glucose control

Well at least I know I have one reader. Morning Sharon how are you? Enjoyed our skype call yesterday.

Can cross off another kg. Got below 96, 95.8 this morning. I am crossing the KG off as you do days of the week when you are looking forward to something.

Its taking me about 11 days to lose 1kg at the present rate. Without major hunger or feeling I am being deprived of anything I really want.

So 3kg a month which is about 7lbs. So lose a dress size over 2 months or so.

I have done so many diets when I have felt I was imposing an eating plan on a very unhappy body. The failure was almost built in before I started. Over the years I have lost 60 to 70lbs, 20 to 30kg about 5 or 6 times but its always come back and brought friends!

I have been looking all my life for a plan that causes me to lose weight without the rebound hunger. I thought if I could just do that all would be well. But until now I have never found the plan.

I know I can never go back to 'normal' eating. My normal eating is responsible for my weight gain.

I have to find a new normal and I can certainly live with this. Two nice filling meals a day.

I have also found I have recovered about 50% of my day. Previously my afternoons were a non starter with trying to get anything done. I was so tired and tried to do as little as possible.

Now I am bustling about finding things to do and getting them finished.

No longer dreading each day and the possibility of losing it all in a binge, but looking forward to a thinner future when I can cope with any food situation.

Effective Weight Loss

I was thinking this morning that if I had not started on this way of eating ( RMR) how much more weight would I have put on over the last 3 months or so.

With holidays etc I have come up with the figure of an extra 6kg.

That free hotel breakfasts with croissants and dinners with dessert every night!

So I have not only lost the 8kg on the scale but also the extra 6kg I could have put on without any difficulty at all.

Enjoying getting into my smaller size clothes. Eventually I will have to find a home for my big elasticated trousers.

Trying to find more fitted clothes in the wardrobe that are not too loose and not too tight.

Did 10 min on the treadmill on max incline this morning.

Sure its good for me to exercise in the morning rather than the afternoon.

8KG and counting

Ideally I am planning on dropping at least 26 more kg and another 2 or 3 dress sizes.

May take me a year, may take 2 yrs.

What I know is that I am feeling so much better.

I still have issues with afternoon eating but try and make better choices. Cereal and breads are off the menu and I eat meats and cheese if I feel I need a mid afternoon snack.

I no longer find I need to eat more after my evening dinner. That habit has stopped.

I am skipping breakfast every day and finding it easy to do. But sometimes I tend to start my lunch about 11.45 rather than the 12 I am aiming for.

I am enjoying my 2 meals a day. Instead of low calorie, low fat foods which I used to try and stick to, I can now eat good platefuls of nice tasty food and feel much more satisfied once my meal is complete.

I am taking more care of myself. Using moisturizer and getting my old earrings out. Generally feeling better in myself.

The weight gain has never been my fault. I was given faulty information for the past 60 yrs.

My body cannot stay at the correct weight if I am trying to eat low calorie carbs.

Realmealrevolution

Have just signed up to realmealrevolution and looking forward to working with a coach to continue my weight loss journey.

I recently had 2 weeks on holiday and for the first time came back weighing the same as when I left. I continued to skip breakfast and only eat 2 meals aday.

Occasionally my husband and I shared a dessert as we ate most of our meals out.

Made a change from returning 4 to 5kg heavier after a holiday.

I made some no flour bread the other day and cut it into 10 or so slices.

Bread has always been an issue for me so limiting myself to one slice a day with my salad for lunch.

I have the rest of the loaf sliced in the freezer for other days.

Lost 1kg since my return and not feeling that hungry so feel positive I can continue as I am and continue to lose.

12lbs and counting

Almost everyday I am seeing a drop on the scales. If it does not drop it stays the same for a day or so and then does a drop.

I have never felt so much control over the food I put in my mouth.

I can wait to eat for a short while without feeling I have to have something beforehand.

I wish I had known about this 50 years ago when I first went to weight watchers. I lost the weight but struggled every afternoon with the need to eat. As soon as I stopped the diet the need to eat won and I was back up to above my starting weight within 6mths.

Everytime I managed to lose weight it always came back and brought friends.

I thought the only way to lose weight was to have super will power.

Now I know that the will power is not necessary. If you can get control of your insulin you just have a two nice meals a day. They are satisfying and tasty, containing fat and very few carbs. Then your body switches back to using it fats stores and you lose more weight.

I am no longer constantly thinking about food. I thought this would never happen for me.

I have some more books coming. This is what I have so far.

Carbohydrate addict Diet
Breakfast is a dangerous Meal.
2 meals a day.

These are useful.

I got into some tops that have been too tight and certainly feel that the 12lbs has gone for ever.

On previous diets I have always felt the fat was just hanging around sort of out of sight but would soon be back if I gave in.

I feel more secure that this is working and is going to continue to work.

I still dont know what caused my cravings. Whether it was the protein breakfast or the milk in my morning coffees.

Only eating twice a day now feels normal for me and my appetite is normal and maybe I am going to finally get a normal body.

Once weight has gone I will experiment to see if its protein in the morning or the milk.

I know I can alway retreat back into this way of eating and get relief.

It's the Insulin

I dont know why my metabolism does what it does but at least now I know how to fix it.

Not eating breakfast means I dont experience cravings after lunch, which is now my first meal of the day, and I dont constantly eat after dinner at night.

My breakfasts were always pretty boring. 2 eggs poached or boiled or scrambled. Bacon maybe at weekends.

I do miss them but if it means I have solved this problem of endlessly putting on weight then I am prepared to give them up.

What I do have now is 2 or 3 coffees with cream. I was having real coffee and instant. But found I was having sleep issues. So now I have one instant and 2 decaf and my sleep has gone back to normal.

It is such a relief to sit in the afternoon or do some activity without the constant urge to visit the fridge or pantry to hunt for something to eat.

I cant believe every afternoon that my need to constantly eat and or binge has gone.

It was caused by a chemical reaction in my body. Insulin was too high, glucose too low and so my brain sent me off on a food hunt.

Now my insulin is low, my glucose stable and my metabolism can get at the fat stores that insulin had locked up and would not allow access to.

So the cravings have gone.

Over 5kg less of me now.

Has it been this simple all along and why did I never find out till now?

Thats 10lbs gone in a month.

I certainly can feel that fat has gone from some places where it was before.

I am looking back into my many diet books. 3 trunks full, to see what I missed about breakfast fasting.

Some books did mention it but most said 'you must eat breakfast, its the most important meal of the day.' 'It sets you up and stops you feeling hungry later in the day.'

Well actually no, it does not do that for me and my system. Eating breakfast sets me up for hunger and cravings and low blood sugar later in the day.

I think because all my life I had experience this crashing and cravings and binging I thought it was normal. It never stopped and never went away.

So I disregarded any suggestion of breakfast fasting, or fasting later in the day, because I thought I just could not handle it. I had to eat, the thought of not eating frightened me.

Had I been told, well you can have coffee with cream in the mornings and instead of eating at 8 and 1 just have one good meal at 12, salad and protein and your afternoon hunger will stop. Completely and utterly stop would I have believed them? Would I have given it a try?

Then evening meal eat a nice balance protein and veg meal with some sort of gravy or sauce.

The need to eat after dinner in the evening has also gone along with the afternoon hunger.

Its not normal. If this has been happening to you its an insulin problem.

Needing to eat after a meal shows you are eating the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Once your body plugs its cables into your fat stores you will feel so much better. No tiredness, no hours dragging out, you have the energy to do stuff. Whatever you want to do.

If you do skip a meal and I find breakfast the easiest, your other meals must have really good nutrition, also take a multivit and some  fish oil capsules.

A Ray of Hope

Am I finally going to find the answer to this problem I have had all my life?

Just skipping breakfast and having no carbs at all in the morning.

A low carb salad with protein for lunch.

Dinner veggie carbs with greens and protein.

I only eat 2 meals a day and have no snacks at all.

For the first time my afternoons seem to just slide effortlessly by.

I am not counting the hours until I can eat. I can get on with stuff.

I can wait for 30 mins or so if dinner is delayed as it was last night.

I no longer pick at food as I am cooking it.

I certainly feel that my clothes are looser.

Am looking forward to being able to fit into some of my tops that have gone to the bottom of the clothes pile as they got too small, or I got too big and they were tight or would not fit at all.

Still waking up a early. Partly to weigh, still cant get out of that habit but also after 4am or so I dont feel I can sleep any more. So I get up to read a book.

Going back through some of my diet books. Some say you must eat breakfast. Others have found what I have found that not eating breakfast stops the insulin surge later in the day followed by the glucose crash and cravings for carbs in the afternoon.

Maybe we have different degrees of insulin issues. Some can cope with breakfast. I find I am better fasting till 12.

Reactive Hypoglycemia

I have now realized I have suffered with this for over 60 yrs and nobody told me it was not normal to be so out of control hungry in the afternoons.

It seemed that no matter what I ate for breakfast and lunch I would be on the hunt for food from about 2pm onwards.

Time seemed to be elastic, no way could I wait until dinner to eat again. My brain felt that it had to have food now, not in 15mins or a in a few hours.

It was relentless, every single day. Even when I was dieting my will power had to be super strong to try and resist the desire to afternoon eat.

Trying to have a low cal snack would make it worse as once I had started I was unable to stop.

What I believe was happening is as follows.

I would wake and have coffee with milk and breakfast.

My insulin was still high from the night and my glucose around normal.

The milk and even protein from breakfast would send the insulin into a peak.

I would manage till lunch, maybe more coffee with milk mid morning.

Lunch would push my insulin even higher and then the glucose would be sent off into the fat cells.

Now the glucose in the blood has gone too low. The excess insulin was blocking access to any other source of energy. The fat cells were like a bank deposit box that was never emptied. Fat went in there but never came out.

Hence the energy crash in the afternoons followed by binging and disappointment that I had failed on yet another diet.

Even the low carb diets did not solve the problem as they allowed me breakfast.

Since giving up breakfast and only eating twice a day my afternoons are crash free.

I can decide when to eat and what to eat and how much to eat.

It's the answer to 60 yrs of struggle and misery.

4 kg and counting

Scale this morning showed that I have lost 4kg. Which is nearly 9lbs so well passed the first half stone loss.

Just got to repeat that 10 more times!

I keep waiting for the afternoon cravings to hit leading into a binge. But it just does not happen.

Yesterday dinner was half an hour late and I had no difficulty in waiting for the rest of the family to arrive so we could dish up.

My 8 hr diet book arrived yesterday. This is talking about the science behind the 8 hr eating window and a 16 hr fast.

I am operating on a 6 hr eating window and an 18 hr fast.

I only eat at 12 and again at 6. But I do have coffee with cream in the mornings.

Looking forward to getting the 1st stone off. 6.5kg.

I feel this is the WOE I have been looking for all my life. Diets that recommend 3 meals and 2 snacks daily just do not suit my metabolism. I am hungry all the time on the diet like that.

When I do eat I have basically what I want and eat till I feel sated. I have a low carb lunch, salad and protein. Then a higher carb dinner also with protein and veg. We dont have to cook special dishes for me. I have the same meat or chicken as the rest of the family.

No Afternoon Binging

My previous 60 yrs have been blighted by binging.

Whether I was dieting or not I would find that after lunch, usually between 2 and 3 I would have a need to eat that was almost irresistible, and maybe again in the evening after supper.

If I gave in to it I would not have an off button. The eating would just continue until I was stuffed and uncomfortable.

Whether it was toast, cereal, bananas, chocolate. It was always carbs and even though I tried to make healthy choices it was always the sugar hit my body wanted.

I would start each day with good intentions and felt the binging need was building up and eventually I would give it to it.

Even when I managed to lose weight. Getting out of the house in the afternoon to remove myself from temptation the destructive behaviour always came back, at the end of the diet and I would find the weight increasing again until I got to the point where I would give up and eat everything I wanted. It was a real physical need, very difficult to control.

All the diets in the past never solved the problem. Weighing this, just eating that never seemed to fix the underlying issue.

Three weeks ago I decided to give up breakfast. I am not that hungry in the mornings and find morning hunger easier to deal with.

I started by just having coffee with milk, which did lead me to needing an afternoon snack which did not lead into a binge.

However when I changed to having cream in my coffee in the morning the need for the snack fell away and I can now comfortably go from a low carb salady lunch to my dinner at 6.

The need for a snack or a binge has gone completely. Its as if I never had this problem, but I know I did and it was very distressing and went on for years.

Two hours after eating and I would be on the hunt for food, preferably carbs.

I believe it is something to do with the insulin levels staying low in the morning and then not causing a glucose drop in the afternoons.

Whatever it is I am going to continue. Probably I will never eat breakfast again. Even when I just had protein for breakfast as in 2 eggs I still got the afternoon attacks of craving and binging.

See Breakfast is a Dangerous Meal. Written for diabetics but relevant here too.

Weight is continuing to drop nicely and so happy to be in control of what I am eating. 

Easier to get up out of my chair

Had to turn up a pair of trousers yesterday. Not just once but twice as the backs were trailing on the ground.

Finding get up from a chair much less of an effort. Feeling I can move more freely.

Also found my one ring will now come off my finger. Not been able to move that for over 18mths. The others are smaller so those will take some time to become loose.

I have to leave my rings on when I have a mani as they cant be removed.

Got a mani and pedi and facial booked for Tues so that is something to look forward to.

My blood glucose is more stable now. Fasting was 5.9 this morning. Would like to get that down into the lower 5's.

I am going to miss having my breakfasts on holiday next month. But if I have to choose between eating breakfast, which is usually the same, 2 eggs, and feeling this way, I will choose feeling this way.

Having the coffee and cream in the morning keeps the hunger pangs controllable and I know that it will soon be lunch.

Travelling OK

Been away a night on business. Did not take scale so keen to see weight this morning.

Another 600gms gone.

We skipped the breakfast spot going and coming back.

Lunch I had breaded prawn tails but peeled breading off before eating, Bit messy but tasty.

Followed by salmon and a greek salad.

Dinner was one piece of fillet with creamy pepper sauce on the side. I had some salad beforehand and I think coleslaw had added sugar. With a small baked potato and cream.

I took my own coffee with cream for the morning and bought cream so I could travel with coffee and cream on the way back.

So thats about 8lbs gone in 3 weeks. 3.6kg

I just have to repeat that 10 more times.

Enjoying the twice cooked omlette from Tom Kerridges book. I keep that in the fridge. Cut it into cubes and fry with extra cheese and had that on salad for lunch yesterday.

Evening was the end of a T bone with veg.

Found myself quite itchy last night. Hope it stops. Seems to be a reaction to losing weight.

The Cherry pickers Diet

Lots of dieting books say dont mix your diets. Use one and stick to it.

But I have ignored that rule.

I am fasting from Breakfast is a dangerous meal.

I have coffee and cream in the morning.

I eat a protein and salad lunch from Atkins.

I have the reward meal from Carbohydrate Addicts. Which might include fat and carbs. Last night I had steak, noodles ( half a minute noodle packet), cream sauce and vegetables.

The scale has gone down again this morning, after I changed the battery.

I work with both metric and imperial. So just dropped below 16stone for the very last time.

Now I understand my system better and how insulin is constantly derailing my previous diets I have finally got my insulin under control by going without carbs for 23 hrs in the day. That allows my system to access my fat stores and finally use them as they should have been used years ago.

Eating 5 times a day as so many diets recommend is setting me up for failure.

Eating twice a day controls my afternoon craving and I feel far more satisfied with what I am eating.

Lost an inch off the hips. So hope to continue the good progress.

Eating makes me Hungry

For all my life I have lived with hunger and cravings.

Awful afternoon hungry attacks when once I started eating I could not stop.

Because they had always been there I thought they were normal and that I had to use will power to control my behaviour.

Since skipping breakfast I have found those attacks things of the past.

If I have cream rather than milk in my coffee I do not even need a mid afternoon snack.

I have lunch at 12 and dinner at 6 without anything inbetween and find I have no hunger either before bed.

I did not think my system could feel like this. In 60 yrs I have never felt so in control of what goes in my mouth.

Long my it continue. 

Fasting controls cravings?

I started this WOE about 2 weeks ago. When I got back from my holiday.

Basically I have given up eating breakfast at breakfast time.

I have my 2 eggs for lunch with a nice salad and some mayo and yogurt salad dressing.

Mid pm I have a cup of tea and a small snack. Yesterdays was cauli mash with grated cheese zapped in microwave.

Then at 6 I have my main meal. I have been having half a packet of instant noodles, without the flavour packet. Yesterday my protein was lamb spare ribs cut off bone, then any veg I fancy. I complete my meal in about 20mins.

Then I dont eat again till the following lunch time. So about an 18hr fast.

So far I am 1.7kg down in 2 weeks.

My afternoon craving hunger has stopped.

I feel satisfied after my evening meal.

I can walk into the kitchen in the evening without needing to eat a little something.

I am guestimating my calories at about 1000 for the day.

300 for lunch/breakfast.
100 for the snack.
600 for the dinner.

I have been having coffee in the mornings with milk but today have switched to thin cream.

Trying to only have 3 servings of coffee and plenty of water.

Food seems to no longer be an obsession.

I dont spend all my time planning my next feeding as I usually do on diets.

I hope it continues.

Trying Fasting now.

Amazed I can still find this blog after all this time.

Am going to try intermittent fasting. Mainly skipping breakfast.

Will see how I get on, looking good so far.

1.6kg down in 10 days.

Afternoon cravings gone also no nibble need in the evenings.

Watch this space.