Question About Diet - Help for a diabetic

[Danaj]

What do I need to do about my diet? It seems as though I have reached a plateau with losing weight. I started this diet about 2 months ago. I have lost a couple of pounds in the beginning. I weigh about 145 pounds. I am tighter now than I was 2 months ago. If you have any suggestions please help me out. Also, i have type 1 diabetes.
Breakfast 7 am Oatmeal (1pkg. sugerfree), 4 egg whites
Snack 10 am protein shake (25 g whey protein)
Lunch 12 - chicken breast grilled, 1 small sweet potato
Dinner 5pm- tilapia, cup of green beans
Snack 8 pm- protein shake (25 g whey protein)

[imperfectly_lou]

Are you on oral hypoglycaemics or insulin or a bit of both?

The main issue I can see with your diet is lack of food and calories; and unbalanced meals. You have virtually no fat sources there are all. Fat is not only very important for the cells and functioning of the body, it also slows down the digestion of food, thus preventing fluctuations in insulin. You should be aiming for approx 0.3g fat per lb of bodyweight, so for you, that would be approx 44g per day. Try adding in nuts like almonds or walnuts, olive oil in your cooking, peanut butter, that sort of thing. You should also not be consuming protein shakes on their own. For your post workout shake, you need approx ratio of 2:1 carbs to protein. For your pre bed shake, try switching to casein which is slower digesting than whey (or switch to a food based meal such as cottage cheese), and add some fat in. There also isn't much in the way of veggies in your diet (although I am just as bad I admit!) You may be lacking in your daily requirements of 25-35g fibre as a result.

Hope this helps!

[Danaj]

Thanks for the infomation. I am on an insulin pump. I have been diabetic since age of 12. I do not produce any insulin on my on. What do you think about cardio? I am going to start doing an hour of cardio in the morning to speed of fat loss.

[imperfectly_lou]

Oooh those insulin pumps are so good (I'm a nurse).

Jumping into an hour of cardio has both its advantages and disadvantages. Yes, you will lose fat, and burn calories, but the problem with going straight to an hour is if you want to increase later on, the only way is up, and who wants to do hours and hours of cardio? You may also find you start to lose muscle as a result which is the last thing you want. What about starting with 20-30mins 3 x a week? Have you ever done any sprint training or HIIT training?

[Tishalicious]

I agree - you need more food - and balance out those carbs.

I'm diabetic type I (with a chaser of celiacs and lactose intolerance- lucky me!)

Get to www.fitday.com or www.calorieking.com and figure out how many calories you need a day (you will need to adjust this up on cardio days).

From there check out a diet program - you need around the same carbs in each meal - this will help the insulin pump too as they give single measured doses for meals.

Instead of just protein for a meal, throw a little salad in with it and up the carbs.

The only meal I have without extra carbs is the just-before-bed protein shake - my protein has very little carbs in it, so I don't need to have extra insulin with it. Every other meal - I need to eat enough carbs to go with the 14 units - and it needs to be at very regular times. You're insulin is preset, but you need to eat to your insulin.

I hope this helps!