The essence of the problem | Lack of physical activity | Too much alcohol | Plateau
The essence of the problem
This problem is especially common in people with irregular meals and those who like to eat out. Many restaurants serve very large portions, and we are used to eating up the whole thing. Several short-term studies by nutrition researcher Barbara J. Rolls have shown that people usually eat more when they are offered large portions of food. However, people who ate large portions of pasta and cheese or large sandwiches in Rolls’ experiments reported the same level of hunger and satiety after eating as people who ate smaller portions.
People usually eat more when they are offered large portions of food.
Barbara J. Rolls
Serving large portions seems to cause “portion distortion” over time. In other words, a person gets used to large portions and begins to consider them as normal. This can make it difficult to feel satisfied with a smaller but high-calorie portion.
People gets used to large portions and begins to consider them as normal.
Try to soberly evaluate the portion and eat more often at home. Barbara Rolls’ book on a plan for the amount of food intake “proposes an approach to controlling calories if you like to eat large portions. She advocates eating more foods with a low energy density — low calorie content per 100 grams. As a rule, these are products with a high-water content, such as fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy products, soups based on vegetable broth, cereals, and legumes. The advantage of consuming more of these foods is that larger portions will fill you up without providing many calories.
Lack of physical activity
Increasing the amount of physical activity will help in weight loss (although without a change in diet, the effectiveness will be extremely low). The American Heart Association recommends that people with type 2 diabetes perform at least 150 minutes (2.5 hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity every week. Strength exercises are also recommended three times a week. Keep in mind that if you are currently doing little, then you will need to gradually increase the duration and intensity of training.
Consult your doctor about your preferred physical activity.
Too much alcohol
Extensive studies in the UK and Finland have shown that drinking large amounts of alcohol is associated with weight gain and obesity in men. Given that alcoholic drinks often contain a lot of calories, this news may not be so surprising.
To minimize the calories from alcoholic beverages, consider drinking light beer instead of regular beer and using diet soda instead of calorie fillers in shakes. The best option, of course, remains completely abstaining from alcohol.
Since alcohol can cause hypoglycemia, especially when taken on an empty stomach, it is best to drink alcohol with food. (The American Diabetes Association does not recommend reducing the number of calories in food to adapt to alcohol calories because of the risk of hypoglycemia.)
The best option to minimize the calories is completely abstaining from alcohol.
Remember that alcohol is processed in the liver, which also plays an important role in regulating blood glucose levels. When the liver processes alcohol, it cannot release glucose into the blood when necessary, and blood glucose levels may drop too low.
Before drinking alcohol, talk with your healthcare provider to find out if it is safe for you. Some drugs are unsafe to take with alcohol, and alcohol can make some diabetes complications worse, including peripheral neuropathy. If you feel that you cannot control the amount of alcohol consumed, it is best not to drink at all.
Plateau
When you first reduced calories and began to exercise more, you most likely lost weight. However, over time, your body adapts to constantly lower energy consumption, and weight loss slows or stops.
Also, if you drastically reduced your calorie intake when you were diagnosed with diabetes, it may be difficult for you to maintain such a low intake for a long time. In this case, even a small increase in daily calories can lead to sudden weight gain.
A plateau may be a good time to review your goals and your plan of action to achieve them. For example, you can decide what you want, and you can increase the intensity or volume of physical activity that you do. Or you may decide that maintaining weight that you have already lost over the next few months is a more realistic goal than losing weight right away. A nutritionist consultation can be helpful in moving up at this point.
A plateau may be a good time to review goals and plan of action to achieve them.
Evaluate your efforts towards weight loss. Very often, our struggle resembles a swing with psychological torment: a day of hunger, a day of excessive food + self-hatred. This is an unhealthy relationship with food and … honestly a bad relationship with ourselves. If weight loss is such an important issue for you, seek help from a doctor and move towards the goal gradually. Keep a nutrition control diary and find a weight loss partner. All this will allow you to go along the path to weight loss in an easier and healthier way.