weight gain

Since attending a DAFNE course I have put on weight. I know this may sound silly but my brain can only cope with one thing at a time and I am only managing to work out my carbs to insulin and everything thing else goes out the window. I think I am making reasonable choices and I haver upped my exercise. I take just 3 lantus at night and in total each day 6-8 units of rapid acting. Please can someone offer any advise on how to make things easier for me. I really do not want to put on more weight and would like to loose the weight I have recently put on. I probably really do know the answers but it is putting it in practice. B.G generally in DAFNE targets. many thanks

I don't know about since DAFNE, but I've certainly put on weight since I was diagnosed with T1 3 years ago. I'm trying to get rid of it now, but frequent hypos force me to eat more than I want to, and stuff that I don't want to eat.

I'm interested by your statement "I probably really do know the answers". What do you think the answers are? Given that you know yourself better than anyone else, you probably do have insight into the underlying reasons.

DAFNE allows you to eat foods now that you may have previously considered off-limits. Talking with others who have done the course, that freedom to eat whatever they want has been frightening and not necessarily handled well. For myself, my snacking went very high following DAFNE, whereas previously, I had cut out snacking completely. I'm looking to cut it back at the moment.

Something I am also having success with at the moment is replacing my usual evening dinner with a home-made salad. It is a really big salad made up of carrots, red capsicum, raw nuts, fetta cheese, chopped dates, dried apricots, raw mushroom, cucumber, pumpkin seeds, chopped apple and/or pear.

It takes me about 40 minutes to eat it all, and has lots of fibre. It leaves me feeling full until morning, and still needs a bit of insulin to handle the dates, apricots, apple and pear, but contains enough carbs and protein while not adding many kilojoules to my weight gain. It tastes fantastic and is full of nutrients.

Lastly, it uses hardly any dishes - just a chopping board and knife so I don't spend ages cleaning pots and fry pans afterwards :-)

Hope this helps.

ahh thank you. I think that is what happened to me, given the freedom to choose what I want to eat and before DAFNE I was able to say no and stick to a 3 meals a day but then like you I did not handle it too well afterwards.Friends know that I can eat what I like and use the insulin to balance BG out. I am now saying" no thank you, you go ahead though" I think I have got it in my head that if it's low carb it's low calories. I was "having" to snack a lot because my BG would always be running low but DAFNE has sorted that out for me. I have a diabetic review today and I am going to make it my goal to loose at least 1/2 stone by next review. I do know the answer but its putting it all in place, too many things going on to cope with at one time. I know I am managing my diabetes well but I find it time consuming. Perhaps I am trying too hard. I had a brother who had type 1 had to leave the army, had 3 strokes at 37 years old and then died because of diabetic complications at 47. On a brighter note I will try your salad and think of you. Cannot eat too many of them as I have ulcerative colitis as well and although it is stable with medication need to be care full. p.s just noticed you live in Australia, thank you for replying

No problem, and all the best with it. Sometimes it feels like a bit of a juggling act, but if you are feeling more confident about DAFNE principles now, then you can hopefully concentrate on reducing intake. I also find that introducing incidental exercise wherever possible also helps. I used to take the train to work, now I cycle and I feel so much better for it.