At the end of my weight loss rope

[Okinawa17]

Hi Everyone -

I am 32 and have 2 children. When my first child was born in 2017 I had gestational diabetes. After he was born I went right back to the gym and lost all of the baby weight and got in the best shape of my life.

My husband and I experienced secondary infertility when trying for our 2nd. We began trying at the end of 2018 and after 9 IUIs we finally got pregnant. Our 2nd was born in April 2020. I was never diagnosed as having gestational diabetes this time around, but they said I had a insulin sensitivity.

I am a stay at home mom and despite working out harder than ever, very consistently I have been unable to lose weight. Instead I am doing everything I can just to not gain weight. I workout (CrossFit) 4-5X per week - weight lifting, high intensity workouts. I work out in the mornings. Then I am active with my two kids all day long. I also go on a number of long walks each week.

I also eat very clean - very clean. I do not go to fast food, I do not indulge in desserts. I eat super clean Whole Foods.

I recently went to an endocrinologist who specializes in helping women lose weight and she said I was her ideal patient. She ran an extensive blood work and it all came back good. The nutritionist in her office thinks that if I wasn’t working out as hard as I am my numbers would show an insulin resistance.

they put me on metformin. 750 per day for the first week and then up to 1,500 per day during week two and now this my 3rd week. I broke down today and cried because I simply cannot take the side effects. I feel trapped in my body and cannot escape feeling nauseous, headache, insomnia / not sleeping well at all, pains, etc.

Checked with doc and they want to move me to Ozempic - which sounds horrible when you read the reviews on drugs.com. Also I have family history of women with thyroid issues so I am scared of that too.

ive never liked to take medicines and now I’m taking metformin and feeling horrible and considering ozempic because I am so unhappy with my weight - I just want to go from 159 to 140 and lose my belly fat.

I am scared of what these drugs will do and I am also scared that if I don’t do them I will be left with no where to turn and nothing left to try.

my husband is reading about intermittent fasting and keto and I don’t love the idea of IF - I am an early morning person and I need to eat breakfast before a hard work out and to have energy with my kids. Also I hate that my window of eating would end so early - so can never go out to eat with my family or husband for dinner

has anyone been down this road and found a safer alternative than these scary drugs that actually worked ?

thanks so much for your time,

okinawa17

 

[Antje77]

Hi @Okinawa17 , welcome to the forum!

I also eat very clean - very clean. I do not go to fast food, I do not indulge in desserts. I eat super clean Whole Foods.

Could you give us an idea of the food you typically eat?
Most type 2's on here choose to eat fewer carbs, as it's carbs which makes your blood glucose go up.
I'm assuming you do have diabetes because your doctor has put you on metformin and wants you to try ozempic now. Do you know what your lab result was for hba1c?

You might like to have a read of this, written by one of our members: https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/blog/jokalsbeek.401801/

 

[Okinawa17]

Thanks for the response. My unfasted hba1c number was 5.7 and the dr said it likely would have been lower if i had fasted (it was first appointment so she told me not to fast) and appointment was in afternoon.

I typically eat:

two eggs with some avocado for breakfast

On workout days I sometimes have a protein smoothie - 1 scoop of protein powder, 1 banana, spoonful of almond butter and almond milk

for lunch I have grilled chicken breast, salads with baby spinach, chicken, cranberries, walnuts and blue cheese with dressing (honey mustard) on side

for dinner I will have chicken, grilled veggies, sweet potato.

i do not eat red meat or fish

 

[Okinawa17]

I also eat about 70g of carbs daily and my doc said stay under 100g

and I drink a ton of water religiously every day

 

[Riva_Roxaban]

I drink a ton of water religiously every day

It could be that you are retaining fluid (fluid retention) which can be overcome with help from your GP.

 

[Antje77]

My unfasted hba1c number was 5.7 and the dr said it likely would have been lower if i had fasted

With an hba1c of 5.7 it's very unusual to be put on medication, it's below even the pre-diabetic threshold. Also, fasting or unfasting doesn't make a difference for hba1c.

 

[awm49]

Well firstly I would get ride of the protein smoothies a lot of them are high in sugar and so is almond butter. Unless you want to be a body builder it's unnecessary. In addition if you are exercising regularly you need to eat small meal regularly usually between 4-6 hours apart, that should help to level out your blood sugar levels. Finally pre-packed dressings are also high in sugar, sometimes more that ketchup or mayo. As for the rest of your diet it's as good as it gets.

 

[Okinawa17]

Thank you.

The Almond butter I use is almonds as the only ingredient (sometimes I make it myself) and the protein powder I use has zero sugar.

I agree with you I am very aware of and watch out for things like prepackaged salad dressings.

has anyone been on a similar journey where they were told to try metformin and ozempic, had a bad experience and ultimately found success achieving their weight goal with another alternative ?

 

[Resurgam]

I also eat about 70g of carbs daily and my doc said stay under 100g
and I drink a ton of water religiously every day

You really don't need to drink a ton of water - as long as you are adequately hydrated that is enough. More is not better.
I wonder how tall you are - do you actually want or need to lose much weight or do you simply need to get rid of some fat?
If you were here in person I'd be pulling my Dr Atkins books off the shelves - Dr A's New Diet Revolution and encouraging you to abandon the medication and go for a low carb diet without such things as pulverised banana and sweet potato. It is only my personal experience, but these days I keep to foods which are under 8 percent carbohydrate, except for a very occasional single square of 95 percent cocoa chocolate.
I was prescribed Metformin and gave up on it after a few dreadful weeks. I never needed it, and was no longer diabetic after 80 days, but I am still losing the weight gained from years of being told that my inability to deal with carbohydrate was all in my head. I was almost spherical at diagnosis, and my waist is now 12 inches smaller. I do have normal blood glucose levels, which is the most important thing for me.
My thyroid stopped working some time ago, so I take Thyroxine. Recently I changed the pharmacy where I get the prescription filled, and the different brand seems to suit me better, but it has never been much of a problem. I assume that you have had tests - though it is notoriously difficult to diagnose. I must have had four or five tests which were considered normal before insisting on another which picked up the total failure.
Your doctor might consider under 100gm of carbs a day to be a sufficient reduction, but I have never been able to lower weight over 50gm of carbs a day, and for some years I have set a maximum of 40 gm per day. Whilst it is excellent for controlling the type 2 diabetes, my weightloss is slow - I have done far too many low calorie diets and my metabolism just shuts down if it senses any sort of lack. I eat two small meals a day at about 12 hour intervals. It suits me perfectly.
I believe you can get Dr Atkins New Diet Revolution online to download for free - the 2003 version is probably the best. I'd recommend looking at it for ideas on how to proceed.

 

[Okinawa17]

Thank you so much for sharing your story and suggestions Resurgam! I really appreciate it and I will look to see if I can find the free download of that book now!

 

[Resurgam]

Thank you so much for sharing your story and suggestions Resurgam! I really appreciate it and I will look to see if I can find the free download of that book now!

I hope it is of some help.

 

[Okinawa17]

Thank you sincerely ! And I really look forward to hearing other people’s stories on this thread. Where I am now, that seems to be the hardest thing to find ! (So many searches come up with people who are affiliates and seems like they are being paid to say great things about various drugs so never easy to know who to trust!)

 

[LaoDan]

Do you test your BG with a meter?
Are you counting calories?

edit; if you could list your routine and times
breakfast
Workout
Lunch
Walk
Dinner

How long have you been working out?
How are you measuring body fat?

it may be that you’re burning the carbs you’ve eaten during your workout and not fat

 

[LaoDan]

This might be what I’d try.
1, get a couple libre sensors. Plug one in so you can get a baseline

2, begin your workout when your blood sugar is low. Don’t eat or drink anything that will raise your BG.

3, do your workout, it’s likely you’ll see you BG spike during your workout. Drink your post workout shake when you see your BG starting to drop. This is your anabolic window. If you’re lifting weights, you may be gaining muscle, this will effect your weight. I’d replace the banana with blueberries.

3. post workout meal can have some carbs, should have a good amount of protein. All other meals during the day should be no/ultra low carbs, moderate fats, high protein.

4, try the routine for two weeks, see if the scale is going down. If not, cut the snacks, almond butter is amazing but it’s a lot of calories. You can add more cardio if your calories are getting too low.

5, last meal should be long before bedtime. Although something like a yogurt is cool.

6, find an accurate way to measure body fat, you can’t just go by weight if your working out.

7, every eight weeks, take a break and eat at maintenance for a couple weeks.

this what I’m doing with pretty good results.
Sorry I’m typing and walking lol.