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About fasting...

Sam50

Well-Known Member
Messages
228
Location
West Sussex
Type of diabetes
Don't have diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
A quick question for those of you who do intermittent fasting ..... how soon did you notice a change in your BG levels ?

Hubby is currently doing his first fast. Had supper last night of salad and fish and skipped breakfast this morning and lunch and won't eat until dinner this evening. He tested his BG around 1pm and it was a point down on yesterday but not as low as he was hoping.

I did point out that it probably wouldn't be an instant result (!!) and that he might be better to check the next day to see what effect it might have had. It's an improvement on yesterday's reading and he is still full of 'man-flu'.

Just curious as he is doing it really to try and trigger further weight loss as he has plateaued.
 
Hi @Sam50 ..
It will probably take a few days before your blood sugar stabilises .. unfortunately, it's not something that can be rushed. I started my intermittent fasting (16.8 - only eat between 11.00 am and 7.00 pm) towards the end of April and it was early May before I saw any significant change in my readings. I then included a one day per week 24-hr fast from 12th August and my average blood sugar dropped from 4.8 to 4.2 mmol/L within a couple of days ..
So, stick with it .. it will happen

Hope this helps
 
Yes, it could easily be a few weeks, and there could even be some disappointments along the way because if he is still insulin resistant and by fasting his glucose drops lower than his body is used to, his liver will dump glucose to try and redress the balance, but when his pancreas secretes insulin to deal with the glucose, the liver (which should at that point stop producing glucose) doesn't get the message, so continues to produce it until either it gets the message to stop or its stores are depleted. Therefore, he may even see some slightly elevated levels. This should disappear once his body starts to recognise his new lower levels.
 
On the other hand, if he was eating a lot of carbs prior to starting, after he depletes some of his glycogen stores, and keeps them depleted he could see results much sooner.

I am vlc for just that reason. If I don't deplete or keep my glycogen stores empty I see higher numbers and I become insulin resistant.
 
It is different for everyone as we all start at different stage of the condition. Fortunately for me, skipping 2 dinner in a row was all it took for me to have a stable fasting glucose of 5.5 mmol.

It is taking my sister a lot longer as she had been diagnosed for more than 10 years and only started lower carbs in the last couple of weeks. She is still getting fasting glucose in the 7-8 mmol range.
 
thanks everyone for your replies, very helpful and I have passed that on to Hubby. He tested again before breaking his fast at dinner time last night and was down 2.5 points on where he had been the previous day. Not where he needs to be yet but 5.5 points down from his average meter readings when we returned from hols 12 days ago so I will keep you posted x
 
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