Any idea on amount of fat loss needed to reverse prediabetes? (and a little about myself)

Hi and welcome. I think the amount of fat loss needed is a very individual thing and there is really no answer to your question. All you can really do is lose weight and see where it takes you. Good luck.

Hi @NonStop and welcome
I will tag @daisy1 who will post some good info for newbies.
I was diagnosed with a fasting reading of 18 and a very high HbA1c. I also did a lot of reading and was very interested in the Newcastle studies. My GP wouldn't support me to do the Newcastle diet so I did my own way of losing weight. I tried to eat 500 cals less than I was burning each day. As my blood sugars were so high I also worked out which foods my body couldn't cope with by testing and cut out those foods. So a double angle approach. I was losing about 1 to 2 lbs a week on this. My BMI went from 25 down to 19.6 and was then told by GP to put on weight. Even having put on some weight I still think I have ended up with some control though I'm not sure I have reversed it but do think I have it under control. I would suggest getting a meter and testing so see what different foods do to your body. Testing before a meal and 2 hours after. I'm sure that helped me but then my numbers were far higher than yours.

Hiitsme said:

Hi @NonStop and welcome
I will tag @daisy1 who will post some good info for newbies.
I was diagnosed with a fasting reading of 18 and a very high HbA1c. I also did a lot of reading and was very interested in the Newcastle studies. My GP wouldn't support me to do the Newcastle diet so I did my own way of losing weight. I tried to eat 500 cals less than I was burning each day. As my blood sugars were so high I also worked out which foods my body couldn't cope with by testing and cut out those foods. So a double angle approach. I was losing about 1 to 2 lbs a week on this. My BMI went from 25 down to 19.6 and was then told by GP to put on weight. Even having put on some weight I still think I have ended up with some control though I'm not sure I have reversed it but do think I have it under control. I would suggest getting a meter and testing so see what different foods do to your body. Testing before a meal and 2 hours after. I'm sure that helped me but then my numbers were far higher than yours.

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Everyone is different, Just loose weight and keep testing,

@NonStop

Hello NonStop and welcome to the forum To help you, here is the basic information we give to new members which I hope you will find helpful. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will come along and help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEW MEMBERS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you'll find well over 220,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.

There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

• Reduce your carbohydrate intake
• Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes.

Over 145,000 people have taken part in the Low Carb Program - a free 10 week structured education course that is helping people lose weight and reduce medication dependency by explaining the science behind carbs, insulin and GI.

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)

• Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l

Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)

• Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
• 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l

However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

• structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
• self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to blood glucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic.

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.

NonStop said:

So my main query is how much fat have people had to lose to get rid of their prediabetes?

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From the man himself...
http://www.sciencealert.com/losing-just-1-gram-of-fat-in-the-pancreas-can-reverse-type-2-diabetes

"If you ask how much weight you need to lose to make your diabetes go away, the answer is 1 gram! But that gram needs to be fat from the pancreas," said lead researcher Roy Taylor. "At present the only way we have to achieve this is by calorie restriction by any means – whether by diet or an operation."

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"The decrease in pancreas fat is not simply related to the weight loss itself. It is not something that might happen to anyone whether or not they had diabetes. It is specific to Type 2 diabetes," said Taylor."What is interesting is that regardless of your present body weight and how you lose weight, the critical factor in reversing your Type 2 diabetes is losing that 1 gram of fat from the pancreas."

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All the best to your quest.

H welcome you obviously know about low carb as you have done it before so not much we can tell you about that so just do what you think will work for you. We are all different so what works for one does not always work for another and we all have to find our own best way.

I believe the percentage is circa 15% of your diagnosed weight to loose. Maybe this can be less if you add muscle bulk at the same time as draining fat, so obviously not moving the scales as much. You might if affordable / desirable wish to arm yourself with some WiFi scales (I use a Withings, although Fitbit and others do some). The scales would show you amongst other readings, fat mass, so you could monitor change over time.

Trouble is, though we can set out to loose weight, we cannot determine exactly what and where that weight will be culled, our auto-metabolic function decides that. I have lost 20% of my weight, but it appears the 'wrong' 20% for me

Hi, I have lost 15% of my body weight (14.5stone down to 12 and a bit) and it has made no difference to my blood sugar. I'm low carbing around 100g a day (tried and failed to do lower) and doing lots of cardio exercise. When my shoulder heals I will attempt some resistance training in the new year.
As people have said, everyone's body is different, I know a chap almost identical circumstances to me, he lost the same amount of weight, ate even more carbs and did a lot of cycling and his A1C dropped 10 points lower than mine in the same time frame.

Some great advice from the others. Everyone is different, but as you are only marginally in the pre-diabetic range with a FBG of 6.1 it should be easy enough for you to control.

Personally I lost about 33% of my body weight (BMI down from 31 to 21) and have maintained this BMI for over 2 years but throughout this 2 years I was in the pre-diabetic range. My last HbA1c was just inside the non-diabetic range, so it has taken me a long time and although I have always been medication-free I do not consider myself reversed in any way. Just well controlled.

Seems like a case of 'suck it and see' since some people don't seem to need to lose much and others lose lots and it doesn't really help. I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic and then I lost over 10% of bodyweight (although not classed as overweight at the time (BMI 25). Did this through a low carb diet which gave me so much energy I took up running. I also now do weight training. My HbA1c is now well within normal range but I still have a diabetic response to carbs and would probably fail a GTT test and also have high FBG which seems to be due to morning liver dumps as it is not usually the lowest BG reading of the day (contrary to what most of the medical profession will tell you). This is why it is so important to have a meter and use it. I can be down in the mid 4's late afternoon. The low carbing has however stopped all other symptoms in their tracks - no longer get night sweats or feel fatigued or need that after lunch nap or a multitude of other minor ailments.

Juicetin said:

Hi, I have lost 15% of my body weight (14.5stone down to 12 and a bit) and it has made no difference to my blood sugar. I'm low carbing around 100g a day (tried and failed to do lower) and doing lots of cardio exercise. When my shoulder heals I will attempt some resistance training in the new year.
As people have said, everyone's body is different, I know a chap almost identical circumstances to me, he lost the same amount of weight, ate even more carbs and did a lot of cycling and his A1C dropped 10 points lower than mine in the same time frame.

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As I understand it we all have a personal fat threshold, which we need to try to breach, for me going from 98 kg to 86 made a massive impact. I did focus more on cardio and weights than weight loss per se. I went for a throw the kitchen sink at this condition, some are able to get great results via diet alone.

I lost 6st but only on the low carb way of eating ... 20g of carbs a day and normal fat .... it got my diabetes in remission .. years ago I tried the low calorie way of eating and it did not work as I was hungry all the time

I have lost only a few pounds, but my diabetes is in remission. I have a LOT of weight to lose, and a few pounds is an insignificant amount for me overall.

I dont think its the weight loss which lowers blood sugars. I think its the new way of eating, the reduction of carbs and low fat foods, which make blood sugars come down.

Enclave said:

I lost 6st but only on the low carb way of eating ... 20g of carbs a day and normal fat .... it got my diabetes in remission .. years ago I tried the low calorie way of eating and it did not work as I was hungry all the time

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My problem was I spent many many years not being hungry.
Way too many years.
So, when I bit the bullet, and realised being morbidly obese wasn't good for me, it wasn't too hard to lose weight, accept I had to suck up being hungry for a while, lose 25% of my body weight, and come out of the other side with my diabetes in remission.
And by 'remission', I mean I can eat any diet, not just low carb.

kokhongw said:

From the man himself...
http://www.sciencealert.com/losing-just-1-gram-of-fat-in-the-pancreas-can-reverse-type-2-diabetes




All the best to your quest.

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And also according to dr Taylor, it is not the same to restrict your diet wth a few calories less than to decrease your intake by 60 or 70%. Sudden fat loss is what you want.

NonStop said:

Not from what I've read from Dr Taylor; "The essential point is that substantial weight loss must be achieved. The time course of weight loss is much less important." - http://www.ncl.ac.uk/media/wwwnclac...re/files/reversing-type2-diabetes-leaflet.pdf

And again; "You don’t have to take such extreme measures as a 700-calorie diet, though, both doctors say. As long as you lose about 15 percent of your body weight, you may be able to reverse your diabetes, Dr. Taylor says." - http://www.menshealth.com/health/how-to-cure-diabetes

You can take your time reversing prediabetes/type 2 diabates.

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I have lost around 5% of my body weight and reversed my diabetes.

In my case, itts the low carbing which did it, not the weight loss.

serenity648 said:

I have lost around 5% of my body weight and reversed my diabetes.

In my case, itts the low carbing which did it, not the weight loss.

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So you can now eat carbs, and eat high amounts of them?