Type 2 Diabetes and huge weight loss

I've lost 50 pounds. Not sure what that is in Stones.
My A1C has been 40,38,39 in the last year. I still have ideally another 40-50 pounds I'd like to loose but my BG numbers are under control. I started with a A1C of 84 two years ago and got it down to 40 with in 5 months of low carbing.
I am on Metformin, but it's key to help my with my PCOS symptoms and I don't believe it would have helped had I not started low carb. I plan on staying on it for the rest of my life.

I had normal readings (rather than prediabetic in February) in June this year - at my six month test.
Now I am approaching one year from diagnosis and I found a notebook with my weight recorded in it - but I can't remember exactly when that was - it can't be very long ago, but I am down over three stone since then. I have not been trying to lose weight, just to control my blood glucose by eating low carb foods.
All the weightloss has been incidental to the control of blood glucose as far as I can work out. I lowered my BG first, then the weight came off - my diabetes education team were very puzzled as they expected the reverse - as you seem to do. I expect it is 'accepted wisdom' that weight loss leads to improvement in BG when it looks as though it is the other way round.

I've lost over 4 stones (want to lose another 1.5 stone) and lowered my A1c from 67 to 26. Now all I have to do is keep the A1c in the normal range for as long as I can. I was trying to get my bgl under control rather than lose weight. The weight just fell off. For the past couple of weeks it's slowed to 1 kilo a week.

Additionally my liver function test came back as normal. (I was diagnosed with a fatty liver 3 years ago).

carina62 said:

I’d like to know from others what impact has it had on your T2 diabetes by losing a lot of weight (I mean 4 or 5 stones +)? Have you managed to get an HBA1C into non-diabetic range and how long is it possible to keep it at those levels without giving in to medication (tablets or insulin). I have a very long journey before I lose 5 stones which would take me to ideal weight.

Click to expand...

I was not overweight when diagnosed. However, I don't think of it as, "you can improve your blood glucose control by losing weight." But rather, you can do it by going on a low-carb diet. If you want to lose weight faster, combine the low-carb diet with a low-calorie, low-fat approach. That is what I did (low carb + extreme portion control), and I lost 10KG (one and a half stone) in 3 months even though I'm thin and weedy.

I think it is unfortunate that the advice given to T2s is often, "lose weight" in the abstract. There are all sorts of good reasons to lose weight, but losing weight (on its own) is not the key to BG control, in my opinion.

Edited to add: I have seen studies that compare the low-carb approach with the low-calorie, low-fat approach. Many of them show a slightly greater weight loss with low-carb.

Hi Carina, many people on the forum are able to maintain non-diabetic range Hba1c through a combination of reduced carb diet, exercise, medication and weight loss. Personally I never targeted weight loss as my main goal. My efforts were targeting glucose control through a eat to your meter strategy. I would test my levels before and two hours after each meal and adjust carb intake in subsequent meals so as to keep after counts within 2 mmol of before. I also did a lot of walking to improve my aerobic fitness. The weight loss just happened, although it was never the 4 to 5 stone you are asking about. I know some people associate such weight loss with reduced insulin resistance and/or elimination of fatty acid syndrome. I have no personal experience of this. Personally I have been on metformin tablets ever since diagnosis 8 years ago and continue to take this despite a normal latest Hba1c of 33. I do not suffer from any side effects, I know it is a reasonably safe drug with a long history of use to treat t2, it has very little risk of causing me to hypo and is said to have additional health benefits in reducing the risks of diabetic complications. To be honest I have a routine that seems to work for me so I am reluctant to change it.

Grateful said:

I was not overweight when diagnosed. However, I don't think of it as, "you can improve your blood glucose control by losing weight." But rather, you can do it by going on a low-carb diet. If you want to lose weight faster, combine the low-carb diet with a low-calorie, low-fat approach. That is what I did (low carb + extreme portion control), and I lost 10KG (one and a half stone) in 3 months even though I'm thin and weedy.

I think it is unfortunate that the advice given to T2s is often, "lose weight" in the abstract. There are all sorts of good reasons to lose weight, but losing weight (on its own) is not the key to BG control, in my opinion.

Edited to add: I have seen studies that compare the low-carb approach with the low-calorie, low-fat approach. Many of them show a slightly greater weight loss with low-carb.

Click to expand...

Low fat? Really?

I should add that most of my reduction in size was around my waist - or equator, which was a more apt description.
my waist is about 12 inches smaller - possibly 14.
I can now look in the back of the wardrobe for clothes I've not been able to wear for years, and buy things in sizes I never thought I'd need to look for ever again.

carina62 said:

I’d like to know from others what impact has it had on your T2 diabetes by losing a lot of weight (I mean 4 or 5 stones +)? Have you managed to get an HBA1C into non-diabetic range and how long is it possible to keep it at those levels without giving in to medication (tablets or insulin). I have a very long journey before I lose 5 stones which would take me to ideal weight.

Click to expand...

Yes 8 stones
Yes
Yes HbA1c 36 or lower since January 2016
Took metformin for 3 weeks then stopped November 2015.

Guzzler said:

Low fat? Really?

Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with that if it worked for Grateful after all that's what it is all about finding what works for us as individuals because we are all very different

Guzzler said:

Low fat? Really?

Click to expand...

That is what I did for the first two months. Even now my diet tends toward LCLF. Some examples:

• The little milk that I drink is zero-fat.
• Zero-fat Greek yoghurt.
• No cream in coffee or in anything else for that matter.
• A preference for white meats (chicken, pork), only eating beef once in a blue moon.

However there is still a fair amount of fatty stuff:

• I eat plenty of cheese.
• I have a half-avocado at lunchtime most days.
• I am fond of the dietdoctor's "keto seed crackers" which are heavy on fatty coconut oil.
• If hungry between meals, I snack on nuts and oil-pickled olives.

But by rights I should probably be deceased, or something, considering how much I have eliminated. I don't control portions anymore, and probably eat twice as much vegetables as most people.

It may be because I have a very slim frame and just don't need much energy. But on the other hand, as a teenager I was just a stringy eating machine, guzzling vasts amounts of food. I was 6-foot-4 by age 17, which is not unusual nowadays but back then made me the tallest person in the school (which was in the UK).

carina62 said:

I’d like to know from others what impact has it had on your T2 diabetes by losing a lot of weight (I mean 4 or 5 stones +)? Have you managed to get an HBA1C into non-diabetic range and how long is it possible to keep it at those levels without giving in to medication (tablets or insulin). I have a very long journey before I lose 5 stones which would take me to ideal weight.

Click to expand...

I have never had a weight problem I have always been one of natures skinny ones but I think good blood levels are more about diet than weight loss

For me I got my BG undercontrol and the weight came off. Not the other way around.

Pinkorchid said:

Nothing wrong with that if it worked for Grateful after all that's what it is all about finding what works for us as individuals because we are all very different

Click to expand...

I did not say there was anything wrong with it.

Hotpepper20000 said:

For me I got my BG undercontrol and the weight came off. Not the other way around.

Click to expand...

^^This^^

Guzzler said:

I did not say there was anything wrong with it.

Click to expand...

Nor did I take it that way. I saw it as a request for information.

My weight loss and reduction in c1 probably went hand in hand with increasing the amount of walking I did/do. I lost over 3.5 stone in about a year and kept it off by low carb and a bit more fat. I eat a lot of leafy veg... cabbage, rocket and watercress with avocado.
I find the walking really helped me but it's not always possible for everyone.
Wish you well.

By the way @carina62 I would like to be careful to avoid giving the impression that this kind of diet is easy to implement.

For the first three or four weeks I was ravenously hungry all the time. On the other hand, I had just been diagnosed with diabetes, a nasty chronic disease (and had just read all the horror stories about it, but had not yet read the "success stories"). I was scared s***l***.

If you can try to rewind back in time and remember the time when you yourself were diagnosed with T2D, that might help with motivation. If not, there is some basic info about the complications of the disease on this website, and elsewhere. Fortunately, you already seem to have a strong desire to make it work.

Having rather unfairly tried to scare you, here is the excellent news: For some reason, after a few weeks on the low-carb diet the hunger goes away, for many people. The effect is permanent (as long as you avoid the carbs). I am not the only person to experience this: it is a commonplace effect of the low-carb way of life.

Grateful said:

after a few weeks on the low-carb diet the hunger goes away, for many people.

Click to expand...

I think that the hunger you experienced was because you cut out fats as well as carbs. If you up your fats to replace some of the carbs the hunger doesn't really happen - fats being more satiating than carbs anyway. So you may end up eating less because you feel fuller and can fast more also helping with reducing BG and weight. That's been my own personal experience along this jourmney.