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How long does it take to reverse prediabetes?

Wallbasher

Wallbasher

Newbie
Hi

First post, but straight in with a question which I'm sure should go somewhere else.

I was HbA1c 6.5% end of June and now 6.2%, heading in the right direction. BMI is 25. Step count on average 15K/day with lots of hard games of squash a week, dog-walking every day etc...

Diet changes include cutting out all sugar (chocolate, sweets, desserts, biscuits etc), replacing white carbs with wholemeal, smaller portions (and particularly carbs), more fresh veg and fruit, more fish, more and more regular water.

How long might it take with this regime to keep moving the needle back into the "safe" range?

Thanks :)
 
Well done!

Keep going with what you are doing, and wait and see.
But the reality is that now you have had a brush with diabetes, you will always be at higher risk than people who haven't.

You already know this, but keeping D at bay depends on lifetime lifestyle changes, no backsliding, and finding a way of living and a way of eating that is sustainable for ever.

There are quite a few of us on here who have, with the best will in the world, made huge changes in our lives, and then for any number of reasons (often stress, illness or personal tragedy), lapsed and re-crossed the line. Every time that happens, it becomes harder and harder to recover lost ground.

Sorry to inject a downer, but this really isn't a case of making temporary changes, hitting target and then relaxing.
 
Excellent advice from the preceding posters. All I can add to that is that if I fall off the wagon for any reason (social, gluttony etc) then when I get back on the wagon I see my numbers slowly descend over a period of five days or so. I suppose it could be longer for a newbie.
 
Thanks to all for your almost real-time feedback. Mixed feelings of relief and frustration at the answers. No danger of falling off the wagon as I've seen my father die last year of vascular dementia at age 70 as a consequence of his T2 diabetes - not going down that path!

Have you any views on Michael Moseley's book about 5:2 Fast Diet (thefastdiet.co.uk)?
 
I think the Mosely idea is a good one (although personally, I have bad reactions to hunger)

But if you want information on intermittent fasting specifically aimed at diabetics, then have a google (particularly you tube) for Jason Fung.

He is a lecturer and researcher whose basic argument is that type 2 diabetes is a disease of insulin resistance. Sort that out, and you can 'reverse' the D, come off drugs, lose weight and get your life back.

Well worth a look, if fasting floats your boat. :)
 
Fasting could never float my boat, probably the main reason I'm in this condition is my love (obsession?) with food. The prospect of fasting makes me panic ;) Thanks for the reference to Fung, I'll take a look.
 
I was in the pre-diabetic range for around 10 years. Over the years I made change after change to my diet, and in the end the readings inched higher - but no-one ever pointed me to a low carb diet and a monitor until post-T2-diagnosis I was told about DiabetesUK. Looking back, if they had suggested those two things, I think I could have done a lot more. So I hope you do get success.

But like the others, I realise if you've drawn a bit of a genetic short straw, you could nevertheless still end up T2.

Reading David Cavan's Reverse your Diabetes has been an enormous help for me.
 
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All you can really do is stick to what you are doing and wait and see if your Hb keeps going down, if it does great and if it doesnt you know you have to make further changes.
 
I think it is helpful to see the various forms of fasting as just one of the methods of treatment using diet/ways of eating, if needs be. You would only need to go there if you were strongly moved to! And as you are currently at an HBA1c of 44 from a 48, you are obviously doing the right thing for you already.

No need to treat more intensively (ie using intermittent fasting etc) unless you were desiring more 'tight control' of your blood glucose, and/or having complications. (At least that is how I see it.)
 
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