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Type 2 Is weight loss the silver bullet?

BB8.HG

Well-Known Member
Messages
101
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
I was diagnosed 2 and a half weeks ago, in that time I’ve got my FBG down from 18 to 7 and my post-prandial readings are consistently around 5.5-6.5.

I feel like i'm doing the right things (regime in signature).

I’ve discovered that my dawn phenomenon can be managed to some degree by a few almonds first thing in the morning to stop the rise. But while it’s stopped it reaching 9 to 14, it’s not getting below 7 at all.

I’ve been getting frustrated at not getting my FBG below 7 no matter what I try. My fiancé has suggested that once I lose the weight I might be able to shave off a couple of mmols and bring myself within ‘good control’ parameters.

I have 130lbs to lose. I’m doing everything I can to lose weight and I’m confident my efforts will pay off. I used to be far more overweight than I am now and lost 100lbs, so I know a further 130bs is an achievable (if daunting) goal.

I’m just wondering if weight loss will be the ultimate thing that brings me down that crucial couple of mmols, or whether I should be doing more to try and bring my levels down to ‘normal’ in the meantime. My lifestyle change has been extreme and I’m unsure as to how many more changes I can feasibly make at this point! My mental health is fragile and this upheaval has been difficult, as it is for everybody.

I’ve trawled the internet and while the mantra is ‘weight loss will lower your blood sugar’, anecdotal evidence on forums seems to suggest this doesn’t apply across the board.

What do you think? Am I in danger of punishing myself for my elevated FBG and driving myself mad when in reality it’ll probably lower itself when I lose the weight? Or do I need to do something more about it right now?
 
Hi BB8, in 2 and a half weeks you have achieved enormous success with bg.

My understanding is that stomach fat affects insulin and therefore needs to go. You say that you have a lot of weight to lose, so this will take time. Celebrate your success and go for weight loss. Take all the support you can get. The GP can pay for slimming support and help with mental health, the forum members will keep you going. Losing weight and enjoying being physical can help with mental health.

Well done again for getting your bg down.
 
It can take time for your blood sugar levels to go down, you have already done really well. I have been doing this for 6 years and my fasting blood is still over 7 every day. For some of us, this is just the way our bodies work. However, give it more time and, if all the rest of your numbers are as good as they are now, you will be fine.

I have only lost a bit of my excess weight, about 10% in this time but my blood sugar levels are OK from the low carbing You can see my carb intake levels in my signature.
 
Many, many people find that the changes they make in order to gain better management of their bg has the knock on effect of weight loss. Better bg is the priority, weight loss is the bonus.
Fasting bg is the last and trickiest to deal with and for some it can take months. Keep doing what you are doing because it sounds like you are doing O.K.
 
First things first.. how long have you been low carb?
If its just a few weeks then you have done spectacularly well in getting your FBG down.. It took about 6 months for me before it reduced to the levels I wanted.
I have been ultra low carb/keto for that period and still got 6.3 FBG this morning .. then again it was 4.9 the day before.
It just goes up and down and to be honest I think depends on how well I have slept rather than anything I eat, although sometimes even that seems debatable..so keep up the great work.
 
If you lost 100, you can do 130, despite the fact I don't know the weight point from which you started. Great progress thus far

Ignore the "anecdotal" ... it will lower your BS without a doubt with your attitude, improve your overall health immensely and (as you've said) one goal achieved, another on the target. No dramatic loss, just consistent with a good diet and the pounds will disappear
 

Excess weight, whether visceral or subcutaneous is a symptom of T2 not a cause. Some people see little weight loss but better bg control which is more important.
 
Well done on your achievements so far. I can only tell you my experiences. I am on the same dose of Metformin as you and I also eat low carb to control my blood sugars. My fasting levels, as most people find were the last to go down, if they do at all. It took me about six weeks of low carb diet to get them consistently in the 5s which is where I was happy. During that time I lost around 30 pounds. I have gone on to loose over 70 pounds in total by continuing on low carb diet and Metformin and my HbA1c is now non diabetic.
 

I've been low carb since diagnosis. So a few weeks now. Thanks so much for your comment. It's made me feel so much better.
 
Welcome @BB8.HG You are doing great so far. I will tag @daisy1 to give the basic info offered to all new members.
You say your lifestyle change has been 'extreme' but is it sustainable over the long term? Being diagnosed with diabetes means that you become a marathon runner not a sprinter. Gradual weight loss means that the 'new' diet only needs a little tweaking to be sustainable when you reach your goal, on the other hand the experience of the 'Newcastle diet' is that rapid weight loss may trigger the body to reset itself to non- diabetic levels. The challenge is not just to lose the weight but to keep it off for more than a year when you reach your goal.
The experience of most people is that fbg us the last thing to revert to 'normal' levels, the important thing is to try to keep your levels during the day heading in the same direction and your weight decreasing until you are happy. Be prepared for the odd static week when your body is learning to cope with the changes, keep a record of your body measurements and you will still see changes.
Are you keeping a food diary? You may find that it may not only be carbs but also grains that are triggering a higher reading after meals. Personally I found small changes one at a time more sustainable although determined to make a change for life long term, other people may find it easier to make a complete break with past habits and set up a new routine, you know what will work for you. You have started an exciting journey into finding out about yourself and how your body works. Good luck.
 

I certainly hope it's sustainable. I've tried very hard to keep that in mind, and while the changes have been drastic (I previously ate an almost sarcastic amount of bread), I've been mindful that this isn't a diet, it's just how my life is now. Only time will tell, I suppose...
I'm keeping a very careful food diary and my carbs are averaging 30g per day. My levels during the day are encouragingly steady and lower and i'm not really experiencing any spikes after meals.
I had my wedding dress fitting yesterday and my designer told me i'd certainly lost weight, the mock-up was hanging off me a bit. I might take some home measurements so I can keep track of non-scale victories.
 
Hello @BB8.HG and welcome. I can only say what everyone else has said. The most important thing is to get bg down, and all else will follow. For many people if they lose enough weight then they find that their t2d goes into remission. But this is by no means a given. I have lost 36kgs and am now in the middle of my healthy weight range and have a waist of 31ins. But still very much t2d. All I have to do is eat something fairly carby and my bg shoots for the stars. But other people can lose weight and find that they can tolerate "normal"carb numbers. You will not know until you try.

But the best thing about a low carb way of eating is that it deals with the nasty effects of diabetes. It brings our bgl down to non diabetic levels very quickly. I had only been doing it for about 2 weeks when I had non diabetic numbers. My fbg is still high, over 7 most mornings, sometimes 8 or 9, but the rest of the day is fine.

Just keep doing what you are doing, you can do this. It is sustainable--I have been doing it since June last year and don't think about it too much now. Many other people on here have been doing it for years.

Congratulations about the upcoming wedding!!! How far in the future is it? You might need a few more alterations!
 
Avoiding all carbs and processed food is clearly the most important action you can take. This has already been covered well by other people, like most people my fasting BG took a lot longer to come under control then my 2hr post meal. (I was not trying to lose weight, but did once may BG was under control with low carb, the weight loss come AFTER the bg control.)

If you were to keep your FBG of 7 and post-prandial readings consistently around 5.5-6.5, then you unlikely to get most of the complications of Type2. Hence keeping going with what you are doing in a way you can keep up for the rest of your life is of the greatest benefit. (A "starvation diet" is not a long-term option, however, steak and eggs with green veg is, hence I love low carb.)

Not eating late at night can help reduce FBG. A short walk after (or just before) each meal have been proven to lower BG including FBG and is something that most of us are able to do, at least after dinner.
 
High FBG levels are a symptom of insulin resistance because the insulin we produce can't control the liver.

The liver will always dump glucose in our blood stream. It is a natural occurrence that is meant to happen and keeps us alive. Everyone experiences it, including healthy non-diabetics. The liver dumps its stored glucose. The pancreas secretes insulin that is intended to keep this glucose at normal levels, and at the same time tells the liver to stop dumping. All this is regulated by hormones. This works fine, but doesn't work when we have fatty livers and insulin resistance because the insulin cannot clear the glucose by pushing it into the cells for energy, and cannot tell the liver to stop dumping. Hence the liver continues to dump and the glucose levels increase. The pancreas panics and keeps producing more and more insulin until eventually it can do its job. It can take many hours for the insulin to do its job depending on the severity of the IR.

The secret is to get rid of the fatty liver and insulin resistance.

One way is to reduce the amount of insulin produced. (Too much circulating insulin causes insulin resistance, and insulin resistance causes too much circulating insulin. A vicious circle.) Carbs need insulin, the more carbs we eat, the more insulin there will be circulating about. The fewer carbs we eat, the less insulin we produce. The less insulin we produce, the better IR will become. This is a long journey - it won't happen in a few weeks.
 
BB8.HG said:
What do you think? Am I in danger of punishing myself for my elevated FBG and driving myself mad when in reality it’ll probably lower itself when I lose the weight? Or do I need to do something more about it right now?
Click to expand...

Remember that this is for the long haul. You need to be able to sustain and enjoy the chosen lifestyle. Otherwise the rebound may be more damaging.

So it really depends what you mean when you have made extreme changes over the last couple of weeks to achieve the greatly improved post meal glucose.

Many of us here found that carbs lite, fats friendly, insulin lowering lifestyle are sustainable. Quickly stabilize post meal glucose. Took a couple days of intermittent fasting to clear the fasting glucose reading. And have been able to maintain stable glucose/insulin levels since...

 
I managed to lose 40lb without even trying - but that was after getting below diabetic levels for my blood glucose.
I think that if you can keep your BG levels down and allow your metabolism to get back into balance then weightloss is almost inevitable, even for someone who is thin because there is a loss of fat from around the internal organs as part of the normalizing process. I have noticed how much my waist has reduced - it was really an equator, but it is not a lose X pounds for a Y inch reduction - in fact my weight seems to stay the same as my waist reduces, then I will lose more weight as my waist stays the same or even expands slightly. I think it sucks in fat from elsewhere.
 


I've tried very hard to make sure the changes are sustainable. I know I need to treat this as a lifestyle and not a diet. The only reason I'm talking in extremes is because my carb intake is drastically reduced (now around 30g carbs per day) and my go-to foods previously, even when losing weight were bread, all variety of baked goods, pasta, noodles etc and my diet was low fat. So for me LCHF has meant a big attitude shift towards food. Especially when low-fat, high-carb was what lost me 100lbs in the first place (although clearly my BG didn't like it...)

Now the carb cravings are subsiding it's feeling more and more like this is something i'll be able to keep up long term.
 
I started to eat low carb in the 70s after two bouts of illness resulted in bottle after bottle of antibiotics over quite a long period.
My weight began to go up and up, and only low carb stopped or reversed it. It also restored my energy levels and well being in general. I was also very muscular, with low body fat, but of course my weight was quite high even when I had a 24 inch waist.
From time to time my doctor found out what I was eating and ordered me to eat carbs but stick to low calorie - after a few weeks I would go back looking like death and hardly able to walk, and they would congratulate me on the improvement and tell me to continue with the diet.
I am working on gaining more muscle now - my lean body mass has reduced since I reached 60 years of age..
 
Sadly it wasn't for me. My bmi was 24 when I was diagnosed pre diabetic, ive gone down to bmi of 18.5 but still getting too high readings definitely not a normal response to carbs, and fasting still can be is pre diabetic range. I stick to a BMI of 21 now because I look better at this weight and my readings are no worse, hba1c is normal just the fasting at pre diabetic level occasionally.
 
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