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smb

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So I've been on 2000 mg of Metformin for about a year now and remember to take it most days. Also on 3 different meds for high BP and am 18 st.

3 months ago I decided to get back into the gym with a target of getting off the meds completely and have been working out or swimming 2 or 3 times a week, one hour with a personal trainer. I've made really good progress (5 years after quitting smoking 20-30 a day) and feel much better. People started to comment on my weight loss and this is where is gets a bit weird. I haven't lost a pound, even though I 'feel' like my shape has changed and have noticed my shoulders and chest firming up. Still got the belly but understand it will take a while to go. BP is still a bit high but controlled by the meds i think. BG is still high but my last HBA1c was 42 and that was at Xmas. I was supposed to go back but want to wait until I've done 3 months in the gym.

I guess I was expecting more changes after 3 months, and really disappointed that I've not lost any weight and am feeling a bit disheartened. I really want to get off the Metformin asap. Does anyone have any experience of being in the gym and getting fitter but seeing really gradual reductions in BG ?
 
Well as the saying now goes " you can't outrun a bad diet" so if you are not losing weight the place to look is your diet and specifically cutting out carbohydrates!
 
Ah yes. One thing I didn't mention is the diet. I've been on a restricted 1800 calorie a day controlled diet. Very few sweet things and a good balance of protein, fat and carbs.
 
Muscle weighs more than fat so if your building muscle and losing fat your weight may stay the same, if your building / losing at the same rate. Your getting healthier so stick with it. As CherryAA has said start looking at your diet. You need to eat less than you burn to see a difference on the scales. Maybe start tracking your food intake. Remember exercise and bigger muscles use more sugar so this will help long term. If people are commenting then your going in the right direction keep it up.
 
It is not always about weight loss, but rather waist/fats loss...that results from improved metabolic health.
 
congratulations , yes 1 kg muscle has 1/3 the size of 1 kg bodyfat, so one can reallt be transformed without loosing a pound...

I am in almost the same situation as you getting fitter and fitter , and must say now my body feels fresh and doing physical thngs doesn´t exhaust me anymore , not even the treadmill.

it is a wonderful gift to feel fit an fresh again, must recomend it to anyone tat possibly can do that it is all the initial exhausting days worth...

I also hoped that exercise would change the whole picture of my blood glucose numbers, it hasn´t , but it seems I can eat a bit more carbs without spiking as much as when I got my diagnosis
 
Contralto said:
It seems like you have made some great changes. Youve got into a routine taking meds and getting exercise. I wonder at the three heart meds instead of one drug or a combo drug, but then I have my heart issues and youve got yours.

I didn't start really losing weight until I raised my metabolism, despite using the gym. But building more muscle is always good.

I don't really think calorie counting ever helped me, personally, but carbohydrate restrictions did. So carb count?
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Thanks. I'm on a combo and one other. BP is much better than it was (220/120) so blowing a 140/80 is good for me. Yeah small steps and all that. I read the Burn Out thread after posting this and felt better.
 
Just a quick update, stopped taking the Metformin and kept up the gym - still the same weight but much, much fitter. Had a diabetic review a few weeks ago and Hba1c down to 41 (from 59), BP controlled and liver results down to 50 (from 120). All good. Exercising is hard and am seeing a PT so it doesn't get any easier but am doing 4 times the workout I did when I first started.
 
smb said:
I guess I was expecting more changes after 3 months, and really disappointed that I've not lost any weight and am feeling a bit disheartened. I really want to get off the Metformin asap. Does anyone have any experience of being in the gym
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As far as weight loss is concerned, I have exactly the same results as you. I went to my GP at the time, after 6 months of some serious gym/pool/golf/Personal trainer work and a calorie restricted diet. He said "Rome wasn't built in a day" which is why he is now my ex-GP. The main problem was that he didn't have a clue about diet.

The major thing is not to give up and definitely DO NOT FEEL DISHEARTENED, that is definitely counter productive. You have achieved something by getting into the habit of exercising and watching your diet, you can build on that. Keep chipping away and trying different things.

What you have shown is that weight loss isn't always just about eating less and exercising more, if it was it would be easy, unless you have problems with eating which is another problem altogether and a category that a lot of doctors seem to think we all come under. I actually followed the Bariatric Surgery route (up to a point) although not keen, not eligible because my BMI isn't high enough and after seeing a psychiatrist and a dietician, not having an eating problem, but a weight problem that the medics can't help me with.

It's possible that muscle has increased and fat decreased. On the other hand, in my case, I have been using one of those machines that tells me fat/muscle/water percentages and have even checked it's results with something called a "BodPod" at London University at Westminster. The "BodPod" is considered to be the gold standard when measuring fat/muscle and used by many athletes who are trying to keep %fat down and %muscle up, so I was impressed with the accuracy of a simple set of scales. Net result was that fat and muscle stayed the same but people kept saying how I looked thinner and I can only think that certain muscles tighten up and hold you in, or fat moves around or should I say disappears from one place and appear somewhere else.

I'm currently waiting for the results of some tests I had done, with the help of my Nutritional Therapist, looking at my microbiome and also my hormone levels. We shall see what happens.

Don't give up, all the best.
 
@smb

Great results so far. You may do even better if you look at "low carb" or "Atkins" type diets, keep the total calories the same, but reduce the carbs and make it with olive oil, avocados etc. It has been shown lots of times that by eating a lot fewer carbs our body burns more energy and people don't feel as hungry.
 
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