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Unsure of what to do next

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Olliev91

Newbie
Messages
2
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hello all,
This is my 2nd time being diagnosed with type 2. Since I’ve taken metformin (x4) a day I’ve gain weight. Nearly 2 stone since June. I’ve tried the low carb diet gained nearly half a stone in a week. Also tried doing shakes like slimfast and still gaining 3lbs a week!
Is there any advice you guys could give me where I’m going wrong? Or maybe I could be taking too much metformin? Talking to the doctor and diabetic nurses isn’t the easiest. Tell me to loose weight? I’m was the lightest I’d been for 6/7 years.

Thank you

Ollie
 
Without knowing what you’re actually eating and drinking it’s impossible to give you any pointers where it might be going wrong. Perhaps give us an example day or two.

Gaining weight is often food, lessened activity, hormonal issues or medications. Other than metformin any likely suspects?

I’ve not heard of people gaining weight going low carb so I am confused how. The only possibility I can see if if a person were under eating / underweight previously. How is your current weight? Under/over or just right (sounds like goldilocks lol)

Nor have I heard about metformin making people gain weight, other meds yes but not that one. But there’s always a first.

Lastly I‘m not sure how you can be diagnosed twice. I assume it means your levels have gone back up. Once diabetic always diabetic, although you may have got good control and kept you bgl below the diagnostic range in between you were still T2. It’s often called reversed or in remission but they aren’t the same as cured. How long ago was the original diagnosis? And the gap between etc?
 
Thank you for your message.

My food for today for example is:
Omelette for breakfast, bit of bacon and tomatoes, onion
Lunch is a sourdough roll with egg mayo, peppers, strawberries, a Kit Kat and a yakult drinking yoghurt
Dinner is salmon, 150g of new potatoes and broccoli
Drinks is mostly water, the odd black coffee if I’m tired!

Nothing else going on, I do Couch to 5K 3-4 mornings a week and have an active job.
With regards to my weight, I was slightly overweight before diagnosis and now am more overweight.
When diagnosed with diabetes 8 years ago I was obese.
Yes, I was in remission and stopped taking tablets. I was in the healthiest place I’ve ever been in my adult life so it’s been a bit of a shock to me. Sorry I didn’t get the right terminology just struggling with what I can do to help myself.
 
Welcome @Olliev91
Your weight gain is unlikely to be because you are taking metformin.
Metformin is reported to have many benefits other than helping with blood sugar control, weight loss being one of them
I've copied a paragraph from here https://www.everydayhealth.com/type...ts-why-they-likely-go-beyond-type-2-diabetes/

Metformin has been shown to result in weight loss among people with type 2 diabetes, per the Mayo Clinic, so researchers were interested in seeing if the results would be similar for people without diabetes. “There has been some research that when people who [do not have diabetes but are] overweight are put on metformin, it helps with weight loss,” Dr. Besser says.

Having T2 means your body can't process carbohydrates as it should. When we eat carbs they break down into sugars we are unable to use. Our insulin resistance means that instead of that sugar being used to fuel our body it gets stored as fat.
So we are hungry again in a very short time and because our bodies have to deal with the excess sugar by storing it as fat, we gain weight. Carbs = high blood sugar, hunger, weight gain.
Base your meals on meat, eggs, cheese, healthy fats, above ground leafy vegetables and salads. Avoid bread, pasta, rice starchy veg like potatoes. Try to avoid highly processed convenience foods, real food dose not need a list of ingredients.
Check the nutritional information on everything you buy, less than 5g of carbs per 100g is fine,
5 to 10g treat with caution, maybe an occasional treat or a very small portion. Anything over 10g per 100g, put back on the shelves.
Ignore the sugars, sugar is just another carb, manufacturers will often try to disguise the amount of sugar by calling it something else, in an attempt to make their product seem healthier. It's the carbohydrates we need to take notice of.
 
So initially it looked like the medication and weight loss got you to remission. Did you do anything else back then eg diet? How long did you stay in remission before this new setback? And do you know any of the actual hba1c levels at any of these points in time or now?

Todays food : you say you are gaining on this type of eating? Is this what you are terming low carb? If so I’d point out the roll, the kitkat, the potatoes and probably the yoghurt all have a lot of carbs so there is room there to reduce carbs and therefore blood sugar quite a lot. Unfortunately some of us need to eat a lot less carbs (under 50g) than the nhs typically advise (150ishg) to get to remission and stay there. I’m wondering how long and what version of low carb you did and believe failed.

As a type 2 when blood sugar is high it almost always means insulin is also high. Insulin encourages fat storage and blocks fat burning. This is why when we get our bloods under control the weight usually follows and vice versa. I’m aware the nhs advises the reverse but it’s not normally the experience of those who get and stay in remission.
 
Hi. I agree with other posters that it is unlikely to be the Metformin. Keep going with the low-carb diet and set yourself a daily maximum such as 150g/day total or less if you can. 150g of potatoes sounds a bit high?
 

That’s brilliant. Sorry to jump in on the original post, but you’ve answered so many questions that I had!
 
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