I’m 20-25 lbs. overweight and 38 years old. (Currently weigh about 200 even, ideal shape for me is 175.) I’ve lost it all before, as recently as 2001, and am in fact 20-25 lbs. down from my peak weight now, having lost it by getting back into cycling, but find that the better in control I am, the harder it is to lose weight other than being on relatively extreme diet/exercise regimens.
I am an overweight T1… my BMI has hovered at 27-28 for the past 5 years. I did drop down to a normal weight for a stretch back in 2004, but then I got pregnant with my daughter and that was that… honestly my weight doesn’t bother me. My general level of fitness does however, and for the past 5 months I have been working on improving that, with a lot of success, but not really much weight loss. I’m okay with that. As long as I FEEL healthier, however much I weigh doesn’t really bother me much.
I am hypothyroid too, which does make it more difficult to lose weight. I think at this point in my life (I am almost 30), while weight loss would be great, my bigger goal is just not gaining more 
My doctor suggested the same…and it was easier to ease off the insulin a bit…I did it for 6 months until I experienced a reallllly low blood sugar. I think the Met decreases your glycogen stores, so I dropped and could not come up quickly. Make sure you are testing a lot and hopefully you do not have to take too much for too long. I think it is also hard on kidneys…check on that. I now follow a low carb diet which does pretty much the same thing…+ I have lost weight (about 12 pounds in 2 months…unheard of for me)…never did on the Met. I think T1’s tend toward weight gain as they age…normal to decrease insulin sensitivity and hard to maintain weight w/ aggressive blood sugar control and over-insulinization. My aggressive insulin dosing on the pump led to a whole syndrome of hormonal things that took a while to turn around. More insulin means more stress hormones and more weight…etc. I also was not fat early in my dx… I was a thin kid, dx at 15 and became a fat 30-40 year old. How ever one can do it…need to back off on the insulin and start the weight loss ball rolling and then it will correct itself to some degree.
I gained 15 pounds in the past 1.5 years, 5 of them since going on the pump. I think it’s the correction boluses that are doing me in. Plus I’m hypothyroid and I’m just starting to get that treated. If I can reduce my insulin I think I can lose weight.
What ya’ll are saying about insulin is true. I’m a biochemist who actually studied this before being diagnosed. Insulin activates the fat-storage pathways and inhibits the fat breakdown pathways. The whole “a calorie is a calorie thing” misses the point that you can alter the efficiency of metabolism. The fewer carbs, the lower your insulin needs. I am preaching to myself here because I have overindulged in nuts and dark chocolate recently and I’ve paid the price.
I used to be on metformin when I was misdiagnosed with type 2. The dr eventually put me on insulin but I took the metformin until it ran out. I think it really helped me with the dawn phenomenon and with weight loss. It did give me a few digestion issues but these were minimal compared with the improved insulin sensitivity and sugar control. I’ve also researched metformin a bit and it seems to me that it is an awesome drug actually. I’m going to see if my new dr will put me back on it.
Maria
I’m 32, T1 and have been on Metormin for almost a week now. I would like to lose about 50 pounds–maybe 60. So far, I have no negative reaction to the Metformin. But I am in the cycle of having carelessly eaten, overdosed the insulin, gained weight-and now am insulin resistant. Truth be told, when the endo told me she was putting me on the Met-I could have cried right there—but I didn’t. I’m focusing my disgust for he situation into motivation to do better, which has started with writing down everything I eat along side my bs test numbers. I’ve cut my calories and carbs–but it is SO hard to break the carb cycle. I feel hungry a lot, have a daily low bs, and crave carbs…but I’m trying. I guess that’s all that it is about, ya know. No one made me this way and no one can make me better–except for me. I guess that I can’t live my life trying to pretend/hide that I’m a D.
If anyone has any good inbetween meal snack ideas that are close to a free food-let me know. I’m getting sick of pickles! Thanks!