Hi!
I am a type 1 & type 2. Because of bad eating habits, poor control, etc, I gained a tremendous amount of weight after giving birth, 17 yrs ago. So, long story short, as of almost 5 yrs ago, I have changed my lifestyle 100%. I am now 55 lbs lighter, I run a healthy eating style and am currently doing interval training. It has taken me almost 5 yrs to lose this accumulated weight. Yes, my insulin levels were cut in half. But, I want and need them to go lower. I am pumping, taking Victoza and Invokana. My new endo agreed with me when I told him that I KNOW that it's the insulin that won't let me let go of the fat any faster. It is so frustrating. In 5 yrs I should look like a magazine model already, for heavens sake! I have nutritionist helping me with my meal plans, I cannot go any lower caloriewise. The last thing that the dr added to my regimen is the invokana. I believe he said that this aids in weight loss and insulin sensitivity. Yes, I am going down in mass but, not weight. I am only 5 ft tall and I weigh 175 lbs. I am currently wearing a US women's size 10 that fits me loosely, at my max I was a size 20. I keep on with my exercise, I keep on with my healthy eating, I keep on keeping on but I know that this insulin is holding back everything I am trying to lose. The invokana has helped me to lower my insulin requirements and I've been taking it for 3 weeks now. I am hoping to see some sort of change bodywise SOON. I just don't understand how I can possibly weigh this much and have people saying that I look "fantastic"...it is really stubborn, hard fat. Ugh. Anybody have any suggestions for me?
Thanks!
Insulin enables the uptake and storage of fat. It is the enemy of fat burning. I believe that the best fat burning is achieved when you can fine tune your fasting levels to the minimum and then spend significant parts of the day walking around with low insulin levels and near normal blood sugars. I am also a fan of what is called Intermittent Fasting which I think really helps. You can do this in a variety of ways, skipping a meal once in a while up to what is called 5:2, which is actually fasting for 2 days out of the week (you can do this by skipping breakfast and lunch and going 24 hours without a meal).
So in summary, I think it helps to tighten up your basal, do basal testing and make sure you don't use your basal to "cover" meals. And then spend more time walking around with normal blood sugars and low levels of insulin.
I am confused by your comment: "I am a type 1 & type 2." Do you mean that you have type 1 and are insulin-resistant? Please explain.
I have a suggestion. Find a new endocrinologist. Because you are either a type 1 diabetic or type 2. You are not both.
For weight management, intermittent fasting (I follow the skip breakfast and only eat 2 meals a day), and low carb, high fat, moderate protein work beautifully together. You have to eat low carb enough that your body switches from carb burning to fat burning (ie. physiological ketosis). The HFLC approach also helps to reduce insulin requirements.
If you also count calories you will definitely see weight loss. It works for me WHEN I follow it (I am diabetic and hypothyroid so this is a double whammy as far as weight management goes).
Being resistant to insulin as a type one is known as double diabetes - or having type one diabetes and having the characteristics of type two. Sometimes the type two characteristics are genetic or they can be caused by obesity. It does not mean her endo is a bad one. It is a term I have heard many endos and CDEs use.
That is what I did. I tightened up my basals (I am a type one) and used metformin and Symlin to help me with insulin resistance. I am on very little basal but take a lot more to cover meals - and watch what I eat. The Symlin and Metformin also helped my appetite... so I could get used to eating smaller portions. I successfully have lost over 50 pounds - and I also workout and started running.
So are you Type 1 or Type 2? Maybe you are Type 2 but using insulin? If you are not sure, you need to see an endocrinologist to help you find out for sure. It's great that you have managed to reduce your levels of insulin, because it is a fat-storing hormone, and the more you take, the more resistant to weight loss you will be. But even if we are not eating anything, we still need background (basal) insulin just for basic metabolism. If you are exercising, that helps reduce your need for insulin somewhat too. Ask your doc to refer you to a registered dietitian that can work with you to develop a lower-carb diet that will get you where you want to be.
I agree with Brian - work on fine tuning your basals. I used to weight 185 pounds at only 5'3" and now weight between 130-136 and wear a size 4. All from tightening my basals, only drinking alcohol occasionally, making sure I am not eating a ton of carbs. The more carbs, the more bolus insulin you need. I try to eat really a lot of salad with protein - and maybe one serving of carb at a meal - sometimes two servings. A lot of veggies have very little carb value - so I use this to my advantage because I can eat well - but not have to bolus so much - if at all - for the lower carb veggies.
I'm T1D and became insulin resistant over time. I understand the context. However, I think terms like "double diabetes" confuses. There is some overlap in the two major types of diabetes but they are distinct in their causes and progression.
You are type one or type two.
I also use intermittent fasting, one 24-hour fast each week. I fast from dinner one day till dinner the next. It helps to put your body into ketosis. This is when the body burns fat for fuel.
That is totally awesome!
There are some people who do have type two running in their families and these people also have type one (autoimmune) first - sometimes the resistance is not related to the type one that occurred first. All the characteristics of metabolic syndrome are present - not just the insulin resistance. So - yes - you can have both types. Maybe it should be labelled differently?
I know several people who have double diabetes (personally)- and it is like having everything thrown at you. First - your beta cells were killed off - and then years down the road - you have all kinds of metabolic issues as in type two.
I actually think that Type 2 is misunderstood both by medical professionals and the public. There is no test for T2, it is a diagnosis of exclusion. It simply means "diabetes of unknown cause." Type 2 is most commonly characterized as having an insulin secretory defect or insulin resistance. Well guess what, both of those can occur in T1 as well. And in this case I suspect that imnamor95 is type 1 with insulin resistance. She cannot be type 2 because she "knows" the cause of her diabetes.
55 lbs lost is an amazing feat. My wife lost a bunch and then hit a plateau that she never did break through. Maybe more exercise? Whatever you do, it isn't worth feeling bad about it. Diabetes is bad enough even without guilt trips.
Thank u so much! I am officially a type 1 but I have high insulin resistance. So I read somewhere that I also had type 2, from being overweight. I don’t know. But Ive always been classified as a type 1. Sorry for the confusion.
Please remember that health isn't determined by a number on the scale. Assuming your blood pressure, cholesterol, resting heart rate, A1c, etc are all good, your body may have settled out at exactly where it wants to be. If all other health indicators look good, consider reading Health at Every Size by Linda Bacon.
Does it really need to be that strict, Brian? To me the main characteristic of T2 is insulin resistance and the associated metabolic syndrome. Being a T1 and developing insulin resistance puts her far into T2 territory. To name that T1 and T2 by a doctor is helpful to recognize that this combination is truely challenging. Eventually it helps to access medical support and treatments that otherwise would not be accessible for her (classification for insurance etc)?
Hmmm I have never heard the term. But am aware of insulin resistance.
Do you have any books you can recommend about intermittent fasting? It sounds interesting. I found a bunch of Kindle books on it, but it'as hard to tell what's reputable.
I think this video is worth a look, less carb-less bolus and more fatburning
"Dr Eric C. Westman, MD and president elect of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians, has 15 years of experience helping patients lose weight and improve their health using low carb. He has also helped do several high-quality scientific studies on low carb."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NImxgj2I4_M&feature=player_embe...