Prediabetic on metformin

Healthy Living Weight
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Hi I am prediabetic and I am just leaving the DPPOS (diabetes prevention program outcomes study). I am still taking metformin and my A1C has been around 5.7.

My goal is to lose 50 lbs this year but I’m struggling. I had to switch my job. I am now a truck driver so I’m not exercising as much. I can control food because I prep food and can make simple healthy meals on board in microwave or my rice cooker.

Exercising is very difficult. Walking I can do but probably not enough to make a difference.

Any ideas from other truckers?

If it helps I am a woman so although I can walk I do have some Avery concerns recalling on my own at truck stops.

Thanks

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Good luck with your weight loss goals. It’s not easy but the effort is essential to making it happen.

I encourage you to edit the title of your post so that you completely spell out “metformin.” This will enable the TuD search utility to find your post in the future and will help others who are concerned with the same issue as you. Just click on the pencil icon to the right of the title to allow the title edit.

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Done.
Thanks Terry.

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If getting exercise is a safety concern then diet is really all you can do to control weight, but have you tried looking up exercises you can do in a small space that you could maybe adapt to your rig?

Another idea I would suggest is getting a guard dog such as a German Shepherd. I personally would not be willing do do a job like yours without the security a good protective dog would give me.

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Firenza,

Thanks for the reply. I do have a small dog and I walk him about 5-10 mins at a clip depending on how my delivery schedule is going.

Getting a bigger dog is an issue of space in the sleeper, lifting him into and out of the truck as well as controlling the amount of fur in the truck. GS dogs shed quite a bit so we would have to clean the truck daily rather than 2-3 times a week. I do not want to live in a dirty sleeper. It’s small but it’s my home 4-6 weeks at a clip. My schnoodle rescue is as big as we can deal with.

But walking through the truck stop is not only a personal security issue but safety issue. Because you’re moving through the lot when big rigs are moving as well I’m likely to be in someone’s blind spot. So I have to be very aware of their movement for both me and the dog.

Today we are parked while we get a hub oil seal repair so I will walk the perimeter of lot with my dog as it’s daylight and other truckers can better spot me and my dog. I am hoping to get a good 30 min walk today. Will put on knee braces and hit the asphalt.

I’ve also attached a small flashlight to my belt so that is another way to alert drivers of my presence.

I’d considered videos from YouTube as well but space is limited in the sleeper. There are exercises that are strictly geared to truckers and incorporates the truck. These are great during warm months and when truck is clean. Not ideal in winter.

I think what I’m most concerned about is consistency. I can do 5-10 mins here and there but it depends on the environment I’m in. But to make money our truck rolls 24/7. So when someone is driving the other person is sleeping. So my exercise has to be when I go into the sleeper or when I take my daily 30 min break. It’s a little crazy because I sometimes lose that 30 mins sitting at the shippers. Trucking is a totally different world for me. The focus is completely on safety so even on break when I’m out with my dog I’m still doing a look see on the truck to make sure I have nothing that needs to be addressed before I begin rolling. It takes about 5 mins to do this but in this business minutes count for a lot.

It’s not all bad. I’ve done well in that I did drop 13 lbs since I started this weight loss leg 1/25/2021 but I’m not sure if some of that is water weight or not tho. I don’t weigh myself frequently. Once a month when I’m home and only in the morning. So I know I’m doing OK, but I also know that incorporating movement will my body use insulin much better than what I am.

My last resort is to do a virtual personal training session with a personal trainer to see exactly how I can get the best exercise bang I can using the limitations I have.

I am so looking forward to looking at my numbers when I see my doc in April. I am not sure if my A1c will move down from my last measurement or not. But I also need to determine if I should be monitoring my BG so that I can get my A1c out of the prediabetic range.

To those who are diabetic I’m sure my concerns may seem trivial but I’ve watched my family members & friends struggle with the disease all my life. That was actually my motivation for becoming part of the NIDDK DPP/ DPPOS. The bonus is that I benefitted in that I have not moved to T2 which I probably would have at the rate my weight was increasing.

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Never trivial !

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Your concerns are not trivial and you have done great keeping yourself from progressing to full blown type 2. BTW, losing 13 pounds is nothing to sneeze at. I haven’t been able to lose weight and my job is very physical which leaves food as the only option but my job requires enough energy that I can’t reduce my calories anymore and still work!

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I did check in with a personal trainer. My sister became a PT after struggling with very high cholesterol and having a very bad reaction to cholesterol meds. Diet alone was not enough to lower her cholesterol. She had to do it they exercise as well. Combine that with a toxic work environment she left and became a certified trainer at the age of 60. BTW she was able to get her cholesterol down into a healthy range stay heart healthy (she has MVP) through diet & exercise when her docs told her it wasn’t possible.

I had not gone to her previously because we live about 600 miles apart and I can’t visit because of the pandemic (she & her hubs are high risk). Also because of the pandemic she is struggling to keep working with her clients via Duo. So her time is very limited.

But after trying on my own and asking on this forum I finally reached out to my sister. I gave her the measurements of the space I have, sent pics, discussed my physical limitations (arthritic knees & bone Spurs in feet) and time constraints (14 hrs on duty/ 10 hrs sleeping so I have to carve out 30 mins around that federally mandated drive/sleep schedule). I also gave her my goals for weight loss and lowering my A1c thru both diet and exercise. She then had me connect with her via Duo and she discussed with me what I could do (LOTS!!!) & how often I should do things.

I will now have both cardio and weight training plan. I begin with 3 30 mins sessions per week and move up to 5 30 mins sessions per week.

Because I will be exercising in a moving vehicle, all exercising can be done sitting/laying on the bed or on floor of sleeper. My husband will make sure I remain honest about getting the exercises done.

I don’t have to have free weights right now but can use water bottles. I will eventually bring 3 or 5 lb free weights on board but only after I can figure out how to secure them in a moving vehicle.

I know weight loss is very hard and I’ve gone from 321 to 256 but I still have to get down to about 150 - 180. I spend so much time obsessing over how to modify recipes to make meals quick & easy to prepare on a truck, healthy, tasty and affordable.

Then having to wade thru so much information about what’s healthy, what’s not and figuring out where to shop when we have to shop away from home was a bit intimidating at first. But finally decided that Aldi, Walmart & in the Midwest Meijer are the most affordable for us. And I don’t have to spend the limited time we have getting used to what different stores carry or reading labels of brands I’m not familiar with. Aldi is ideal because store foot print is small and I can get into and out of it fast. Parking is also a limiting factor but I can get around that by parking in receiving/delivery area and have husband wait in truck in case we need to move the truck.

Thanks everyone for your responses. Now it’s on me.

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That’s fantastic! Congratulations on reaching out to your sister for her expert advice.

As for food, might I recommend sticking to whole foods. The more processed your food is before you eat it the worse it is for you generally. Also you might want to look up eating to your meter. This requires a BG meter and a willingness to test your BG’s before and 2 hours after meals. If a food spikes your BG every time you eat it then cross it off the list of foods you can eat unless it is a “treat”. Good luck!

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