Is it the obesity that causes T2 or is it insulin resistance that causes obesity? I’ve heard both but am wondering what you all think.
I’m wondering if my relatively recent huge weight gain is caused by insulin resistance. I used to stay steady at around 265 lbs but I’m now at my highest weight ever at 345 lbs. I just started on a low-carb diet today. Very low carb. No bread, no pasta, rice or other carbs. Only the carbs that are in vegetables.
Welcome!
Personally, I don’t believe that obesity causes diabetes. Instead, I think diabetes causes obesity. But I have to tell you, lots of people are under the misconception that people that get diabetes got that way because they overate and didn’t exercise. It may well be that you and I overate and didn’t exercise when we should of and I’m sure that didn’t help, but there are lots of people who are morbidly obese who don’t have diabetes and there are stick thin people who have diabetes.
I think you have really made a good choice to adopt a very low carb diet. That change alone, if you stick with it could totally manage your diabetes and allow you to lose lots of weight. But even if you lost all that weight and became a 100 lb model, I still think you would still have diabetes because returning to the old way of eating would just put you back where you are today.
I’m glad you joined us. Let us know how it goes and don’t forget to look around for Gerri’s low carb recipes. If you ask, I am sure she will post some of her favorite links to low carb recipes.
The low carb diet should really help. If I follow the ADA diet I will gain weight and be depedant forever on my medications.
I’m going through the same thing gaining 60 pounds since I started treatment for my diabetes 5 yrs ago. I use Lantus only. I tend to gain in large chunks for no apparent reason. I do exercise…walk or ride bike daily.
I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic “insulin resistant” by my doc early this month. He’s been watching my fasting glucose numbers and decided it was time to put me on metformin. My fasting numbers at the doctor are usually 104 to 108 but when I test they are very wacky and are anywhere between 104 and 119.
I am JUST starting on a low carb diet after testing before and after every meal and snack. I’ve hit as high as 190 or so just from eating cereal. Weird for me. 
So I’ve got a lot of reading to do. I’m going to buy the Atkins book and try to follow that to some degree. I just cooked for myself for the first time in years. I made turkey breast and green beans. LOL The turkey was overcooked and the green beans were ok. So I call that a success. Oh I’m 26 and living at home due to a disability, I cannot work for a living.
I did gain a lot of weight a few years ago and I attributed it to a medication I was on, not necessarily my diabetes, or pre-diabetes. Whatever. It’s hard to say you are a little bit pregnant, and I follow that rule with my “pre-diabetes.” You are or you aren’t. 
I’m sick of gaining weight. I have to stop this cycle now. It’s so frustrating but I know my eating habits are a major contributer to my weight. I always eat way too much. I need to just cut back and eat healthy things. It’s going to be a challenge for me. For sure.
about your tests - meters have a high error rate (up to + or - 20% error), so the same drop of blood can generate a reading of 104 or 119. it also varies meter to meter. i just got a new meter yesterday, and i did a few tests on both of them simultaneously from the same finger prick. they were usually within 10 points, but not every time. frustrating… but practically i wouldn’t read too much into small differences.
It is my considered opinion that diabetes and obesity are a feedback loop. If you have certain genes, you will not do well to eat many carbs, and if you eat even the “good carbs,” you will gain weight seemingly in disproportion to the amount that you eat and exercise. The weight you gain will be deposited in the abdomen as metabolically active fat cells, which create insulin resistance, causing you to gain weight. And so on and so on.
Low carbing reverses that process somewhat. Not completely. I’m in great shape now but I don’t generally get fasting numbers below 100.
Welcome! I agree with what bsc said… I actually am 100 lb and a model and I am one of the lucky ones with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes has no “mold” as I am learning…anyone can fall victim to it. Good job on starting a low carb diet, it is def the way to go and you will also lose weight very quickly which will help your blood glucose.
The Type 2 Atkins Diabetes Revolution is a great book!!
Well my mom thinks the Atkins diet is bad because it can cause diabetic keto acidosis. But I am going to do very low carb. I’ll try to stick with 20 or so grams of carbs per meal. I think that’s a good starting point.
I was going to buy the atkins book but since I can’t work, I don’t have income so it would be on my moms credit card so I asked her about it and she said no. 
But yeah I’ll do low carb for sure.
From what I have read, Type 2 is genetic but their are several factors that CAN trigger it off. It is very complex so there is no one answer.
If you have the Type 2 genes in you at birth, obesity, at some point in your life, CAN start up your body into a diabetic state. But lately what I have read that is is also not HOW much fat you might have but where your body stores this fat. Fat stored near organs are more of the problem than fat stored closer to the skin.
This is theory, if true, can be a good explain for us thin Type 2.s out there (yes, we are not all fat and far from it).
I am 5’4" and I was 130 lbs when I was diagnosed and 40 years of age. I lost 30 lbs without even trying in 3 months. I now weigh 100 lbs. Still Type 2 and not fat at all. In fact too skinny. I believe my age and a period of sedentary set mine off. Could be other stuff too, like stress, lack of Vitamin D etc but there no way to know for sure.
All i know is that I am living proof that being obese doesn’t NOT cause diabetes.
Good point. 
Thanks for replying.
Here is a blog post from Jenny Ruhl over at Blood Sugar 101she wrote back some time ago on your question. You may find it helpful.
http://diabetesupdate.blogspot.com/2007/06/thin-type-2s-disprove-th…
At diagnosis I was DKA and literally was starving and dehydrated. I was drinking more and eating more but no effect. I was burning myself up. I dont want to go back there again.
ok. I have to break some news to you. Low carb diets don’t cause DKA, the south beach diet doesn’t leave permanent tan lines and the Ornish diet doesn’t cause your head to explode. These things are just not true.
And my local public library has the new atkins book, so you could probably just check it out for free!
I am a type 2 and once was over weight. Im still overweight according to the charts but am very active. I have found out that carbs are a tool. Every tool has its place to be used. The issues that I have with low carb is that I tend to go low if I dont have enough carbs in long workouts. I know you are starting out in this crazy ride but as a type 2 excercise is your best friend. What I have learned is that when I do long workouts or high intensity workouts the low carb goes out the window. I can be at 220 and drop down to 65 in 20 minutes and will not recover on my own without carbs. So I need to put carbs in because the meds keep my body from getting the glucose that the liver dumps. So you will learn to adjust your carbs as you test more and more. I notice for me that when my weight dropped 40 pounds low carb started to be a problem because I kept going into the 60s all the time. So two schools of thoughts on low carbs. I am in the thought of managing carbs and using them when necessary but the biggest thing is testing to see what they do for you.
LOL! I never heard the one about the Omish diet.
Brittany,
People confuse ketosis with DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). They’re completely different animals. Ketosis occurs when fat is burned for energy, which is what a weight loss diet should do. Ketosis is a normal, natural biochemical process. Most people have mild ketosis when they wake in the morning simply from not eating for 12 hours.
DKA is a life threatening condition of very high BG that results in high ketones. Without sufficient insulin to get glucose into cells, the body is in starvation mode. Since food isn’t being converted into energy, fat stores are burned. But this doesn’t help because the body can’t ultilize it. Weight loss occurs, with unquenchable thirst, constant urination & often vomiting. If untreated to bring BG down, coma & death follow.
Ketosis from a low carb diet does not turn into DKA.
DKA is much more possible with Type 1s.
Maybe your mom would be open to Dr. Richard Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution. He’s the low carb diabetes guru & an endo. You can find a lot of Atkins info on-line. There are also tons of low carb forums & recipe sites.
Yes I do have trouble exercising. I can’t walk very far without bad pain in my lower back. Just walking from the parking lot to the store is pretty bad. I do have a stationary bike. I am gearing myself up to actually using it. It’s my parents. They never use it either.
Others have told me to do chair exercises. I need to find my 3 pound hand weights… If I can find them I’ll start doing some light exercise to at least get myself moving around again.
Interesting. Is the Amish diet usually low carb? I’ll have to see if the library has that or a similar book. Thanks.
Oh ok thanks