Losing weight on Metformin

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Permalink Reply by Yvonne on April 28, 2009 at 7:03am

Oh yes, I've experienced the same thing. Weight loss will be slow. The good news is that you probably won't gain any weight. If you want to lose weight, keep restricting carbs, and add lots of excercise. You've done a great job with the bg levels!

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Permalink Reply by Susan Mitchell on April 28, 2009 at 10:14pm

Yes, Patricia,
It has been nearly 5 months since dx for me, In my first month on met, I lost 2 lbs., in my second , 3lbs. The last couple of months my weight loss has really picked up. I have not been weighing myself - saving that for the dr.'s next month, but I have lost a full size. My theory is that the large amounts of insulin floating around in my body (made necessary by my insulin resistance) make it extremely difficult to lose weight. As my bg levels normalize, I have less excess insulin in my body, so the weight loss speeds up. If I'm right, it should mean that the more weigh I lose, the easier it becomes. Time will tell. I am keeping carbs to 50 or less per day, and doing at least 10,000 steps or equivalent swimming. PS your bg levels are looking good. I am usually 88-120 throughout the day, although I still sometimes hit 130 fasting( dawn phenomenom)

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on April 28, 2009 at 11:42pm

Dear Susan

Good for you. That is a lot of daily exercise and probabbly this does the job of reducing insulin resistance. Metformin occaisionally works for some people but not everyone is blessed with metformin miracle.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on April 28, 2009 at 11:53pm

Dear Pat. Welcome to the nightmarish world of insulin resistance. I am even thinking of stopping my insulin injections to see if I can loose weight.

Metformin I do not think does much for most people and you may be taking too little to have any effect. at 1500 mg per day it does absolutely nothing for me but a 2000 mg I start to have an effect, it makes the BG a bit better but at the expense of uncontrollable fatigue.

The only thing that will work is an enormous daily amount of exercise as mentioned by Susan Mitchell below. I have had both eyes operated for cataracts and have not been to the gym in 10 days and have gained 5 lb. Will be hell to pay to loose them.

Persevere your life depends on it. You have to get fanatical about exercise. Best of luck

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Permalink Reply by Ellie on April 29, 2009 at 7:58am

Anthony, please don't keep putting down metformin and saying it does nothing for most people (or "not much") to quote you exactly. I have been on it for years and I prefer what it does (fight insulin resistance) to other meds such as the glyburide types that burn out your pancreas. There are people who can't tolerate it, people it doesn't help, but there are a lot of people for whom it is a lifeline, and I would hate to discourage people from trying it because of posts saying it doesn't work for most people. Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on April 29, 2009 at 9:11am

Good for you. I agree this is the only drug that we have that alledgedly helps insulin resistance. But people should also realize that in many cases it is a dud. In a group of 6 diabetics only one had miraculous action and actually lost weight. 1500 mg per day had no effect on my average BG nor did it improve the standard deviation. 2000 mg makes the control better a bit but wipes me out completely after 3 weeks.

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Permalink Reply by Gerri on April 29, 2009 at 1:26am

Sorry for the frustration, but it will get easier & better. Congratulations on the great BG! Hope you're proud of this accomplishment.

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Permalink Reply by Stacey on April 29, 2009 at 8:18am

Isn't weight loss an unintentional side effect of Metformin not a guarantee?
Does anyone know?

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on April 29, 2009 at 9:13am

I was taking it recently with weight loss as the major objective. Insulin does a much better job of controlling BG.

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Permalink Reply by Patricia Griffith on April 29, 2009 at 10:21am

I think you are right, unintentional weight loss is probably a side effect of Metformin. I've researched it some on the internet and it says it helps some people lose weight and some people not.

I had my appointment today with the Nutritionist and I have to say I'm more confused now than before! She said I need to get the "Atkins way" of counting carbs out of my head. She said I could eat 45-60 grams of carbs per meal. That just sounds awfully high to me.

I've only lost 1/2 pound in a week, and she thinks I'm actually not eating enough, my body is in starvation mode! I'm scared to eat anything. I always wonder, does this mean if I were on Survivor, I wouldn't lose any weight??????

Patricia

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Permalink Reply by Stacey on April 29, 2009 at 10:37am

Patricia I have to say Im with your Nutritionist on this one! :)

For so long the idea out there for diabetics has been "sugar and carbs are bad" and this is NOT the case.

We need carbs! Everyone does! Ive known a lot of people who did Atkins (non-d's) who experienced extreme fatigue and even low BG symptoms!!

Carbs are not the enemy!! :)

Now, its true certain carbs are better for you than others but I cant imagine eating only a few carbs per day! The apple I just had with my lunch was about 15g and my grapes this morning were 14g!
I saw the poster above say shes eating less than 50!
I'm already at 34 and that is not nearly all I've had to eat today since Ive had breakfast AND lunch already!!

And you dont HAVE TO eat all those carbs per meal...Sunday night I had steak, corn and broccoli my total carb intake was about 20 carbs if I remember correctly. But I also didn't have any fruit with that meal.

Understanding Diabetes takes time, you'll get there! Its only been 5 months right? I've been T1 for 18 years and I still don't get all the ins-and-outs of it! :)

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Permalink Reply by Anthony Holko on May 8, 2009 at 12:34pm

Dear Stacey.

There are 2 issues for many diabetes. One is how much insulin your pancreas produces and may vary from 0 to 300% of normal. Then there is insulin resistance which also can vary from nothing to a lot in some inividuals.

If you are not particularily insulin resistance you can match any amount of carbs with insulin at least in theory. But there is always the problem of mismatch as explained by Dr. Bernstein that the mismatch is the least when the least amount of carbs are eaten..

When your are insulin resistant the more carbs you eat with mean the more insulin you will have to inject and the more insulin resistant you will become. This can lead to a weight gain loop were you will end up at 500 lb or dead whichever comes first.

With this said I do eat an orange and kiwi per day. And once a week I eat 50 grams of undercooked pasta which I can match well with 10 units of insulin. I however cannot loose any weight so maybe no carb is required in extreme cases.

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