Jumping In

Hey all, I am 59 years old close to 400 pounds and type 2 diabetic. A year ago I had a sever ketoacidosis episode that left me in the hospital for a week and about 5 months of recovery before I began to even feel close to normal. At that point I was down to about 340 pounds, the doctors prescribed insulin for the diabetes. I am sure you all know what happened next, my weight exploded and yet I was eating less than before I went into the hospital. I saw some material on Intermittent Fasting and it makes sense to me. I have some questions however and my Doctor is not a fan of this approach. I am currently on Lantus twice a day at 30 units and Humalog at meals 5-8 units. I am just finishing week one of my fasting start, doing 18/5 with only eating at Noon and about 5 PM, no snacking. I am eating low carb. So the questions: 1) When should I start reducing or stop using insulin? I get the concept that I want to burn the sugar out of my system but I am worried using the Insulin with a low carb diet is still slowing this down. 2) What kind of weight lose should I expect, will it be sudden or slow and steady?

Answer

If you can find a doctor who is IF-aware, that will make it much easier. As an insulin-dependent Type 2 diabetic, you really need expert medical advice that this sub is not qualified to give you. How/when to reduce your insulin can be a life and death question.

You can try talking to your current doctor again — tell them you are absolutely set on doing IF and you want to know how to do it safely. Try showing them this review article about IF and Type 2 diabetes. But if they really won’t help you, it might be time to find a doctor who will.

Answer

I would recommend reading Dr. Jason Fung’s The Diabetes Code and, perhaps, The Obesity Code.

He gives a lot of information about why insulin is not the optimum treatment for T2 diabetes.

You can see how you feel about how this information applies to your particular health situation and discuss it with your doctor, or a different doctor that is more receptive.

Answer

Seriously, do not crowdsource your medical advice for something like this on Reddit. I totally understand that this doctor may not be the right fit for you, but then you need to find a new doctor. A close friend of mine was diabetic and I witnessed an incident that landed her in the hospital; please be very careful with adjusting these meds.