Question about blood sugar levels while on a Keto diet
RobertHendrix
Posts: 98 Member
I have a question regarding what my blood sugar levels should be around now that I have switched to a Keto diet. I am a type 2 diabetic. In 2/12 my A1c reading was 11.1 and in 9/12 it had gone up to 12.1. This is when I started getting serious about losing weight. I was 489 lbs was doing nothing to control my diabetes and had an avg reading for 350-450 with it spiking to over 500 at times. From Aug - Dec I just reduced my portion sizes. Instead of eating 1.5-2 medium pizzas I would only eat 1 small pizza and by Jan I was down to 448lbs.
I joined the gym and started a 12 week program called Lose Big 2.0 where I worked out with a trainer for 1 hour 3 times a week and had 3 sessions with a nutrionist and wellness coach. It was at this time that I was introduced to MFP and started counting calories and for that 12 weeks I tried to stay under 1600 calories a day and never ate back any of my exercise calories. Per the advise of the nutrionist I used the default 40%/30%/30% macros and strived to hit those each day. I also started strength training (stronglifts 5x5) on the 3 days in between the sessions with the trainer and resting on Saturdays.
I was on metformin at this time and during this 12 week session I lost 54 lbs and my blood sugar highs went from the 400's to around 150 and my fasting readings or morning tests went to below 100. On 3/20 I had my physical and my fasting bs was 79 with an A1c of 6.1, my doctor took me off of the metformin. During the 12 week session I had been losing about 6-8lbs a week at the begining but the last few weeks it was only 1-2 lbs a week.
During this time my mom had also been doing a LCHF diet and had lost almost 80lbs and through reading a bunch of information on the MFP forums I decided that since I had enjoyed the Lose Big Program I was going to do a second 12 week session but that I would change to a LCHF Keto diet during this session to change things up and see how it works out. I started the Keto diet on 4/14 and I am in my 3rd week. I have been under 20 net carbs a day and the first two weeks my macros were at a 5%/45%/50% but for more than half of the days I was higher on protein than fat because I was still eating a lot of chicken and fish since I had cut out a lot of high fat foods during the first session while just counting calories. This week I have been aiming to be closer to a 5%/25%/70% ratio.
That first week I lost 9.6lbs but then last week I only lost 1.8 lbs and so far this week I haven't lost anything (haven't gained either so I am ok with this). My concern is that even at 20 net carbs or the 25% protein I may still be making to much glucose. I know there is an adaption period after the intital water weight loss at the begining and I plan on giving this diet the full 12 weeks before I consider changing anything up but I am just concerned that my BS levels are still to high and that it is causing the full Keto-adaption to not take place. I do not expect to lose 10lbs a week but with still being around 380 lbs I figure that still avg 4-6 lbs a week should be a reasonable expectation.
While just calorie counting (and on metformin) my BS levels were between 85-95 when I would first wake up and would spike to between 146-154 after a meal. Since starting the Keto diet (and being off metformin) my BS levels seem to be very stable at 114-117 when I wake up and spikes up to 121-124 after a meal. Is this a normal level for a type 2 diabetic on Keto? Would it be more benificial if I went back on the metformin to help keep the levels down?
Sorry for length of post but thought I might provide a little back story to help understand my concerns.
I joined the gym and started a 12 week program called Lose Big 2.0 where I worked out with a trainer for 1 hour 3 times a week and had 3 sessions with a nutrionist and wellness coach. It was at this time that I was introduced to MFP and started counting calories and for that 12 weeks I tried to stay under 1600 calories a day and never ate back any of my exercise calories. Per the advise of the nutrionist I used the default 40%/30%/30% macros and strived to hit those each day. I also started strength training (stronglifts 5x5) on the 3 days in between the sessions with the trainer and resting on Saturdays.
I was on metformin at this time and during this 12 week session I lost 54 lbs and my blood sugar highs went from the 400's to around 150 and my fasting readings or morning tests went to below 100. On 3/20 I had my physical and my fasting bs was 79 with an A1c of 6.1, my doctor took me off of the metformin. During the 12 week session I had been losing about 6-8lbs a week at the begining but the last few weeks it was only 1-2 lbs a week.
During this time my mom had also been doing a LCHF diet and had lost almost 80lbs and through reading a bunch of information on the MFP forums I decided that since I had enjoyed the Lose Big Program I was going to do a second 12 week session but that I would change to a LCHF Keto diet during this session to change things up and see how it works out. I started the Keto diet on 4/14 and I am in my 3rd week. I have been under 20 net carbs a day and the first two weeks my macros were at a 5%/45%/50% but for more than half of the days I was higher on protein than fat because I was still eating a lot of chicken and fish since I had cut out a lot of high fat foods during the first session while just counting calories. This week I have been aiming to be closer to a 5%/25%/70% ratio.
That first week I lost 9.6lbs but then last week I only lost 1.8 lbs and so far this week I haven't lost anything (haven't gained either so I am ok with this). My concern is that even at 20 net carbs or the 25% protein I may still be making to much glucose. I know there is an adaption period after the intital water weight loss at the begining and I plan on giving this diet the full 12 weeks before I consider changing anything up but I am just concerned that my BS levels are still to high and that it is causing the full Keto-adaption to not take place. I do not expect to lose 10lbs a week but with still being around 380 lbs I figure that still avg 4-6 lbs a week should be a reasonable expectation.
While just calorie counting (and on metformin) my BS levels were between 85-95 when I would first wake up and would spike to between 146-154 after a meal. Since starting the Keto diet (and being off metformin) my BS levels seem to be very stable at 114-117 when I wake up and spikes up to 121-124 after a meal. Is this a normal level for a type 2 diabetic on Keto? Would it be more benificial if I went back on the metformin to help keep the levels down?
Sorry for length of post but thought I might provide a little back story to help understand my concerns.
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While just calorie counting (and on metformin) my BS levels were between 85-95 when I would first wake up and would spike to between 146-154 after a meal. Since starting the Keto diet (and being off metformin) my BS levels seem to be very stable at 114-117 when I wake up and spikes up to 121-124 after a meal. Is this a normal level for a type 2 diabetic on Keto? Would it be more benificial if I went back on the metformin to help keep the levels down?
Those are very good levels. I understand your concern that your morning fasting levels are a little higher, however 114-117 fasting is great. But, far more important is the lower levels after a meal. 121-124 is fantastic. It is very important to keep those spikes under 140. As the weeks go by those levels will decrease.
Your liver might be dumping glucose into your blood stream during the night if your levels are bottoming out during the night. That will improve.
If you are keeping your carb intake down and you aren't starving all the time, not craving carbs and through the carb flu then you are most likely keto-adapted.
Congratulations on a job well done. Welcome to keto. Enjoy the bacon.0 -
They say that levels between 70 and 130 mg/dl before meals, and less than 180 two hours after starting a meal, with a glycated hemoglobin (A1C) level less than 7 percent or so is considered controlled diabetes.
I'm someone that before starting keto wasn't controlling my diabetes well at all. I was on Glipizide and Metformin and was still seeing blood sugar in teh mid 200s most of the time if not higher as I was not good at keeping up with my meds.
Since being on keto my levels have plummeted and I'm not taking any medication.
I ate about 1 hour ago or so and just a random test I made for this topic put me in at 117. (Double Down from KFC yum)
My sugars are actually higher when I get up in the mornings than they are during the day. When I get up I tend to run about 130-160 and after I eat I tend to drop to teh low 100's and by the latter part of the day even the 90s. I had to stop taking all my meds because I started going too low even with just one pill.
The doctor had prescribed a small tiny tiney pill but I haven't picked them up yet.
You're going to want to monitor your levels very closely while you body transitions and until you have confidence what they are going to be. You may find you won't need any meds. If you are in the low 100's (100's and 110's) etc. You are doing excellent. If you do take meds just watch yourself not to go too low. That lack of carbs will plummet you sugars drastically.0 -
In addition to the comment above about your liver dumping glucose at night (either from built up stores or from rebounding from low blood sugar) and your levels being pretty normal for a diabetic, you also might have some higher levels because of the cessation of Metformin, which I understand helps control the liver dump at night. I would continue to monitor your levels daily and if you are still feeling some concern about the levels you should definitely discuss it with your doctor and he/she can give you a target range for fasting and after meal levels.0
