Effects of Insulin Resistance on Weightloss

caught my interest too

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I wish I could help! I am in the same boat as you are, Really hope to see some good information also. I keep telling myself slow and steady will win the race. Good luck on your goals. I would love to hear what has worked for you so far!

Basically for us who are insulin resistant..carbs are not our friend. I have both PCOS and hypothyroid..so my doc pretty much told me not to eat processed foods. Our bodies dont process sugar like normal people..so we have to watch both carbs and sugars.
For me, I had to be put on Metformin for PCOS..and Armour thyroid for the hypothyroid. Without changing anything, I lost 13 pounds. By exercising I lost an additional 3 pounds in 2 weeks..And this last week I lost 3 pounds by changing my diet and drinking loads of water.

With insulin resistance, our metabolism slows down...thats the reason we need to stay away from processed carbs. My doctor only has me eating 1 grain a day...which is hard cause I love bread.

My doctor has me on a 1200 calorie diet..and if I do eat sugar..making sure its natural..like whats in berries. I was told to stay away from banans cause of the high sugar content..but thats me..

I would suggest that you go to a nutritionist..and let them tell you what would be a good diet ...I didnt think I needed to go..but after going..I am soooo glad.

Hope this helps

This is what I remember from my initial meeting with a specialist when I was diagnosed with PCOS, which contributes to insulin resistance.

Basically:

If you treat your cell like a lock...and the insulin as a key. The key unlocks the cell's door to allow in the carbs/sugar/energy, etc to keep the cells/your body going. BUT in being insulin resistant, it means that it may take more than one key (a higher dose of insulin) to get the door open. (When this happens you run the risk of your pancreas not releasing as much insulin because it's exhausted, which will result in having to take insulin injections to get the same kind of kick, but this will only happen a bit down the line if it's not given the attention it needs.) If you can't get the door open to get that energy in, the carbs and excess energy will turn into fat. Drs highly recommend exercising regularly to help burn up any excess sugar/carbs that your body can't deal with.

As you know being insulin resistant means that you will experience being tired more often. I'm not sure what the treatment in the US is. However, in the UK, they recommend a steady supply of carbs. Nothing too high. Things like oatmeal, brown rice, grains, and such. Anything that will give a slow release of energy so that the pancreas doesn't feel too over burdened, but yet still giving you the sustained energy you need to keep going and if you're going to indulge in a carb like white bread or pasta, it should be consumed with protein as it helps keep it from burning too quickly.

Hopefully, I remembered everything correctly. I do find limiting carbs and sugar like white rice, bread, and white pastas, etc does help in not feeling as tired or the reverse of feeling too wired from having a ready supply through out the day.

As far as weight loss is concerned, I'm not sure how it affects it in the long term other than steady as she goes seems to work the best. You won't see results in huge numbers, but those small numbers do add up.

I am not a doctor. But I am prediabetic.
In a healthy person insulin levels follow blood glucose levels. Insulin is a way for your body to see how much glucose it has in the bloodstream.
When insulin is high (and therefore blood glucose), your cells are signaled to take in and use that glucose for energy, and your liver start to convert it to glycogen and then fat to be stored around the body.
When insulin is low, your cells are signaled to use more fat for energy, and the liver converts stored glycogen to glucose and converts fat into a form your body can use for energy.

There are many other hormones involved, but you asked for simple, so it's easiest to just think of insulin driving the whole process.

When a person is insulin resistant neither of these processes work as they do in a healthy person. When you're in a caloric deficit, your insulin level should be lower on average, which should cause your body to "switch" to burning more fat for energy. In an insulin resistant person this may not happen as well as in a healthy person, so instead of burning fat you just feel tired.

The cause of insulin resistance in still being debated, but we do know this: regular exercise of any kind improves insulin resistance.

For me, I had to be put on Metformin for PCOS..and Armour thyroid for the hypothyroid. Without changing anything, I lost 13 pounds. By exercising I lost an additional 3 pounds in 2 weeks..And this last week I lost 3 pounds by changing my diet and drinking loads of water.

I started taking 3 doses of Metformin a number of years ago as it was supposed to help kick start my periods and fertility again. Other than having lost a little bit of weight with it and getting an occasional stomachache from it, I'm not sure if it helps or not. :laugh:

I think I had multiple symptoms at once.

Originally, it all started with not having my monthly visitor and not being taken seriously by my dr at the time then it moved onto having an unusually high blood pressure (which resulted in symptoms of being overly tired and dizzy).

I was fortunate enough to have seen a dr who was sitting in for my original one and he did listen to what I had to say and my concerns at not having had a period for over a year. He told me to start seeing him from now on and recommended that I register at a new office that was opening up as they were a little more progressive than my usual dr. They did a few hormone tests and other related tests and found that my sugar and cholesterol was a little bit high for having a normal diet, but the real stinker was seeing a specialist who did an ultrasound scan of my lower tummy to see why 'ze visitor' wasn't appearing.

Though the one thing I can say about insulin resistance is that you can go years without realizing you have it. I did. Once I started taking medication for it, everything else fell into place.

Being constantly tired was depressing as hell and made me feel demotivated as exercise or anything strenuous seemed to result in being even more tired and moody because of feeling hopelessly tired in the first place. Gradually building up the exercise helps: start out small and work at it for longer lengths of time.

It seems insulin resistance and fertility for women is a vicious circle. They aren't 100% sure if the PCOS causes the insulin resistance or if the insulin resistance causes the PCOS. Seems to be a couple of schools of debate on that one. :P

Bump...

FWIW, I'm a type 1 diabetic but have guessed I've become insulin resistant in the last decade or so..
What seems to help the uphill battle: less carbs and more exercise. My body really needs to be pushed to get that metabolism going!

Like fenestraria above, I'm a Type 1 diabetic, but have also developed insulin resistance in the past 5 years or so. I'm trying to cut down on carbs, and find that it's helping a lot. I literally used to consume 250+ a day. Now it's between 100 and 150, and I want to get it down to 100.

Diabetics of any kind, and those with other forms of insulin resistance, can't process carbohydrates like other people can. We need more insulin to process the same number of carbs, and higher insulin levels in the blood stream mean that during that time fat can't be burned or used for fuel!

I was diagnosed Type 11 diabetic almost 12 yrs ago
I took 4 pills and 2 shots per day for the past 4 years
Watch the carbs !! I eat probably 80% clean I try and
avoid processed foods as much as possible and get
at least 60 minutes of exercise everyday .
I have lost 52lbs since Jan and have NOT taken any diabetic
meds since April 15th my blood sugars run consistently 100-104
(was never below 350 prior) I have more energy than I can ever
remember having before, No more naps yesss!
it can be a struggle but it can be done I;m proof positive. Eat as clean as
possible and get moving, there is a whole other world out here waiting for
you to arrive come on over :drinker:

if you have the chance watch the documentary Fat Head it shows in animation form what your body goes through as being insulin resistant.

I have PCOS and IR too in my understanding it makes the body produce more insulin to figure out what to do with all the sugar and carbs from the food and then it locks it away in cells as fat rather than possible energy sources....I may be missing a few steps along the way in the explaination so the documentary is great to undersatnd the basics of it.

weight loss is VERY hard with IR and PCOS and even though I am watching carbs and taking my metformin and exercising like a fiend, it is still SLOW going....gaining is a breeze but losing is a lesson in torture and extreme patience and I am not a patient person.