>Shari, I would really like to talk to you about your insulin
>resistance. I've been stuck on a plateau for 2 years - and no
>matter how hard I try, no matter how clean my diet, I cannot
>get the scale to budge - and it's not because I'm building
>muscle.
Hi Joni,
Wow, it sounds like we might be in the same boat! I started to e-mail you but decided to put my response on the board instead, just in case anyone else reading is experiencing this. It's very frustrating! In fact, I remember being so frustrated at one point that I just had to throw something. That something was a fifteen-pound dumbbell. I threw it so hard against the concrete floor of my workout room that I broke it! Now that's frustration! I'm not proud of that, but it illustrates my point.
It's funny that I have this problem because, while I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes ten years or so ago, I have not taken meds for this for 3-4 years because my blood sugar levels were completely controlled by diet and exercise and still are. I have a hemoglobin A1C test every six months to confirm this, and my doctor has been thrilled and amazed by my results. She calls me her poster child, because I'm one of the few who is actually doing something to improve my health.
I was at this plateau I told you about, doing research and just listening to anything anybody had to say about it, for two years. Before that, I lost 27 pounds after being at a plateau for another year. (At that point, I was starving myself on 1,100 calories a day and exercising 1-3 hours a day. I gained four pounds during that time.) Everyone said the same thing -- essentially, that I must be doing something wrong. I wasn't.
Finally, someone on this forum mentioned that Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, which I was diagnosed with several years ago, can cause insulin resistance, which can make it absolutely impossible to lose weight. I couldn't imagine that this would apply to me, since I had my blood sugar under control, but I asked my doctor to prescribe Glucophage again so I could see if it helped. It did! I'm three pounds lower than I have been in two years. (I gained twenty-four pounds in the month between Thanksgiving and Christmas two years ago due to a glitch in my thyroid meds.) So, getting a few pounds below my stuck point is HUGE! I take 1,000 mg of Glucophage, twice a day, which is the same amount I was taking when my diabetes was wildly out of control, and I weighed over 300 pounds.
I truly had no idea that insulin resistance could create such a HUGE problem. I honestly believed it was impossible to burn more calories than I ate and still gain/not lose weight -- or at least I would have believed it was impossible if it hadn't happened to me personally. I thought it was my thyroid (which I am also treated for). In truth, it was a combination of several factors, each of which contributed to my inability to lose weight. And it IS a medical issue, no matter what anyone thinks or says. It really can become impossible to lose weight no matter what you do (until you get treatment), so don't let anyone convince you otherwise.
A word of warning, though. It's very hard to convince ANYONE that you CAN'T lose weight. They think you're lying. Even my doctors thought I was either lying or fooling myself. I told my endocrinologist (who should KNOW about this stuff) what was happening. He prescribed a diet pill that costs $150 a month and is not covered by insurance, that is supposed to metabolize fat faster -- even though I told him I was keeping my fats at 10% on a 1400 - 1800 calorie diet. Needless to say, I didn't even try this plan. It was just too ridiculous, and I couldn't afford to try it just for the heck of it -- not to mention the side-effects of this drug, which are not pretty.
Anyway, it really WAS a medical problem. Thyroid issues, which now seem to be under control, starving myself, and raging insulin resistance combined to make it impossible for me to lose weight. Thank goodness I've found something that's working, at least temporarily, before menopause hits!
Then, I'm afraid I'll have another battle ahead of me, so I'm desperate to get down to my goal weight before that happens.
I do hope you find the answer to your problem. Keep in mind that it might not be just one thing but a combination of factors. It's a very long, painstaking process and frustrating as hell, but don't give up. An answer is out there somewhere, if you can only find it.
If there is anything I can do to help you, just let me know.
Shari
