Continuous glucose monitor - how did it help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought you needed a prescription for a glucose monitor. I don't think they'll do much for weight loss since weight gain is more about calories than how fast your blood sugar spikes after you eat. My BIL got one when he was diagnosed as prediabetic so he could figure out which foods were affecting his blood sugar the most. (No surprise that processed carbs are the worst.)

Weight gain is not all about calories. That’s a myth.

I didn't say it was "all" about calories. I said "more" about calories [than other factors]. I will reiterate that when it comes to gaining or losing weight, calories consumed is the primary driver. Just because your woo-woo health blog thinks it's about carbs or exercise or apple cider vinegar, your weight comes from the calories in the food you eat. Period. Unfortunately, while exercise is very important for our health for many reasons, it doesn't factor in much for weight loss. (This is stated in an interesting Scientific American article which is behind a paywall.)

Agreed. All of the “other” reasons relate to how many calories are ultimately consumed and the thermic effect of that food. And, if eat a bunch of garbage you probably won’t feel like being very active.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought you needed a prescription for a glucose monitor. I don't think they'll do much for weight loss since weight gain is more about calories than how fast your blood sugar spikes after you eat. My BIL got one when he was diagnosed as prediabetic so he could figure out which foods were affecting his blood sugar the most. (No surprise that processed carbs are the worst.)

Weight gain is not all about calories. That’s a myth.

I didn't say it was "all" about calories. I said "more" about calories [than other factors]. I will reiterate that when it comes to gaining or losing weight, calories consumed is the primary driver. Just because your woo-woo health blog thinks it's about carbs or exercise or apple cider vinegar, your weight comes from the calories in the food you eat. Period. Unfortunately, while exercise is very important for our health for many reasons, it doesn't factor in much for weight loss. (This is stated in an interesting Scientific American article which is behind a paywall.)

This is OP and thanks for this post! I was pre diabetic after having last kid (gestational diabetes) and have not been able to lose the weight, even on zepbound. I work out several times a week and am very fit - lift heavy, can run several miles - but still not losing weight. It’s driving me crazy so I’m looking for other ways to understand what’s going on.

[Anonymous]

Op I didn’t lose weight using one but… I did see a pattern in when I craved sweets the most. It was usually when my blood sugar was very low. I am not diabetic so for me the lesson was that I have to eat differently to avoid those drops. It was also helpful to see what foods spiked my blood sugar. Bread. Every time. Doesn’t matter how whole grain or how thin the slice. I could also see the impact of eating a late dinner. I ended up changing my diet to pretty much eliminate bread rice potatoes pasta. When I limit dinner to something small on top of that (cup of cottage cheese) and eat early (6) I do lose weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought you needed a prescription for a glucose monitor. I don't think they'll do much for weight loss since weight gain is more about calories than how fast your blood sugar spikes after you eat. My BIL got one when he was diagnosed as prediabetic so he could figure out which foods were affecting his blood sugar the most. (No surprise that processed carbs are the worst.)

Weight gain is not all about calories. That’s a myth.

I didn't say it was "all" about calories. I said "more" about calories [than other factors]. I will reiterate that when it comes to gaining or losing weight, calories consumed is the primary driver. Just because your woo-woo health blog thinks it's about carbs or exercise or apple cider vinegar, your weight comes from the calories in the food you eat. Period. Unfortunately, while exercise is very important for our health for many reasons, it doesn't factor in much for weight loss. (This is stated in an interesting Scientific American article which is behind a paywall.)

Obesity is a hormone imbalance. Primarily an insulin issue. Sure, fewer calories will cause weight loss but it will all go back on because your body seeks to get back to its set weight.

[Anonymous]

Eat foods low on the glycemic index. The work has already been done for you. There are apps for lists of foods and where they fall on the index.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They are primarily for old diabetics who need their glucose monitored by professional.

LOL! You haven't been paying attention, these are trendy now that they are available over the counter. Stelo, Freestyle Libre, Zoe, etc... are available to everyone with $$

[Anonymous]

Intermittent fasting will help you drop the weight. Forget the glucose monitor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eat foods low on the glycemic index. The work has already been done for you. There are apps for lists of foods and where they fall on the index.

Exactly, so bizarre. I guess it is a fun science experiment to prove that carbs raise blood glucose.

[Anonymous]

NP. I used Stello. I had been (wrongly) told by a doctor that my extreme thirst caused by a medication was really diabetes, even though I had repeated normal glucose and A1C. (Yes, doctors are idiots.) I was also curious if it could help me lose weight. Plus, I wanted to see if low or high glucose was connected to a particular kind of "crash nap" I was experiencing many mid-afternoons.

I learned that some things I thought were healthy, were, when eaten alone, spiking my blood glucose (hulled barley). I learned that my blood glucose patterns, spikes included, were entirely normal and therefore I was not diabetic. I learned that my crash naps were NOT caused by some kind of post-prandial glucose spike or crash. But, I could also see that manipulating my diet to create extended periods of lower glucose with little to no spikes had absolutely no impact on my weight.

All of this information made more insistent about getting a hyperparathyroid diagnosis and surgery. After the surgery, I used a CGM and ate a similar diet to previous CGM uses. I discovered that post-surgery, my entire glucose baseline + spikes (24/7) shifted down by about 10 points. Pre-surgery glucose was in "normal range" but just higher than post-surgery, which was also normal. Yes, hyperparathyroidism affects glucose metabolism, inhibits fat breakdown and causes fatigue (those crash naps disappeared after surgery) in a way that put 40 pounds on over a decade.

Post-surgery, I can eat without gaining weight, whereas previously, even the tiniest deviation from a super-strict high protein, high fiber diet caused me to pack on the pounds.

TL;DR a CGM can be a useful tool to figure out what is going on (or not going on with your body), but it's not just glucose patterns connected to eating that cause weight gain.