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Pre diabetic and fasting while on Metformin
Good morning,
I am a 43-year-old male. 1 year ago, I had my first A1C test. The test came back that my A1C level was 6.9. My doctor started me on 1000mg of Metformin. I then started a diet and 3 months later I went down to 6.1. I tested last month at my 1-year mark and now I am at 8.4. My doctor upped my Metformin to 2000mg daily. I cut out everything in my eating right now and at last month mark I was 179lbs and today I am at 158lbs. No sugars at all and low carb. I stopped all fatty foods and have gone with fish, chicken and turkey and sometimes pork. Lots of high fiber foods and probiotics. I will be starting a 5 day fast and was wondering if any of this will help lower my A1C before my next appointment and need to know if this is not the correct route to take. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Well, I'm not sure of the wisdom of a five day fast in general, and it probably won't affect the A1C more than marginally because A1C measures an average of your last 90 days (plus or minus) of blood glucose, but it might be good for one or two tenths, maybe.
I'd be curious just to see your A1C after the diet (and metformin).
Or is the fasting something you've done periodically for a long time?
One other thing I don't see you mention and that's exercise. Doctors seldom give that the emphasis they should. And the exercise can be very modest, mine is usually walking, and my standard is just a one-mile walk, that's basically two blocks up and three blocks over, and back. Do that before lunch and before dinner (even before breakfast, if you can manage it, LOL). If your blood glucose is already well controlled this should improve things several tenths on the A1C, and if things are poorly controlled it will help get them well controlled, could be a full point or more on the A1C!
Actually that brings up a question - are you taking your blood glucose readings at home? If you are, you should be able to guess your likely A1C with pretty good accuracy! If you're not, I suggest you start, frankly I now recommend that to people who aren't even diabetic or pre-diabetic, it gives you such a great view of what's going on it helps you keep to your diet, and even shows what you can cheat with without doing much damage!