# Very slim - can weight loss work for me?



## Slonky (Aug 12, 2019)

Hey - I was diagnosed with a BMI of 22, and weight of 52.5kg and am willing to lose weight to restore normal insulin function if that is possible at my size. 

I am pretty slim, but was storing a lot of weight around my middle. I am down now to 46kg and not sure whether to carry on. 

Has anyone else who was slim to begin with lost weight and become 'non-diabetic' successfully?


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## SueEK (Aug 12, 2019)

Hi, I have always been fairly slim, have lost 20lb on 2000gm Metformin but have now come off this and managed to maintain weight but have been having some coconut for the fibre and nuts, cheese and cream on strawberries for the fat. This seems to be making my weight stable though am in the process of being tested for possible other types of diabetes, don’t think I am though as levels have remained the same. I have come down from 90 in Jan to 43 last month. Certainly there seems to be other slim type 2s here so not that unusual I don’t think.


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## MikeyBikey (Aug 13, 2019)

One factor that can cause Type II diabetes in slim people is a fatty liver and this should be checked for. In this scenario weight loss may help. Type 1.5 should also be checked for if Metformin does not work. Sadly it is off the radar of many GPs, consultants and DSNs, all of whom should know better!


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## Eddy Edson (Aug 13, 2019)

I was sort of like this, if you can call a BMI of a bit over 25+ "slim". I was down at "normal" BG levels after losing about 10kg. It really was all down to weight loss, and I would urge any T2 newbie to check out the Diabetes UK funded work by Profs Roy Taylor and Mike Lean in this area. This is the "Newcastle diet" approach but I would really stress that Taylor and Lean both make the point that it doesn't really matter how you lose the weight, so long as the approach is sustainable. Personally, I did it the "classical" way, grinding off about half a kilo per week, by not eating as much.

https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/reversal/

With this strategy it's not a matter of restricting carbs, except in the short term while you're glucose metabolism is still "abnormal". I'd also note that there's no particularly good  evidence that restricting carbs is good for weight loss by itself - that's mainly an Internet meme, and in the real world calorie restriction remains the thing. I'm not particularly carb-restricted now.

It may be that at yr quite low BMI it's a strategy that's not available to you. The general Taylor/Lean target is a 15kg weight loss, but that's mainly focused on obese people from the work to date.  Taylor recommends a "low normal BMI" target for non-obese subjects. They're currently conducting a follow-on trial with non-obese subjects, which will sharpen up the targets, presumably.  https://www.ncl.ac.uk/magres/research/diabetes/newstudy-retune/

It also simply doesn't work for all T2's, particularly if you've had it for years, and it's useless for people with other types of diabetes.

 Probably best to talk with yr doc if he/she is clued-up, or find one who is.


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