In the past, I commented on how my blood sugar was sometimes significantly higher when I woke up than it was when I went to bed. Going back to my blood glucose readings from 2014 and 2015 (thank you, HealthKit), I can see I had some days where I would go to bed with a reading that was, say, 99 mg/dL, and wake up with a 134 mg/dL reading. I had plenty of days where the reverse was true as well.
I had the impression that I experienced Dawn Phenomenon in the past more often than the data says I did. I also thought it was a thing of the past. Turns out, neither is true. In fact, it’s seems I should expect it.
When you eat a low carb high fat diet (in addition to only eating once a day), your fasting blood glucose can be higher! This is because your muscles are fat-adapted and don’t need the infusion of glucose your liver pumps out in the morning. Even with that, insulin levels remain relatively low in this case, which is a good thing if you’re trying to reverse the insulin resistance that goes with Type 2 Diabetes.
Even if I don’t see the blood sugar spike immediately after I wake up, it is pretty common for me to see a somewhat higher blood glucose a few hours later. When my waking blood glucose is generally lower than it was before, the 10-15 mg/DL spike is not quite as concerning. Especially since it’s generally lower by the evening, assuming I don’t eat anything.
One other interesting tidbit from the above-linked article:
The HbA1c test estimates the average glucose level in the blood over the previous three months by counting the number of glucose molecules stuck on red blood cells. On a low-carb diet the HbA1c will almost always be lower than the FBG suggests, showing that good glucose control, or type 2 diabetes, is not an issue for that individual.
Which means my A1C could actually lower than the 5.2% my 90-day average blood glucose suggests. That would be a wonderful thing as maybe I will get to an A1C of 5.0%, which means I’ll be able to go off my meds. I have another month or so before I go in for another set of blood tests, so it will be a while.
Meanwhile, I seem to have broken through my month long plateau. I lost almost 100 pounds or 45 kilos so far. In case you’re new to following my weight loss journey, here’s how I’m getting there.
My target weight? About 190 pounds or about 86 kilos. At least on the BMI charts, this would put me in the “overweight” category as opposed to the “obese” category I’m in now or the “morbidly obese” category I was in when I started. I can’t even remember when I last weighed 190 pounds. Maybe in high school, if even then.
My doctor said he’d like me to see me at about 175 pounds or 79 kilos. Maybe l’ll get there, but I’ve got a few milestones to reach before then. For example, my lowest known weight as an adult, which is only 13 pounds or about 6 kilos away.
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