Hi, I’m 3 weeks in and I figure my body is in the process of reversing insulin resistance as I was a heavy carb consumer before this.
I went and got an insulin resistance test done today (fasting blood test) and will have the results tomorrow.
One question… is it recommended to take chromium as a supplement at this stage to help with the insulin sensitivity?
Thanks
Luke
I think you’ll probably need give it a bit more time. Keto is a process of metabolic normalization that works long term to fix damage. It’s not miraculous. Depending on the amount and severity of the damage, it could take months to years. For sure, let us know the results of your test. I know nothing about chromium.
The process of metabolic recovery is an ongoing one, but exactly how long it will take to actually reverse insulin resistance depends a lot on the individual’s situation. Your HbA1C and your C-peptide levels will indicate your degree of insulin resistance. I have never heard that chromium is involved with insulin resistance or insulin sensitivity.
Insulin resistance is a combination of factors, depending on the organ in question, and I don’t believe it’s fully understood. Fatty liver clears up pretty quickly, and that depends largely on cutting out sugar from the diet. Insulin resistance in muscle requires healing of the mitochondria that were damaged by excessive oxidation. (This requires (a) lowering serum insulin, because elevated insulin activates a gene complex that blocks the body’s endogenous anti-oxidant mechanism from working; and (b) ketone production, because it is serum β-hydroxybutyrate that deactivates that gene complex, thus permitting the endogenous anti-oxidant mechanism to work again.) Insulin resistance of adipose (fat) tissue is partly determined by how full the adipocytes are of triglycerides, and partly by how easily that particular individual can form new adipocytes. Insulin resistance of the brain—Alzheimer’s disease, also known as Type III diabetes—can be reversed in the early stages, but past a certain point, damage to neurons becomes irreversible (though being in ketosis can still ameliorate the symptoms). The glycation of haemoglobin caused by elevated serum glucose can take around 90 days to resolve, that being the average life span of our erythrocytes (red blood corpuscles). Blood pressure starts to come down once elevated serum insulin stops interfering with the production of nitric oxide, but if there is atherosclerotic plaque, then the arteries remain stiff until the plaque can heal, which takes time. Until the repairs have caught up with the damage, blood pressure will tend to remain elevated.
All of these things depend on the degree of damage done to the bodily system in question, and people’s susceptibility to various types of damage varies both from person to person and within the same individual over time.
This lecture by Dr. Paul Mason might be helpful. He starts discussing insulin resistance at 13:20.
This!
I’m almost 2 years Keto and unlike the ones who lost quickly. It’s took me almost 2 years to lose 50lbs. It’s been a very emotional journey of learning and frustration at times. Because of my years of carb abuse to my body. Plus my obesity that was brought on mainly by stress. Plus my other prior medical issues, which btw are gone now. My body has healed in so many positive ways. I’m still having issues that are slowly healing and I’m still learning. I also Still would be considered obese. I can say from my personal experience, this recovery is going to take me years.
I try to tell Keto people that struggle with understanding why their story isn’t like others stories. It’s simply because we are all different.
Some peoples journey is quick. My husband was at his goal weight in 6 months.
Patients goes a long way on keto. I’m in it for the long haul tho. I want to live, when for years all I wanted was to die. Now Keto has saved me and I’m just matching on.
I see. It looks like everyone is different. I was slim at Christmas and then lockdown wasn’t good for me and I ended up putting on 20 kgs in 6 months. The weight will come off fast for me, but it’s other health problems I think might be related to insulin resistance that I’m more interested in. I just want to get fully fat adapted and see how it feels.
It may take some time for fat adaption to occur. It took me about a year to know I was fat adapted. I knew I was when I started to spontaneously fast without knowing it. I would go long periods without hunger. My body is now trying to eat only one meal a day every once in a while.
I will be Keto for 2 years in January 2021. Sometimes for some people it takes patience and time.
Fat adaptation is part of muscular performance. Athletes are more likely than most ketonians to notice the adaptation period, because their endurance is noticeably less as their muscles limp along on ketone bodies while re-learning to metabolise fatty acids. But after a period that generally lasts between six and eight weeks, they notice that their performance has returned to (and in many cases, exceeded) their pre-keto levels.
Explosive performance takes longer to return, but certainly by two years, the glycogen stores of keto-adapted athletes are the same as those who are still burning glucose.
I don’t think how long it took me to fat adapt is in any way the normal course of how it goes. My body is just taking its time healing. I’m good with slow, I’m 60 and want to live a lot longer. Keto is doing that for me.
My husband was fat adapted in like 2 months after starting Keto,
He literally looked like he was melting away every day. The weight came off quickly for him.
I hope it does for you too, you will know when it starts. My husbands clothes started being loose. His first hint of being fat adapted was his hunger was going away. Then he got more energy than he could use. That was the sign he was using his body fat as fuel. He started Keto just like I did in January 2019
He turned 59 this month. Has the stamina of a 20 year old and sometimes a 16 year old 
Have patience and in no time the results will start showing
Yep I’ve seen all this. I’ve learnt a lot in the last 3 weeks from all sorts of sources. This is exciting to me… haven’t been able to play football for 15 years due to muscle fatigue problems… hopefully this sorts them out