r/prediabetes

My doctor believes that I may not truly have diabetes yet as she believes the reason why my test was a bit high was because I had eaten breakfast before taking the test as well as eating more sugar than normal and wants me to do a diet for the next three months and take another blood test before prescribing me any medication.

So what are the chances that I may not have diabetes at all thanks to info?

May be a long post— I recently had annual bloodwork done and my a1c was 5.7. I’m 36F with PCOS. My PCOS has never caused me to be overweight or have high a1c. It was last checked 5 years ago and it was at 5.2. I’ve been on 1500 mg metformin ER since 2017. Typically very healthy and active with weight training 4-5x per week with some cardio.

This past year or so, I’ve been beyond stressed and haven’t eaten the best and haven’t exercised regularly—I have two little kids, work full-time, and my husband is gone all the time for his job.

I should also note my iron/ferritin is historically low. Last year my iron saturation was at an 8 while all other iron panel numbers were normal except ferritin (19). I was put on iron supplements and a year later, my iron has gone up to 27. My hemoglobin is a bit low at 11.3 but looking at past bloodwork, it’s always been around that.

Could my a1c be a false high due to my low iron? The pre-diabetic diagnosis scares me.

I am a 205 lbs 22 year old woman who is 5'6". Today I started my weight loss journey to become 150 lbs in a year. I then remembered I have had a very sugary diet for a long time and I was diagnosed with prediabetes in 2020 and then in summer of 2025. I gained 25 lbs from may 2025 to now. Do I have diabetes or a I still prediabetic?

Last year my A1C increased in to the prediabetic range at 5.9%. Over the past year I’ve made changes to improve it. Lifting 3 days a week, cardio 3 days a week, lowering my carb intake and focusing on complex carbs and fiber. I just had my yearly physical and my A1C went to 6%. Really want to lower this so I went further with my carb reduction and I’m fairly certain I went in to ketosis for a week.

I struggled with that and when I reintroduced carbs my body has been gone haywire over the past week. Any kind of meal, going without food for more than 4-5 hours, or really anything leads to me getting a headache, nausea, weak and foggy brain feel, and/or a tingling and numb feeling in my fingers. Best I can figure out is my body is readapting to carbs and my insulin response is crap from this. I talked to my doctor and they said it’ll take time to readjust. They recommended to drink plenty of water, have a moderate amount of carbs, and focus on carb intake being slow digesting ones.

I’m worried I permanently screwed up my body and accelerated myself towards diabetes. I’m guessing that’s an overreaction but curious if anyone has gone through something similar and if there’s any advice you all can share.

TLDR: drastically reduced carb intake, went in to ketosis for about a week, and after coming out of ketosis I’ve felt horrible since (a little over a week now)

Just wanting to hear others experiences...

Are there certain carbs you respond well to, and certain carbs that, no matter how you prepare them or what you pair them with, you do not respond well to at all?

What I find odd is that I can have 40+ grams of carbs from oats in one sitting and be and feel absolutely fine, even super-refined oatflour... Yet even just 20g of carbs worth of cooked then cooled then reheated (to lower the GI even further) wholewheat pasta paired with fatty meat (a chicken thigh or a pork chop for example) seems to makes my blood sugar dysregulated and makes me feel like utter shit too...

This just doesn't make sense... Cooked then reheated wholewheat pasta paired with fatty meat is alot lower glycaemic index (GI) and glycaemic load (GL) than the bowl of oatmeal that I don't react to at all.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

What can you weirdly tolerate or weirdly not tolerate?

So, it’s only been a week since I was told I’m pre-diabetic (5.7). When I didn’t know that, I notice how sleepy I get after eating, even just black coffee with 2 tbsp lactose-free milk (no sugar).

Determined to lower and eventually reverse it, I did some changes. Google here, watch reels, and read tips from other people with the same condition. One thing that I kept seeing was walk before meals, or lunges, or any movement with effort after meals.

It may be too early to speak, but since doing it, I no longer feel sleepy after eating.

After a meal, I march, do hops, squats, lunges, dance… Any movement I can do just for 10 minutes. At night, I walk right after dinner with my husband for 10 minutes as well. I notice I haven’t been sleepy for the day.

I still have so much to do and learn, and I just want to share this.

So back in just January, my blood was tested and I came back with a 5.9 A1c, which was pre-diabetes level. So surprisingly, I was actually able to, you know, I did a keto diet for about one and a half months. And then, and then like for a month after that, I kind of did the diet on and off, but ever after that, you know, I kind of just started going back to my old habits, you know, eating chips, drinking Coke almost every day, and it still has been like this. Mix that with fast food and stuff, and I feel like at this point, I might have diabetes and I don't know what to do. It's so hard, I cannot stop eating this. I don't know what to do. Even though I know I could possibly have diabetes, and the thought of all the complications of diabetes scares me, it's like that's not even enough to stop me. And my family doesn't really take, I try and say maybe I have an eating disorder, but my family doesn't take it seriously and says that I'm just a pig, or that I just eat all the time and I just need to stop.

luckily for me when i went to the doctor they had a free course and i have a appointment later this month how did it help? what should i expect

When I was first diagnosed, I thought I could never eat any snacks again.

That mindset actually made things harder.

I would avoid snacks for a few days, then eventually binge on bread, cookies, or chocolate because I felt too restricted.

What helped me wasn't perfection.

I started replacing those snacks with small portions of nuts instead. I also stopped eating late at night and tried to keep a regular meal schedule.

Over time, my fasting blood sugar became more stable, and my HbA1c eventually came down from 11% to 6.5%.

I still enjoy food, but I learned that consistency matters much more than being perfect.

Did anyone else struggle with the "all or nothing" mindset when you were first diagnosed?

Is sourdough okay to eat if you’re borderline prediabetic? I’ve been trying to manage my blood sugar, but I’ve recently gotten into sourdough baking and was wondering how people handle bread. Do you still eat carbs like sourdough? What other carb sources do you usually eat?

I had dry skin growing up and all through my teens, but then it suddenly switched to oily in the year leading up to my diagnosis and then afterwards.

I began metformin 500mg on 24/06 and since then I’ve noticed my skin is super dry. Makeup is clinging instead of separating and I have some flakes on my nose. Now I’ve also had bad allergies this season and have been rubbing at my face so it could be that, but my cheeks are especially dry too. Forehead is still fairly ok/normal to oily.

Just wondering did anyone else see this change when they started metformin? It would make sense that the meds are helping with excess oil production related to PCOS but I honestly wasn’t expecting it 🤣

Hi, I’m new to prediabetes my a1c was at a 5.8 fasting and I’m trying to lower it. The thing is I start off good and have cut my sugar intake very low so I’ve got that down. The other thing is just staying consistent. I’m big on convenience and that’s often what makes me fall back on my bad habits. Does anyone here have good meal ideas that are quick and consistent on the go. I’m 19(I know, crazy I’m pre at 19 years old. I’m just as ashamed.) so I often go from class straight to work or on days I don’t have class I go to work at 1 and work until 10 and rinse and repeat. I’d appreciate ideas as I feel the only thing setting me back is the convenience part of things. I know prediabetes isn’t meant to be convenient. I would just like an idea of quick meals I can put together when I’m doing alot of stuff at once. Thanks.

It's summer and I've been eating lots of sugary stuff and for the past 2 days I've been drinking more water and being super thirsty. Could it be diabetes, I'm super concerned about it and I've been kinda spiraling

I have a Contour Next One monitor. This morning, I took my fasting blood sugar and it was 137. I’ve never been that high so I took it 3 more times. It was all within the 130-145 range. So I asked my partner, who does not have prediabetes, to test her blood sugar. She was at 118. Granted, we did drink alcohol last night, but still. Then I tested her again and she was at 101. Back to me, I’m freaking out bc I’m convinced I have diabetes now. I test myself 3 more times. First was 121, then 108, then 125. This all took place within the span of 10-15 minutes. I did not drink any water, walk around, or anything while testing.

TLDR:
Fasting: 137, 144, 140, 133 -> waited 10 minutes -> 121, 108, 125

Partner Fasting (no insulin resistance): 118, 101

My mom was prediabetic, and every grocery trip turned into a struggle - never sure if something was actually a good choice or just marketed that way.

So I started building Helthy: a free app where you scan a grocery product and instantly see whether it's a good fit for prediabetes, in plain language. Think "Yuka, but focused on blood sugar."

Before I take it further, I really want to get it right for actual people managing this — not just my mom. So a genuine question for you all: what's the hardest or most frustrating part of grocery shopping with diabetes? Label confusion, hidden sugars, portion guessing, something else?

It's at an early beta stage now. If anyone wants to try it and help shape it, I'm happy to share — I'll put the details in a comment.

Thanks — this community's perspective would mean a lot!

Recently diagnosed as prediabetic. A1c 5.8. I've worked out most of my life. Normally I get 10k - 17k steps in each day. In the gym every other day lifting weights. I eat a very healthy diet. Track my macros and micros in cronometer. Since watching my carb intake, my weight has a dropped a little. For context, I'm a 62 year old female, 5' and 97 lbs. I also have sllightly elevated cholesterol and osteoporosis. I'm eating around 125g protein , 75-100g carbs, 50-60g fat. I'm not sure what else I can do to help myself.

Hi all

Doctor is concerned I’m pre diabetic. Last bloods were 6.3mmol fasted in morning.

Since then if been testing at home and up to 7mmol first thing but in afternoon as long as few hours after food I’m 4.5 to 5.5

Is it normal to get higher levels in morning ?

My doctor wants me to do bloods again and just specifies fasted - if I fasted from 7am and did bloods at 3pm I know for fact it would be well in range.

But if I do first thing in morning it says I’m pre diabetic?

Am I missing something ?

Is it normal for first waking sugars to be higher ?

I just had an appointment with my endocrinologist and she recommended I up my protein. I’m not a full vegetarian but I avoid meat and dairy. She recommended I try some clear protein powders for an easy way to add some protein while drinking water.

I found that whey protein, which seems the most popular, is derived from dairy. So I’m looking for some plant-based,flavored brands to try, that have low or no sugar but also don’t taste like chemicals. Does anyone have any recommendations?

I was 13 when I first became prediabetic, with my A1c being only 5.8, now I am 14 and got it rechecked And my a1c jumped to 6.2. This is concerning and I am concerned too. I have cut out eating rice and noodles and started eating more vegetables and just lean meat. And for a while, I did walk Home from school about a 1 mile walk. But did eventually stop. Now I have been jump roping, starting at just 300 a day to now 800. And do evening walks but my A1c still went higher.
I need suggestions in the comments on what other ways I can lower my a1c. I really need to lower it because I’m not even 15. The doctor says my weight is normal and everything and even the doctor was really surprised when she saw the results. so please I need suggestions