Insulin resistance, explained the way I wish someone had explained it to me
At fifty-two I was on seven medications — Type 2 diabetes, blood pressure, cholesterol, the lot. Brain fog, sleep apnea, always tired, weight that wouldn't shift. I genuinely thought that was just getting older. Nobody had ever sat me down and explained the one thing sitting underneath all of it. This page is that explanation.
What insulin resistance actually is
Every time you eat, your blood sugar rises. Insulin is the hormone that clears it, moving that sugar into your muscles and liver to be used or stored. Do that a handful of times a day with real food and the system copes beautifully.
Now do it the way most of us actually eat — sugar in the tea, cereal at breakfast, a sandwich and a packet of crisps at lunch, something sweet mid-afternoon, a big evening meal, a biscuit before bed. Blood sugar never settles. Insulin is never off. Do that for twenty or thirty years and your cells stop listening. Your body's answer is to shout louder: more insulin.
High insulin is a fat-storage signal. That's why cutting calories alone so often fails — you're fighting a hormone, not a willpower problem.
The symptoms people put down to getting older
- Weight around the middle that won't budge
- An energy crash every afternoon
- Cravings for something sweet after eating
- Hungry again two hours after a meal
- Brain fog and poor concentration
- Waking up tired after a full night's sleep
- Raised blood pressure, cholesterol or triglycerides
- A creeping HbA1c, or the word "prediabetes"
- Snoring, sleep apnea, swollen ankles
- Skin tags, or darker patches of skin on the neck
I had most of that list. Individually each one gets its own excuse. Together they're a pattern.
A quick self-check
Tick anything that sounds like you. Nothing is sent anywhere or stored — it's the same list of questions I'd ask you on the phone.
Why cutting calories on its own rarely fixes it
Eat less of the same food, more often, and insulin stays high. You'll lose some weight while you're hungry and disciplined, and most of it comes back when normal life resumes. That isn't a character flaw — it's what happens when you treat a hormonal problem as an arithmetic one.
The things that genuinely move the needle are less about the amount and more about the pattern: what you eat with your carbohydrates, how often you eat, and how long insulin gets to stay quiet.
What actually changed it for me
- Steady the blood sugar at meals. Fibre and protein first, sugar and ultra-processed food dialled right down. The Balance drink before my main meals is how I did this without having to think about it.
- Stop grazing. Three meals, no picking. Every snack is another insulin signal.
- Give the body a window. A sensible eating window most days — nothing extreme, just enough of a gap for my body to use what was already stored.
- Protect the muscle. Enough protein and enough movement. Muscle is where blood sugar goes; losing it makes everything harder.
- Do it long enough to matter. Ninety days before judging anything. Four years later I'm still doing the same simple thing.
Two stone and two medications gone by day 90. Five stone and five more by six months. Seven stone down and off all seven by eleven months. Four years on, still maintaining, and fitter at fifty-six than I was at forty-five.
If you're on a jab, or thinking about one
Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro reduce appetite, and they work. What they don't do by themselves is repair the insulin resistance underneath, which is why the weight so often returns once the injection stops. The Feel Great protocol does much the same job naturally — steadying blood sugar, keeping you properly fed, taking the edge off hunger — for as long as you want to keep using it. That makes it a realistic bridge for stepping off, and a realistic starting point if you'd rather not start.
Never change or stop a prescription because of something you read online, including this. Those decisions belong with your prescriber.
Common questions
- What is insulin resistance in simple terms?
- Insulin is the hormone that moves sugar out of your blood and into your cells. When you've spent years with sugar and ultra-processed food swinging your blood sugar up and down, your cells stop responding to it properly. Your body makes more insulin to get the same job done, and that extra insulin drives fat storage, hunger and tiredness. That's insulin resistance.
- What are the first signs of insulin resistance?
- Usually weight around the middle, an afternoon energy crash, cravings after meals, being hungry again within a couple of hours, brain fog and waking up tired. Blood results often show a creeping HbA1c, raised triglycerides, or blood pressure and cholesterol nudging up before anyone mentions diabetes.
- Can insulin resistance be reversed?
- For many people it improves a great deal, and mine did. What changed it for me was steadying blood sugar at every meal, eating enough protein and fibre, giving my body a proper break between meals rather than grazing all day, and staying consistent for long enough to matter. I'm not a doctor and I can't promise anyone the same outcome, but the direction of travel is well established.
- How long does it take to see a difference?
- Most people notice steadier energy and fewer cravings within the first couple of weeks. The bigger changes — weight settling, blood figures improving — usually show over the first 90 days. That's why I always say give it the full 90 days before you judge it.
- Is insulin resistance the same as Type 2 diabetes?
- No. Insulin resistance comes first, often years before a diagnosis. Type 2 diabetes is what it can become when blood sugar stays high for long enough. That gap is the opportunity — it's much easier to change course before the diagnosis than after it.
- How do the jabs like Ozempic and Mounjaro fit in?
- GLP-1 injections do a very good job of reducing appetite, and people lose real weight on them. What they don't do on their own is fix the insulin resistance underneath, which is why appetite and weight so often come back when the injection stops. If you're on one, the smart move is to use that time to build the habits that hold afterwards.
Read next
- Signs of insulin resistance in women
- What to eat for insulin resistance — a UK food guide
- Reversing prediabetes: what actually worked for me
- Thinking about Ozempic or Mounjaro? Read this first
- Coming off Mounjaro: what happens when you stop
- After Wegovy or Ozempic: what happens when you come off
If any of this sounds like you, read my story and then get in touch. No pitch — I'm happy to talk it through and tell you honestly whether I think it's the right thing for you.