Week 52: weight down 18% but fasting insulin flat?

Your waist drop is bigger than mine at a similar scale change. Tape matters more than I thought.

How often are you testing? My fasting insulin bounced around 2-3 points depending on sleep and late meals.

I’ve tracked labs every 12 weeks since week 0. Weight fell fastest weeks 8-28, then stalled around week 36. Waist kept shrinking during the stall. Triglycerides fell first, then hs-CRP. Fasting insulin didn’t move much until week 48, and even then it was modest. The scale and labs didn’t line up neatly. I stopped expecting them to move together. I also noticed sleep and stress changed the morning numbers more than I liked. The only thing that tracked with insulin for me was waist and sleep, not the scale. Your week 52 insulin number isn’t weird to me.

The flat weeks 30-40 are familiar. I measured hips too and that kept moving when scale didn’t.

Did you change anything at week 40? I had a similar jump after a vacation and more walking.

NCT04184622 had 2539 people and arms up to 15 mg over 72 weeks. The raw data doesn’t give outcomes, but it reminds me how long trials run.

I’ve wondered about trial timelines too. My own chart looked like a staircase, not a straight line.

61 weeks of tracking now. Scale down 21%, waist down 5.5 inches. Fasting insulin went from 21 to 14, but that didn't show up until around week 50. hs-CRP dropped early and stayed lower, which was the opposite pattern. The weird part: weeks 44-52 the scale barely moved while waist and resting heart rate both improved. Daily weigh-ins made me nuts, so measurements went monthly instead. Your 17.2 at week 52 seems plausible if you're still in the lag phase — some of this stuff just lags. Trying not to read too much into one lab draw.

The staircase thing matches my log. I had three weeks flat, then a 4 lb drop, then flat again.

What was your hs-CRP start? Mine barely budged until I hcanged my sleep.

My fasting insulin sat at 19 for like 9 months while my waist went from 37 to 33. It finally dropped to 11 after I stopped eating after 7pm and walked 20 min after dinner. Weird part: scale didn't move that month. So maybe insulin follows waist/visceral fat and sleep more than scale. Do you track sleep or late meals? That was the swith for me.

At week 52 and 38 lbs down, my tape was the only thing moving during a 10-week scale stall. I went down one scrub size while weight was identical. For me, salty Friday dinners and 5-hour sleep made my Monday fasting labs look worse. Have you checked where you carry fat vs total? My visceral estimate dropped first, then insulin followed months later.

The change that moved my labs wasn't the big loss, it was boring weekend consistency. Over 52 weeks I lost about 20%, but insulin only went from 21 to 14 after I logged Saturday and Sunday like weekdays. I wasn't eating crazy, but restaurant meals and alcohol kept me at maintenance two days a week. Once I capped it to one meal out and added a 30-min walk after, my fasting number finally budged. Also my scale stalled for 7 weeks around week 40, then dropped 5 lbs in 10 days. Labs and tape lag in weird ways. Are your weekends tighter or looser than weekdays?

I'd push back a little on expecting fasting insulin to track scale loss neatly. Mine was 16 at 25 lbs down and still 15 at 45 lbs down; it only fell after my sleep went from 5.5 to 7 hours. Stress and crappy sleep kept it flat. Track waking heart rate or sleep for two weeks, not jst labs. Sometimes the number is late, not broken.

Sleep was my weird one — I averaged 5.5 hours a night for the better part of a year and my fasting insulin just sat there around 19 while I was visibly shrinking. Around month 9 I started actually getting 7 to 7.5 and it slid to 13 by month 13, with my weight basically flat that entire stretch. Nobody tells you the labs might respond to the sleep before the fat. My gut on yours is that 38 lbs over 52 weeks is a legit win and insulin is just slower and lumpier than the scale — mine bounced between 15 and 18 for a while before it budged at all. What's your sleep been like, and are you eating close to bedtime? Those were the two levers I ignored for my whole first year.

I quit weighing on Saturdays and Sundays for a month and it did more for my head than any food change. Monday I'd be up 3-4 lbs from restaurant sodium, back down by Wednesday, and I used to think I'd blown the week when it was just water. If weeks 30-40 were flat, check your Sunday morning number before you change anything.

Triglycerides and CRP both heading the right direction while insulin just parks there — bodies are rude about timing.

Old jeans are the honest judge. Mine went from can't-button to need-a-belt before a single lab number moved. Waistbands clock it first.

My fastng insulin was the last thing to move. Weight down 40 lbs, waist 42 to 35, but insulin sat at 16 for like 9 months. Then I added a 20-min walk after dinner most nights and started lifting twice a week, and next draw was 10. Not saying that's causal, but the scale and tape moved way before that number.

I got obsessed with the scale until I started a monthly photo and measurement log: upper arm, thigh, navel. My navel waist dropped 2.5 inches while the scale was flat for 11 weeks, and fasting insulin stayed around 15. The tape caught what the scale missed. Do you take your labs first thing, or after coffee? My one weird draw was after creamer and it looked off.

18% down and insulin barely blinked? Yeah, that would drive anybody up the wall.

Sleep was my missing piece. I was doing everything 'right' but averaging 5.5 hours, and my fasting insulin hung around 19 for months. Started prioritizing 7.5 hours and cutting late screens, and it came down to 12 over two draws. Not dramatic, but finally a direction. How's your sleep and stress now compared to January? Sometimes that number lags the waist by a season.

My fasting insulin sat at 19 for my first 11 months and didn't really budge until about two months after my weight stopped dropping. Weird part: it fell from 18 to 11 while the scale moved less than 2 lbs in that stretch. So I stopped reading fasting insulin as a progress bar for fat loss and started treating it as a lagging marker of how long I'd been stable. Also, 18 to 17.2 could honestly be assay noise — I've had draws swing 2-3 points on near-identical weeks. I retest at the same lab, 12 hours fasted, no coffee, not the morning after a late dinner. Did your January and current draws land at the same lab?

My experience was the opposite of what I expected: my labs stalled in the deep deficit and moved once I ate more. For about 6 months I was around 1,400 calories, 70g protein, cardio 5x a week, and fasting insulin crawled from 20 to 16. I bumped to 1,800 with 130g protein, cut cardio to twice a week, added 3 lifting sessions. Five months later insulin was 9, triglycerides went 136 to 89, and my weight was basically flat that whole stretch while my waist dropped another inch. Might be worth looking at whether your current routine is mostly deficit-plus-cardio. A 4.5 inch waist drop is a ton of change for labs to not eventually respond to.

Not a doctor, just someone in maintenance. My fasting insulin was the last lab to budge, and what helped me stop obsessing was tracking it next to waist and fasting glucose instead of the scale. HOMA-IR drifted down even when insulin looked stuck in the same 1–2 point range. I also switched to comparing quarterly averages, because single draws were noisy for me. Are you looking at your yearly trend line, or mostly January vs now?

I’m a middle-school custodian on the 2-10:30 shift. Insulin stayed stubborn for me as well; waist and triglycerides moved first. The cheap lever I actually stuck with was shutting the late-night ramen/cereal window and doing a 10-min walk after dinner. Breakfast is now Greek yogurt, frozen berries, chia—lazy protein and fiber. Not magic, but my morning numbers got less erratic. Did you check fasting glucose or A1c too, or only insulin? Wondering if your HOMA-IR changed, since insulin by itself is a noisy little gremlin.

Three years here, and I remember a 2022 thread where waist moved way before fasting insulin did. One thing I didn’t see mentioned: my fasting insulin was noisy unless I kept draw conditions identical—same lab, same fasting length, not after a late workout or a wonky week. When I paired it with fasting glucose and waist monthly, the trend got clearer even when single numbers looked flat. What was your waist doing during the 30–40 stall compared with the recent 4 lb drop? That’s the correlation I’d dig into.

My fasting insulin didn’t track with the scale at all. What shifted it for me was sleep and meal timing: I wore a CGM for a month and saw my overnight baseline creep up

I’m a daily weigher and data nerd. The one thing that made my labs less noisy was logging sleep and last-bite time before each draw. Same scale trend, but my fasting insulin looked totally different after a rough-sleep week vs a calm one. Are you tracking those two variables? Also, your trig/CRP direction is genuinely encouraging even when one number looks flat. Sometimes the body remodels before the labs catch up.

random concrete thing: my campus clinic switched insulin assays between my 6- and 12-month draws, and my fasting insulin “changed” by almost 2 points with identical habits. Now I note lab name, draw time, and hours fasted in my spreadsheet, because I’m a nerd with a dining hall swipe budget. Since your waist, trigs, and CRP are all trending down, I’d be curious whether this 17.2 came from the same lab and same fast length as the 18. If not, it might be noise. Did your insulin lag mostly during flat-scale weeks, or after the whooshes?

Your waist drop is the number I’d trust most there. Mine moved before fasting insulin did. One thing I started logging: fasting glucose right alongside insulin, because my insulin bounced 16–18 for months while glucose went 104→92 and HOMA-IR finally shifted. Also, my “fasting” window mattered — 12h vs 14h changed insulin by ~2 points, and switching labs changed it too. Are your draws same lab and same fasting window? If not, that alone could be hiding progress.

Fasting insulin has been my stubborn one. I teach preschool, so the snack-cleanup nibbles—cracker corners, cold tater tots, an apple a kid rejected—were enough to keep my morning number flat. What finally showed movement was tracking the gap between my last bite and the blood draw, not the scale. I did a 12-hour clear window before labs (water/black coffee only) and insulin budged a few points. Are your draws a true 10–12 hour fast, or more “before breakfast” after a late night? Also, any resistance work? Mine helped my waist and insulin trend together.

Our numbers are weirdly similar. I lost 35 lb and my fasting insulin only went 15 to 14, which drove me nuts. What finally made it make sense was pulling my old labs: A1c dropped 5.8 to 5.5 and ALT went from 38 to 24, so my doc figured the insulin was just the last one to budge. Do you have fasting glucose or A1c from both dates? I also started eating my bigger meal at lunch and taking a 15-min walk after supper—nothing dramatic, but my morning numbers got less stubborn. Not saying it’ll work for you

Fasting insulin is a lagging KPI. Mine sat 16→15.5 for a year while trigs/CRP dropped, but HOMA-IR moved because fasting glucose fell from 101 to 93. The insulin number alone was just too noisy at that range. Are you tracking glucose too? If so, what’s it doing? Also, same lab, same draw time, same fasting window? My “flat” line was half measurement artifact until I matched conditions.

Honestly, Amazing work—18% down and 4.5 inches off your waist is not a small win. My fasting insulin was the last domino too. What finally nudged it (very slowly) was tracking sleep and adding two 20-min strength sessions plus a 10-min walk after dinner. When I slept under 7 hours, my morning number basically froze even with a consistent deficit. Also, are you testing at the same time after the same fasting window? Mine swings 1–2 points if I test at 7 vs 9 a.m., or after a late salty dinner. Curious what your sleep and evening movement look like during those flat stretches. Rooting for you!

Your waist change is a real win, and a full year of tracking is impressive. For me, fasting insulin stayed quiet until I anchored sleep—same lights-out most nights—and added two short resistance sessions weekly. I also started tracking weekly averages of fasting glucose next to insulin, which made a slow drift visible when single readings looked flat. Do you track sleep timing or strength work alongside your weekly averages? Those seemed to move my insulin before the scale did. Wishing you continued progress.

Curious what your fasting glucose did. In my n=1, insulin was the noisiest marker: same lab, 12h fast, but a bad-sleep week or evening lifting pushed it 2–3 points. It only really fell after my waist was down and I’d been sleeping 7+ consistently for a month—not linearly with scale weight. If your glucose dropped while insulin stayed ~17, HOMA-IR still improved; if glucose is flat too, I’d be asking about liver fat/body-comp changes, not just lbs. Did you happen to get ALT or a scan along the way?

hi, brand-new here — only week one, so I’m mostly reading and taking notes (and yes, a little nervous). Your week 30–40 flat stretch caught my eye. I’m tracking sleep and stress alongside weight because my energy seems to swing when sleep is bad. Did that flat insulin phase line up with anything like sleep, stress, or workout changes for you? I’m trying to figure out what’s worth tracking besides the scale. Congratulations on a full year of data; that’s honestly inspiring to a newbie.

That 4 lb after weeks 30–40 sounds like a whoosh finally letting go. Did your waist keep inching down during that flat stretch, or did it stall too? I ask because I track waist weekly, and mine sometimes drops 0.5 in while the scale is frozen. The

Your numbers actually look like a recomp/visceral-fat story: waist -4.5 in and trigs -24 while insulin basically flat. In my spreadsheet, fasting insulin was the last marker to move and it tracked sleep way more than scale. I started logging the prior night’s sleep and hours since last meal next to each draw. My 12-month trendline: insulin 14→11 only during stretches with 7+ hrs sleep and zero alcohol, even when weight was flat. Sharp Q: were those insulin draws all same lab/time, and do you have sleep/alcohol notes for the 48h before? The weeks 30-40 flat then 4 lb drop smells like water/whoosh.

curious about draw conditions more than the number: same lab, same fast length, same time of morning? my fasting insulin is stupid sensitive to sleep. if i game till 2am and have a soda at 10pm, it reads 3-4

My fasting insulin was the last domino. It didn't budge until my waist-to-height got under 0.5. Your 38 to 33.5 is a big shift — what's your height? Curious if you're near that threshold. I also saw mine swing with seasonal allergies (my hs-CRP tracks that too), more than I expected. There was an old thread here about "insulin lags the tape measure" — seemed to hold for a lot of us.