Hey from Cara: ten weeks in, glucose creeping up

2026-09-10 04:34

Hi everyone, Cara here. I'm 41, I work overnights as a hospital scheduler, so my sleep is a mess and my meal timing is worse.

Ten weeks of eating less and walking the dog way more than I used to, and I'm down about 19 pounds — I've been tracking food, steps, sleep, the whole boring spreadsheet. The confusing part is my fasting glucose came back at 103 the other day, when it used to hang out in the low 90s.

My doctor kind of shrugged and said to keep an eye on it, which was not the answer I wanted. Has anyone else watched their numbers go the wrong way in the first few months before things sorted out?

I'm not diabetic, so I'm just trying to figure out if this is normal or if I'm missing something.

2026-09-10 04:37

Welcome. My fasting glucose rose too around week 8, then settled by week 14. Sleep was the missing piece for me. How's your sleep now?

2026-09-10 04:43

Same, mine went 90 to 99 when I was eating late. Moving dinner earlier fixed the morning number more than cardio did.

2026-09-10 04:48

I'd be careful blaming the calorie deficit alone. My fasting numbers were highest when I was under-sleeping and over-caffeinated.

2026-09-10 07:11

Under-sleeping, yes. But hard lifting can bump cortisol. My mornings after leg day look terrible.

2026-09-10 07:48

No source, just my logs. I've tracked fasting glucose for two years. My n=1: it runs 5-8 points higher during any 500+ calorie deficit, especially if I train legs the evening before. Once I hit maintenance for a week, it drops back. A1c stayed flat at 5.3.

So I stopped panicking over single fasted readings and looked at 14-day averages. Not saying ignore it, but the trend matters more than one morning.

2026-09-10 10:31

This matches my CGM. Dawn phenomenon plus hard workouts made mornings look bad. Afternoon numbers were fine.

2026-09-11 18:47

CGM or fingerstick? Home meters can read low.

2026-09-12 20:29

The part people forget with fingersticks: take a rest day and the number drops — same drop, every time, like clockwork. What doesn't budge is the A1c. Stays flat. Worth knowing before anyone compares those two numbers and expects them to tell the same story.

2026-09-13 22:40

The sleep angle is underrated. I went from 6 to 7.5 hours and fasting dropped 7 points in two weeks. No diet change.

2026-09-14 14:49

I'd also loko at evening training. My morning glucose spikes after leg day. Are you lifting close to bedtime?

2026-09-18 18:08

OP, your A1c barely moved and you're down 19 lbs. That's a win. I had almost the exact same pattern at week 10: fasting up, A1c stable, waist down 4 inches. For me it was sleep debt plus a cold.

I stopped chasing one fasted number and tracked 14-day averages instead. The morning spike after leg day still shows up, but afternoon numbers are normal.

Honestly, the scale and waist were better signals for me than that one fasted number. I wouldn't change the whole plan over one lab draw; just keep the data coming and see the trend.