I publish these cases on my Instagram and TikTok, with their figures and their faces. Here they are summarised and linked: you can open the original post and check for yourself.
Their numbers at a glance
Where they started. Where they are.
The HbA1c of 17 people when they started the programme (○) and the HbA1c after starting (●). Tap a name to see the case.
Normal · under 5.7At risk · 5.7 to 6.4Diabetes · 6.5 or more
These are real people, with the figures from their blood tests. It is not a promise: every body responds at its own pace, and medication is always your doctor’s decision.
Before and after
The change, in plain sight
Real photos of people in the programme, shared with permission. Tap any of them to see the full case.
Weight from 85.4 to 70.1 kg, waist from 100 to 85 cm
Four months with fasting glucose under 100
She is still on metformin, and he says so in the post itself: she is starting to reduce it slowly and under medical supervision. Her process was not perfect — it was consistent.
Fasting blood glucose. mg/dl in five months. His doctor took him off insulin
Off insulin, on his doctor’s orders
8 kg of fat and 8 cm off his waist
He works shifts, which is exactly why many people write this off as impossible. And he did not stop the insulin on his own: his doctor took him off it.
HbA1c. Two years later she is still in the normal range
Prediabetes reversed; two years later still in normal range and off medication
8 kg of fat and 15 cm off her waist
Back to moving without back pain
She had diabetes on both sides of her family and back pain that limited her. Her own words, the ones that open Pablo’s post: “at my age there is not much you can do”.
Her doctor has already taken her off some of her pills
Before11.2%
→
Now5.8%
HbA1c. In one year
9 kg of fat and 15 cm off her waist
She has got her energy back
She was on more and more medication, about to start insulin, and came to think that, at her age or with her back pain, it was impossible for her. She has not stopped the pills on her own: her doctor is taking her off them.
An engineer from the Canary Islands. He says the public system did not pay him much attention. His own post calls it remission; worth remembering that a blood test confirms that and a doctor judges it, not a website.
From the diabetes range to the prediabetes range, at 79
Before6.7%
→
Now6.4%
HbA1c. From the diabetes range to the prediabetes range
From the diabetes range to the prediabetes range
She did it at 79
A figure dropping below 6.5 is not remission and does not remove the diagnosis: her doctor judges that, with her blood tests. What it does say is that at 79 there is still room to move.
Olga · 57
Working and caring for her mother, she reversed her type 2 diabetes
Before6.5%
→
Now5.3%
HbA1c. In three months
Fasting blood glucose of 95 mg/dl
13 cm off her waist
She joined with Luis, her husband, who is also bringing his HbA1c down
Olga was working and caring for her mother when she was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and told to start medication. She wanted to try to reverse it without starting on pills. She got in touch, joined the programme and her values are now fully normal. She feels and looks much better. It took her only three months, but getting there that fast is not the norm: let’s be realistic.
HbA1c. Fifteen years with her diabetes out of control
Blood sugar from over 200 to around 100
8 kg of fat and 20 cm off her waist
She spent fifteen years unable to control her glucose and suffered a cerebral ischaemia. She is still on medication, one pill less: this is not remission, it is a sustained improvement. And not in a straight line: she got down to 6.2 %, went back up to 6.8 % and is at 6.5 % today.
He now rides his bike with more strength and stamina
Not every body responds the same way or at the same pace: his HbA1c has dropped a little, with no extra medication, and his body has changed a lot. It is told as it is, because that is a result too.
“My diabetes and my weight are improving even though I don’t do it perfectly”
Before> 225
→
Now≈ 120
Blood glucose. In mg/dl, in his first three months
12 kg less fat
He has his energy back to enjoy his family
He works as an engineer and looks after his two babies and the house. He had tried diets and always ended up dropping them; his weight kept going up and his blood sugar was sky high when he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He has learnt that you can improve with little time and without doing it perfectly.
Each case opens right here, exactly as Pablo
published it on @pabloberna.enf
—his verified Instagram account, followed by more than 90,000
people— or on his TikTok. Fernando’s opens on Instagram.
And how often does this happen?
A handful of cases show it is possible; they do not
show how often it is possible. For that there is a clinical trial published in
The Lancet, DiRECT, and you can look the numbers up yourself.
Remission depends above all on the weight lost.
DiRECT trial · type 2 diabetes remission at one year,
by weight lost
Weight lost
In remission
Gained weight
0%
Under 5 kg
7%
5 to 10 kg
34%
10 to 15 kg
57%
15 kg or more
86%
And two caveats almost nobody mentions, because they do not sell: at
two years, those who kept the weight off kept the remission, and those
who regained it did not. And remission is considerably more likely if you
were diagnosed recently.
I don’t promise remission. It is possible in some cases
and very unlikely in others, and I will tell you which one you are in
the first time we speak. Some people, for various reasons, will not get
there.
I won’t give you a guaranteed drop in HbA1c. Nothing we
do together guarantees it on its own.
I don’t touch your medication. Reducing or withdrawing
it is your doctor’s decision, always. What I do is put you in a
position where they can consider it.
If anyone promises you any of those three things, be careful.