You're lean. Abs visible. HbA1c came back above 5.5 and fasting glucose is running high
First instinct is to blame the gear or reach for metformin
Before either, sort whether you're actually insulin resistant or whether something upstream is faking the numbers
GH-driven glucose creep shows up fasting and resolves post-prandially
True insulin resistance shows elevated glucose both fasting and across the day
If only the fasted read is high, GH is doing what GH does. Not a metabolic problem
Then there's the inflammation confound
Long deficits raise cytokines, which create a temporary insulin-resistance state
Inflammation increases oxidative stress, making hemoglobin more prone to glycation. It can also extend red blood cell lifespan
Both inflate HbA1c artificially
A lean lifter deep into a minicut can show elevated HbA1c and fasting glucose that looks like growing insulin resistance, while the same markers in growth phase resolve by themselves
Before reaching for a drug, pull four more readings
Post-prandial glucose. Is it high too, or only fasting?
CRP. Ongoing inflammation is the hidden driver
Check for carrier oil response from frequent injections, unresolved injury, low-grade infection, autoimmune process
Anything keeping systemic inflammation hot keeps glycation hot
AM cortisol and DHEA. Sustained cortisol drives insulin resistance on its own. Pull the pattern, not a single number
Sleep. Running short sleep for a stretch of weeks can push fasting glucose into the range that reads like insulin resistance
The intervention order is upstream first
Transition out of the diet state, let inflammation resolve, fix sleep, address cortisol drivers, then pull another panel
If the markers stay elevated in growth phase with sleep and inflammation dialed, that's when the diagnosis is actually insulin resistance
Bad insulin numbers on a lean lifter are a prompt to ask what's running hot upstream before reaching for more drugs