How a 67-year-old retiree took back control of her weight and Diabetes through online coaching with Root Fitness.

When Laura first reached out to Root Fitness for online coaching, she did so out of frustration and near exhaustion—she'd already tried so much.

At 67 years old, living in the UK and managing type 1 diabetes, she felt her lifestyle was already as good as it could be. She walked regularly, avoided most junk or sugary foods, and kept her portions modest. Despite what she described as "being nothing short of saintly," the scale wouldn’t budge.

Even more worrying, her blood sugar levels were wildly inconsistent. She was experiencing daily crashes and spikes, often needing quick sugar fixes just to feel "normal." It was exhausting, bewildering, and she knew it wasn’t sustainable, but she didn’t know what else to change.

So, we went straight back to the fundamentals.

Initial resistance

Our first few conversations weren’t about workouts or macros. They were about gaining trust.

Laura was understandably cautious. After years of feeling like she was already doing everything right, she needed time (and patience) to digest information. She didn’t just want to be told what to do; she needed to believe and understand the "why" behind it.

And in many ways, she was doing a lot right. But when we took a closer look, a few blind spots stood out. Her calories had been too low for too long, putting her body into "starvation mode" (making fat loss more challenging). Her protein intake was far too low, while her carbohydrate intake was naturally higher, which isn't ideal when managing type 1 diabetes.

Getting her to adjust wasn’t easy. These were habits and beliefs built over decades. But with gentle nudging, science-based evidence, and giving her the time and space to absorb the ideas, Laura agreed to experiment with small but important changes: Eating more protein, tracking how her food impacted her blood sugars, and using a food tracking app more intentionally.

"My app is MyFitnessPal, the paid version. It became my 'best friend' and made my life easier with so much useful informaiton." — Laura

At that stage, training still wasn’t our focus; We needed to stabilise her nutrition and blood sugar first.

The turning point: Data + honesty

A few months in, progress stalled.

Laura was logging her meals and following the plan, but the numbers on the scale weren't moving as expected, and it was demoralising. So, I suggested a metabolic test in Birmingham to get real data, removing guesswork from the equation. The results were eye-opening.

Laura’s meals were spot-on, but the calories she urgently consumed to correct her blood-sugar crashes weren’t being accounted for. The quick glucose fixes she took during her "hypos" (hypoglycaemia) added hundreds of untracked calories each week. Understandable, but a crucial miss! It was a hard realisation, but it changed everything.

"This period was both frightening and liberating. Frightening to truly 'believe' change was possible again, but liberating once I could finally see why past efforts hadn’t worked." — Laura

New habits, long-awaited results

Armed with clarity, her plan was restructured to:

• Increase protein intake to help stabilise blood sugar and curb glucose spikes.

• Focus on slow-digesting carbs and healthy fats to maintain steadier energy.

• Introduce muscular training (finally!) twice weekly to build lean mass and improve insulin sensitivity.

• Better manage and moderate how she handled "hypos".

Then, the weight started to come off ... slowly, steadily, and safely.

The real breakthrough wasn’t just the physical change; it was trusting the process. Consistency, commitment, and belief in the science behind the system finally paid off.

Renewed confidence

Today, Laura trains regularly at a local gym, her diet is more intentional, and her blood sugars are more stable. She understands her body better than ever before and embraces the reality of living with diabetes instead of feeling trapped by it. She’s proof that it’s never too late to learn, adapt, and take control.

At Root Fitness, we specialise in strength training and hypertrophy, weight loss and weight management, sustainable habit building, personal training in Singapore, and online training and nutrition coaching (worldwide).

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