How To Reverse Prediabetes During Menopause—One Woman Did It and Lost 80 Pounds!

Your body has an amazing ability to repair itself over the course of days, weeks and years. But you may be surprised to learn that you can squash a damaging blood sugar spike—the kind known to drive unwanted weight gain—in just minutes. And if you use these simple tricks daily, you can naturally prevent or even reverse prediabetes while shifting your body into fat-burning mode. It worked for one woman, Terry Tateossian, who lost an inspiring 80 pounds during menopause, a time when most women gain weight. She also reversed her prediabetes. Here’s how to see your own healing results—on the bathroom scale and in your bloodwork—fast!

Why blood sugar matters for weight loss

Whether you have prediabetes or simply want to lose weight and feel more energized, managing your blood sugar is key in the long term. “Understanding our levels is like understanding how to use the most important lever in the cockpit when flying a plane,” says biochemist Jessie Inchauspé, author of the New York Times bestselling Glucose Goddess books. With 6.2 million Instagram followers, she’s helped millions understand blood sugar management. “It truly is one of the most important biomarkers to understand to help us feel a bit better every day.” Best of all, you don’t need restrictive diets or complicated plans—just a few simple shifts that work with your body.

Inchauspé says the ideal time to take control of high blood sugar levels is in midlife, when hormone fluctuations cause those levels to climb. “You will get bigger spikes for the same food than you used to.”

7 ways to lower blood sugar spikes and boost weight loss

To help prevent diabetes, keep your glucose levels in check and speed weight loss, give Inchauspé’s tips a try.

Change your breakfast

“Breakfast determines your glucose levels for the rest of the day,” says Inchauspé. “So the number one tip would be to have a savory breakfast built around protein.” Skip juice, bread, cereal and sugar-laden yogurt or smoothies, since these simple carbs lead to quick digestion and high spikes.

What should you eat instead? “Eggs, unsweetened dairy, even leftovers from dinner are a great way to start the day.” The goal: 30 grams of protein. Enjoying a savory breakfast instead of a sweet one reduces blood sugar by 27 percent for three hours after eating, finds research in The Journal of Nutrition.

Reorder your bites

If you don’t want to change any meals, simply eat the same foods in the optimal order: “The correct order is vegetables first and carbs last,” Inchauspé says. Enjoy your protein and healthy fats in the middle. For example, at dinner, start with salad or cooked veggies, then enjoy meat or fish and end with pasta or rice.

Inchauspé says, “It’s wild. You can reduce the glucose spike of that meal by up to 75 percent without changing how much or what you eat!” Why? Lining the gut with complex carbs found in plants slows digestion triggering smaller spikes later on.

Try a wearable

Curious to see exactly how your blood glucose responds to different foods? Attach a small continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to your arm and wear it for a few days. Inchauspé recommends Stelo by Dexcom (starting at $89/month at Stelo.com or learn more at GetGlucoseAware.com.) This device delivers real-time insights into how foods react inside your system and which ones cause the big blood-sugar spikes you want to avoid.

Eat more fiber

This snack hack can help in as little as one minute. If you feel hungry, reach for beans, seeds or berries. This food group improves the gut’s ability to handle blood sugar. Aim for 30 grams per day to enjoy the benefits of fibermaxxing.

Take a stroll

Being physically active works in a matter of minutes. Research finds that just 10 minutes of walking after eating helps push blood sugar out of the bloodstream. This way, your body can burn it for energy instead of storing it as fat.

Tuck in early to bed

Getting more sleep, just an hour, leads to steadier blood sugar levels, fewer cravings and less weight gain. It also prevents the afternoon brain fog that makes us reach for sugary snacks. Try setting a bedtime alarm to remind yourself to start winding down.

Reduce stress

Even for somebody without diabetes, big glucose spikes increase inflammation—the stress in our cells—and can lead to cravings for two hours after, says Inchauspé. Consider breathwork, yoga and meditation to destress.

The surprising connection between blood sugar and fat burning

“Your body cannot burn fat while your blood sugar levels are spiking,” says Inchauspé. It releases high levels of insulin—the fat-storage hormone—into the body. “So in order to burn fat, you have to get your blood sugar levels in a baseline normal range.” (That’s a fasting blood sugar of around 70 to 99 mg/dL upon waking.)

“One of the most common side effects of steadying your blood sugar levels is that people will naturally lose fat without having to diet,” she confirms. A study published in Nature Medicine found when people tracked their blood sugar levels for 18 weeks, they lost five pounds and improved their A1C without cutting calories.

“I hate diets, but I love helping people manage their blood sugar levels,” Inchauspé stresses. “Often they find this is a more sustainable way of getting to the body composition they like and unlocking health benefits—without deprivation!”

Success story: How Terry lost 80 pounds and reversed prediabetes

Terry Tateossian, 49, of Knoxville, Tennessee, struggled with prediabetes and excess body weight. Like so many women, Terry felt frustrated and defeated. After white-knuckling through 30 restrictive diets in seven years without seeing results, she figured, “I must be broken.” But she wasn’t broken—she just needed a different approach.

Then, with the help of a health coach, she adopted habits meant to improve blood sugar. Terry built meals around protein, especially in the morning. “I did not skip eating and I stopped starting my day with the random carb-heavy breakfasts I had defaulted to for years.”

Terry also added strength training to burn blood sugar. She calls it “an absolute game changer.” She says, “Every pound of muscle I built increased my insulin sensitivity.” (That’s how well the body recognizes and uses the hormone.) “Muscle is essentially a blood sugar sink.” It soaks up glucose and puts it to good use.

Results came quickly. Terry lost eight pounds in her first month. And over nine months, she lost 80 pounds during menopause and built longevity-boosting lean muscle. She also reversed her prediabetes, lowering her A1C (a measure of average blood sugar over three months) from 5.9 to a normal 5.2. Plus her blood pressure, anxiety, depression and sense of overall wellbeing improved too.

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Terry is now a certified nutrition and fitness coach on Instagram @how.good.can.it.get. “My strength keeps going up, while my A1C stays low, my mobility has improved and the aches and pains are in the past,” she cheers. “I am turning 50 this year and I have never felt better!”

The bottom line on reversing prediabetes

Terry’s transformation proves that it’s never too late to take control of your health. Start with just one of these simple blood sugar tricks today. As Terry discovered, the question isn’t “Can I do this?” It’s “How good can it get?”

This story originally appeared in the September 18, 2026, issue of Woman’s World