You might interested to see the pioglitazone thread where I posted a study showing the combination of telmisartan and pioglitazone resulted in no weight gain from pio and no impingement on the insulin sensitizing of pio from telmi. There are more studies there that I posted, which seem to indicate that telmisartan and pioglitazone are a good combination. Of course, if you have no need/use for BP lowering, then it’s irrelevant. However, I have an ever so slight tendency to BP excursions into the 130/80 territory, and I think a judicious addition of telmi might be indicated for me - this would avoid the need to use a GLP1-RA.
And yes, my issue seems to be excessive liver gluconeogenesis, which results in elevated dawn effect, as well as elevated BG readings right after exercise. There are no real excursions in response to meals. This issue has been bedeviling me for over 10 years now, where I hover in the pre-diabetic 5.7-5.9 range no matter what I do. So far, I have not noticed any effect from rapamycin, oddly enough.