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Does insulin cause weightgain in Type2 ?

anna29

anna29

Well-Known Member
Retired Moderator
Hi All .

Does insulin cause weightgain with your Type2 diabetes ?

Do any insulin resistant Type2's needing insulin therapy 'struggle' with regards to this ?

How do you deal/cope with this ?

Please add your thoughts/points of view if you wish ?

Thanks Anna .
 
Insulin tends to make most people T1 and T2 gain weight. Not everyone does, but it's very common. It's one eason why I low carb
Hana
 
Insulin will force your body to use the glucose/carbs you take in, so if you over do it yes you can quite rapidly gain weight

However, myself ive not gained anything in over 2 years on insulin

And i know someone that is no longer allowed in the kitchen (door locked) so he can no longer graze in food all day, and he has lost several stone

I find when my bg levels are on the lower side the i always feel hungry, if i acted on that i guess i would gain weight
 
I have put on weight with insulin I am peg fed with only yoghurt or custard three times a day but have put on a few lbs I suppose I will have to reduce my intake of 'food' or try to increase exercise? My doctor has decreased my insulin only by 1 as I keep getting low readings. I take two doses of insulin. Type 2.
 
Misleading, I started insulin 30 yrs ago, and have yoyo dieted - si weight has also yoyo'd. Stop dieting and ate normal - weifht gain , then glucophage and weight has levelled out

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:sick: I am type 2 diabetic 15 years and now doctor wants me to go on to insulin as nothing now is keeping my blood sugars low i have 2 dbn one says its ok the other says not has any one done this and felt better or worse?
and any major pitfalls :sick:
 
I lost 4 stone while I was on insulin for 12 months Anna and I'm sure there must be thousands of insulin users who are not overweight either so its definitely not a given.

I was very careful with my diet and extra careful with matching my insulin to my carbs but I never put on any weight all the time I was using MDI. I suspect that mixed insulin regimes may be harder though as you have to eat to your insulin rather than injecting for your carbs.
 
Hi all,
First post bar introduction, type 2 for about 8 years and been on insulin ( insuman comb 25) this past year, being on insulin at first amazed me because my BG was so low / normal after years of struggling that I saw it as a license to eat what I felt like ( sweets & cakes etc) having now found my belly to be getting huge and my frequent bloods not going below 9 decided to stop all that and be sensible again like I was trying to be when on Metformin only.
I only have 4 units in morning and 16 at night with 1000mg Metformin both times, but have cut out all potatoes and bread from my diet and totally amazed at my readings and subsequent midrift, along with daily exercise it really is shifting.
So yes from original question I put weight on, but it can also come off as well, all be it harder to take off, great forum btw and great community spirit it seems, wish I had been bothered to find this ages ago :)


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Been on insulin for six months,put on 2stone & want to eat everything I see,on Levemir 50units at night & novo rapid after meals anything from 12 to 16 units per meal.need to loose weight but finding it a ****** at the moment.


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Don't go there. Put 1 1/2 lb on. Only thing I can try this next week is no peanuts. Unless insulin also messes thyroid gland up even more.plus I'm not winning the sweepstake at work. 6-0 death me
 
I am steady with my weight right now, only because I am out walking in the evenings unless it is so hot even the Devil himself said it was hotter than his home. :arghh:

I had a cousin who was T1 and he was so skinny we called him "Peavine". He passed away in February from complications of diabetes.
 
No. Never had a problem with gaining weight but I know they were reluctant to put me on insulin in case I did increase my weight. I have kept fit all my life. I was actually lighter at this weigh in than the last one. People put weight on because they eat too much. Stop blaming it on stuff, stop eating and do some exercise.
 
in my experience if your using insulin basal/bolus and feel constantly hungry then you may be using too much insulin or using the wrong balance. I believe when you start using insulin then this allows the cells to process the sugar/energy in your system which then behave as normal cells - ie if your not using the new energy they will store it as fat for later. Simplistic explanation I'm sure.
 
lorretta said:
No. Never had a problem with gaining weight but I know they were reluctant to put me on insulin in case I did increase my weight. I have kept fit all my life. I was actually lighter at this weigh in than the last one. People put weight on because they eat too much. Stop blaming it on stuff, stop eating and do some exercise.
Click to expand...

Yes I'm sure your right Lorretta, all we diabetics have to do to get better is to try harder - it's as simple as that. It must be right 'cos an informative article in the Daily Mail said so!
 
I'm not convinced being over weight causes diabetes despite what correlations they report but it's quite evident being overweight is caused by eating more than is needed to do work. I was unable to eat solids while having radio therapy and lost so much weight I was told that if I lost anymore I would have to be fed by a tube. Even then my sugar levels were high. I was still diabetic.


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I too have been on Insulen for about 9 years, over that time my weight has yo yoed using long acting and fast acting along with metphormin. over that last 10 months I have been following a low carb diet, and since medication changes wy weight has started to increase even though I have adopted a low card diet. and for information my work is very labour intensive and tend to work 40 to 50 hours per week so dont consider myself sedentry,
 
I have never used insulin and I control my T2D with LCHF diet. All I know is that EVERYTHING I've ever used to remedy pain and illness, either OTC or RX , always causes weight gain, even ibuprofen, so I would be reluctant to use insulin if I had to. Just my 2 pence. ;-)
 
1. Get your BG in range by diet and drugs, including insulin.

2. Look at your diet, you reduce weight and IR by reducing carbs, eating normal protein and add some healthy fat
You will also need to see dr or nurse to reduce some meds that can cause hypo

3. If you are eating because you are low and shouldn't be hungry. See dr or nurse about dosage
 
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