Type 1 Insulin Weight Gain

LeighC2021 said:

Hi all.
I was diagnosed in July 2020 and was immediately put onto 48 units of bolus insulin. My sugars are very well managed now and my nurse is happy with my progress.
However, since starting insulin I have gained around 4 stone. I was large to start with but Now no matter what I do, I seem to be getting bigger and bigger.
Has anybody else experienced this? I’m now very concerned about the impacts this gain will be having on me. My nurse advised a bit of exercise...
Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated.

Click to expand...

From personal experience, a clean healthy diet & exercise will definitely help you lose weight. I was 18st 3.5yr ago & I'm now 13st. Low carb could also be another good option, reducing carb intake will also reduce the amount of insulin you'll need to inject. What I will say from first hand experience is you'll need to work twice as hard as the person next to you in the gym. Do you mean 48 units of basal not bolus?

What I will add is this. Its not the insulin that makes you gain weight, its the food you're eating. Higher carb meals mean you need to inject more insulin, lower carb/fat then lower insulin amounts. It works hand in hand. Im not saying you eat junk, sorry if it comes across that way.

As a type 1 for quite a period of time you actually weren't utilizing all the food you were eating completely. Once you started insulin you actually started to be able to utilize that food and it was actually too much food. Your body was starved for energy so over time you eat more and were probably hungrier too. But then you start insulin and utilize all of it. All of a sudden a lot more carbs and calories came into the picture! Unfortunately weight gain when insulin is started is a common occurrence.

Then you add to the problem of learning how to take insulin properly. I know when I started I would take a shot that would cover a meal and the snack afterwards.................then you have to eat to cover the insulin you took. You want to make sure you take insulin for the food you are eating, not eating food because of the insulin you took, otherwise more weight gain.

I hope you are carb counting and dosing appropriately, if you aren't, start learning as fast as possible. It allows much more freedom in what you are eating and taking the proper dose. It helps to calculate carbs better so you are taking the right amount of insulin. An important factor for control. It is important to only take the amount you need and not have to eat extra food.

As a newbie you are probably in what we call the honeymoon period. Your pancreas is still trying to make insulin sometimes until it stops, and it makes it more difficult. Learning and some patience is needed.................

Hi Leigh I was diagnosed around the same time & had the same experience with weight. Despite going low carb (less than 100g a day), cutting out anything sweet & keeping insulin requirements down I’ve put all the weight I lost pre-diagnosis back on.

Diet alone isn’t doing anything, increasing my step count isn’t doing anything. I’ve reduced the amount of alcohol I drink but nothings budging, my weight isn’t going up either but....

The next step has to be better exercise that increases my heart rate. I’m trying to find time to slot it in but I’m not just weary of the time it will take but also the resulting adjustments in BG management.

My doctor suggested couch to 5k because it’s a gentle build up, but I hate running. He also suggested Joe Wicks or other YouTube workouts from home.

I know exercise & reducing drinking will work, it has before but back then I had less kids & no diabetes. Maybe I’ll make a concerted effort once they’re back at school, but until I do I don’t think diet alone will achieve any loss.

What kind of exercise do you prefer? Gyms are opening up again soon if that’s your thing, or dance/exercise classes? You could maybe start at home like I plan to & work up to more.

Hi. What your nurse should have advised was to lower your carb food intake. Exercise always helps but it's the carbs that can cause weight gain if you have too many and you have a low metabolism. The insulin is now enabling your body to metabolise the carbs reducing BS but your body is storing those carbs as fat. You can still eat proteins and fast etc fairly freely but do look at your carb intake. Note that as you reduce the carbs you may need to reduce your insulin amounts. When you next talk to the nurse ask for guidance on adjusting the Bolus for carbs you choose for each main meal.

I eat all the carbs I want. You do not have to low carb unless you want to. But you can't eat more carbs/calories than you need otherwise you gain weight. I have a slow metabolism and that doesn't help. Thyroid supplements helped me.

I’m exactly the same, was diagnosed August. Majorly struggling with weight gain.
I also have an under active thyroid and low iron so I know my metabolism is very slow....
I’m currently not eating any sweet things or drinking alcohol and trying to do extra steps a day!

If my diet was as it is pre diabetic I’d have been very skinny!!! It’s very disheartening.

Marie 2 said:

But you can't eat more carbs/calories than you need otherwise you gain weight

Click to expand...

@LeighC2021 I think this is the important bit

I've been on insulin for over 40 years now, whilst I have put on some weight in the last year I suspect that's more because I've been working from home (close to the kitchen) and less exercise than I used to do rather than the insulin.
In fact in my younger years I had issues putting on weight

Insulin is a growth hormone.. it will force your body to use/store all the glucose that is generated.. this is why body builders use insulin alongside testosterone


Carbs turn to glucose and then this is being stored as fat.. so it’s important not to over eat carbs… because if you do you will gain weight

Prior to the insulin you were probably peeing out a lot of the excess glucose

So carbs are a risk but so also is calories..

Sadly being diabetic this is just something you’ll need to watch out for and while it is true that a T1 can eat anything they want. It still needs to be done on moderation

searley said:

Insulin is a growth hormone.. it will force your body to use/store all the glucose that is generated.. this is why body builders use insulin alongside testosterone


Carbs turn to glucose and then this is being stored as fat.. so it’s important not to over eat carbs… because if you do you will gain weight

Prior to the insulin you were probably peeing out a lot of the excess glucose

So carbs are a risk but so also is calories..

Sadly being diabetic this is just something you’ll need to watch out for and while it is true that a T1 can eat anything they want. It still needs to be done on moderation

Click to expand...

What has made the body change so that diabetics don’t wee out the glucose?

Gafspa said:

What has made the body change so that diabetics don’t wee out the glucose?

Click to expand...

It can be very damaging for kidneys to pass glucose into urine over long periods. To stop this damage very much reduced carb intake (not just eliminating sugar, everything starchy) - this may be all T2 diabetics need to do to get diabetes in remission. But T1 diabetics cannot produce their own insulin so also need to externally inject exogenous insulin to control their blood glucose levels.

Gafspa said:

What has made the body change so that diabetics don’t wee out the glucose?

Click to expand...

Your using it now by using insulin.. you shouldn’t pass glucose can give uti’s and allsorts

But insulin forces you to use it all and what your body doesn’t need for energy will be stored as fat