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Type 2 Weight gain

djry

Well-Known Member
Messages
74
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Tablets (oral)
Hi has anyone else put weight on since starting on insulin I started on insulin about a year ago now and my weight has gone from 9st to 12 half stone I'm not a large person I'm skinny with a belly lol. I do each what I won't which isn't a good thing but my blood sugars are absoulutly fine between 4 -10 most days. Just putting weight on a round my stomach which looks like a pop belly
going on holiday soon and need to get rid of a stone would it be a good idea to lower my insulin when I'm eating food

Sent from my SM-G930F using Diabetes.co.uk Forum mobile app
 
I do not believe insulin causes weight gain. If it did, every person with type 1 diabetes would be over weight or "managing their weight".
However, this does not mean there is no relationship between weight and insulin.
Without insulin, our body cannot get the energy it needs from glucose in our bloods (insulin has been described as the "key" which unlocks the energy). Therefore, it looks elsewhere for its energy. This tends to be fat and/or muscle (I need to check). As a result, one of the symptoms of diabetes is fast weight loss as well as high BG.
When you started on insulin, I assume your BG was high which means your body was breaking down fat/muscle. Now you have the "insulin key", your body gets its energy from the glucose in your blood (which comes from the carbs that you eat) and your body has no need to break down the fat/muscle.
As a result, it is not uncommon to put on weight when you start insulin unless you adjust your diet and/or exercise.
 

For Type 1's who don't produce their own insulin I think you may be correct however if you agree that Type 2 is a condition where the body is resistant to its endogenous insulin production then adding more exogenous insulin into the mix may not be such a great idea. That is certainly the stance that quite a few enlightened HCP's take.
 
It certainly does cause weight gain. I put loads of weight on I was taken off insulin because of weight gain. It's a vicious circle, insulin makes you hungry so you have to inject, then eat and it goes around again!
 

In T2 there is almost always a big element of insulin resistance. If the T2 has enough natural insulin but this is being rejected, then adding even more insulin will make the person even more insulin resistant. The more insulin the more the resistance becomes. More spare glucose will be transported to the fat cells, and if not burned off it leads to weight gain. The key is to try to burn off the fat cells.
 
Hi. Insulin most certainly doesn't cause weight BUT it enables the body to metabolise carbs properly and if you have too many you may gain weight. It's not the insulin but the food you eat.
 
Daibell said:
Hi. Insulin most certainly doesn't cause weight BUT it enables the body to metabolise carbs properly and if you have too many you may gain weight. It's not the insulin but the food you eat.
Click to expand...
Ding ding ding. Exactly. I can keep my bs steady with some carbs but any more than 20 dabs per day and my ars grows. I don't metabolize carbs and they always cause weight gain, even when bs is perfect.

I could eat a piece of bread a day or a jam a stick of butter down my throat. The bread would make me gain 2#'s a day and I'd lose weight with the butter. FOR ME, carbs are what causes weight gain, not insulin. And with less carbs I need less insulin. Win win FOR ME
 
Try injecting insulin other than stomach..consult your doc. where else you can.
 
@Bluetit1802 and @bulkbiker, thank you for educating me about insulin resistance.
My understand now is that insulin itself does not cause weight gain (hence my comment about type 1s not being overweight) but combined with insulin resistance it can.
I apologise if my previous ignorance caused any offence.
 
Daibell said:
Hi. Insulin most certainly doesn't cause weight BUT it enables the body to metabolise carbs properly and if you have too many you may gain weight. It's not the insulin but the food you eat.
Click to expand...

I think it is more correct (as Daibell says) to say that Insulin ENABLES weight gain.

You are back almost to the standard non-diabetic relationship between what you eat and how much weight you gain or lose.

LCHF can aid you to control your weight and to reduce the insulin demand (if that way of eating suits you).
 
No worries.. I wasn't offended at all.
 
Daibell said:
Hi. Insulin most certainly doesn't cause weight BUT it enables the body to metabolise carbs properly and if you have too many you may gain weight. It's not the insulin but the food you eat.
Click to expand...

Very interesting piece of info from a new endo I saw on Thursday - " of course insulin will increase your weight - for every 2 percentage points you reduce your HbA1C level you can expect to put on 2 kgs"

Went to see her as I'm concerned about weight gain - steady 75kgs for months before diagnosis - gone up and up since - 83kgs in May - up to 86kgs now. Going lowish carb has made a big difference to my blood sugar levels - and since my double knee replacement in April, I've been doing a lot more exercise - GP felt weight gain was probably down to a steroid I'm taking for another condition but endo disagreed and came up with the pearl of wisdom above!!!!

What's a girl to do??????

PS - I can assure anyone who is going to put this down to eating more - that this is DEFINITELY not the case
 
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