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why did i get diabetes? is it because i am fat?

R

roxy44

Well-Known Member
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Hi people think i got diabetes because i am over weight and lack excersise...is this the case? 1 memeber of my family said to me that they new it would happen!! and i am not educated in the subject enough to say different, there is no diabetes in the family...i am about 5 stone over weight,...and did love junk food but actually ate healthy

if anyone can shed any light on this i would be grateful
many thanx
 
If you are Type 2 there is evidence that your lifestyle did cause your diabetes. A lack of exercise and an unhealthy diet including far too much carbohydrate just isn't good for you. It may be that you have exhausted your own insulin and worn out your pancreas or your cells have become resistant to insulin. In saying that there are people who develop diabetes from medication, family history or after having gestational diabetes.

Many people with T2 diabetes are able to improve their health and blood sugar levels to where they don't need medication. Lose the weight and make your health a priority and see how you go.

All the best.
 
Roxy, this short video about diabetes might help explain whats going on, (it includes T1 and T2 so you have to wait for the last bit for T2 but it's only a few minutes long)
http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Guide-to-dia ... _diabetes/

One important thing not mentioned in the video is that if you loose weight your cells will become less insulin resistant . Even 10% loss can make a big difference, so it really is worthwhile concentrating on that.
 
Roxy - we've all came to our own conclusions about his after our own research. You'll find many posts on this very forum (some by me!), that demonstrate the cycle:

Insulin production > weight gain > insulin resistance > insulin production > weight gain > insulin resistance, etc, etc...

Sugar/carbohydrate makes you fat, not fatty foods. Actually, INSULIN makes you fat, and its the consumption of carbs/sugar that makes the body produce more insulin... The release of insulin in the presence of insulin resistance makes you MORE hungry, so you eat more, and more insulin gets released into your insulin resistant system.

I firmly believe that diabetes (or even pre-diabetes as they're calling it now) leads to weight gain, increasing insulin resistance, leading to more weight gain. When you mody mass (weight) reaches a level when your insulin production and insulin sensitivity are completely out of balance, T2 Diabetes occurs.

We're not naturally greedy people. Insulin makes you hungry. It's very hard to not eat when your blood is being pumped full of stuff that makes you ravenously hungry! Non-T2 Diabetics can't understand this.

Some T2 diabetics can't even understand this!

That's because there are many kinds of T2's. Some can make insulin, but not enough. These people won't know "the hunger" ( :wink: ) like we do. Their insulin sensitivity is such that they CAN use the insulin they produce, as well as any extra that they might need to inject. Then there are those that can produce insulin, but have such high insulin resistance that their bodies CAN'T use the insulin. These are the ones that suffer weight gain - their OWN BODY produces the thing that makes them fat (insulin), and continues to create it when the body doesn't use it as it's supposed to.

Please don't feel guilty that over eating caused diabetes. It's far more likely that diabetes has caused you to overeat!
 
Roxy the link between being overweight and diabetes is complicated and not fully understood yet, and as Patch indicated, there is the suggestion that T2 and being overweight have a common cause.
And while it is true that most (but not all by any means) T2's are fat, not all fat people will become diabetic. If it were true that being fat causes diabetes then every fat person would get it, not just some.

Yes being overweight can bring on diabetes but there appears that there has to be other factors as well. But what has been said about loosing weight is very true you can help the condition by loosing weight, have a look at info for newly diagnosed about carbohydrate, as many people find that reducing our carbs reduces our hunger. I will echo what patch said about that 'I am ravenous I must eat now feeling' and the feeling of never being full when I eat too many of carbs such as bread/pasta and potatoes.

The amount of carbs that you can eat will be individual to you - people on this forum eat very different amounts depending on their body/medicine/and diabetes type

If you havent got one, get yourself a meter and test all the food that you eat and you will find what suits your body.
 
Patch said:
I firmly believe that diabetes (or even pre-diabetes as they're calling it now) leads to weight gain,
Click to expand...

That may be true in some cases Patch but it does not explain people who have either been overweight all their lives as I was or indeed those who are not overweight at all. I actually lost weight prior to diagnoses which is not uncommon as I was so insulin resistant my body started eating its self.

Being overweight Does Not Make you Diabetic although it can be a contributing factor. something like 80% of T2's where overweight at diagnosis but only a very small percentage of overweight people develop diabetes. As always statistics work any way you want them to.

It actually makes me extremely angry when even diabetics believe that eating carbs and sugar and being overweight causes diabetes, it doesnt.

No one yet knows the exact cause of diabetes I personally believe it to be a some form of chemical or hormone imbalance. Possibly to do with Insulin, Cortisol, Adrenalin etc So more to do with a failing or malfunctioning organ than to do with someone stuffing their face with food, I'm sure we all know an obese non diabetic acquaintance, I know several.
 
Hi Roxy,

There are many causes of Type 2 Diabetes. There is a stereotypical belief that we caused it ourselves by eating too much and the media are happy to promote this idea. Your family member needs educating. Amongst the members here, there are various accounts as to what happened to them prior to diagnosis.

Research is uncovering more and more possible reasons as to why we get Type 2.

It is not your fault.



What is Type 2 Diabetes?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJN7DH83HA
 
Sid said:
Being overweight Does Not Make you Diabetic...
Click to expand...

Sid said:
...only a very small percentage of overweight people develop diabetes.
Click to expand...

Even when you agree with me, you can't help but disagree with me... :lol:
 
An interesting video Catherine, and there are links to some other good vids on the same Youtube page, the one entitled Insulin Resistance is only short but explains the relationship between insulin, glycogen, glucose and fat in easy to understand language, even I could understand it :D
 
WOW thanx for all your replies certianly something to think about there,

3 week today since i was diagnosed, changed my eating so much, eating healthy and cut the junk out all together,

i wonder if thats why i still feel ropey, achey, brain fog, head aches,
anxious....but i was prone to anxiety way before diabetes...i wonder if my body is crying out for the rubbish i use to eat and this is its way of rebbeling!!

i just hope to feel better soon, its really getting me down, ...eat healthy lost weight and feel rubbish!!! lol

Sid you always make me smile, and i will look them youtubes up, by the way are you insinuating i'm a bit thick? :lol:

thanx so so much for your great replies xxx
 
Hi. great topic and point! even I asked myself that question after being on gliclazide and put 2.5stone in the 18months was taking it. cortisol [cushings disease] levels being higher than normal can impact also, have been told this myself had the tests n get results 1st june. Consultant said I am cushings body shape, tiny arms n legs with barrel belly [apple shape] now thanks to victoza have lost almost 2 stone n visually look n weigh in great. J ust wish I could feel same as look! BS comes down then shoots up again despite protein n low carb diet. Am yet unable to come to terms fully with having to go onto insulin with terrifying lack of faith in it. The risk of putting weight on n tolerating it also. [keep telling myself it isnt going into my stomach, like meds does] Am yet still worrying n bothered by it. The posts by patch just cement my own gut instincts n fears with going onto insulin. I even went online last night n have ordered 2 books to educate n understand insulin n type 2 better as it's a minefield out there... Am so scared of my future journey onwards with being an insulin user. Its on my mind 24-7 n cant relax or stop worrying n its dooing my head in. Plus am weepy today so dont know whats going on or what to do? Anna.
 
Covering the same ground again, but statistics at a high level from the US for 2001 appeared to show that around 44 million were obese and 17 million of these had diabetes.

At this level, it looks as though roughly 40% of obese people in the US had diabetes, although the figures never go into the detail we need to relate these statistics to our personal situations.

Chicken and egg arguments aside, this is not a small proportion.

In the same way that smoking is generally accepted to increase your risk of getting lung cancer (although you can point to people who smoke heavily and don't have cancer) then being overweight/obese will probably increase your risk of developing diabetes.

If you have a predisposition (often genetic) to diabetes then carrying extra weight, especially around your internal organs, can place extra strain on your system and can lead to your production and utilisation of insulin being impaired.

Reducing you weight and controlling your carbohydrate input is widely reported on this site to improve your blood sugar readings and general diabetic control.

So, with the benefit of hindsight being 5 stone overweight may have contributed to the onset of diabetes.

However, blame is not an issue.
You can look back on your history before diagnosis (as we all do) and realise that certain things may not have helped you.
However that is just something to share to hopefully help other people avoid some of the problems you now have. It is not something to beat yourself up about.

It is likely that you will feel unsettled, rough, depressed, unhappy, uncomfortable and generally pretty grumpy at the world in general.
This is to be expected and accepted; stick with the weight loss and good diet, and use this site to make sure that your diet is the best for you. There is a lot of expertise here.

In time you will feel much better, and with luck you will achieve good control of your diabetes with no major impact on your life style.

Hope this helps

LGC
 
again thanx for all the replies i find reading them very helpful,

LGC thanx so much for your wise words they have helped, i guess its taking me time to get my head round it, the anxiety might be causing me to feel unwell which then puts my numbers up which then inturn makes me anxious :roll: vicious circle...plus i thought i might have lost more weight this week , thought it was 10lb but its 9...not bad in 3 weeks, i think i am asking too much of myself, pity i cant put my words into practice!!,

going to have some bacon, veg and a small portion of new potatoes for tea!! that will help me feel better :)

you are all brilliant, i could not cope without you all thanx so much xx
 
Way to go, Roxy.

If you can sustain 3lbs/week (and don't worry if you can't because weight loss tends to go in fits and starts) then that is....ummmm....well nearly a stone a month.

If you stick to it, that means by August Bank Holiday you will be a shadow of your former self!

Cheers

LGC
 
thanx LGC,

9LB down another 4 and half stone to go lolol,

i have been eating 2 slices of burgen bread for lunch, i think i will knock it down to 1, thats without excersice too,...going to start that , havent been well enough upto now , all on doing my housework lol

xx
 
There is little to be gained, by the question why ? You are and so am I, so let's go forward not look in the mirror. We have to learn how to live with it, and be as normal as possible, certainly don't get anxious about it. Stress helps nothing. You weren't stressed before being diagnosed, but you still had it. Now you know and can live your life accordingly. Always look on the bright side be an optimist, doesn't hurt.
 
This is an old post from last year Mrawfell but I can understand why it was posted! I guess that for many of us who are overweight, the impression we are given by HCP's at our diagnosis is that it is our weight that caused the diabetes to develop.
If the people that are looking after us say this then is it any wonder that Joe Public feels the same way?

I agree with you about the optimism but it's easier said than done as I'm sure you understand..these things take a while. :wink:

Funnily enough I was massively stressed before being diagnosed so the diabetes dignosis just felt like another kick in the teeth..still does to a degree but doesn't stop me from trying to deal with it.

More appropriate support at diagnosis from our HCP's and maybe there won't be the same levels of anxiety. We can live in hope.. :)
 
Hi Roxy,

There is quite a strong correlations between type 2 diabetes and obesity. Hence the more overweight an individual is the more likely they are to develop type 2 diabetes. There are, of course, other factors.

You say you are about five stone overweight so this could have definitely been a contributing factor.

Hope you managing to cope well with your diabetes. I can imagine it must have been quite a shock to be diagnosed. Once you get your head round things you'll be fine. Losing some weight will help, as will following a sensible diet and making sure your blood pressure and cholesterol are within the normal ranges. I'm type 1 so the way I manage my diabetes is going to be very different to you.

Use this forum to ask any questions you might have. There are load of people on here who have been diabetic for many years and can share their experiences with you. I find I get a lot of info here that I'd never get from my GP or diabetes team.

Take care.
Emma
 
Just my experience:

I gained weight,eating the same amount of food as I always have, in the 2 years that I now realise I was pre-diabetic. No amount of dieting shifted the weight or stopped my slow but steady weight gain even on less than 1250 cals a day, mainly of carbs. Now I am on 100g or less or carbs a day and my blood glucose levels have dropped and I have lost 4kg in 4 weeks even though I am eating more (1500+ cals a day)

So my experience is that being pre-diabetic made me fat, not that I became fat and then developed diabetes.

The same happened to my father and brother, with the weight gain primarily around our middles.

But we may be unusual. But I wont be surprised to find, in several years time, that instead of blaming some of the obesity epidemic on causing the diabetes type 2 epidemic, they find that it is not our fault. The diabetes made us fat, not the other way round.

But this is not scientific evidence, only my experience and observation.
 
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