Losing weight if you have Diabetes
Losing weight can be an important part of managing diabetes. Diabetes is a condition that affects how your body processes glucose (sugar). Your body either doesn’t produce enough insulin (a hormone that helps your body use glucose for energy) or can’t use insulin effectively. Losing weight may help you better manage your blood sugar levels.
Diabetes can affect metabolism and how the body processes food, making weight loss and weight management challenging. However, many people find that gradual weight loss is achievable with a balanced approach—healthful eating, regular exercise, and sometimes medication.
Weight loss is just one part of diabetes management. You and your healthcare provider can work together to create a safe, realistic plan.
The Relationship Between Diabetes and Weight
Not everyone with excess weight will develop type 2 diabetes, and not everyone with type 2 diabetes has excess weight. Still, type 2 diabetes and weight are closely linked. For example, gaining weight—especially around your belly—raises your risk of developing diabetes, and having diabetes can lead to weight gain.
How Weight Affects Blood Sugar
Extra weight makes it harder for your body to use insulin, the hormone that moves sugar from your blood into your cells for energy. When your cells don’t respond well to insulin (insulin resistance), blood sugar levels remain high and increase the risk of type 2 diabetes.
How Diabetes Affects Weight
Diabetes itself can lead to weight gain. When your body doesn’t use insulin well, it produces more insulin to stabilize blood sugar. However, high insulin levels can lead to extra fat storage, resulting in weight gain.
The Benefits of Weight Loss
Not everyone with diabetes needs to lose weight. If you and your healthcare provider decide weight loss can be beneficial to your diabetes management, there could be some benefits.
When you lose weight, your body can become more sensitive to insulin, meaning it uses insulin better. This has several potential benefits, including:
Blood sugar is easier to control
Reduced need for diabetes medications
A boost in energy levels
Weight loss also helps improve blood pressure and cholesterol, both of which are important for protecting your heart health when diabetes increases the risk of heart disease.
Is It Harder to Lose Weight With Diabetes?
Living with diabetes may make weight loss harder if you're overweight, some research suggests.5 Insulin resistance, certain diabetes medications, and changes in blood sugar can slow your metabolism, making weight loss challenging.
Blood sugar changes can also lower your energy, making it more difficult to keep up with exercise and diet changes. However, with the right plan, people with diabetes can lose weight.
Dietary Strategies for Weight Loss
A balanced diet supports both weight loss and blood sugar control. The general rule of thumb is to reduce daily calories by 500–700 calories, based on your individual needs. Your healthcare provider can help you determine what calorie deficit would be most safe and helpful for you and how to reach it.
It helps to balance each meal with protein, fiber, and low-glycemic carbohydrates to help keep blood sugar stable and prevent hunger. Recommended foods include:
Non-starchy vegetables: Broccoli, leafy greens, peppers, cauliflower, cucumbers, and carrots are low in calories and high in fiber, which helps you feel full.
Lean proteins: Lean meats like chicken and fish and plant-based proteins like beans are good choices for feeling satisfied after eating.
Nutritious carbohydrates: Whole grains, starchy veggies (like sweet potatoes), low-glycemic fruits (such as berries or apples), and low-fat dairy support steady energy levels.
Healthy fats: Foods like avocado, coconut oil, olive oil, and nuts slow digestion and help control blood sugar.
Fermented foods: Yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi contain probiotics that support gut health, which may benefit blood sugar stability.
An approach dubbed "the diabetes plate method" can help make portion control easy. This method involves filling half a 9-inch plate with non-starchy vegetables, one-quarter with lean protein, and one-quarter with healthy carbs.
Sugary drinks, white bread, pastries, fried foods, and heavily processed snacks can cause sugar spikes and weight gain, so they should be avoided or limited on a weight management plan.
Diet Plans
While many diet plans are available, the Mediterranean diet continually ranks high in terms of health benefits and sustainability. This eating plan emphasizes vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy fats. It’s a good option for blood sugar stability and weight loss. Other diet plans or diet patterns that research suggests may help with diabetes weight loss include:
Vegetarian or vegan diet
Low-fat diet
Low-carb diet
DASH diet (the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet)
The Role of Exercise in Weight Loss
Combining aerobic exercise with strength training helps your body use insulin better, improving blood sugar levels.
Aerobic exercises, like brisk walking, cycling, or swimming, increase your heart rate and help your body use energy. Strength training, like lifting weights or using resistance bands, builds muscle, helping you burn more calories at rest.
Aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise each week, plus two days of strength training.
Extracts taken from Brandi Jones MSN-Ed, RN-BC from https://www.health.com/