Okay so i have been gaining weight lately.. not alot but enought to were its starting to show... I was wondering if its maybe from my insulin or is it from eating to much.. i exercise daily and i dont eat alot and i hardly eat junk food. So is it from my insulin or my food intake??
could be. if you're taking more insulin then your body needs you can gain weight or your blood sugars being all over the place can add to that. insulin in general causes you to gain a bit of weight regardless though but if it's a significant amount of weight you may be getting too much insulin.
my body weight changes year to year based on my insulin and food intake. some years i carry extra weight, those are usually the years when i'm having a tough time controling my levels and we're adjusting my insulin a lot. some years i don't carry much extra weight, and those tend to be the years i'm having better control and less adjustment of insulin doses/taking less. (sadly, i've gone from a good year to a bad year in the last few months. ugh!)
Thanks.. yeah my levels are all over and we r constantly adjusting my insulin.
I'm having the same issue! Mine has mostly been 3 years of being in denial. When I was first diagnosed in '04 they said I could eat whatever I wanted. Once I started college and I wasn't having controlled home-cooked meals, I still told myself "I can eat whatever I want". Not to mention, I hang out with a bunch of guys, therefore I eat like a guy sometimes. Also with added stress with school (high blood sugars) and not working out due to having too much homework (high blood sugars) and having a high fat/calorie/carb intake (high blood sugars) I had to greatly increase my insulin. Now that I am taking a little bit better care of myself (i.e. working out 4-5 x's a week, eating a little bit better, and put on a supplement program by my endo) I have lost a total of 8 lbs. so far in 3 months.
Not a lot of weight considering a healthy way is to lose 2 a week, but I weigh a little less! I didn't realize the constant changing of insulin rates effects your weight so greatly. My insulin to carb ratio recently changed from 1:15 to 1:13 to 1:10. Eventhough my basal rates are lower, I think I end up taking more insulin total because my insulin to carb ratio. As hard as it is, I think the biggest thing is to eat less carbs, at least for me. I love bread and startches so its hard, but I need to lose a total of 30 lbs. to be in a healthy weight range for my height so wish me luck!
Anyone have any good, easy, fast, and healthy recipes?
samee! idk why its happening either.
The constant change in your insulin could be a contributing factor to weight gain, you also mentioned you exercise daily. You could be putting on muscle mass as well. Since you are both still young and growing, it is natural for your body to be putting on extra weight in addition to everything else you have going on.
I talk to my doctor on friday about the subject and her response was...You don't gain weight from insulin. She said people gain weight because they may have bad eating habits while taking insulin, but you said you are eating well and exercising so that makes it weird. If you find out more info please let me know.
When I was in high school, and taking insulin injections, I was a bit emaciated...all skin and bones - even though I ran and lifted weights, I never gained muscle. Once I was introduced to the insulin pump, I gained about 30 lbs. in muscle mass. I asked a girlfriend of mine studying developmental physiology, and she said the amount of insulin in one's blood stream does play a factor in how much body fat the body consumes or stores, and how much muscle the body will build. She referred me to her instructor, and he told me that because of the multiple factors that a diabetic has to deal with on a daily basis, it's almost certain that muscle mass and excess fat will have some amount of connectivity to our insulin and blood sugars.
I am on a 1:10 units per carbs ratio, and a 1u/hr basil rate. I lift weights twice a week, do a cardio/push-ups work out every day, and bike at least five times a week. I'm six foot-three; before the pump, I weighed a square 150lbs., after, I topped off at 183lbs.
If you're on a pump, you are, very much, able to eat almost whatever you want. The problem is you have to pay attention to everything you eat, and do your bolus every time you eat! And if you are trying to stay fit, then you have a lot more attention to pay to what you eat.
If you're still doing injections, you need to control your diet very strictly. Me, personally? I snack all the time, so injections were always a problem for me. And even if you're on something like Lantus, the constant Humalog injections make life harder. But if you want to control your sugars on an injection routine, you NEED to control your eating habits very strictly, else you won't control them...!
Good luck, anyhow!
I haven't gained any weight from insulin as I weigh the smae now as I did on my Dx day (225lbs) it fluctutes by 3-5lbs based on what I eat and don't eat, but if you're gaining weight it's probably diet related. Eat good foods and see what happens.
I have heard many people complain about weight gain or the possibility of weight gain with insulin. I agree with what Pat said. If you have strict control and are able to take care of yourself, than you should be fine. It takes time to get things sorted out. Not to mention if you are still in the early stages of a new diagnosis, you are more often gogin to regain some of the wieght that you should have had pre-diagnosis. I sometimes wish I had the wieght I had when I was diagnosed, but that was just an unhealthy weight.
Insulin can affect your weight because it has the ability to alter how much fat storoage you have. However, it is also directly related to what you're eating and how much. If you have a lot of lows, you may also gain some weight because of the extra calories you need to consume to treat them. Also, higher doses of insulin can (but not always) have an appetite-stimulating effect, making you feel hungry more often.
There are a few things you can do: weight maintenance is calories vs calories out. Try keeping a diary of how much you are eating and exercising for at least 3 days (you need at least 3 to establish a pattern). Plug them in to a calorie counting website (such as fitday.com or mypyramid.gov) and you can see if what you take in and what you burn are near equal. Drink LOTS of water throughout the day because your body could be retaining water if you aren't getting enough. At meals, make sure you are getting all three energy sources: protein, carb, and fat. Proteins and fats will help keep you feeling full for longer because they slow down the absorption rate of glucose into the bloodstream. Fiber will also help (whole grains, fruits/veggies, soy foods are good sources of fiber) because it absorbs water, making your tummy feel full. Keep exercising, but also monitor your BGs closely while you exercise because it can affect your blood sugars for up to 24 hours. Exercise can decrease the amount of insulin you need, but if you are yo-yoing from lows and rebound highs, you might find changes in your weight.
I have loads more info. but this is a good start. :o) If you want to, try a couple things and see if your weight stabilizes at all. Weight gain/loss/maintenance isn't based solely on food intake. There are many factors going into it.
I may be all wet on this, but here's what I've always thought. I thought when you started on insulin you gained weight becuase now your body is once again able to metabolize glucose into energy. When undiagnosed, your body is converting fat to energy somehow and thus you lose weight. If you are "out of control", again, your body will often have to metabolize fat into energy and you'll lose weight. When in control you may gain a little back because since you have enough insulin your body is converting glucose to energy.
Not sure if I'm right or not, but it has been my theory for a long time.
So really, it's not the insulin perse causing weight gain, it is a combination of food you eat and exersize AND insulin.
[quote user="DDrumminMan"]
I may be all wet on this, but here's what I've always thought. I thought when you started on insulin you gained weight becuase now your body is once again able to metabolize glucose into energy. When undiagnosed, your body is converting fat to energy somehow and thus you lose weight. If you are "out of control", again, your body will often have to metabolize fat into energy and you'll lose weight. When in control you may gain a little back because since you have enough insulin your body is converting glucose to energy.
Not sure if I'm right or not, but it has been my theory for a long time.
So really, it's not the insulin perse causing weight gain, it is a combination of food you eat and exersize AND insulin.
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that's what my mom and i were always told it's partially your body having insulin and if you are taking too much insulin you're chasing it with food, even if you don't realize it.
I have had the problem with the sugars being out of control but I haven't gained any weight. I've accually lost weight. I weighed about 115lbs at diagnosis and now I weigh like 90 to 95 lbs.
[quote user="Brittany "]
I have had the problem with the sugars being out of control but I haven't gained any weight. I've accually lost weight. I weighed about 115lbs at diagnosis and now I weigh like 90 to 95 lbs.
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If you are running too high, you don't have enough insulin in your system to break down the carbs you are eating, so it would make sense that you are loosing weight. I hope that you can start to get your sugars under better control, b/c that weight loss doesn't sound healthy! I hope I don't sound like I'm lecturing you b/c, believe me, I know tight control isn't easy. But, your weight loss makes me nervous!
We've been working on it and so far we've gotten them down pretty good. I still have highs which I know I will but other than that they have gotten better. I weighed and i've gained like 4 pounds. I'm pretty happy. I don't think it sounded like you were giving me a lecture. Oh! Some one cares about me! lol. jk.
For me I had lost over 20 lbs. before Dx'ed, then gained it and more. I have been type 1 for 13 months, now once I got control I started to lose weight. I have lost 25 lbs. 25 to go. But yes with the swings I did gain weight.
Your probably in high-school weight fluctuates at the teenage level for no reason at all..don't stop eating because that makes your metabolism slow down which means when u eat a little your body utilizes the food more...
now don't go binge all you can eat buffets for your life but..eat 3 meals a day 500 calories -1000 each if you run cross-country or track / football....and do weight training my Average A1C was 13 (350 BS) when I started doing weight training it dropped to 7 (200) in less then a year.
Harmones can cause weight gain...don't worry about it if your a teen just keep eating healthily and youll be fine.