Q: Can Losing Weight Help With Type 2 Diabetes?
Treating type 2 diabetes takes a multi-pronged approach. For many people with type 2 diabetes, losing some weight can help.
Carrying around excess weight influences not only your blood glucose levels but also impacts your overall health. Even dropping just 10-15 pounds can help you feel better and manage your risk of health complications in the future.
However, while weight loss may be one tool for glucose management, it is unlikely to be the only one. Others could include:
- Exercise
- Healthy diet
- Medication
- Insulin
How Your Weight Influences Your Diabetes
The most common cause of type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance. This occurs when the cells of your body no longer respond to the hormone insulin.
Normally, insulin signals your cells to absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Glucose is your body’s main form of energy. When cells become resistant to insulin, glucose remains in the bloodstream, and your cells are starved for energy.
If left untreated, insulin resistance can progress to type 2 diabetes. Being overweight or obese is a risk factor for insulin resistance and diabetes, as well as heart disease and many other health conditions.
Losing Weight May Help
While being overweight can lead to insulin resistance and diabetes, the reverse is also true. Losing some weight can make your body more responsive to insulin and improve your blood glucose control.
Gradually losing weight through healthy lifestyle changes has the potential to lower your A1c. Your A1c is an indicator of how well your body is controlling blood glucose levels. It is one of the key indicators of diabetes management.
A high A1c (over 7) is considered a risk factor for complications from diabetes, including heart disease, neuropathy, and kidney disease. Decreasing your weight may lower your A1c and reduce your risk of suffering these long-term complications.
Successful Weight Loss
Dropping a few pounds might sound simple, but as most people know, it takes real work.
Building healthy lifestyle habits is critical to successful weight loss. And sustaining changes over time requires commitment and perseverance.
While you don’t have to change everything at once, it helps to view your diabetes journey as a path towards wellness that encompasses many aspects of your health.
- Healthy eating
- Exercise and movement
- Stress management
- Following your medication and testing regimen
- Getting good sleep
As you prioritize each area, you improve your ability to reach a healthy weight and manage your diabetes well.
Good Diabetes Control is Possible
When you are first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, it is easy to get overwhelmed. You may feel worried about your long-term health and concerned about how to best care for yourself.
Take a deep breath. Our diabetes care team is here to walk you through every part of this journey, from finding the right medication to helping you reach a healthy weight.
Good diabetes control is possible, and you don’t have to do it alone.
