Confusion on weight gain and insulin......

[Cinnabon74]

I have heard that once you have good control of your Blood Sugar levels, you gain weight?

This is very confusing. I know that sugar is no longer being spilled into the blood stream, but shouldnt this be the total opposite? If you have too much insulin, yes,  but what if you have good control of it along w/ diet and exercise?

[rapadaper]

these comments are very intresting and most are very aqurate in relation to management and signs of weight gain. i have been juve diabetic for 14 yrs and i cant put on weight, and ive started weight training. i would like some feedback from any one in my situation..whose actually gained weight constantly... help.

[JDRF-Team-LRS]

I think that ES hit the nail on the head.  

I can see this scenario ... Assume a person were eating 2000 calories a day and running high BGs because s/he didn't get the right balance of insulin, calories, exercise.  Those high BGs mean that some portion of those calories were, in essence, pee'd out.  Let's assume it's 200 calories a day that were eaten and not available to the body for fuel or for storage.

Somehow new information or new motivation leads the person to do all the hard work to get that balance worked out and they still enjoy 2000 calories a day.  NOW, all those calories are available for fuel or for storage.  If the person exercises, then the calories are consumed for fuel.  If the person doesn't, then the calories are stored -- at the rate of 200 calories per day, every day.  Gradually the calories will build, and for every 3500 extra calories stores -- the person will gain one pound.

So, the "fuel in" vs "fuel out" math will prevail once we get our BGs in line.  One tragedy is a manipulation used by some adolescents & teens, who attempt to use high BG in order to lose weight.  This is a deadly strategy akin to bulemia & anorexia.

Hope the big picture on why some folks do gain weight is helpful.  There is no reason why we have to gain weight.  We can, in fact, enjoy healthy BGs and also healthy weight for decades and decades.

[JDRF-Team-ES]

I think that is a great question.  I'm not a doctor, but have had diabetes for 39 years so I am only speaking from experience.  Theoretically, if you are in good control and not eating more than your body needs, in terms of your metabolism and your activity level, then you should maintain the same weight. Weight gain may occur for all the same reasons that people without diabetes gain weight.  They eat more food than they need.  They can still be in good control as long as they take enough insulin to keep theri blood sugars within a healthy range.

When your blood sugars are out of control, your body is not able to use all the food you may be eating and the excess sugar gets spilled into your blood stream. You may lose weight even though you are eating normally or even more than normally. Once you get your sugars under control, your body is more efficient in converting what it needs and using every calorie, so there may be some initial weight gain after  being diagnosed and treated.

If you have a lot of lows, you may have the tendency to eat a little more to avoid those awful lows.  This can also cause some weight gain over time. Reducing your insulin may work to avoid lows, but for some people, the high and low swings are much harder to manage. Diabetes is a difficult disease to manage in this respect.  Finding the right balnce between, food, activity and insulin is very difficult for many diabetics.  

I think that weight management for everyone is a challenge, but for diabetics, there are just many more factors that have to be considered.

I'm not sure thatI have given you a very clear answer, but I can tell you that I know many healthy diabetics who are in good control and maintain excellent weight control.  Of course, they do all the things that everyone else does who is able to maintain their weight, plus a little more.
Es