Weight gain

Taking insulin is often associated with weight gain, which can prompt people to cut back on their insulin intake. Reasons for the weight gain include:

Health Tips from Dr. Healy: Video: How to avoid diabetes burnout Choose another disease or condition... Allergic Rhinitis Allergies, Food Allergy & Asthma Center Alzheimer's Disease Anxiety Aortic Aneurysms Arrhythmia Arthritis, Osteo- (OA) Arthritis, Rheumatoid (RA) Asthma Atopic Dermatitis Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Back Pain Brain Tumor Bones, Joints & Muscles Center Breast Cancer Brain & Behavior Center Brain Tumor Cancer Center    Brain Tumor    Breast Cancer    Cancer Prevention    Clinical Trials    Colorectal Cancer    Endometrial Cancer    Living With and Beyond Cancer    Lung Cancer    Prostate Cancer    Skin Cancer Cardiomyopathy Cataracts Cholesterol Control Clinical Trials Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) Colorectal Cancer Congenital Heart Disease Congestive Heart Failure (CHF) Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) Crohn's Disease Depression Diabetes Center Diabetes, Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Digestive Disorders Center Eczema Endometrial Cancer Erectile Dysfunction (ED) Eye & Vision Center Fibromyalgia Food Allergies Gallstone Disease Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) GERD Glaucoma Hay Fever Headache Heart Center Hepatitis A Hepatitis B Hepatitis C High Blood Pressure Hypertension Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) Impotence Insomnia Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) Living With and Beyond Cancer Losing Weight Lung Cancer Macular Degeneration Memory Loss Osteoarthritis (OA) Osteoporosis Parkinson's Disease Peptic Ulcer Prediabetes Prostate Cancer Respiratory Disorders Center Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) Sexual & Reproductive Health Center Sinusitis Skin Cancer Sleep Apnea Sleep Center Stroke Type 1 Diabetes Type 2 Diabetes Ulcerative Colitis (UC) Weight Control See more online resources for diabetes information Type 2 Diabetes-Related Clinical Trials Information More on Diabetes Email this page Print this section

• People who have poorly controlled diabetes sometimes experience weight loss because their bodies are unable to properly convert food into energy. Taking insulin helps reverse that process and can result in a weight gain.
• When blood glucose runs high, you can become dehydrated as your body works to clear itself of all that excess glucose. Getting your blood glucose under better control may cause you to retain fluid.
• Once you start taking insulin injections, glucose in your blood can get into the body's cells and be used rather than remaining in your bloodstream and being excreted in your urine.
• High blood glucose may cause people to feel hungry and eat more, because not all the food taken in can be properly processed to nourish the cells. Frequently, eating patterns continue after insulin has been started and allows more-efficient use of nutrients.

Some people cut back on their insulin once they discover they can lose a few pounds quickly by doing so. But when they go back to using the right amount of insulin, they discover that they gain the weight back--and perhaps more--in equally rapid fashion. Manipulating insulin to lose weight is an unhealthy habit to get into. Letting your blood glucose run high can lead to long-term complications. Better to make careful adjustments in how much you eat.