My wife and I recently improved the discipline with which we monitor and treat her diabetes (insulin-dependent Type II). Presently, we’re giving her two injections of long-acting insulin per day. This has been going on for about two weeks. The blood sugar levels are responding accordingly, but there is an issue with weight gain.
When she began her current regimen, her weight was about 140, and in the past two weeks she has gained nearly twenty-five pounds. There has been no change in her food intake or her level of physical activity. A “friend” of hers (whom I personally consider to be a bit of a know-it-all; and not a particularly knowledgeable one, at that), has insisted to her that there is no causal relationship between the increased insulin intake, and the weight gain.
What’s the best way to evaluate this claim? As always, this is not a request for medical advice, but for some knowledge about whether injected insulin tends to increase weight gain in the absence of other lifestyle changes.
I’m not an endocrinologist (or any other kind of health care professional) but having recently started insulin myself, I’ve done extensive research on this.
There is an association between weight gain and insulin. However, just about every medical text out there agrees that it’s not insulin itself that causes the weight gain; it’s the improvement in blood sugar control that allows the body to process calories more efficiently.
Basically it goes like this: When your blood sugars run high, your body isn’t processing food the way it should. The glucose that normally gets into your muscles for energy or turned into fat is instead dumped to the kidneys and you pee it out.
Most people in this situation end up eating more calories than they should. They’re not gaining weight, and they’re not properly using the calories that they are eating, so they get hungry.
Then they go on insulin. Bang! Your body starts actually USING these calories. You’re used to eating more calories than a properly working body needs, and you gain weight.
I’d look pretty closely at her diet and compare the calories she’s eating to what’s recommended for her height/weight/activity level.
That said, I also know there’s tons and tons of diabetics out there who claim that there is a relation between insulin and weight gain that goes beyond calories eaten. All I can say to that is that I have not found any medical basis for that at all.
Anecdotally, I’ve been on Lantus (long acting basal insulin) since Christmas, and rapid acting for a couple weeks, and have experience no weight gain. I have, however, been very careful with my diet and exercise just about every day.