Insulin Gives Weight Gain

Patients especially diabetics who take insulin can gain weight. With diabetes, eating much food without taking insulin does not affect you much since the body does not properly use the food. However, when insulin is taken, more glucose go to the blood and the excess can accumulate and eventually become fats. The result is weight gain.

Insulin and weight gain generally go together. When insulin is working, the body starts to properly use the food so that you may actually just need less food than you think. That is why, there should be some adjustments to be made in the quantity of food you take and in the physical activities that you do.

Managing weight gain

Taking insulin can result to weight gain, but the good news is you can still be in control. Avoid weight gain by adjusting the food portions that you take. Take healthy food and have a lot of physical activities every day. These can help you avoid unwanted weight gain.
Less calories and portion sizes
Watch more on your calories and when food portion sizes when you are taking insulin to avoid weight gain. Counting calories can be a lot of help. It is very effective in avoiding weight gain; much more, if you are taking insulin. Help yourself out. Have only vegetables, fruits and grains on your refrigerator. Trim the portion sizes of your food and stick only to water beverage. It is even much better to design a good diet plan with your dietitian.

Breakfast

When you think skipping breakfast can save you from weight gain, you are wrong. Skipping a meal may slow down your metabolism and lead to gaining weight. So never skip a meal, especially breakfast. Reducing your calories intake is not a good reason to avoid breakfast. Insulin and calories do contribute to weight gain. Thus, it is best to spread your calories throughout the day and it can help steady your metabolism.

Physical activity

Becoming physically active helps you get fit. It helps move the sugar in your blood into your cells and burn your calories as well. That is why, physically active people usually have safer blood sugar levels. Experts recommend 2.5 hours physical activity weekly to get its health benefits. Examples are biking, walking and swimming. If you are diabetic, ask your doctor for recommendations.

Most people wonder why they gain weight when they start to take insulin. You can actually avoid it by making adjustments yourself, without jeopardizing your insulin intake.

Insulin and Body Weight – Any Connection?

Does insulin affect body weight? Studies have been conducted to discover if insulin has something to do with the person gaining or losing body weight, especially insulin coming from sources other than the body.

Insulin may have effects on body weight. Studies conducted in the Children’s Hospital in Boston, USA with young adults aged 18 to 35 years old, found out that those who have high levels of insulin in their body lost less weight than those with low insulin levels. The subjects were place on a low-fat diet. When placed in a low-carbohydrate diet, the reverse results were opposite.

That means, a blood test used to determine insulin levels can help obese and overweight people determine what weight loss procedure should work best for them.

Impaired insulin receptor sensitivity

Dr. Mercola on his website Mercola.com explained that insulin is at the center of the weight loss equation. This is why about 200 million Americans are either obese or overweight because they have impaired insulin receptor sensitivity. How does it affect body weight?

He said that if a person has an impaired insulin receptor sensitivity, their body tend to hyper-secrete insulin. If insulin is released by the body, the latter starts to inhibit the hormone-sensitive lipase. Lipase is responsible for releasing fat to the bloodstream so the fat can be used as fuel. Once inhibited, the body cannot burn fat and resort to utilize carbohydrates and amino acids from your muscle for fuel. This causes an abnormal feeling of hunger and thus feeding this bad cycle.

The point is have the insulin levels become low, so the body produces enough amounts of lipase and normally burn fat so this low amount of insulin can result to a body weight that is lesser and the appearance is slim and thin. Dr. Mercola said that over-eating (especially refined carbohydrates and processed foods) and lack of exercise cause impaired insulin receptor sensitivity.

Vinegar

Fortunately, a very simple and common item in the kitchen is said to help reduce the rise of blood sugar, usually after every meal – vinegar. With proper diet and exercise, taking an apple cider vinegar tonic with your meals can result to weight loss.

Insulin’s effect on weight loss

However, studies still have to prove more that insulin affects weight loss. Though some experts blame more insulin for obesity, no scientific data can support it. True that insulin has its role in metabolism, but diet gurus do not have ideas of the effects of insulin on the body weight. It is far better and easier to lower and control intake of calories, than controlling insulin.