Rapid weight gain on insulin - tips for normal metabolism

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Mbabazi

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Type 1.5 LADA
Hi everyone.
I had my doctor's appointment and that went well, I got set up with a CGM and they have now classed me as a type 1. I have been on insulin only a month or so and was shocked to learn that I had gained nearly 10 pounds within that short time. I know I have been over-treating several hypos, and I suppose having insulin has given me a new lease on life and I have been eating normally and not cutting back or anything. I am concerned though that I cannot keep up with the pace of weight gain. The dietician said that it is normal because insulin is a growth hormone and that I could eat less carbs and therefore need less insulin but also that my body would soon adjust and stop piling on the weight. Chemically, I am curious if this has happened with others. I am comfortable at this weight but I would not like to gain anymore. Any experiences or tips for this.
 
When I was diagnosed, I’d been having symptoms and losing weight for some time, because my body couldn’t convert food I was eating into energy. Looking back, I had got used to eating more than usual, and still losing weight. When I finally got onto insulin, sudenly my body could process and use every bit of what I was putting into it, and I gained weight, until two things happened. Firstly, my body felt it had caught up, and my appetite decreased, and I took a look at exactly what I was eating and realised I was still eating more than I needed because I'd got used to snacking on packets of nuts, cheese, etc, all high calorie stuff, in an effort to maintain my weight when I wasn’t on insulin.
 
Prior to starting on insulin your body will have been starving and losing weight as a result. Added to that it sounded like you have been literally starving yourself, from reading some of your posts, to keep your levels down, so your body is now recovering from that starvation. It should calm down soon, but you will gradually learn to adjust your diet and your doses and your exercise to keep your weight in the healthy range. I know you have lots of self control from how you were trying to manage your levels before insulin, so I am sure, if it doesn't level off then I am sure you will take steps to do so.

I am not sure it is strictly true to say that insulin is a growth hormone.

PS> delighted that you have a confirmed diagnosis and insulin and CGM now. Are you carb counting yet or just injecting fixed doses?
 
rebrascora said:
Prior to starting on insulin your body will have been starving and losing weight as a result. Added to that it sounded like you have been literally starving yourself, from reading some of your posts, to keep your levels down, so your body is now recovering from that starvation. It should calm down soon, but you will gradually learn to adjust your diet and your doses and your exercise to keep your weight in the healthy range. I know you have lots of self control from how you were trying to manage your levels before insulin, so I am sure, if it doesn't level off then I am sure you will take steps to do so.

I am not sure it is strictly true to say that insulin is a growth hormone.

PS> delighted that you have a confirmed diagnosis and insulin and CGM now. Are you carb counting yet or just injecting fixed doses?
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Thank you Barbara - this explanation makes sense. My body will adjust then in time. So I have been trying to carb count using the app carbs and cals or just googling things but sometimes (too often) I just wing it. I had initially been told to gove 4 units at each meal so was doing a combination of carb counting sometimes and those units. I was still staying high after some meals and then having hypos especially in the night. Things are still a bit up and down in that sense but altogether a much better picture and control than before.
 
Robin said:
When I was diagnosed, I’d been having symptoms and losing weight for some time, because my body couldn’t convert food I was eating into energy. Looking back, I had got used to eating more than usual, and still losing weight. When I finally got onto insulin, sudenly my body could process and use every bit of what I was putting into it, and I gained weight, until two things happened. Firstly, my body felt it had caught up, and my appetite decreased, and I took a look at exactly what I was eating and realised I was still eating more than I needed because I'd got used to snacking on packets of nuts, cheese, etc, all high calorie stuff, in an effort to maintain my weight when I wasn’t on insulin.
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Ahhhhh I see, this is happening to me too then. I suppose it will even out soon. thanks
 
Not good that you are getting nocturnal hypos this early. Are they definitely hypos or could they be what we call "Compression lows" where if you lie on the arm with the sensor in your sleep, it gives a false low reading.... Are you double checking the lows with a finger prick?
If they are proper hypos, have you been given a minimum BG level to go to bed on.... say 8mmols and if you are below that, to have a small carb rich snack to bring your levels up a bit.
Do you eat your evening meal well before bedtime so that the bolus insulin is finished working. Ideally injecting 4 hours before bedtime although some insulins continue working for 5 hours, most will have been used up by 4 hours.
Also, what do you have your low alarm on your CGM set at? Ideally you want it above 4.0 so that you have the chance to head off a hypo before it happens.
 
I’ve been on insulin 30 years @Mbabazi and I’m still slim. I’m confident that the weight I am is what I’d have been if I hadn’t got Type 1.

Now that your body can use the food you eat properly, you’ll regain the weight quite quickly. You’ll probably gain a little extra too as your body thought it was starving and so builds up an extra as a defence. Your weight should then settle down over the next few months as your body realises there’s no famine 🙂 Concentrate on eating well and don’t worry about it. It will settle itself.
 
Robin said:
When I was diagnosed, I’d been having symptoms and losing weight for some time, because my body couldn’t convert food I was eating into energy. Looking back, I had got used to eating more than usual, and still losing weight. When I finally got onto insulin, sudenly my body could process and use every bit of what I was putting into it, and I gained weight, until two things happened. Firstly, my body felt it had caught up, and my appetite decreased, and I took a look at exactly what I was eating and realised I was still eating more than I needed because I'd got used to snacking on packets of nuts, cheese, etc, all high calorie stuff, in an effort to maintain my weight when I wasn’t on insulin.
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That was very like my experience @Robin

I had lost something over 20% of my body weight without really realising it, and still eating lots.

When I had access to insulin I put that weight back on, but once I had, the early system of fixed doses that I was put on at the time helped my weight to stabilise. And more than 30 years later I’m still pretty much the same weight.

I’ve gained and lost a little over the years, but it has always been by eating more and eating less. Using insulin isn’t an independent influence on my weight. It only makes me gain weight if I eat more than normal. 🙂
 
Like @Inka i was diagnosed decades ago and been on insulin ever since. My weight now is the about the same as it was when I was diagnosed (I had not lost much weight) which was the same as it was 10 years prior and is in the “healthy” bmi range,
I too struggle with the idea that insulin is a growth hormone when the insulin we are injecting is just replacing the insulin our body would produce if we had beta cells. Everyone (including those without diabetes) uses insulin and not everyone is overweight.
I think it is wrong when a HCP tells us any different, especially when eating disorders are more common for people with Type 1 than for those without diabetes and when the most common age of diagnosis (young adult) is when we are most anxious about body image.
 
I don't think your dietician understands insulin and diet? Insulin is not a growth hormone it's a hormone that enables the body to metabolise Carbs. If you eat too many carbs for your body and lifestyle you will gain weight as the body will store the glucose that carbs are converted to. Your dietician should have made that clear.
 
DaveB said:
I don't think your dietician understands insulin and diet? Insulin is not a growth hormone it's a hormone that enables the body to metabolise Carbs. If you eat too many carbs for your body and lifestyle you will gain weight as the body will store the glucose that carbs are converted to. Your dietician should have made that clear.
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This!
 
As others have said you will level out.
It’s not true insulin makes you put on weight your body is just not starving now.
See how you get on and if you are still putting on too much check what your medial team think about your weight.
Also weight maintenance is not lowering carbs it is the right amount of calories that you need for your body type and lifestyle.
Did the dietitian know you are type 1?
If I mention low carb to mine she reminds me we need 120g a day to function as a normal body and it’s about balance diet and also being happy
 
DaveB said:
I don't think your dietician understands insulin and diet? Insulin is not a growth hormone it's a hormone that enables the body to metabolise Carbs. If you eat too many carbs for your body and lifestyle you will gain weight as the body will store the glucose that carbs are converted to. Your dietician should have made that
Click to expand...

rebrascora said:
Not good that you are getting nocturnal hypos this early. Are they definitely hypos or could they be what we call "Compression lows" where if you lie on the arm with the sensor in your sleep, it gives a false low reading.... Are you double checking the lows with a finger prick?
If they are proper hypos, have you been given a minimum BG level to go to bed on.... say 8mmols and if you are below that, to have a small carb rich snack to bring your levels up a bit.
Do you eat your evening meal well before bedtime so that the bolus insulin is finished working. Ideally injecting 4 hours before bedtime although some insulins continue working for 5 hours, most will have been used up by 4 hours.
Also, what do you have your low alarm on your CGM set at? Ideally you want it above 4.0 so that you have the chance to head off a hypo before it happens.
Click to expand...
Thanks Barbara for flagging all this. To answer some of it, nope, we did not discuss a target pre bedtime number but I think I'm working out that it's better if I'm around 8 and not 6 or 5, this means though that I eat later than I like too unless I eat a super carbier meal. I've only had my cgm.5days and that's been amazing to see what's hapenning with my body and you won't believe it, no nighttime hypos like before. I was getting real hypos of 2.8, 3.1 and such nearly every other night without the cgm, it was horrible. I've only had one real hypo with the cgm this week and that was a poor calculation of insulin plus unplanned exercise/walking and I was able to treat that ASAP. My cgm alarm is now on 4.5. With the cgm I noticed that I dip in the night and then as morning comes I begin to rise to 7, 8 and wake up like that. Its odd because any more basal to help me wake at 5,6 might need too low and make me dip in the middle of the night. I wonder how people dose for dawn phennonemen. I didn't even know I had it proper until I had the cgm.
 
If you’re lower than 8 at bedtime @Mbabazi you can just have a small carby snack. You don’t need to eat late. In fact, it’s usually easier to eat a bit earlier, eg 6pm or whatever.
 
I too lost lots of weight before i was diagnosed as type 1 and put on insulin, i went from just under 13 stone too 6 stone and 2 pounds, i have now managed to get up to 7 stone 12 but has taken me 7 months x
 
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