Ask the Expert: How much weight does a person who has just been put on insulin gain?

The real answer to this question is “who knows, it totally depends”, but I will try and give you a baseline to work from. The UKPDS (United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study) indicates that the average weight gain for those new to insulin therapy is about 9 pounds. If your blood sugar has been running quite high (high 200’s, 300’s, a HbA1c greater than 9.5) for a couple of months, your body will be dehydrated and a little bit malnourished. Once you start taking insulin and blood sugars start t normalize, the body gets rehydrated and “puffy” for a couple of months. Weight gain can tell us that sugar is making it into your cells for energy and that your metabolism is working. It can be healthy and appropriate, but still be frustrating. As always, if exercise and good eating habits are maintained, it is more likely that your weight will stay in check.

One danger of taking insulin, which can lead to weight gain, is using it to justify more food. Remember that even when you have starte taking insulin and can now justify a treat here and there, you still have to use wisdom and not overeat just because you have insulin to let you. If your insulin dose is set too high, you will have low blood sugars and will have to eat to fix the lows, in which case you will want to adjust your dose with your physician.

Just a quick personal note…I can tell you that when I was diagnosed with diabetes at age 16 I was 5’8” tall, and I weighed 107 lbs. (way too skinny). Within three months on inulin I was up to 135 lbs, so my weight increased by 26%. That is a lot of weight gain! Within a year, I normalized to about 128 lbs and stayed at that weight while I was a teenager. I remember one time, newly diagnosed, before I figured out what I was doing, I had a huge dinner and then grabbed a banana and started dipping it in whipped cream and eating it. I took an extra shot, but I didn’t need the banana. My mom asked me what I was doing and I said “it’s ok, I took insulin”. I hadn’t fiured out that my blood sugar would be ok, but eating too much was going to make me gain more weight than I wanted. I started exercising and appropriately watching my carb intake, and my blood sugar and my weight started to normalize.

I am sorry that I can’t give an actual “weight gain to expect number” but if you use wisdom and keep your diet and exercise in check, it should be minimal and level off once your body gets used to being rehydrated and fed calories.