Why your weight makes a difference

For people with diabetes, there are extra reasons to keep to a sensible body weight.In your body, insulin seems to find moving glucose out of your blood into fatty tissue particularly difficult; so the more weight you carry, the more insulin you may need to inject.

Of course the opposite is true too; if you lose weight you should need less insulin. That is why blood glucose testing is so important if you are on a diet.

Does diabetes make you put on weight?

Diabetes does not need to cause you to put on weight. If you don't take your insulin as you should then you will go thin, but it's an unhealthy thin that is damaging your body, and because you are not taking insulin your glucose will go very high. It is possible to go blind by doing this.

If you are eating too much then you will put on weight like anybody else. If you are eating too much then you will be injecting extra insulin to manage the extra food and extra blood glucose it creates.

If you find you are putting on weight, then you should speak to your nurse who can help you get control of your weight while staying in control of your diabetes.