Why is it difficult for Type 1 diabetics to lose weight?

Answer 1

When someone has Type 1 Diabetes, there is a balancing act between food, insulin, and exercise in order to keep blood sugar levels within a healthy range (80-120mg/dL).

For a diabetic, when you consume food or drinks that contain carbohydrates or sugar, your blood sugar will rise, and so you will take the appropriate amount of insulin to bring your blood sugar down, or counteract the carbs/sugar that you've consumed.

Exercise will also help to lower blood sugar levels, and so if appropriate measures aren't taken before exercise (such as decreasing the amount of insulin beforehand, or consuming adequate sugar beforehand), blood sugar levels can drop to dangerously low levels (below 70mg/dL). When blood sugar levels drop too low, you may pass out and completely loose consciousness (which can lead to coma or death).

The difficulty in loosing weight: when trying to loose weight, you aim to take in (consume) less calories than you put out (burn). So, a person with Type 1 Diabetes might go for a light jog and burn 200 calories, and then their blood sugar might drop. That person must then consume sugar (15-30 carbs, 60-120 calories) in order to raise their blood sugar level back to a normal range. So net calorie loss for that jog is now less than 200 because they had to drink a juice, for example. This does not occur every time after exercising, however, it is one obstacle Type 1 Diabetics face that those without diabetes don't. Even after successfully loosing weight, a Type 1 Diabetic's sensitivity to insulin may change, so the same amount of insulin taken at the beginning of your weight loss plan may be too much, causing low blood sugars and more calorie consumption before the insulin dosages are corrected.

Even when trying to loose weight by reducing food intake, difficulties can still arise from low blood sugar levels and the need to consume extra sugar, and therefore calories, to bring blood sugar back up.

Overall, it is just difficult to keep blood sugars balanced between food, insulin, and exercise, especially when those three things react differently with each individual. For people with Type 1 Diabetes, there are no formulas to follow for loosing weight and maintaining healthy blood sugar levels at the same time.

Answer 2

Insulin deficiency. Insulin has control over our fat and proteins, and diabetics, of course, have insulin deficiency. For people with type 1 diabetes who do not have their insulin levels medically fixed, the fatty tissues and amino acids are targeted, and this causes a large drop in weight. However, this is rare and by the time this happens, the particular diabetic will have no doubt developed other illnesses when this kind of weight loss begins to occur.

Answer 3

because even though you have low sugar intake your still eating daily amounts of fat which bring your weight up

Answer 4

Not all people with diabetes are overweight. Many people with type 2 are. A lot of type 1 diabetics are not.