THERE IS DEFINITELY a significant link between excess weight and blood sugar more than one-third of adults (36.5 percent) in the US are obese, and the rate of childhood obesity is also skyrocketing, with more than 18 percent of our nation’s children classified as obese. America as a nation has been packing on the pounds for the past two decades.
- Eighty percent of people with type 2 diabetes are also overweight or obese.
- Luckily, there is very strong evidence that managing obesity can prevent and delay the progression of pre-diabetes to diabetes.
- Losing weight is one of the best ways to treat pre-diabetes, but it can also be very challenging
- Eighty percent of people with type 2 diabetes are also overweight or obese.
Benefits of Weight Loss
- When beginning your weight loss journey, it can be very helpful and motivating to learn about all the health benefits of shedding excess pounds.
- Losing weight makes a big difference in your body’s ability to control blood sugar.
- The Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) proved that even modest weight loss can prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes in overweight at-risk adults.
- Weight and Insulin Resistance
- Precisely how excess fat promotes insulin resistance isn’t yet entirely clear, but it is thought that stored fat releases certain proteins and/or enzymes that act on muscle and liver cells to impair the way they “read” insulin signals to process glucose.
- In addition, research has found that the “apple-shaped” body (central abdominal obesity) associated with insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes contains fat with unique properties.
- Specifically, this type of visceral abdominal fat sheds more free fatty acids, which can elevate triglyceride levels, and is associated with higher insulin levels that promote further fat storage.
- Paring down abdominal fat will have the double benefit of both increasing insulin sensitivity and decreasing triglyceride levels in people with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Other Health Benefits of Weight Loss
In addition to keeping your pre-diabetes in check, there are numerous other health benefits to losing weight (even just 5–10 percent of your body weight) including:
- Improved mobility and less stress on your joints, lowered risk of osteoarthritis
- Greater sense of well-being, more energy, improved mood, and positive self-image
- Lowered risk of many chronic diseases like some types of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes
- Decreased levels of inflammation in the body, lower blood pressure, and lower cholesterol
- better sleep, and in those with sleep apnea (a sleep disorder commonly diagnosed in those with excess weight) improvements and sometimes resolution of the condition.
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Reducing Calories, One of the Cornerstones of Weight Loss
- A calorie (a.k.a. kilocalorie) is scientifically defined as the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius.
- To put this in layperson’s terms, a calorie is basically a unit of energy your body uses as fuel.
- The three main macronutrients, or sources of calories, are
Protein and fats. Carbohydrates and proteins each provide 4 calories per gram, whereas fats provide more than double that at 9 calories per gram.
In addition, alcohol provides 7 calories per gram.
Foods tend to be mixtures of carbs, protein, and fats so each food has its unique calorie value that you will find on nutrition labels and in food charts.
Keep in mind that when you are on a particular calorie budget for weight loss, you want to consume foods that are nutrient dense, meaning they have the most nutrients, like healthy carbs, proteins, fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals for the lowest number of calories they contain.
For example, a mixed vegetable salad with grilled chicken breast would be high in protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals all at a lower calorie cost.
In comparison, a piece of chocolate cake would be sky-high in calories, sugar, and fat yet would lack high-fiber carbs and contain very little key nutrients.
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