02/04/2024
Why do I need to lose weight and its role in reversing type 2 Diabetes?
Most people think that you have to be obese or vastly overweight to get Type 2 diabetes. Well unfortunately the answer seems to be NO.
Losing weight is the main key to reversing. This was discovered when people with Type 2 were going in for gastric band surgery to lose weight and then later found out that their Diabetes had disappeared.
The pancreas can be located behind the stomach. The Pancreas is the organ in the body that produces insulin. It is the Beta cells within the pancreas that secrete insulin. It is this Insulin that controls the sugar levels within the bloodstream.
Why do we put on weight? Excess sugar and fats consumed are stored in the body as fat. We cannot control where the fats are stored or where we lose them.
Most fat is stored underneath the skin and is known as subcutaneous fat. This is the fat that is visible and that you can feel. The rest of the fat in the body is stored around your internal organs, including your heart, liver intestines and particular interest to us around and inside the pancreas and is called visceral fat.
Importantly the more visceral fat that surrounds the pancreas, the more dormant the Beta cells within the pancreas become. These Beta cells are the cells which produce insulin. So it's a little like being choked, the more visceral fat, the tighter the choking on the pancreas. Losing weight releases the pancreas and the beta cells may slowly become active again.
So how much weight am I trying to lose?
If you are obese, you are likely to put your diabetes into remission if you lose a larger amount of weight,15kg (or 2 stone 5lbs), as quickly and safely as possible following your diagnosis. (source from DiabetesUK)
This is the weight I lost when reversing my Diabetes the first time, dropping from 88.2kgs to 73kgs. This time around I started at 78kgs on 22/2/24, so have 5kgs to lose in total.
Of course when in doubt speak to your doctor if you intend to follow a similar path. I expect my HbA1c results when I see the diabetic nurse on Thursday.
This journey is difficult both mentally and physically. It is difficult in my relationship with food, the guilt of eating something that I know I should not have. Unlike smoking or va**ng which can be removed from a home, food has to be there because we all need to eat. I pull on my learnt tools to push through some of the hard times and I promise they are going to be.
