My daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on Nov 29, right after Thanksgiving. She is 5' 7" and weighed 125 before the diagnosis. She was pretty thin. Over the last month, she has put on 15 pounds. She is checking her blood sugar & gives herself insulin to cover the carbs she eat. I told her the weight gain would probably level off soon, because she was a little underweight. I also think we need to pay more attention to how many daily carbs she eats. Is that right? She is also very active & plays 3 sports.
I have a dear friend, she was diagnosed at the age of 15. After she started insulin, her weight shot up 15 lbs immediately, just like your daughter. In her view of the world, the shots didn’t matter, what she really hated and cared about was the weight gain. As it turns out, the weight gain was simply restoring all the weight that had been starved from her body during the time before she was diagnosed and started on insulin therapy. She is now 18, and still quite slim. Your daughter at 5’7" and 125 lbs is below a BMI of 20 and by some measures is underweight. It is natural to put on some weight after starting insulin and I suspect that most people find the effect only lasts a few weeks. If your daughter is still unhappy with her weight after a few months, she can certainly look at a lower carb diet and perhaps an exercise program. I hope that helps.
Thanks, I think you’re right – that she was underweight & she’s just putting on some pounds to get to “normal.” I’ve been trying to reassure her that the gaining will stop. Teenagers!
I am 43 now but at 188 lbs I am quite a bit studlier than I ever was in high school. Admittedly, my tweenage daughter doesn’t listen to me either but, despite all the obesity epidemic PR, skinny is pretty overrated. At 120 lbs, I was GHASTLY!!
Well, then I’m studlier too Samantha didn’t lose weight before diagnosis, but she wasn’t putting any on & she was getting taller & taller. So she looks pretty good now. For you, 120 probably was ghastly.
If your daughter is active and plays 3 sports she needs energy and a little meat on her bones. She is gaining weight now because calories that had been lost in her urine are now being used. I wouldn't recommend a lower carb because it probably wouldn't supply her with the energy she needs to compete (and grow).
Good she didn't lose too much weight before being diagnosed. I did. Whoever said "you can't be too thin," didn't see me. With the activity of playing three sports, she may also be adding muscle that she lost. Hard to maintain muscle mass with previous high BG. Tricky to match insulin to carbs because of all the trial & error involved. Insulin needs of growing bodies changes frequently due to hormones.
Helpful for your daughter to record her carbs, insulin doses & BG readings. It's the only way to fine tune.
Insulin is a fat storing hormone. Excess carbs & correspondingly high insulin doses does lead to weight gain.
There are teen members here your daughter might enjoy chatting with.
My doctor had me record everything at first. Glad he did. I still keep logs of readings & doses, though no longer record food because I stick with the same number of carbs& protein per meal. You can see patterns emerging that helps tremendously. Otherwise, it's shooting in the dark.
Keeping track of everything is a pain, but soon becomes a habit. There are programs for this, if she prefers. I just write everything down because that's easier for me.
I found that logging activity to be important as well. Exercise can have a significant effect on your blood sugar and the effect persists for days and hours afterwards.
I would have the same recommendation -- logging is the most important and most annoying part of diabetes for me.
I was diagnosed at 21 and did not log anything (except my blood sugars) for years. Now I'm logging everything, which has enabled much better control and helped us to identify patterns. If you can figure out a way for her to log without it being too much of an inconvenience that would be ideal.
Ok, thanks! I got her some index cards to carry around, but she hasn’t started writing everything down yet. I can see that it will be important for her, so she can see if a meal works or sends her BG up or down. Plus, her exercise should be on there too. Maybe my next step is getting her to join TuDiabetes so she can hear this stuff from someone besides Mom.
The best thing to do is to get her to agree to do it one week per month or something. It can be REALLY tiring to do it everyday. I can imagine that teenagers have other things they would rather do.
I went throught the same thing except I lost 20 before diagnosed and then after I put about 10 back on and I hated it I thought I looked good when I was 10lb lighter I wasn’t underweight but I’m sorry she is having a hard time. She’s just getting to the weight she is suppose to be at to be healthy her body was starved from diabetes and now she is healthy I would suggest just making sure she knows that and help her to eat healthy if it’s making her feel uncomfortable it might take some getting use to I wish her the best of luck and if she needs anyone to talk to I’m here. I’m 5’8 I got down to 140 and now I’m 150.
Like many others, I gained a lot of weight after diagnosis, but it was replacing pounds that I had lost fairly rapidly before my diagnosis.
I was diagnosed 7 years ago at the age of 21 and over the first few years with diabetes my weight fluctuated a lot (but it was highly correlated to my diet). Now I have settled in at a weight that is slightly below my pre-diagnosis weight and remained there by following a health (but not extreme) diet and active lifestyle (but no extreme exercise.
Taking insulin does not have to mean perpetual weight gain, but cutting back on empty carbs (junk food) can help ANYONE (diabetes or not) maintain a healthy weight.
Also, if she is having a lot of lows, that can cause weight gain because she ends up consuming more carbs and calories per day to treat the lows. So better control can help with that. I had lots of lows in the early months when we were still figuring out my insulin doses.
But most importantly, remind her everyday how beautiful she is!! My mom told me it all the time and even though I pretended to be annoyed and told her to stop, it did help to hear it :)
Samantha didn’t lose weight before diagnosis, but she wasn’t putting any on & she was getting taller & taller. So she looks pretty good now. For you, 120 probably was ghastly.