Weight Changes with Type 1 Diabetes
If you’ve struggled with your weight since being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, welcome to the club. Before being diagnosed, it's common to lose a lot of weight rapidly. After diagnosis, when insulin therapy starts, we begin to gain that weight back. This can cause a lot of confusion and frustration, making it harder than ever to understand our bodies.
At the end of 2020, I started losing weight rapidly. I didn’t think much of it, as it was the peak of the pandemic, and I was a vegetarian doing Chloe Ting workouts in my bedroom. I eventually dropped to the weight I was in sixth grade while I was a sophomore in college, convinced it was due to my new healthy lifestyle. In 2019, I wore a size 3 in jeans and a large sports bra. By early 2021, I struggled to find size 00 jeans and small sports bras that fit. My body had completely changed.
My weight dropped before I could realize how different I was beginning to look. A family member even expressed concern that I might have been skipping meals.
On March 27, 2021, I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes with a blood sugar of over 500. I had lost a total of 30 pounds in six months. I felt like I was finally “skinny enough,” so I brought all of my size 3’s to Plato’s Closet and started building my new, tiny wardrobe. I remember thinking, while still in the hospital, “does this mean I’ll get even skinnier?”
I had a lot to learn when I was diagnosed. I didn’t know where my pancreas was, what glucose was, or what a healthy blood sugar level would be. I even started losing my hair because hyperglycemia can cause hair thinning and decreased growth. One thing I did know was that I was starting to gain weight back because insulin is a growth hormone. After being deprived of it for so long, my weight gain was part of my body recovering from living in such extreme conditions. My clothes became uncomfortable, along with my confidence.
In late 2022 and early 2023, I was the least confident I had been in a while. My hair was much shorter, I was gaining weight, and I needed to figure out what clothes fit me right, all while in college. Unfortunately, I wasn’t as kind to myself as I am now.
I am three years post-diagnosis now and finally feeling more comfortable in my own skin. My hair has grown back thicker and wavier than ever. My body looks healthier than it ever has, because being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes has pushed me to take care of myself on a level I hadn’t known before. I’ve learned that looking healthy is different than looking “skinny,” and I am working to look and feel as healthy as possible while still enjoying the things I love, like ice cream and pastries, because life is too short not to. I’m starting to love the feeling of pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and I’m comfortable wearing my Omnipod and Dexcom out and about. I even appreciate when people ask me questions about my devices.
I’ve become more comfortable with this new lifestyle that I continue to learn and adapt to. I’ve made friends through T1Disco who’ve shown me that I’m not alone, and I’ve loved learning and writing about this challenging, courageous lifestyle.
If I could talk to my past self, I’d tell her to keep her clothes and go easy on herself. Know that you’re never expected to know everything the first time you learn something. We don’t expect kids to ride a bike the first time around; we give them training wheels. Unfortunately, type 1 diabetes doesn’t come with training wheel time. You’re essentially getting on a bike for the first time and riding away without a helmet. It’s going to hurt. But you’ll get back up and keep riding. Give yourself grace. There’s no perfect way to adapt to the lifestyle of type 1 diabetes, but it’s definitely better when you aren’t riding alone. If you are newly diagnosed and need a friend, shoot me a DM on Instagram @t1disco!
I am not a health or T1D professional, just sharing my lived experiences with type 1 diabetes in hopes that I can show other T1Ds that they’re not alone. <3
Source:
Miranda JJ, Taype-Rondan A, Tapia JC, Gastanadui-Gonzalez MG, Roman-Carpio R. Hair follicle characteristics as early marker of type 2 diabetes. Med Hypotheses. 2016;95:39-44. doi:10.1016/j.mehy.2016.08.009
