Patients do not need to lose excessive weight to see significant improvement in their diabetes symptoms. Losing 5% to 10% of body weight makes patients feel better and allows them to manage their disease better and reduce the amount of medication they take. If patients lose weight within 5 years of diagnosis, the disease will reverse.
The first recommendation is to discuss the medications for diabetes with your doctor. Some blood sugar control medications, such as glipizide and glibenclamide, can cause patients to gain weight. Better options are medications such as metformin or selegiline, which can help patients manage their diabetes and lose weight. Or, patients can try a new diabetes medication, such as liraglutide, which promotes a feeling of satiety and thus reduces the amount of food eaten. In addition, exenatide and cagliflozin can also help patients lose weight.
Some medications used to control blood pressure can cause patients to gain weight, so consult with your doctor to make sure the medications used do not disrupt a weight loss program.
Diet and exercise are important components of a weight loss strategy. The goal of diet is to reduce the number of calories you consume each day. In general, women should consume 1200 ~ 1500 kcal per day, and men should consume 1500 ~ 1800 kcal per day. Consume extra protein through healthy foods such as fish, chicken and yogurt. Protein takes longer to produce a feeling of satiety than carbohydrates.
Exercise can help patients lose weight (and keep it off), control blood sugar, and manage diabetes. It is recommended to engage in activities that can help you burn 2500 kcal per week. This is equivalent to 1 hour of brisk walking each day, 5 days a week.
If you are still having difficulty losing weight successfully and have a body mass index (BMI) above 27 and diabetes, ask your doctor about weight loss medications such as phentermine and topiramate, cloacalcitol or naltrexone and bupropion. In addition to diet and exercise, all of these medications can help patients lose at least 5% of their extra weight.
If a patient has a body mass index of more than 35, then bariatric surgery is an option, and the doctor can be consulted about the various options. However, this is not a magic weight loss method. Patients still need to make changes to their lifestyle through healthy eating and exercise.
Vagus nerve block therapy is a new surgical alternative that allows people to feel full very quickly by using a pacemaker-style device implanted to block the nerves that regulate hunger.