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The Truth About Insulin and Weight Loss
By: Scottsdale Weight Loss Center
Published: January 25, 2021
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Insulin is one of the most misunderstood hormones. Too much of it can cause weight gain, and too little of it will cause serious health problems. A better understanding of insulin will help you counteract its fat-building effects and achieve successful weight loss.
How Insulin Works
Insulin is produced and stored in the pancreas. When you eat starches, sugars, and other carbohydrates, they’re digested to simple sugars in the intestine. The pancreas senses the sugar and releases insulin into the bloodstream. The job of insulin is to signal the muscle to absorb the sugar. In a perfect world, you eat just enough carbohydrates to meet your body’s needs.
Insulin and Weight Gain
If you eat too many carbs, your pancreas releases loads of insulin that tell your cells lots of sugar is on the way. Sugars that aren’t immediately used are stored for later use. Simply put, eating too many carbs (and not burning them) causes the production of fat in fat cells.
Over time, with repeated overeating of carbohydrates, your cells start to ignore the insulin. And so your body will have to release even more to have the same effect. Known as insulin resistance (and eventually Type 2 Diabetes), this persistent blood sugar elevation can cause blood vessels to clog, leading to strokes, heart attacks, blindness, and kidney failure.
Insulin and Weight Loss
So what does insulin have to do with losing weight? The key to buy produkt weight loss success is to control your insulin, specifically, keeping insulin as low as possible. Here are the key points:
- Keep carbohydrates to a minimum. Your body will make and release less insulin, reducing the building of fat. When looking at a food label, anything over 25 grams of carbohydrates per serving is considered too high.
- Get at least 7 hours of sleep. Sleep deprivation causes increased blood sugar and results in more insulin secretion.
- Regular cardiovascular exercise (walking, running, biking, etc.) causes your body to use sugars immediately, this bypasses and suppresses insulin and reduces fat storage. Sitting a lot and lack of activity results in the opposite.
- Eating just prior to bedtime, especially carbs, causes you to store fat while sleeping. In general, we burn most of our fat while sleeping, unless we overwhelm our body with sugars. You’ll lose an important opportunity to burn fat.
Medication
There is a weight loss drug on the market that stimulates insulin secretion by the pancreas. This drug is called Wegovy™ (GLP-1). GLP-1 is approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and it offers some of the best weight loss results of any diabetes medication. If you’re struggling to control your insulin levels, consult with your healthcare provider about using this medication.
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Nick
Nick's Story
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Gina
Lost 44.5 lbs
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I will always have my relationship with Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. They truly helped me change my life forever." Read More
Lauren
Lost 60 lbs
"Dr. Ziltzer and everyone who I have come in contact with at the Scottsdale Weight Loss office have been so encouraging and I look forward to seeing them each week. It is now a year and 2 months later since I started. I am down 60 lbs., which is the average amount a 9-year-old weighs, it is crazy to think I lost a whole person! I feel amazing, I hit my goal weight in November 2021 just before Thanksgiving. Nothing on my body hurts anymore..." Read More
Chuck
Lost 66 lbs
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You can take it from me that this is a program that produces results. The staff is always positive, supportive, and never judgmental.
Your visits always result in positive reinforcement, no matter if you had a good week or a bad week." Read More
Emily
Lost 101 lbs
"Here I am at the lowest I have been since high school weighing in at 155lbs. I have lost 101 lbs, BMI of 39 when I started, to 21.6, and of course at body fat % of 47.1 to 26.5%. I told myself by my 30th birthday I wanted to be confident in the way I look and I owe it all to SWLC. The entire staff is so welcoming and they are rooting for you just as much as you are rooting for yourself...." Read More
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Meet Our Team
Robert Ziltzer, MD, FACP, FAAP, FOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Diana Bone, FNP-C
Specializing in Obesity Medicine
Craig Primack, MD, FACP, FAAP, MFOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Kristen Ash, FNP-C, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Alicia Earley, FNP-C
Family Nurse Practitioner
