The Link Between Balanced Blood Sugar Levels and Easier Weight Loss

More adult Americans need to lose weight than those who don’t. Chances are good that you’ve needed to lose some weight at some point in your life. Most people have.

Sometimes, though, it’s easier to say than do. At Northeast Florida Internal Medicine, our providers, Elyssa Blissenbach, MD, and Lea-Anne Griffis, APRN, offer weight loss management services to help patients who are working to reach a healthy weight. Sometimes, a key component of weight loss is understanding what balanced blood sugar is and how to achieve it. 

Blood sugar and insulin

The connection between blood sugar, insulin, metabolism, and weight can be confusing, but it’s worth understanding. Blood sugar, or glucose, is the fuel that powers your body and comes from the food you eat. Insulin is a hormone that you might think is the key to opening cells so that glucose can get in and be used. 

Your pancreas produces insulin. When you eat, and your body breaks down your food, the amount of glucose in your blood rises, which signals your pancreas to produce and release insulin. The insulin allows your cells to take in the glucose they need. 

Too much blood sugar

When the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin, glucose builds up in the blood. This is called hyperglycemia. If it gets too high, you have type 2 diabetes.  

Having too much glucose in your bloodstream can damage your blood vessels, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, and other cardiovascular issues. High blood sugar can also damage your nerves, make it difficult for wounds to heal properly, and is associated with numerous other complications.

Weight gain is associated with high blood sugar because it may be stored as fat when your cells can’t access the glucose. 

Not enough blood sugar

When you have too much insulin, the level of glucose in your blood can get too low. When that happens, you have hypoglycemia. Some people with hypoglycemia gain weight because they feel hungry all the time. 

Balance

As you can see, having just the right amount of blood sugar is important if you’re working to lose weight. In order to lose weight, you need to burn more calories than you consume. Your metabolic rate is how many calories you burn throughout a day. 

Either too much or too little glucose can affect your metabolism. So, how do you know your blood sugar? 

The first step is to get some lab tests done. When you visit our office, your provider is likely to suggest blood work to help you understand whether your glucose level is where it should be. If it isn’t, we can give you specific diet, medications, and exercise advice to help you lose weight.

If you’re struggling to lose weight, schedule an appointment at Northeast Florida Internal Medicine to determine if your blood sugar levels could be the problem.