As you know, diabetes is a metabolic disorder. There are some kinds of diabetes that cause excessive weight gain. But there are certain forms of diabetes which also lead to unexpected weight loss as well. Actually, there are many patients diagnosed with diabetes should first visit their doctor and share their concerns on unusual and unexplained weight loss. There are different reasons on why it is happening to your body. Weight loss may be experience due to dehydration, high blood sugar, problems in thyroid and breakdown of muscles.
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Dehydration
Frequent urination is one of the most common symptoms of diabetes which also causes weight loss. If you have to urinate too often and you don’t drink enough water to fulfill your needs, it causes dehydration. If you have diabetes, you urinate frequently as your kidneys work harder to remove the extra blood glucose that is building up in your body. The increase level of glucose is removed through urine from your tissues. This way, it also removes calories when you start to lose glucose with your urine. It also causes huge weight loss along with dehydration.
Blood Sugar Spikes
At the start of disease, both type 2 and type 1 diabetes may cause weight loss dramatically over the course of several days and it can be more common if you have type 1 diabetes. It is because body cannot deal with insulin in both cases. Insulin moves glucose from your food to your cells which results in energy in day to day activities which is important to stay alive.
But insulin is not produced in most type 1 diabetes. In cases of type 2 diabetes, either your body won’t respond to insulin or enough insulin is not produced in your body. At the same time, even though you consume properly, blood sugar just improves and gets removed in urine. It leads to weight loss but also causes damage to your organs if it is not treated. If unusual weight loss is your problem and you lose 5% of your weight within couple of days, you need to ask your healthcare provider immediately.
Breakdown of Muscles
Weight loss is also caused by diabetes which is not controlled well and it is also because of breakdown of muscles, according to the British Medical Journal. In this study, scientists revealed that lack of insulin due to diabetes can both raise muscle breakdown and reduce its synthesis.
Later on, the Journal of Nutrition also confirmed with these findings from meta-analysis and it is reported that replacement of insulin can help reduce its effect. Muscle makes up 36% of the average weight of a woman and around 45% of weight of man. The wastage of muscles causes weight loss due to diabetes.
Thyroid Disorders
It is another common condition in people with diabetes. They are more likely to develop hyperthyroidism than those who don’t, as reported by Dr. Patricia Wu. Thyroid is a gland which produces hormones in your neck and is found over the collarbone, underneath our skin. Thyroid is very important for your body as it sets the rate of metabolism. The glands make a lot of hormones and lead to sudden weight loss when you have thyroid disorder. It even worsens blood sugar level and needs more insulin, according to Dr. Wu.
Due to this condition, your liver even produces more sugar and it is also known to cause high amount of insulin resistance. It even causes latent diabetes due to high amount of thyroid hormone in blood. Weight loss is the common sign of this disorder. It also causes sweating and promotes heart rate.