You may have tried….and you may have failed to drop pounds successfully with diabetes. #shorts

Because it can feel really difficult.

But I’m gonna make it crystal clear as to 3 of the main components required to successfully allow your body to get rid of some of those unwanted pounds.

This is the same overarching framework that our patients have used to lose thousands of pounds over the years:

1. You must pay attention to the calorie balance.

There’s no way around it: Whether you have diabetes or you don’t, you want to see the scale ⬇️… and you have to also be in an energy deficit.

While this deficit can be created through activity or through food (preferably a combination of the two), it must exist or the laws of thermodynamics will not be in your favor.

Having a good registered dietitian will easily help you come up with a starting point (hint hint).

2. Strength training AND cardio.

This is an AND not an or statement.

You can just do cardio and you will experience muscle loss - which will decrease metabolic rate and will not provide the other benefits of strength training like increasing bone density.

On the flip side, if you just strength train you’re missing an easy way to tilt the energy balance in your favor while also keeping your heart healthy.

A combination of the two, for example, 3 strength workouts and 2 cardio workouts per week would be a great balance to be in.

3. Avoid the low blood sugars.

I cannot emphasize this one enough.

If you end up with a bunch of low blood sugars, they are going to eat into your energy deficit until it is no longer a deficit.

It could even end up becoming a surplus, which is the total opposite of what you are looking to accomplish.

In combination with your care team (diabetes educator, registered dietitian, endocrinologist, etc.) let’s make sure you’re doing the proper adjustments to ensure that you can avoid those low blood sugars as much as possible.
Because there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’ve done everything right and then you have to completely blow through 400 calories to treat a really nasty low and your hard work feels like it was for nothing.