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Pre-Diabetes & Weight Loss

Pre-diabetes was once called borderline diabetes and people with the condition often ignored it. Research over the past 10 years has found that pre-diabetes is a serious and growing problem. "Before people develop type 2 diabetes, they almost always have pre-diabetes, blood glucose levels that are higher than normal but not yet high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes," according to the America Diabetes Association (ADA). "There are 57 million people in the United States who have pre-diabetes." Weight loss is one way you can prevent or reverse pre-diabetes and also prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes if you have pre-diabetes.

  1. Significance

    • "Recent research has shown that some long-term damage to the body, especially the heart and circulatory system, may already be occurring during pre-diabetes," according to the ADA. Your health risks increase if your pre-diabetes condition progresses to type 2 diabetes. The possible complications of type 2 diabetes include heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, nerve damage and blindness. "Diabetes is the fifth deadliest disease for people in the United States," according to Diabetes MD.

    Weight Loss is Key to Prevention

    • A 2002 Diabetes Prevention Program study undertaken by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Diabetes Center found that "people with pre-diabetes can prevent the development of type 2 diabetes by making changes in their diet and increasing their level of physical activity, according to the ADA. "Just 30 minutes a day of moderate physical activity, coupled with a 5 to 10 percent reduction in body weight, produced a 58 percent reduction in diabetes."

    Approach

    • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends taking constant small steps to manage your pre-diabetes. "Studies show that people at high risk for diabetes can prevent or delay the onset of the disease by losing 5 to 7 percent of their weight, if they are overweight---that's 10 to 14 pounds for a 200-pound person," according to the CDC. The keys to success outlined by the CDC are getting at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week, reducing your caloric intake and choosing foods that are low in fat.

    Tips

    • The CDC offers a variety of tips to help you lose weight as part of its diabetes prevention program. One of the most important is to track your progress. "Weigh yourself at least once a week and write down your progress," the CDC recommends. "Research shows that people who keep track of their weight reach their goals more often than those who don't." The CDC also advises eating meals and snacks at regular times every day, freezing meals in advance so that you have a healthy dinner available when you are too tired to cook, and cutting calories and fat by using reduced-fat or fat-free sour cream, cheese and salad dressing.

    Risk Factors

    • Your chances of developing pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes increase if you have the following risk factors, according to the NIH. Risk factors include being overweight, older than 45 years old, inactive, a parent or sibling with diabetes or a history of cardiovascular disease. High blood pressure and high cholesterol will also put you at risk. If you have these risk factors, you should have a diabetic screening once every three years.

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