Did you know that insulin and insulin resistance can have significant impacts on weight loss? If not, you are not alone! While many people can commiserate with their own struggles with weight loss, it can be said that there are missed opportunities not only in understanding just how important insulin is from a weight management perspective, but also in exploring whether insulin resistance is the missing key preventing someone from achieving their weight loss goals. In fact, insulin resistance is an extremely common condition; depending on where you are in the world, 25% – 75% of the population is insulin resistant. Despite how common it is, insulin resistance is frequently overlooked and undiagnosed.
If you are experiencing an impasse in your own weight loss journey or can’t understand why you are not achieving the results you want despite your best efforts, your body might be resistant to insulin. We’ve outlined some of the most common signs and symptoms to help you identify whether your body might be insulin resistant so that you can get the proper support you need.
But First, Why Is Insulin So Important?
Insulin is an incredibly important hormone within the body, especially within the lens of weight management. Typically thought of as a storage hormone, insulin’s main function is to regulate your blood sugar. When you eat a meal, your blood sugar levels go up. This is because nutrients like starches and carbohydrates are digested into sugars, or glucose. Likewise, protein-containing meals increase the levels of amino acids in the blood as proteins are digested and converted into amino acids. Your body senses this increase in sugars and amino acids and wants to store them away to use as energy later on. When it senses the increase of glucose and amino acids, your body releases insulin out into the bloodstream. Insulin then gets to work in carting these fuel sources off for proper storage. Amino acids are stored in the muscles, and glucose is stored in the liver, fat cells and muscles. Your body’s ability to use these stored fuel sources is vital when it comes to weight management.
Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Flexibility
In cases of insulin resistance, the body essentially gets to a point where it is overexposed to insulin, so much so that it becomes overwhelmed and stops listening to the signals released by insulin. This can cause our livers and muscles to become overflooded with glucose. Research has shown that it is not safe for our muscles and livers to contain high levels of glucose as it can be toxic in high amounts. This leads to a chain reaction of changes as our body tries to protect us from this excess glucose and prevents our livers and muscles from absorbing any more. Without access to the liver and muscles, the excess glucose now gets sent to our fat cells. Our fat cells then convert the glucose into fatty acids and stores it away as a fuel source for later use.
A metabolically balanced body is capable of accessing that stored fuel and can dip into those fatty acids whenever it needs. This ability is known as metabolic flexibility, where the body is capable of switching seamlessly between using both consumed fuel and stored fuel for its various metabolic needs throughout the day. When a body is resistant to insulin, it loses the ability of metabolic flexibility and cannot efficiently utilize stored fuel as sources of energy. When this happens, a person typically requires external fuel and needs to eat more frequently in order to regulate their body’s metabolic needs most efficiently.
Signs and Symptoms of Insulin Resistance
Without the ability of metabolic flexibility, a number of signs and symptoms arise that indicate the body is resisting insulin. These signs can have significant implications not only on weight loss, but the body’s overall balance, health, and functionality. Common signs and symptoms of insulin resistance include:
Mood Shifts and Changes
Insulin absorption can significantly affect a person’s mood, and any shifts or changes can be an indication of insulin resistance. Research shows that anxiety and depression are directly related to insulin changes within the body. Other common shifts or changes in mood include:
- Feeling hangry
- Experiencing difficulties hours after eating including feeling shaky or light-headed
- Feeling grumpy
- Feeling unwell
Weight Loss Resistance
Another significant sign of insulin resistance is weight loss resistance. At Advanced Women’s Health, we define weight loss resistance as when you’re in a situation where you are doing all the right things—you’re eating well, you’re moving your body, you’re not having to hyper-restrict in order to lose weight and regulate your system—but still aren’t seeing the desired results. In cases of weight loss resistance, insulin resistance is often involved.
Skin Tags
Since insulin is a growth hormone, skin tags are another symptom typically seen in insulin resistance
Menstruation
Insulin resistance can cause hormonal imbalances within the body that can impact menstruation. Especially for those who are extremely sensitive to hormonal changes, people who are insulin resistant often experience fluctuations with their cycles including irregular and/or heavy periods.
Skin Discolouration
Some people with insulin resistance experience dark discolourations or changes to the pigmentation of their skin, particularly in areas like the groin, the back of the neck, and under the arms.
Other Medical Conditions
Other medical conditions that are commonly seen in insulin resistance include:
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver, also known as metabolic fatty liver
- High cholesterol
- Glucose levels slowly increase over time: this is typically a later outcome and does not occur right away. It’s important to note that someone can be insulin resistant for a long time before glucose levels can start to be seen increasing
What Can Advanced Women’s Health Do for You?
It can be said that most conventional blood work for insulin resistance is not sufficient at providing a complete and thorough picture of what’s really going on. This is because most tests look at glucose levels and do not take insulin levels or your body’s relationship with insulin into consideration, which is why insulin resistance frequently gets overlooked.
Advanced Women’s Health takes a deep dive to properly assess insulin levels, provides you with all the information on your body that you need and works with you to customize a diet specific to your insulin patterns.
If you have been struggling with any of the above signs and symptoms and not getting the weight loss results you expect, we highly encourage you to find and reach out to someone who can help you get the proper bloodwork done, so that you can get the proper assessment and feel better foundationally as soon as possible.
