More than 50% of people make New Year’s resolutions every year. Many include cutting back on sugar, eating healthier, or losing weight. This may sound like a logical consequence after all the treats of Christmas. Unfortunately, by January 19th, over 80% of people have abandoned their resolutions already.

So let’s make sure that no matter your resolution, and even if you don’t have any, you understand the power of blood sugar when it comes to your healthy weight. 

Most think eating less and moving more are necessary to drop extra kilograms. But if you’re already doing everything “right” and can’t seem to lose weight or are even gaining it, controlling your blood sugar may be of special interest, and you won’t need to eat less or work out more. Sounds like a win-win, right?

Here’s why. 

Let’s start with some basic information about hormones. 

Hormones are your body’s chemical messengers that travel in your bloodstream. They work slowly, over time, and affect many different processes. Hormones are very powerful. Only a tiny amount of too much or too little causes big changes in cells or your whole body.

To control your blood sugar, one hormone is of special importance: 

Insulin is a hormone produced by beta cells in your pancreas. 

Every time you eat or drink anything but water, your pancreas produces insulin. This hormone helps your body access your food’s energy by “unlocking” your cells. Insulin’s main task is to move the sugar (aka glucose) inside the cells, where it’s used for fuel.
Its side effect is to: impact your fat metabolism (inhibit fat “burning”). Because as long as carbs are in excess, insulin levels are high, and your body won’t burn fat. This happens because your body will always prefer carbs over other energy sources. So it is important to give your body some time between meals (ideally more than 3 hours) to allow your insulin to bring your blood sugar down and your body to access fat cells for energy. Otherwise, your body will gain additional weight. 

The long-term consequence of high blood sugar levels or additional weight is insulin resistance. 

Think of your body as a car. Fill the trunk with your luggage for a month-long vacation. Your car will need more gas to power the engine. And now, imagine that insulin is the gas line between the fuel tank and the engine. Insulin resistance squeezes it, so it’s harder to get when you need more fuel. Controlling your weight or losing some kilograms can slow the development of insulin resistance. Similar to the fact that you would not want to travel around with your vacation luggage all the time. 

Since it’s tough for insulin-resistant cells to take glucose from your blood, sugar levels build up. Over time, this may lead to diabetes, damaging your blood vessels and yield more weight gain. That’s because extra blood glucose signals to your pancreas: “Make more insulin!” But the more you churn out, the easier weight piles on because insulin encourages your body to store the extra sugar as fat.

Besides insulin, another hormone influences your blood sugar:

Cortisol is also known as the stress hormone.
Stress kicks off your fight-or-flight response, which prompts the body to produce less insulin and release more glucose. This extra glucose is your body’s way of ensuring you have enough fuel in case you need to fight off – or flee from – a threat. This was a great mechanism back then when we had to outrun a tiger in search of food. But our modern stressors, such as meetings or deadlines, aren’t the same physical threat as a hungry tiger. 

Additionally, many people tend to reach for unhealthy food when they’re stressed. So, in addition to the physiological function of stress, how many people cope with stress makes it harder to lose or maintain weight. 

Monitoring your blood sugar will support a healthy weight. 

You will notice that your glucose levels are higher when you’re stressed. This high blood sugar requires plenty of insulin to bring the glucose down. But high insulin levels inhibit fat burning and weight loss in the long run. In other words, stress blocks weight loss. 

So you may want to rethink your New Year’s resolutions, and even if you don’t have any, think about ways to reduce stress and learn to cope with it – without using food or alcohol.
This will make it easier to lose or control your weight. 

As an inspiration to get you going, we recommend getting plenty of sleep each night, walking as much as possible during the day, and adding stress-relieving activities such as breathing exercises, yoga, or meditation. And of course: Monitor your blood sugar levels.