Research

Energy balance

Sustained weight loss (≥7% at 1 year) is associated with significantly lower HbA1c levels at 10 years compared to weight regain, although A1c may still rise slightly from baseline.

If you lose weight through lifestyle changes, keeping it off is crucial for long-term blood sugar control. Even if your blood sugar rises slightly from its lowest point, keeping 7% or more weight off keeps it significantly lower than if you regain the weight. This helps protect your kidneys over the next decade.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
In group B, A1c decreased from 7.4±1.2% to 6.4±0.9% at 12 weeks then increased to 6.8±1.2% at 1 year and 7.3±1.5% at 10 years (p<0.05 between groups).
Shaheen Tomah et al. · BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care · 2023

Why this rating

Longitudinal data with statistical significance between groups.

Source

Long-term effect of intensive lifestyle intervention on cardiometabolic risk factors and microvascular complications in patients with diabetes in real-world clinical practice: a 10-year longitudinal study

Shaheen Tomah et al. · BMJ Open Diabetes Research & Care · 2023

DOI 10.1136/bmjdrc-2022-003179

cohort · n=129Cited 13×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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