Research
Energy balance
Baseline insulin resistance does not predict the magnitude of weight loss achieved through calorie-restricted diets; both insulin-resistant and insulin-sensitive obese individuals lose similar amounts of weight.
If you are obese and have insulin resistance, do not believe that you are biologically incapable of losing weight. Research shows that you will lose the same amount of weight on a calorie-restricted diet as someone who is not insulin resistant. Focus on the caloric deficit, not your hormonal status, as the driver of weight loss.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
the obese individuals in this study lost weight as effectively, or ineffectively, irrespective of their degree of insulin resistance or daylong hyperinsulinemia.
Why this rating
Controlled studies with 2 and 4 months duration, comparing IR and IS groups.
Source
Obesity, Insulin Resistance, and Cardiovascular Disease
G M Reaven · Recent Progress in Hormone Research · 2004
DOI 10.1210/rp.59.1.207
narrative_reviewCited 347×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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