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Many young people, particularly teenage girls, find they have problems with keeping their weight at a desirable level, whether or not they have diabetes. There are plenty of girls without diabetes who put on quite a lot of weight during the years following their first menstrual period (menarche), especially if they decrease the amount of regular exercise they do. This is caused by continuing to eat the same amount of food even though they have stopped growing in height. Most girls only grow another 6-8 cm (2-3 inches) after the menarche. The problem is made more complicated for girls with diabetes, as they find it particularly difficult to lose weight. It is very important, therefore, that teenage girls with diabetes reduce both their food intake and the insulin doses when their growth rate is slowing down and especially when they have reached their final height.

Body mass index (BMI) is an index for assessing body weight in relation to height. BMI can be calculated by dividing a person′s weight by the square of their height in metres (kg/m2). Overweight is defined as a BMI above 25.0, obese is above 30.0 and severely obese is above 35.0kg/m2. Overweight is a result of consuming more energy than is expended. Even moderate activity of just 30 minutes per day has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity, and this is what really helps weight loss.

A British study found females with diabetes to be overweight as adolescents, and both sexes to be overweight as young adults. Approximately 30% of the young women (but none of the young men) had given themselves less insulin than prescribed, in the hope this would help them control their weight. A Swedish study found girls with diabetes to be on average 6.5 kg (14.3 lb) heavier than their peers without diabetes. Between the age of 18 and 22 their weight was unchanged but HbA1c improved and the daily insulin dose was significantly reduced.