Losing weight the right way after a type 2 diabetes diagnosis: my running, cycling and lifting comeback
A few months ago I got a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. I’d let things slide for a while — work, life, the usual excuses — and put on around 20kg in the process. That diagnosis was the wake-up call I clearly needed.
Two months in, I’m down 10kg. Slow and steady, and deliberately trying not to just shred my muscle along the way. I’m writing this down partly to keep myself honest, and partly because when I went looking for “how to come back to training after a diabetes diagnosis,” most of what I found was either crash-diet nonsense or so clinical it was useless. So here’s the real version — what’s actually working for me.
The mindset shift that came first
Before any training plan, the thing that changed was how I framed it. This wasn’t a “summer body” goal with a deadline. It was a health reset I needed to be able to keep up for years, not weeks.
That reframing changed every decision: I stopped chasing fast weight loss and started chasing sustainable weight loss. It sounds soft, but it’s the difference between losing 10kg and keeping it off versus losing 15kg and bouncing back to where I started (plus interest).
The approach — nothing fancy, all consistent
1. Slow loss, on purpose
I’m aiming for roughly 1kg a week, not a crash. The faster you drop weight, the more of that loss comes from muscle and water instead of fat. Going slower protects lean mass and keeps the energy I need to actually train. Patience is the strategy, not a lack of one.
2. Lifting twice a week — non-negotiable
This is the part most people skip when they’re laser-focused on the scale, and it’s the part that matters most. Losing weight without resistance training means losing muscle along with the fat — and muscle is exactly what keeps your metabolism up and your blood sugar in check.
Two solid gym sessions a week, plus making sure I hit enough protein, has kept my strength up while the fat comes off. I’m not chasing PRs right now. I’m protecting what I’ve got while I lose weight.
3. Running and cycling for the rest
The cardio is where living in Barcelona turns out to be an unfair advantage. Running along the beach in the morning and riding out of the city on the weekend makes the aerobic work something I look forward to instead of a chore I dread. Most of it is easy, conversational-pace effort — Zone 2, nothing heroic. The goal is volume and consistency, not speed.
4. Starting easy and building
Coming back after a long layoff — and with the diabetes in the mix — I kept the first few weeks deliberately light. Short, easy sessions. The temptation is to go hard to “make up for lost time,” and that’s exactly how you get injured or burnt out and quit. Consistency beat intensity every single time.
What surprised me
- How fast running gets easier as the weight drops. Same effort, better pace, every couple of weeks. It’s the most motivating feedback loop I’ve had in years.
- That fueling was harder to get right than the workouts. Eating enough of the right things around training — without undoing the deficit — took more thought than the actual running and lifting.
- How much the daily structure helped, beyond the scale. Lift days, run days, ride days gave the week a shape that improved my blood sugar numbers, my sleep, and my head — not just my waistline.
Where I am now
Ten kilos down, with a good way still to go. But for the first time, the approach feels sustainable — slow loss, lifting to keep muscle, easy cardio I genuinely enjoy. Nothing about it is extreme, which is exactly why it’s working when stricter things never did.
If you’re at the start of something similar — a diagnosis, a number on the scale that scared you, a comeback after years away — the boring version is the one that works: go slow, lift to keep your muscle, move every day, and pick cardio you don’t hate.
If you’re managing this with medication
A lot of people coming back to training after a type 2 diagnosis are doing it alongside a GLP-1 medication like Mounjaro (tirzepatide). That adds a whole layer — appetite suppression makes fueling for exercise genuinely tricky, and the muscle-loss risk is even higher. I put together a detailed, realistic week-by-week plan for that specific situation here: returning to training as a type 2 diabetic on Mounjaro: a realistic 12-week protocol.
This is my personal experience, not medical advice. If you have diabetes, talk to your doctor before changing your training or nutrition — especially around fueling and any medication you’re on.