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"Diabetics can't define a 'healthy' weight
Although weight loss is a cornerstone of managing diabetes, many people who have the disease don't know what their ideal weight range should be, a study suggests.
About half the time, overweight diabetics defined their "healthiest" weight as a number that was still too heavy for their height, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found.
Some even considered a weight in the obese range to be their optimal number, according to findings published in the March issue of the journal Diabetes Care.
Since weight loss is a prime goal for overweight diabetics, doctors may need to do a better job of counselling patients on weight issues, concluded Dr Kathleen McTigue and her colleagues at the university's Centre for Research on Health Care.
"These findings elicit cause for concern, given the importance of body weight in managing diabetes," they wrote.
The findings are based on a survey of 573 adults with type 2 diabetes, most of whom were overweight or obese.
Respondents gave their current weight and height, and were asked to estimate the "healthiest weight" for their height.
Nearly all correctly perceived themselves as overweight.
But when estimating their healthiest weight, 41 per cent of overweight respondents gave an overweight measurement, as did 66 per cent of obese respondents.
Six per cent of all study participants chose a number in the obese range.
Men were particularly likely to be off the mark.
Only 35 per cent gave a normal weight as their health ideal, compared with 65 per cent of women.
McTigue and her colleagues called their findings "sobering", and they urged doctors to make weight management a greater priority in caring for patients with diabetes."