I have pre-diabetes and have lost weight but am terrified of putting it back on again. How can I maintain longterm weight loss?

Ramy says: Losing weight can lower metabolism and cause other changes that favour weight regain. The good news is there are ways to keep off the weight – and maintaining a 2-4kg weight loss can also reduce your risk of developing diabetes by 30 per cent.

1 Schedule regular maintenance visits with your GP or health carer. This can help improve accountability and prevent weight regain.

2 Develop permanent lifestyle behaviours such as consistently having breakfast, eating portioncontrolled meals, increasing daily physical activity, having smaller and healthier snacks and reducing screen time.

3 Aim for 2-3 meals per day and avoid eating every few hours. Ask your GP if you are suitable for fasting 12 hours each day (e.g. from dinner at 7pm to brekkie at 7am) as this can help.

4 Think long-term. Maintaining weight loss is a lifelong commitment. Embrace your new healthy behaviours daily so you don’t revert to old ways. ➤

Rachel says: There is a lot of work being done through research around the language that people use when referring to “people with diabetes”. In 2016, Diabetes Australia released a position statement called

A new language for diabetes – improving communications with and about people with diabetes. Research shows that negative language can influence outcomes for people with diabetes. Phrases such as ‘diabetic’, ‘controlling blood glucose levels’, ‘compliance to treatment’ and ‘blood testing’ are all considered to have negative connotations. When we use these phrases, we are labelling the person with diabetes and assuming that they can ‘control’ their BGLs. This makes it sound like we are blaming the person with diabetes if their BGLs are not within a certain target. We need to acknowledge that people are doing their very best to manage their BGLs and diabetes, regardless of what may be going on for them in their lives at any one point in time.