And, while insulin can play a crucial role in helping you live a happier, healthier life, you might have heard at some point that taking insulin can make you gain weight.

Does insulin make you gain weight?

When you have type 1 diabetes, your body doesn’t make enough insulin or any at all, per the Mayo Clinic.

With type 2 diabetes, your pancreas (an organ that helps with digestion and secretes certain hormones to regulate sugar in your body) doesn’t make enough insulin and your cells respond poorly to the hormone.

If you have type 1 diabetes, you need to take insulin because your body is no longer making it, the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) explains.

When they start insulin, they are finally able to make proper use of the calories and carbohydrates in their food and with this comes weight regain.”.

“When you give them insulin, you’re getting their blood sugars under reasonable control and [they're] generally going to regain the weight, often within a matter of weeks.” While that can feel like taking insulin made someone gain weight, it actually is just restoring them to their normal weight, he points out.

It can also take a little trial and error to figure out the right balance of the food you’re eating with the amount of insulin you need, says Ronald Tamler, M.D., an endocrinologist and the director of digital health implementation for Mount Sinai Health System.

“Some patients on insulin treatment may still experience weight gain, especially if they have to take larger amounts of insulin to keep up with their body’s needs,” he says.

So at the end of the day, weight gain can really depends on a slew of factors, beyond just the amount of insulin you need.

That should naturally lower your insulin doses (because you're eating fewer carbohydrates) and help with weight loss over time.

Schutta suggests checking in with your doctor about the type of insulin you’re using and the timing of it.

That, he says, can help you “identify high-carb foods” and learn how to adjust your lifestyle to lower your insulin needs.