Most people think insulin resistance is something you get after diabetes.

That’s backwards.

Insulin resistance usually develops years — often decades — before blood sugar ever becomes “abnormal.” By the time diabetes is diagnosed, insulin resistance has already been shaping the body quietly in the background for a long time.

And it doesn’t show up as just one problem.

It shows up as many small, confusing, seemingly unrelated symptoms.

Fatigue that doesn’t make sense. Weight gain that ignores effort.Brain fog.Digestive issues.Hormone imbalances.Sleep disturbances, Cravings, Inflammation.

Most people are told these are separate issues.They’re not.

They’re expressions of the same underlying metabolic signal problem.

Why insulin resistance is so often missed

The medical system is very good at detecting late-stage disease. It is not designed to catch early metabolic dysfunction.

Insulin resistance doesn’t announce itself with dramatic lab results at first. Blood sugar can look “normal.” A1C can sit in the acceptable range. Tests come back “fine.”

Meanwhile, insulin itself is working overtime behind the scenes — pushing harder and harder to keep glucose under control.

That chronic elevation of insulin affects:

• The brain

• The gut

• Fat cells

• Hormones

• Inflammation pathways

• Sleep rhythms

• Cellular energy production
  

By the time glucose finally rises, the body has already been compensating for years.

This is why so many people feel unwell long before they’re ever given a name for what’s happening.

Insulin resistance is not a blood sugar problem

That’s the most important shift in understanding.

Insulin resistance is a whole-body signaling disorder.

It affects:

• How cells respond to food

• How efficiently energy is produced

• How the nervous system balances stress and recovery

• How hormones communicate

• How the gut moves, ferments, and signals satiety

• How inflammation turns on and off

Because insulin receptors exist in nearly every tissue, insulin resistance can express itself in dozens of different ways — depending on genetics, stress load, inflammation, gut health, and lifestyle.

That’s why two people with insulin resistance can look completely different on the surface. Why a symptom list matters

Most people don’t connect the dots because they’ve never been shown the full picture.

They’re managing symptoms one at a time:

• Something for sleep

• Something for digestion

• Something for weight

• Something for hormones

• Something for energy

But when you step back and look at the pattern, a theme emerges.

That’s what the list below is designed to do.

Not to diagnose.Not to alarm.But to help you recognize patterns that are otherwise easy to miss.

You do not need to have all of these symptoms. You don’t even need to have most of them.

Clusters across systems matter far more than any single item.

Read the list with this mindset

As you go through the list:

• Notice what resonates

• Pay attention to recurring themes

• Look for symptoms that worsen with stress or poor sleep

• Notice whether energy, digestion, weight, and hormones overlap

Insulin resistance isn’t about willpower or discipline. It’s about cellular communication.

And once that communication improves, many of these symptoms often improve together — not one by one.

Below is a comprehensive list of 100 symptoms commonly associated with insulin resistance — including many that appear long before diabetes is ever diagnosed.

Read it slowly.Patterns reveal more than numbers. 🧠 ENERGY, BRAIN & NERVOUS SYSTEM

1. Fatigue after meals

2. Afternoon energy crashes

3. Brain fog

4. Poor concentration

5. Memory lapses

6. Needing caffeine to function

7. Low motivation

8. Mental overwhelm

9. Anxiety when hungry

10. Irritability if meals are delayed

11. Shakiness between meals

12. Lightheadedness

13. Headaches triggered by hunger

14. Poor stress tolerance

15. Feeling “wired but tired”
    

⚖️ WEIGHT, BODY COMPOSITION & METABOLISM

16. Belly fat / visceral fat

17. Weight gain despite calorie control

18. Difficulty losing weight

19. Weight regain after dieting

20. Fat gain during stress

21. Skinny-fat body type

22. Disproportionate abdominal fat

23. Reduced muscle tone

24. Poor fat loss response to exercise

25. Slower metabolism
    

🍽️ HUNGER, APPETITE & CRAVINGS

26. Constant hunger

27. Hunger shortly after eating

28. Sugar cravings

29. Carb cravings

30. Late-night snacking urges

31. Feeling unsatisfied after meals

32. Sweet cravings under stress

33. Needing dessert to feel “complete”

34. Loss of normal satiety cues

35. Emotional eating driven by energy dips
    

🍞 DIGESTIVE & GUT-RELATED

36. Constipation

37. Alternating constipation and diarrhea

38. Bloating after meals

39. Gas with fiber

40. Sluggish digestion

41. Poor gastro-colic reflex

42. Feeling overly full after small meals

43. Acid reflux

44. Worsening digestion under stress

45. Food sensitivities developing over time
    

🧬 HORMONAL & ENDOCRINE

46. PCOS symptoms (women)

47. Irregular menstrual cycles

48. Infertility or subfertility

49. Low testosterone (men)

50. Estrogen dominance symptoms

51. Worsening PMS

52. Hypothyroid symptoms with normal TSH

53. Poor T4 → T3 conversion

54. Cold intolerance

55. Hair thinning or hair loss
    

😴 SLEEP & CIRCADIAN

56. Difficulty falling asleep

57. Waking between 2–4 a.m.

58. Non-restorative sleep

59. Night sweats

60. Snoring or sleep apnea

61. Daytime sleepiness

62. Needing naps

63. Restless sleep

64. Insomnia worsened by carbs

65. Early-morning anxiety
    

🩸 CARDIOVASCULAR & CIRCULATION

66. High triglycerides

67. Low HDL cholesterol

68. Elevated blood pressure

69. Poor circulation

70. Cold hands and feet

71. Exercise intolerance

72. Rapid heart rate after meals

73. Shortness of breath on exertion

74. Early atherosclerosis

75. Fatty liver
    

🔥 INFLAMMATION & PAIN

76. Chronic low-grade inflammation

77. Joint stiffness

78. Muscle aches

79. Morning stiffness

80. Slow injury recovery

81. Tendon pain

82. Plantar fasciitis

83. Worsening pain with poor sleep

84. Head-to-toe “inflammatory” feeling

85. Flare-ups during stress
    

🧴 SKIN, IMMUNE & HEALING

86. Skin tags

87. Acanthosis nigricans (darkened skin folds)

88. Adult acne

89. Slow wound healing

90. Frequent infections

91. Easy bruising

92. Gum inflammation

93. Chronic fungal issues

94. Dry skin

95. Premature aging appearance
    

🧠 MOOD, BEHAVIOR & QUALITY OF LIFE

96. Depression or Low Mood (see more here) https://www.ethanleeds.com/post/the-hidden-link-between-depression-and-insulin-resistance

97. Reduced resilience

98. Feeling older than your age

99. Loss of physical confidence

100. “Something’s wrong but I can’t explain it”
     

🔑 Big takeaway

Insulin resistance is not a blood sugar disease —it’s a whole-body signaling disorder.

If someone has clusters across energy + digestion + weight + hormones + sleep, IR should be assumed until proven otherwise, even with “normal” labs. 🧩If you recognized yourself in this list, the most important thing to understand is this:

Insulin resistance is not permanent — and it does not require extreme diets, obsession, or punishment.

Most people don’t need more complexity.They need the right sequence.

That’s why I teach a simple 3-step system designed to restore insulin sensitivity by addressing:

1. Insulin exposure

2. Inflammation

3. Cellular energy signaling

When these are corrected in the right order, many symptoms begin to improve together, not one at a time.

If you’d like to learn how this applies to your body and your symptoms, I invite you to connect.