MERRIAM, Kan. -- A growing number of women are being diagnosed with pre-diabetes.

A tell-tale symptom is weight gain around the waist, KMBC's Kelly Eckerman reported.

Sharon Collins said that she never takes her health for granted. She takes care of herself, watches what she eats, but she started to feel something wasn't right.

"I was exercising about four times a week and I continued to gain weight around the middle. I continued to get more frustrated because of weight gain," Collins said.

Collins shared her frustration with her doctor and found out that she is pre-diabetic. Eckerman said that Collins has all five classic symptoms of someone who is likely to develop type 2 diabetes: She tends to carry weight around her waist, has a family history of diabetes, has high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, and a higher than normal fasting glucose.

"If you should normally be making so much insulin, a person who's insulin resistant makes a lot more to over the resistance. People who have high insulin levels put on weight easier," certified diabetic counselor Melissa Magwire said.

Magwire works with a lot of patients like Collins.

"Studies have shown that if we step in early enough, we can actually prevent some cases of type 2 diabetes, and we can certainly find it sooner and get a hold of those patients and get blood sugars under control," Magwire said.

For Collins, medication now helps her body use insulin more effectively, combined with a healthy lifestyle.

"I got on some medication, had better diet control and I'm starting to lose weight because of the medication," Collins said.

Eckerman reported that women with gestational diabetes during pregnancy are also at a higher risk for pre-diabetes.

While men are diagnosed with the condition, too, the real increase in pre-diabetes cases seems to be in women. But that might be due to the fact that women are more likely to report the symptoms to their doctor.